Great News!

Recently Chihiro and I got engaged! We're planning on moving to Australia around March next year, and getting married a few months after that. Of course I did the proper thing and asked her parents for permission first (in Japanese)! I decided on a few sentences that conveyed what I wanted to say and then spent almost a week practising them! On the day I was a little nervous because although they have been very kind to me, we haven't talked about anything serious before, and I didn't quite know how they'd react to my question...

It actually turned out pretty well, and although they weren't expecting it at all, they were happy after talking about it. (Chihiro had to do a lot of translating!) Because they were concerned that Chihiro might not be able to find a work in Australia, they said that we should only get married after she gets a job. That's fair enough, and pretty much what we were planning anyway, so it's all good :) Afterwards, her dad was joking around with her younger sisters saying to them "Don't you bring any more Australians home too!"

We're so happy at the moment, and I really appreciate the emails and phone calls from everyone back home. Actually it's the first time I've felt a bit homesick, wanting to celebrate with everybody, but I'm having too much fun here to feel like that for long!