Comfortably Numb

The last 2 weeks since my family left have been...well...uneventful.

We really haven't been doing anything. I guess we really got used to company, and being busy everyday. We work, come home, and watch tv/movies, or play Nintendo DS. Actually, we've been playing my DS so much lately, that Karleen has completely mastered New Super Mario Bros! She can't do anything more in the game...everything is unlocked! And I've only had it for less than a month!

A reason we really aren't going out much these days is that we're running low on funds. There was a fax mishap at Karleen's work, so she didn't get paid for Dec, while I did (THANK GOD!). So we have around $400 to last us until the 15th. I think we're doing ok.

Now, we have been out with friends a couple of times. After work last Tues, we went out for Sushi with Thao, Chris and Josh, and the week before that, we had Chris and Josh over and we watched some Little Britain/The IT Crowd. I guess another thing that's happened is that Chris and Josh moved to Kyoto. That means that pretty much all of our friends live in the Kyoto area.

The biggest thing that's happened lately is that 6 Nova teachers were arrested on Drug Charges last week.

Here's the Story from Japan Today:

TOKYO — Six teachers of English at Nova Co's language schools in Saitama Prefecture were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of possessing cocaine and cannabis. According to the police, Errin Valentine, 32, another teacher at Nova and an American, who was arrested last November for possessing cocaine in Tokyo, has told investigators he bought the drug at his colleagues' request, leading to the arrest of the six.

Adam Renwick, a 36-year-old Australian living in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, and five other foreign nationals are suspected of possessing some 1.5 grams of cocaine and some 8.2 grams of cannabis on Nov. 19 in Tokyo's Roppongi area, the police said. The six were teaching English at six branch schools of Nova in Saitama Prefecture. Valentine, who is charged with drug control law violations, had been soliciting others for drug purchases through emails sent over cell phones, the police said.

What does this mean for us? Well, the CEO issued a letter to all branches saying that this has drastically hurt Nova's image and be prepared for some backlash in the form of Students quiting, new students backing out of lessions, and landlords/store owners being suspicious of you...Great. That's just what we need. So far, I haven't experienced anything to such an effect, which I guess is good. He also stated that we have to help repair Nova's image and work that much harder to regain the student's complete trust again.

That's my update for the next bit. Kim, Bill, Jackson, Cynthia, and Marc are coming in 3 days, so we're getting excited to actually have something to do again! We'll have them do some posting if they want, maybe along the same lines as my parents did.

Here's some good ole Japanese humor to hold you off until the next post. I love it!