updates
http://jet-7.net/gallery/I updated the gallery. Just 30 pictures, don't get too excited.
I have to admit, that compared to Benin I've been totally lame about taking pictures. I'd say I'd try to be better, but it is a little bit annoying to whip the camera out all the time. I think it's because life here isn't really THAT different than in the US, so it's hard to motivate. I have been trying to take more pictures with my cell-phone, since I do have it all the time. But even that is annoying (mostly because the camera doesn't work very well anymore... one too many drops on the ground I suppose). At least it wouldn't be out of place though. Japanese people take pictures with their cell-phones like every 5 seconds.
Beyond that it's still rainy season, which means bouts of incredible heat followed by bouts of incredible rain. Supposedly it's on its way out, so that's nice. Or is it?
I was checking out the Kurabuchi page on Japanese wikipedia. I'd been quoting our population as around 5400 previously, but it looks like we're actually a bit smaller at 4,683. It was also interesting to know that we have an official village bird, tree and flower (Japanese bush-warbler, Japanese Cypress, and the Gold-banded Lily respectively) It was also interesting to compare the wikipedia articles for surrounding areas (Matsuida has a population of 16,715. I knew it was bigger, but didn't realize nearly 4 times bigger!)
In life we're now just waiting for summer to start. Right now just 7 more days of teaching until the it starts. That's exciting! It's really snuck up on me, and it's even harder to believe that I've been here nearly a year now.
In other anniversaries, it's been now a year since I left Benin. Wow...