Haha, as you can guess from the title of this entry I have endured times of sickness. My New Years was spent with the flu, and a fever of 102 degrees. I got better just in time for classes to start again! Lucky me!
Well, I got food poisoning at the least convenient time and had to miss not only one of my finals but also my friend's certificate ceremony. The Finnish guys and Sjoerd (the Holland guy) left for home last week and that day was their last day of class.
Fortunately I got myself well enough to go on a trip that weekend to Hiroshima, which was Sjoerd's last "hurrah" in Japan. We went to the famous shrine that sits in the water facing a large tori (gate). When the tide is up they look like they are floating on water.
Of course we also visited the museum of the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima. That was a very somber experience, but it was a good thing to see. Some of the exhibits were hard to walk through. For instance, there was a life size, very realistic display of three people (two children) as they must have looked immediately after the explosion. Their skin was melting off their arms and faces and hanging off. The scenery was one of devastation and fire. Truly such an event must never take place again.
Now I am preparing to go to class again this Monday to start my Winter Session. From here on all my classes will be taught in Japanese and I am a little nervous and unsure how well I will do. But I will do my best!
