Hanami Hanami

Wikipedia:

Hanami (花見, lit. "flower viewing") is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always meaning cherry blossoms or ume blossoms. From the end of March to early May, sakura bloom all over Japan, and around the first of February on the island of Okinawa. The blossom forecast (桜前線 sakurazensen, literally cherry blossom front) is announced each year by the weather bureau, and is watched carefully by those planning hanami as the blossoms only last a week or two. In modern-day Japan, hanami mostly consists of having an outdoor party beneath the sakura during daytime or at night.

(Thanks Wikipedia, I'm just too busy to blog properly these days!)

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My first Hanami party of the season: [There were like 2 blossoms at this time. But I wanted my sister who was visiting to get to see what a Hanami Party was all about. But it rained, and was freezing...but we had a great time!]

Hanami Party Number 2: [it was great! I doubled as a birthday thing for me]

Hanami Party number 3 was in Iwakuni, and was BEAUTIFUL. Perfect perfect time for Hanami:

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I think the key to proper Hanami'ing (yes, I mix Japanese and English a lot) is being there with people you care about! And that was true for all three of the hanami parties that I attended this year! The first was the last week in March, the second was the first week in April, and the third was the second week in April.

There's of course no cherry blossoms left now, but I'm certainly viewing my city's other flowers every day. Hofu is so beautiful. I'm going to miss this place. :)

Best

This is my favorite picture of all time. :)

Walking overpasses

I know it seems like a minor annoyance...but these things REALLY bother me! I live in the most countryside prefecture of Japan! There isn't traffic! There is no reason for this! Yet everywhere, there are these huge walking overpasses. I am a very bad jaywalker here... Oops. I mean, I can see how they can be useful sometimes. But Japan has too many. My town shouldn't have any. There are also there intricate tunnels to go *under* intersections. This is not Tokyo! This is not Osaka!

The main reasons for all of these are economic. In the 1990's Japan gave huge payments per square meter of concrete used to build something as a public work. But I don't want to walk over that thing!!! :)

Sunset

I'm starting to pack up my apartment a bit. Starting to get boxes ready. Shipping all my winter clothing home on Saturday. And books I can't part with. And the cleaning frenzy has begun, too. I am still in my apartment for another 2 months, but I know that will go by really quickly. I'm really going to miss this balcony, those mountains, that sun...

I love you Hofu!!!!!

Bin Laden

Hey there.
Sometimes I doubt is my sister loves me. Why? Oh, probably because she said she didn't and laughed. Well....... SHE DOES LOVE ME! And here's how I know:

Facebook message from her:

''dont no if u wer asleep wen da news cam or wat but osama bin laden was killed today.. thought id make sure u knew cuz idk if u got time for news b/ i no u got time 4 fb.. lol...''

Who would take the time to make fun of me like that, other than a loving sister? I mean, come on, who has time for facebook, but not the news?

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Well, that is how I found out Osama Bin Laden had been killed. haha. I think I found out two and a half days after the fact. Only because I was busy climbing a huge mountain when it happened! A mountain that eludes cell-phone reception.

But it is funny, that when I finally had reception again, I found out by facebook. My sister's explanation to me made a lot of things make more sense. When I saw so many people posting 'USA USA USA'' and ''Proud to be an American''...the only thing that went through my mind was: ''huh? Did the Lakers win or something?''

Thanks for clearing that up for me Jenn.

My Little Silent Monks

Please go to youtube.com and "like" this video! And please leave some encouraging comments for my students! :) Thank you!

Comment on youtube now! here :) Actually you should just watch it on youtube, not on here, because it's right side is cut off for some reason here on blogspot.

Birthday!

Back on my birthday... well, life was just perfect! Tonight I'm going to my bestest bud Jennie's birthday party, so I thought I'd reflect on my birthday last month.

It was awesome. A friend from home was visiting, my birthday landed on a Friday, and WHAT? Christina and Jennie hand-baked and frosted me my very own Stargate cake!

It may not be this:

But it really really touched me. 27 will be my best year yet. Just don't remind me that SGU was canceled. Thank you. :)

seven sins

My sister and I found this when she was here. It was a sign, chilling in a forest. No one around. Just open nature, and his sign. :)