January Update

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Hi.
sorry for not writing anything for the last few months but I will try to give you the highlights. The last few months have been eventful to say the least both in good ways and bad ways. towards the end of November I had a confrence in Naha which was a lot of fun. I got to go and check out mainland Okinawa which was great and I got to check out the aquarium on the upper end of the island. In mid December I got into a car crash. I am Okay but the car was totalled and it turned into a big debacle because my supervisor either forgot to or didn't bother checking what type of insurance I had and just assumed and told me that I was covered for anything, which I am apparently not. So I am going to be out about six to seven grand because of it. good times. Christmas and New years was cool though. I went to thailand for my winter break which was great.(wasn't anywhere near the tsunami) I spent a few days in bangkok then live on a converted rice teaki boat for a few days, traveling up the river. the boat was awsome and there was just myself and another couple for the first two days and then I had it all to my self the last day. After that I spent a day in ayuthia (the old capital) and checked out some asian ruins. From there I went up to Chang Mai which is a pretty cool city. I went on a trekking tour around the sorrounding country side and stayed at small villages. I also was able to do some elephant riding and bamboo rafting which was great. after checking out the north I went down to a small island in the south called koh tao with some people I had met on the trekking tour. The beaches were great and I was able to do some fishing which was a lot of fun. I also went snorkling with sharks which was kinda cool and did some sea kayaking. After that I came back to Japan and had a bit of bad luck. I lost my glasses in the car accident so I had been wearing my contacts almost all the time and I ended up developing an ulcer on my cornia which got infected. I ended up having so be hospitalized for about three day (although probably not necessarily since they are pretty much willing to hospitalize you for anything here) which also cost a pretty penny but maybe possible to get that money back. The doctor said that it was about 65 percent damaged. But the good news is as of yesterday it is back up to 98 percent. the only annoyance is that I can't wear contacts for about three months which means that I had to go out and buy new glasses. Other than that everything here is pretty normal. getting back on schedual with schools and restarting the normal routines. The fishing here lately has been tough though which is too bad. Birthday went well very relaxed but it was nice. the other ALTs took me out to lunch which was cool. I got cheddar cheese and ranch dressing which was great. I miss them both terribly. Sorry that I wasn't able to get ahold of some of you　for christmas and new years. I missed you all.Hope everybody is doing ok.

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