Update

The 4th nuclear reactor in Fukushima is not in the best shape. There's another fire there, which is never a good thing. Also, there was another quake, a little further south than the last. It was a 6 in Shizuoka prefecture, where it hit, but it was only a 3 when it reached us. That's only the second quake we've felt here in Hikone. Besides that, we've just had a bit of weird weather today! During our second hour of class today, it went from clear skies to clouds to rain to blizzard to clear again. o.0

I hope I'm not scaring anyone too much. We're still really far from Fukushima, and I have faith that the program directors would not allow us to be here if we weren't safe. For one thing, the wind direction is such that any radioactive material from Fukushima is being blown into the ocean, not south towards us. We're all still fine here - even those who were in Tokyo last weekend made it back safely. Some of the students here are starting to worry, but I'm honestly not very concerned. Hikone is pretty far inland, as well as south of all the stuff that's going on. Plus, we're surrounded by mountains. I'm fairly certain we're safe from any sort of flooding and all the quakes thusfar here are really minor. So, try not to worry too much! :)

We finally have a 3-day weekend this weekend! I was going to go up to Tokyo but that plan had to change because it's really not a safe place to be right now...at least, it's not very tourist-amenable. So, instead I'm spending the majority of my weekend here. On Friday, we're going to Nara, Japan's first capital! :) They have deer and a giant buddha there, so we're probably just going to see that and then head back. Saturday we're going to tour around somewhere in Shiga Prefecture, just to find someplace new. And the rest of the weekend I intend to relax and recharge for the last few weeks of classes. We just have 3 weeks left! Crazy.

In happier news, the swing lesson last night went really well! We had about 10-12 people show up, and I think everyone enjoyed it. I enjoyed teaching and swing dancing again...I've forgotten a lot but it's so much fun.

Today, we didn't have a lot of homework so we braved the cold weather to go to Viva City! We did the usual of hitting up the cute things store - a little more Sentimental Circus for me - and then going to the arcade and getting cream puffs. Mmm, Japanese cream puffs.

Sorry for the lack of pictures! I'll definitely have some on Friday, because we'll be in Nara. :D