I've become friends with the dragonflies here in Japan. I harken to them and they come hither! Harken har har har!

Weather
Temperatures have cooled down in a matter of just a few days. It was a very rapid change in the weather and I was surprised by this. I kept all of the windows open up until this last Monday, when suddenly during the night I found myself actually getting a slight chill and pulling the blanket around me. It was a much faster change in temperature than I was used to in Oregon. It has kept up all week, too. I asked Mr. Kamata, my supervisor, if this was normal and he said indeed it was; that the summer to autumn change was always a quick one. But he said this season was his favorite because of the more comfortable temperatures and the beautiful changing of the leaves. Fall has always been my favorite season, too, and I’m excited to see the similarities and differences in these two far away places. Up until this change in the weather, the actual temperature s probably that same as in the Northwestern US- mid 80’s to lower 90’s, but the difference here is that the humidity is far greater- up to 90% I think I saw on TV the other day! For this reason, you sweat by just standing outside and not moving. It’s like the moisture just carries the heat right next to your skin. I am so welcoming these cooler temps. I find I have more energy and motivation to do just about anything. I’ll let you know how it is in the winter time.

There has been some fantastic storms. So far I’ve noticed that storms here maybe don’t have the longer duration that the do in Oregon, but they have a lot more going on in that short time. Lightning, for example, is much more prevalent. It can seem to be miles away, yet be suddenly right on top of you in a matter of minutes. One Friday while working at the BOE, the sky grew dark and foreboding. All was quiet, yet tense and you had the feeling that something was about to happen, like when you’re watching a scary movie and you just know that something freaky is just about to happen. Well, right as I started saying goodbye to everyone there was the loudest crack I had ever heard and it honestly seemed to be only about 40 yards from the building. KRA-POW!! I jerked right out of my seat and many of the women on our floor let out a small shriek, some even instinctively hit the ground. My hear hammering in my chest, I looked around at the shocked (no pun) smiles of my co-workers. I was minutes from riding my bike home and Kamata-san insisted that I get a ride from a colleague (this was before I had a car) but I (probably stupidly) declined. It was just one strike; it had been a long week and I wanted the exercise- even if it killed me  As you can guess, I made the 8 minute ride home no problem and was none the worse. Although the storms are short here in the mountainous terrain around Ichihasama, they pack a wallop with hard rains, strong winds and scary lightning.