Mrs Luke from Japan
Old emails

Email sent 1 October 2002

Konnichiwai

How is everything going over there? Over here the weather has cooled down to a very nice temperature. We do not have to have the air conditioning on anymore so that will save a lot of money. Just finished another long weekend and we have a teacher only day today so no teaching. Life is difficult. (ha ha.)

I have just bought a new bike - a mountain bike so Karna and I can go and ride up some mountains. Kochi has completed its first weekend of the national tournament. Karna went away with the rugby team as the water boy. He said the rugby was slack but the event was good. They play and then they drink tea or coffee. They are trying to get advice from Karna as to what is the best way to train. They train all the time but do not get any better. I spent the weekend riding my bike and reading books. It was good to have some time away from each other.

We went shopping for a video the other day and we found a 21inch TV with DVD, video and CD able to be played through it. Wow we thought, but have not yet been tempted to buy it. Mum just sent over a 28kg package of winter clothing for us so we should be set. We can't fit any clothes over here so it is a godsend. Still eating well but we have cut down on the drinking although you could drink every night.

I have learnt about the culture of skin though. The Japanese do not like to be tanned. Tanning shows that you work in the fields so you are lower class. They try to stay as white as possible. I think I have mentioned before how vain they are. They are always touching their hair etc. The women wear gloves to ride bikes to keep their hands nice and soft and white, and they are always wearing hats.


The white makeup a traditional geisha wears

I have an English club here that meet every Tuesday and Thursday. I wonder if we could set up an email link so that they can talk to children over in NZ. Their English is okay. I think our children would be able to decipher what they are saying. Think about it. It may be for a project in the future.

Lots of lovely Japanese cakes over here. They have the best bakeries and the best Mcdonalds. They also have the most giant of nashi pears, and they are sooooo delicious.

Sayonara,
Mrs Luke.

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