the birds are back!!!!

yes everyone, the birds are back!!! and you know what that means? that means that spring is almost here and winter is almost over ~ woooo hoooo!!!!!!!!! yesterday, i saw flocks of migrating birds (i think ducks) flying in v's returning to wherever they go during spring and summer. and today i saw flocks of geese flying in v's overhead and settling down in the rice fields - perhaps for a midflight snack. one of my teachers thinks they are flying to siberia. its just such an amazing feeling to see all of the birds coming back ... we don't really have anything like that in california ... actual signs of seasonal changes (well at least in southern california) with bird migration and such. its amazing to witness and amazing what it does to your inner spirit. right now im just so giddy and happy!

last weekend was a full weekend. friday night, had an enkai with my school although i didnt drink at all and went home kind of early. then saturday night was the big st. paddy's bash in hirosaki and that was a lot of fun. got to see some people i havent seen in a while. wore green, drank yummy malibu with orange juice, and pretended to do irish dancing ~ something i think everyone was doing except for the actual irish people. afterwards, we went to karaoke and as always, crazy jet action and singing occurred. then headed back to kevins place where it seemed like 20 people were sleeping over at, so it was VERY cozy to say the least. well i got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep before meeting my teacher to head down south for our little trip.

so our trip down south was to an area called kanazawa. it has lots of tourist sites and nicely kept-up old buildings and beautiful scenery. we went with a tour group and it was very japanese. we had to go to the same places together, and stay together as a group usually, and spent much time on the bus. i ended up sleeping a lot, but when i wasnt sleeping it was actually a really pleasant trip. got to see a lot of places, mind u not for very long because we could only stay for an hour or so. but it was very beautiful. met up with some friends on the first night and stayed at a really nice hotel. the second night we stayed at an older hotel with a really nice onsen and good food. had a lot of fun with my teacher, we were making fun of each other the whole time and just laughing a lot (well when we werent sleeping that is). i posted all my pictures from the weekend already on my picture site ... so check em out. but here are a couple for ur viewing pleasure ...



here's me with mark (an irish man) at the st. paddy's party
















this was an awesome tree in a world heritage park called kenrokuen park.


go check out the rest of pictures :)





oh yeah, one more thing i wanted to blog about. so u remember my pictures of my house in the snow right? there was loads of snow all around my house, but its been melting like crazy. still had a lot towards the back of the house though, along with the wooden panels that protected my windows from all the snow. well my neighbor (the one who used to help me shovel in the mornings) either really misses shoveling snow or feels the need that my snow should be melting faster because he has been shoveling for me again, towards the back of my house. when i went away this weekend, he took care of a large chunck of snow and also put away all of my wood panels (totalling 5, each the size of a large door!). i wasnt gonna bother with it because i figure its going to melt eventually, but i think he missed shoveling snow or the exercise or something, so hes been in the back shoveling for me! such a nice man ... although i wonder if he just thinks im lazy :-P hee.