Hello, hello,

I'm so glad to hear you've all been enjoying reading the BLOG and I guess after the train crash yesterday there'll be a few people checking it, so just writing this real quick to say, yes I'm alive, but I am very sorry for the 60 or so people who aren't.

It's funny you know, before when I would see an event like that on TV it would seem a million miles away, but here, knowing I catch these trains, knowing how crowded they are and knowing those people were planning the day ahead of them just moments before...well it just makes it much more real.

And it makes me think I'm glad I came here because now I know what it's like to live here I can empathise with Japanese people. Its horrible to say, but before I came here I used to see them as one group, because the culture was foreign to me, but now living here, I appreciate them as individual people just the same as us, with the same hopes and dreams for their lives.

Anyway, this is turning into a rather morbid post and I certainly don't want it to be.

Was just writing to say hello and that I'm alive.

There's been earthquakes, train crashes (and I hear typhoons are due next month!), since I arrived here, but it makes me even more glad I decided to get out and see the world because if anything events like this remind me to make the most of everyday that's gifted to me and ESPECIALLY the people I share it with because there's no gaurantee to a long life...

I love and miss you all very, very much.

Always,
Fernleaf