They keep babbling and bobbing their heads up and down. And they smile when I say sumimasen or arigato or when I frown and pull a strange face if they ask me questions I don't understand.

Luckily we had a Japanese girl with us for a bit: our host's girlfriend. She left this afternoon and left us a note: "Goede reis! Yasuno" Dutch, for "Bon voyage! [Her name]" So sweet!

So I replied in kanji:

Heehee, I can write kanji! Well. It took a long time to copy from the phrase book.

I hope it says: "Arigato! Anata ni aete totemo yokata des. [My name] & B.B." ("Thank you! It's been great meeting you. [My name] & B.B.")