Well Mika has left, and now so has Franzi. On Monday Lalo will be leaving and Fernando will leave in less than a month... everyone seems to be leaving me!! However very soon there will be new exchange students coming, and that will make Mark and I the new seniors :D Today I was able to meet about 20 Americans and Canadians who have come to our school for a two week cultural exchange. We will be having a welcome party for them on Friday after the final assembly (which will mean the start of summer holidays, for about 1 and a half months). Also, Lalo and his parents came to Hamamatsu today to stopover before they go onto the next spot for their trip.
Today is the 3rd day of the 'Japanese Buddhist Commemoration of the Departed' (13th - 15th July). This means that on the 13th day, the spirits return to their houses for something (i am getting this off my host mum in Japanese) and so people light little fires out the front of their houses to light the way. Now it is the 3rd day, and so they light the little fires again (to show where to come next time?). Anyway, it was interesting to see many people lighting these little fires. As I was coming home from the city today, a weird man spoke to us and we didnt understand him... he was trying to speak english, and so we couldnt understand.. but before we tried to ask him to say it in japanese, he was getting off the bus quickly. We looked to our right, and saw a little festival at the Buddhist temple, and so we quickly got off to go and check it out. I think that was what he was talking about :S We took some photos, and saw some dancing and many people wearing kimono (or yukata?). Interesting day today :D