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It's been snowing pretty much non-stop since yesterday. And yet, it
doesn't settle - it melts as soon as it touches the ground, which is a bit
of a shame. The weirdest thing of all is the view from outside the
classroom where we study - there's palm tree-type trees growing there, and
seeing these palm trees covered in snow is just...surreal.
It's a wee bit chilly though. I have the heating on max, three layers on
and I'm still cold. The rooms aren't very well insulated - they have an
enormous sliding glass door leading to a balcony, which is nice and airy
in summer, but bloody freezing right now. I've taken to keeping my
curtains closed all day just to give the room a little insulation.
So, I'm looking forward to Spring, when things'll heat up a little. It's
supposedly the coldest week of the year this week anyway, so from now on
it should start to warm up.
Tomorrow, February 3rd, is the Setsubun festival in Japan. During this
festival, Japanese households will throw beans inside and outside the
house in order to drive out the demons. When throwing beans outside, it's
traditional to cry "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!" (Demons out, happiness
in!) I won't be doing this tomorrow, however, as throwing beans around
causes a bit of a mess. And what with all the cockroaches inside my room
and the pigeons outside on the balcony, it'll just bring more demons in
than out!
Nick was given a bag of beans for Setsubun by a Japanese friend, but he
ate them all.
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