6 April 2000
Dear Norio, Kazunori & Chiharu,
Finally I can reply to your great letter (loved the photos – what is your sister’s
name? My sister is Angeline). When you mention sarcasm you summarize me in
one word. I have tried several times to explain why I became attracted to Fabiola
from Bolivia. Now I know. While I was being sarcastic with the students, including
Yukiko and Chihiro, she was the only one who understood what I was doing. I think
that maybe by the end of the year Yukiko and Chi began to understand European
humor and my sarcastic touch.
Big changes for you if you did go back to teaching. Full-time? New school?
Maybe you now have an email address? But no, you don’t, otherwise you would
have sent me a message, right?????? What happens to Chiharu? Babysitter? I
used to walk to Rosehill and I would carry David a few blocks to the babysitter each
morning and bring him home. He’s a bit too big to carry these days.
Relatives in Hawaii, which Island? Our friends live on the big Island. If our
dreams come true Gail wants to have a bed and breakfast and I am keen to have it in
Hawaii. It’s too cold here in NZ during the winter.
Here is something that you might be able help with, maybe? Yukiko wants to
go to the States in Aug/Sept. She doesn’t want to do an organized tour. So she has
asked me to find places for her to do home stay (she wants to pay). Her real goal is
to hear different dialects. Do you think that your rellies in Hawaii, your aunt in Calif,
your roommate… might enjoy having a visitor for a few days??
Enough of this small talk. But I have noBIG news. It’s not like we have a
volcano exploding or anything. We made it through term one and now we have two
weeks of holidays. Senad and Titania will be here again during the break and we will
finish painting the house and begin doing the roof. I am also shifting the pool fence
further away and into the bushes as it is an ugly thing. Course you don’t know what I
am talking about.
The experiences you wrote about are so cool. Those were magic moments
that are so rare. And ones that will last a lifetime. I wonder if that Argentine family
thinks about the special Christmas when they had their Japanese daughter with
them. We try to make everyone a part of our family. And then we try to get them out
surfing, eh? A little nami-nori never hurt anyone. Well actually it did hurt me (see the
Malley-Gram). Does Kazu (I might have to make a up a name for him so he won’t
see “Kazu” and then wonder what I wrote). What shall I call him? I could call him Bill
Gates and then he would wonder what I am saying about BG. So?? Hubbie. I’ll call
him hubbie. Does hubbie look upon you with awe, with respect, with humility. You,
who have been to the States and can speak the lingo? You who are so beautiful?
You who can give him a beautiful daughter? I bet he wonders how he got to be so
lucky, to have you as his partner. Okay, my favorite question (and forgive me if I
asked this before – my memory gets bad): how did you two get together? I know
that Hikaru said the people in your wedding photos were “matchmakers”. I am
intrigued. I am bored. I am sick. I am tired. I am finished.