In Thailand Erin and were sitting in the Phi Phi Bakery eating breakfast and watching CNN when I saw the words Fukui Prefecture flash across the screen. I actually stood up and said "I live there" because I was so shocked. There was a huge typhoon that came through (while I was gone) and flooded the river and a large part of the city. You can still see all of the damage, some of our students had to move out of their houses for months while they are cleaned and repaired. It was really suprising and a little sad.

Another disappointing aspect of the flood is that they canceled the Fukui Festival because of all the damage and that means there was no Yosakoi dancing for me. I was really looking forward to dancing in the festival. The might re-schedule the dancing for another festival in September, but I'm not sure yet.

I am now on holiday (John constantly points out that it is not vacation but holiday because of course the Queen's English is proper and despite Japan teaching American English it is completely wrong...according to John). I have 9 days and almost no plans. It is going to be nice to just lay about, go to the beach and not have any schedule!