for those who are worried ...

i'm ok. i didn't actually feel the earthquake but it caused severe damage in niigata and a few people were killed by collapsed homes. let's include them and those that have lost everything (the area hit was rural and most of the homes were old and built of wood, much like where i live) in our prayers.

ok ... try this ~ stand up and put ur feet together. do your knees touch? the other day at school, the kids were showing me that their knees don't touch, at least not naturally. mine do though and so do many of the japanese girls. apparantly it's an asian male thing. weird huh?

the weather has been freaky here recently! last week my house got up to 90 degrees farenheit. i was sweating just watching TV. but then the last couple of days it's been so cold i've had to sleep with a sweater on. although, i'd rather it be cold than hot.

only a couple more weeks before the tachi nebuta parade! woo hoo! can't wait to dress up in my festival clothing and start banging a drum in front of everyone :)

last weekend i went down to hirosaki and went to a bbq with english club medical students from hirosaki university. it was kind of a nice change being able to speak in fluent english with japanese people. in fact, it was better to speak in english because most of the students are not from aomori, so when i speak in japanese it's difficult for them to understand me because of my countryside accent. doh!! haha

alright, time to get back to work! love you all! let's try and make each day count ~ that's what life is all about!!