The kids are all going home now. They usually get out around 3pm and they walk home in groups, but because of the storm, they are going home from 1:30pm onward. I feel bad for the teachers who had to make the 126 calls out today. They didn't even eat lunch.

I was supposed to participate in "inekari" at my morning school, but because of the rain it was called off. I really wanted to try it! It means I was supposed to help the kids and teachers harvest rice, and then afterwards we would make mochi (rice cakes) or something. So instead I taught two periods, 1&2 grade and 3&4 grade. I really like the kids at that school!

I made the most awesome game today. Because my one class is so small, with only six kids, it is hard to do normal race type games, because it is over in like one minute. So I combined dengon, which is essentially telephone but without the secret element, and tic-tac-toe. You have two teams, x and o of course. (In Japanese "batsu" and "maru".) We were learning about fruit, and the sentence I taught them was "Do you like fruit?" So the first person asks the question, and then the second person has to reply with "Yes, I like (fruit name)". Then the second person asks the question of the third person and so on. The last person then runs and marks an x or o, and runs to the back to start it all over again.

Afterwards one of the teachers asked me "why is it strawberry/strawberries, and apple/apples, banana/bananas, etc. but watermelon is just watermelon?" I told her I have no clue. >.<

Oh, and it is really hard to get Japanese kids to say orange correctly. XD In Japanese the color orange is "orenji", and they really have trouble not saying it the way they usually do.

So, if you haven't heard, there is a big typhoon bearing down on Japan. I have been looking at maps and if you look at the storm's path, where I live will be right under the center later this evening. It was weird, the #16 typhoon was heading right for Fukushima, and #15 was heading away from Japan to the west a couple of days ago. But then something happened and #15 decided to cover all of Japan. Like literally, it is pretty much following the curve of Japan. So that's whats going on now.

For some reason I thought typhoons were always warm. I don't know why, maybe it is because they are usually in the summer, and summer in Japan is always so hot and sticky. But today it is cold! I love this weather though. I was driving last night and saw a little restaurant with white and blue Christmas lights, and it made me nostalgic and excited at the same time. When I was shopping in a clothes store last night, it seemed as if winter had come already, with fluffy coats and warm long underwear in abundance.

(The phone keeps ringing when no one is in the teachers room, and I keep having to call teachers over. >.< I know how to appropriately answer the phone but I am a chicken. -_- Oh, and that was my company. I got to go home early.)

I am home now, and it is pouring. Like you look outside and it looks cloudy but in reality it is just the rain. I have on warm socks, my fleece UCLA sweatshirt, and pajama pants. It is so weird to want to be warm. I might take a nap! I wish I had someone to cuddle close to though...

I wonder what the animals think about such storms. They must know it is coming, right? I think they are more in tune with nature and the earth, they would have to be to survive. I saw four cranes flying across the playground when I was in school. Where were they going? Were they afraid of the storm, or is it just an excepted part of their lives?

To me, storms are wonderful. Maybe not wonderful, but awe inspiring. They make you understand that you are just a tiny bit of this big planet, and when it comes down to it, you really cannot make much of an impact just by yourself. The rain makes me want to write ghost stories. I bought a manga full of horror stories that I think I will read.


But first, I need to eat. I couldn't eat most of my lunch because the sweet bread had pineapple in it. >.> (If you haven't heard, I think I'm allergic to pineapple.)

Ja na~