Things have been really good lately. Yesterday I had class, then went shopping in Harajuku and got some good presents for people. :-) Then last night, there was a big festival at the local buddhist temple by my house, and it was amazing! There was a long parade of lights, that I took about a million pictures of, you could walk through the temple and there were all sorts of game and food stands set up around it, like a carnival. It was really fun! I went with Fukiko and we watched the parade for awhile. I got up right in the front so I could take good pictures, but I was like the tallest person there, so I totally felt like that obnoxious tall guy that's always and concerts, etc. who you can't see over. Never thought I'd be that guy. But then Fukiko left and I met up with Sarah and some guys from Spain and Germany and we just walked around and took lots of pictures and explored the festival. Some Japanese lady, who lived in America for a long time, randomly invited us into one of the buildings to have some tea and crackers and sit down. It was interesting. As was the argument, maintained by the guy from Spain, that the USA should not be referred to as America, but simply as "the states", because calling it America is disrespectful to the people of South America, Central America and somehow Canada, b/c they are all American too. It was a pretty pointless argument. Especially since the US is always referred to as America here and the term for someone from the US is America-jin. But it's nice to know that people from Europe not only take offense to our politics but to our very name as well. Anyway, one of the guys we hung out with last night, was telling me that he's been to 41 countries, and ever since then I've been thinking how much I really need to travel more. I've been to Canada and now Japan and that's it. Granted, I've been all over the United States, but I haven't even begun to explore the world. So now I'm starting to think more seriously about getting a temporary job with the jet program, or some other program after I graduate and then using the money from that to take off for a year and just travel. Being here with people from all over the world has been such a great experience so far, and I feel like I'm learning a lot about Japanese culture and other cultures at the same time. But on the other hand, being in such an international environment has made me very much aware of how little I've seen and how ignorant I am of the rest of the world. So yeah, hopefully many travels await me. Well, I need to do homework now, but that's what is up with me in Japan. Hope all is well in "the states" ;-)