It was my day off today and it was sunny – yeah! So days off in September call for fruit picking. First off we went up to pick some grapes but apparently they’d all been blown away in the typhoon. So we went fig picking instead which was good, although the trees were very low and I had to crouch down to get under the walkways. But that was quite fun!

Yesterday for some reason my girlfriend bought a playstation. I really like games, but figured it’s best not to buy one as I’d never get any work done! But as today was my holiday when we got back I had a go at Socom II. Now my Japanese is quite good, but I haven’t a clue about any military terms. But one of the pieces of advice I give teenage or adult students is to play your favourite playstation game in English. And it really does work, things repeat so often, are an intrinsic part of the game and it’s fun, so after a few goes things like “clear the area” or “activate main weapons” or “undercover agent” become second nature!!

So from tomorrow till Friday I’m in Hong Kong, so replies to emails will be a little late, but CD orders etc. will still be sent off as quickly as usual from Shikoku!