Well, it's been a long time, yet again. I've become a slacker about posting stuff, but I've also been quite busy.

I met up with my family in Kyoto, and we had a fun and successful trip where no one got killed or anything. I was quite relieved when it was over though, because it was stressful for me and Paul to try and translate everything. We have enough trouble on our own in Japan, much less trying to help everyone out.

I'll write more about the trip and put up some pictures later on. I'll just mention some of the stuff I've done since the trip ended.

Once our family left, Paul and I headed back to his hometown together. I had some extra vacation, so I thought it would be nice to relax at his place. I didn't count on getting sick though. I ended up with something like what Paul had at the beginning of the trip, a sore throat that felt like strep, but wasn't really. Luckily it went away after a little while. Paul's girlfriend, Keiko, picked us up at Izumo train station, and we went back to Paul's place. I don't remember what we did that night, but it was probably low-key. I think Keiko bought some sushi for us, and some soup since I was feeling bad. We probably watched a movie too.

On Thursday, the next day, we went to the lighthouse near Izumo. It was quite beautiful there, but very windy. Speaking of wind, they had built two windmills in Taki since I had last been there in September. They were quite cool looking, and provided almost all the power for the town, which is great. That night we went to a restaurant with Keiko and Saho, one of Paul and Keiko's friends. Unfortunately, everyone except Paul was sick, so we had to call it a night after dinner. We hoped to go to karaoke, bowling, or something.

On Friday, Paul and I went to the beach. It was a beautiful day and perfect for the beach. We started playing frisbee and some other guys joined in. It was a lot of fun. Keiko and one of her cousins came to the beach later on, but didn't get in the water. They did help bury me in sand, though. Paul and I went home and attacked lots of kudzu after that. It's taking over Paul's yard quickly. I've always heard that we imported kudzu from Japan to help with erosion in the mountains, and that it only grows so quickly in our climate, not in Japan's. However, it is just as crazy here as at home, which makes me wonder why they thought it would be a good idea to import it to America.

Friday night we went to a festival in Izumo with fireworks for thirty minutes. There weren't too many booths at the festival, but there were a lot of people out to watch the fireworks. It was an impressive show for a small city.

Saturday morning I left for home, and got back to Toyama around 5pm. It was a long trip, and rather uneventful. It was good to be home though. Plus my sickness started disappearing on Saturday, so I felt fine on Sunday.