I will survive... the bugs.

This morning, on the way to school, I Will Survive came on my ipod as I walked down semi-crowded sidewalks next to towering buildings. There isn't a more appropriate song for a Monday morning commute, I thought.

So, I'm not entirely sure the last day that I wrote. But first, a rabbit trail to get out of the way before I continue: In the world of random creatures, did you know they have ravens the size of chihuahuas here? For real, they are gigantic, and pick through trash and sit on posts, etc., and look at you, screech at you, daring you to do anything about it. I've never seen any so big... I thought you'd like to know.

As I always talk about the weather, just know that right now, everyone is sweaty at all times of the day. EXCEPT: at school. 4 hours of air-conditioning. Anyway, last week, it was supposedly in Shinjuku up to 38C, which is like 100... before humidity was added. It's been in the 90s though, with heat index at 100+. I heard from another student that four people in Tokyo died from the heat last week. Here it's really expensive to run the air conditioning, so not so many use it.

Friday night we were at street band in Shinyuri and up and running, talking to people... having a great time doing outreach as usual. About an hour into it, we see the police in the background talking to some people selling some stuff, and we decide to take a momentary "break"... alas, they came also to talk to us to let us know that they are cracking down on rules about selling things outside of the station and doing musical stuff. And there is no permission for doing it. They said if we do it again, we will be arrested... and that means problems with or loss of visas, etc. So, we were kicked out, and it being too late to go to another stop on the line and set up and do it again before others had to leave, we called it a night.

It was disappointing... we've met so many people at that spot, and out of the different locations we've used, it's the best.

Some girls from FUSE came over for a craft day, a few of them who were available anyhow, and we made scrunchies. Granted, I don't ever wear them really, but the Japanese girls like them. Kaori, who is super quiet and shy, is a craft-genius and she took did an excellent job teaching and really seemed to gain confidence. She seemed to be in her element!

There were only Japanese girls there on Sunday, so it was an opportunity for me to really practice Japanese. For the most part, I was quiet, because obviously, it wasn't all about me. But I tried to be paying attention to what all was going on around me "language-ly" and the girls tried to include me and talk to me as well. I didn't do the best job, but I tried. I generally prefer one-on-one conversation while learning and make far more attempts at conversation in that setting than in a group.

It was a good time together, and I did life group afterward with some girls, and am now deciding: it's bed time!