Hi everyone!

Well I guess introductions are always a good start. My name is Hayden. I`m from a small town called Waimate (famous for its strawberries and having strange water….just joking, the water wont make you TOO crazy!) It`s about 2 & 1/2 hours south of Christchurch (South Island) in New Zealand.

Ive been in Japan for about 15 months now so although my Japanese is pretty poor, I can still find my way around a pair of chopsticks (after numerous trips to the trusty Matsuya!). Spent some time in Melbourne, Australia (working, drinking, tripping around, etc) before coming here and Im planning on heading to the UK & Europe in June or July before following the All Black`s around in the Rugby World Cup (GO THE AB`S!!!!!)

So whats been happening lately…..well not much really! (sorry for the let down….)

Actually Im getting pretty excited about heading away to the Philippines for the Christmas and New Year holiday period. It will be basically 10 days of drinking, partying and relaxing on the beach…..cant wait!!! Really looking forward to the hot weather most of all. As much as I try, I just cant get used to having a cold Christmas/New Year…..so this is my way of cheating the cold!

Recently the Philippines have been hit by two typhoons in the space of 3 weeks (Durian and Utor). The first creating lots of damage and unfortunately killing close to 1000 people and leaving several more homeless. The second seems to have left Boracay`s famous white beach (voted the best beach in the world on many occasions) littered with debris and narrowed the width of the beach. Hopefully the people there are able to get back on their feet quickly.

Last week I was extremely happy to receive a chrissy present in the mail from my family in NZ (thanks Mum!). The package include such NZ treats as bluebird green onion chips, roses chocolates, chocolate fingers and some interesting (but very delicious) lamb and mint flavoured kettle fries. You can imagine the smile on my face after receiving (and stuffing my face with) all of that!

Anyway, thats it for now. I hope you all have a very merry christmas and a prosperous new year! Hope to see you down at the mission bay bar sometime soon! Take it easy!

Haydz

Chatted for ages to the lovely Yukie, Aki and Misa tonight. Two of them will be setting off overseas for work next year, and one has already lived in NZ (she’s even visited my beloved Wellington!) before.

It was really cool to meet these three women, who have such curiousity about language and culture. I set them a homework task. 300 words of English using all the new words they learned tonight.

It’s due next week ladies, don’t forget!

今晩素敵なゆきえ、あき、とみささんとしゃべっていました。 二人は勉強と仕事のために、来年外国に行く予定です。もう一人はNZに住んでいたことがあります。私のウェリントンにも行ったことがあります！嬉しいです！

諸国の言語と文化に対して好奇心をもっているこの三人と会って、楽しかったです。私は彼女達に宿題をあげました。今晩初めて聞いた英語を使って、英語の文章を書く宿題です。３００文字です。

宿題は来週までなので、忘れないようにね・・・ （＾＿－）☆
- Samantha