Weekends

So the volcano nearby erupted spewing ash and rocks everywhere. There's no lava near me but the ash persists casting a haze over everything in sight. You can't even see the giant mountains in the haze. Lately the ash is subsiding, but it keeps blowing our way. My car is suffering and I have to change the air filter not to mention its filthy. The ash falls like some weird snow and the eruptions sound like bombs going off. Not to mention our share of earthquakes lately. I think the earth is PO'd, take a look at australia. They are screwed. Luckily it rained about a day ago turning all the ash to mud... Yet people are still trying to sweep the ash.
I was going to go to Nagasaki on my birthday weekend, but because of the volcano and bird flu it is a no go. Instead I celebrated my birthday. My co-workers surprised me at 8pm as I was in the office returning from Juku class. The gave me cards, flowers, and sho-chu. Fabulous, they are the best office ever. Then I went with Lola and Kurumi-san to Muqing's house. There I was surprised by more of my friends and office workers. We partook of cake and laughed at all the Bigbang decorations. I got awesome gifts including bigbang bodyspray(hahahha), sweet shochu glass, doll set, cup noodle lip holder, bookmarks, t-shirts, cookies, and posters from my students. My students made the cutest pictures that they wrote in English on. The responses ranged from, you are good at english, to you are my sister. SOoooo sweet. This weekend I decided to go to takachiro gorge. It a pleasant 5 hour drive and there might be snow there.