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Okay, folks. Not sure where to start. Let's see, a few weeks ago friends of my host mom came in from Osaka and stayed for an extended weekend (which felt like a super extended weekend to me). Why did I feel this way? Oh, it just so happens the number of kids in the house doubled. This has pros and cons. Pro-They will sometimes be content playing with each, leaving me with relatively quiet time in which to do homework, relax, etc. Con-the rest of the time they are attacking me in a group. The worst of which involved me giving two of them piggyback rides simultaneously. Nothing like having a 5 and 6 year-old (around 80 pounds) clinging to your slowly deteriorating back. It was fun enough at first, and made for nice exercise, but they don't comprehend that after awhile I'm both mentally and physically tired of giving them piggyback rides (onbu). So they just shout ONBU ONBU over and over. I can't even sit down without one or both of them climbing up onto my back/neck, 'If you don't onbu we'll get even noisier' That's one part of returning that I'm looking forward to, no kids constantly screaming, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love the hell out of Yugo and Tayusuke, but it'll be nice to return to the real world. Also, I went on a huge, crazy trip/adventure about a month ago to Kyushu, Yakushima, and Shikoku over spring break. I don't have the time to detail it at the moment, but suffice it to say Molly and I hiked over 10hrs just to see a damn tree. Are we crazy? Yes. Another fun anecdote involves the konpa we had for Japanese Lit class. We went out drinking and to karaoke with our sensei. Nothing like drunkenly talking about the meaning of life, etc. with your also drunk 50-year-old teacher. Good times. I may also detail that later. We had our 'returning home' orientation last week. It's starting to hit home that this is ending. It has been a fun ride, and I'll make the most of what is left. This coming weekend is a trip up to Hokkaido with my host family to consume mass amounts of super fresh sushi and crab. Scrumtralescent! After that I have about a week break before finals, so I should be able to get a decent post in then. Sorry about the drought of posts lately. The shorinji kenpo club I joined is more time consuming than I imagined. Later.