Well, oy.

I guess it's been a bit two months now since I updated. Mainly it was because I was lazy, and things were crazy busy. But then things actually just went crazy. So if this is to be done, it should be done in parts.

1. Ichiban 一番

On March 3rd, I was finishing my day with a student, and I asked him what he was doing after class. He said he would just go home, and I told him I was going to America. He wasn't high level enough to get it right away, but he wasn't low-level enough to miss it completely, which made for an excellent double take. So after his lesson, I hopped in my hot pants and jumped on the monorail with Hera to Haneda Airport.

Honestly, it didn't quite feel like reality; I had a hard time getting it into my head that we were actually going to America, even though

the week leading up to it was the most excited I had felt since...some time past. And the plane ride itself was amazing--anyone who has ever been on a plane with me knows that I will scare the crap out of not just myself, but a

nyone within earshot of my terrified gasps--because I had not one but SEvEN seats to myself. That's right; I had two aisles to my lonesome.

When we got to the Americas, Hera and I jumped in the airport bus and basically started giggling--yes, like usual, we were in a vehicle full of Asians, but this time we were in

our territory, and we could act anyway we wanted. On the bus, I even asked Hera, "Do you think we are the only white people on the bus?" Hera looked at me and said, "Well, you might

be."

In many ways, it felt like I hadn't really left, until obvious things peeked in: the complete reconstruction of the shop

s by my house, the reconstruction in my own house, not having my room anymore, KNOW life goes on no matter what, but somehow you think you know (or at least expect) how things will play out--and even though I knew about these things, it's still a strange sensation.

The wedding itself was a completely lovely occasion, and I'm so so glad I had the opportunity to see Kelsey and Andy together in person. I know they'll probably already have a baby or a dog or at least ridiculous pet names for each other when I get back, so at least I could see them when it was just them starting off.

There really is so much I could say about that weekend. And yet I can't, so you'll have to settle for that. So with much ado,

we returned to Japan.

At 6 or so in the morning, Hera and I got back on the monorail. It was a really lovely morning in Tokyo, but I wasn't completely thrilled about the prospects of returning to work in 6 hours. I mentioned to Hera about how my coworker was always saying things like, "Oh, there's going to by a typhoon, and it will flood the trains and they'll have to cancel school" or "It's supposed to snow, and since they don't really know how to deal with snow in Tokyo, it will stop the trains and they'll have to cancel school." So I remarked to Hera that he was making all these false-promises, and I was still waiting for something to happen that would stop the trains and cancel school.

Then came Friday.