Japanese

February 21, 2001: Family budget meeting
It has been very cold this winter, but we have milder days around before yesterday. In our Group of Friends, we think that keeping family budget is very important. We regularly sum up the account books that could keep recording for a year. The result will be used for improving home life. This year, Oita Group of Friends is in charge of summing up the account all through Kyushu block. Since early February, I have been fighting with an unfamiliar spreadsheet Excel every day.
I visited Fukuoka Coty together with Ms. Matoba to join a study meeting "Thinking of family budget of Kyushu block." The meeting will be very useful that many questions will be discussed and answered in it. We headed to Hakata by Sonic #4 starting Oita railroad station at 7:15 a.m. The train was clean white wagons with classical interiors with wooden floor and luxurious pitch-black leather seats. The travel was very comfortable.
Fukuoka Group of friends is located at Kozasa town, it has a large group with 380 members. In the hall, a young mother meeting was held. We had the meeting in the same room.
	We eagerly discussed using computers how to sum up and evaluate 779 records sent from 20 Groups in Kyushu block. Ms. Kobayashi, center-left, and Ms. Makino, center-right discuss the issue.
I presented add up figures and diagrams as the discussion basis. Ms. Hayama (left) and Ms. Matoba (right.)
	There are still many members who are not familiar with using computers. The meaning of zero value and empty cells was not unified yet, and we decided to make a collective view of them. The lunchtime came before we knew. Homemade lunch included pickles, Rinkake - a special product of Saga prefecture-, dry persimmon, and cookies. All of them were really tasty, we were delighted very much.
The discussion continued after lunch. We exchanged computer data and discussed how to prepare tables to be used in the next meeting. I met with Ms. Mukai with whom I have exchanged E-mails until yesterday. She explained me how to calculate the data. From left, Mukai, Kobayashi, Makino, and Hara.
I found that it has been raining. I was relaxed a little by getting some suggestions from the attendants. I will resume the calculation work in home. On my way back, I sat the top front seat of the train and enjoyed the view and chatting.
Family Budget Meeting of Kyushu block, 10:00-15:00 at Fukuoka Group of Friends' House Hymn #27 * Add up status of 20 branches in Kyushu block * Prevailing mistakes, their cause and solution * Preparation items for April meeting by new leaders in Kyushu block * Reports for Kyushu block meeting * Attendants: from Central committee of Kyushu block: Kobayashi, Hara, and Hayama from Fukuoka Group of Friends: Makino, Mukai from Oita: Matoba, Nagano Report by Nagano