Departures, Oni, Earthquakes, and Storms.

As of tomorrow, Spring begins in Japan. I know it probably sounds weird to you all back home or in climates where the snow is still around until Mid-March, but here in Japan, the third of February marks "Setsubun", which is a festival/holiday when a family throws soybeans outside the house to cast out oni (demons) and to bring in happiness to the household for the New Year.

It seems the New Year has been full of discoveries already. Last Saturday, Abigail returned home to North Carolina. Prior to all of this, she came down with a recurrence of glandular fever and that on top of being stressed out and overworked from Intensive Japanese...it was a recipe for disaster. She spent the last few weeks missing class because she just slept through everything. I hope she gets better.

Last Saturday and Sunday I woke up both mornings to minor earthquakes. It was like being rocked back and forth subtly in a bassinet. For all the horror stories I hear about people flipping out about earthquakes (granted, the BIG ones), they don't bother me so much. I find them to be nice breaks from the ordinary when they happen :D

Tonight is 3WD's Storm. Storm is how dorms advertise their parties. What happens is we parade around campus and then go to each dorm and perform a skit and a dance routine which often has to do with our party's theme. Being as it's February, we're throwing the Valentine's Ball, and I get to do fortunetelling :) Can't wait to take pictures of everything happening.

Anywho, time to finish writing post cards and I'll send 'em out tomorrow.