Hello from Travis
Well, it’s Friday again and it’s been a busy but fun week. How about you? How was your week 
Now that fall is in full swing, I have been noticing all the persimmon trees, bursting with fruit. Do you like persimmons? In Japanese persimmon is called Kaki, I think. The house next to Starry has a persimmon tree and the fruit is ripe and ready to be picked. I hope someone picks and eats it. I love persimmons very much.
In California we don’t eat persimmons. Americans like food that looks tasty and it doesn’t look tasty to us...I think. Although we don’t normally eat persimmons, we do have them in a very small section of our supermarkets. We have many Mexicans in California and they eat persimmons. I never ate a persimmon until I came to Japan. I wish I would have tried to eat persimmons in America because they are SO tasty. Another fruit I love is the mangosteen. I found it in Thailand and Lao when I lived there for four years. At first, I did not eat them because they looked so terrible. Finally I tried them and it is probably my most favorite fruit of ALL 
See if you can find a picture of a mangosteen on the internet. They sell mangosteens at the international food festivals in Kotodai Koen once or twice a year. A bag of 10 mangosteens cost 1,500 yen. I bought them one time and enjoyed them for a whole week.
Come tell me your favorite fruit and I will give you a shiny sticker.
Much love, Travis sensei