Hey, all,

      This is a brief one. Mash note may still be an exaggeration (I hope), but last week I got just about the sweetest thing I've seen in a long time--I'm still grinning. I love these kids. One girl surreptitiously slipped me a note as I was leaving class two weeks ago. It was a standard student-writing-to-the-foreign-teacher note, very nice and friendly but not unusual for a student practicing her English. How's your family, how do you like Japan, that sort of thing. I answered, and a few days later she slipped me another note. The first page was pretty normal:

To Peter,

I want to thank you for your letter and my apologies for not writing sooner.

I am doing well.

I have to study a lot to prepare for the exam. I'm not good at mathematics and I wonder how you studied it.

The other day I saw you were taking a look at the brass band practicing. I play purcussion and we are preparing for the concert. I hope you will listen to it.

Thank you for reading my letter.

The second page was cute beyond belief. I can't reproduce it here, so I'm putting it on the web web at this link.

I love this job.

Peter