Things are heating up...my last day on S3A and the nursing school festival!

It's 8:30AM in Iizuka and the weather is standing at an astonishing 23 degrees with 70% humidity. As a Canadian who typically sees these kinds of temperatures in the never days of the dead middle of summer, I am certainly feeling the heat! But, I was definitely a sunflower in a past life and I am totally loving it! I wish I'd counted the number of times I said "atsui ne!" (Isn't it hot?!) today. Look out ladies and gents it's only May! Maybe I should pre order some spf 315 for the actual summer months before I turn into a burnt piece of French [Canadian] toast.

I realize this is sunset - but imagine that beast at midday!
This was taken on my mini adventure around the unexplored areas of Iizuka. :)

So today was my last day on S3A....eh! It went by so quickly! But I'll never forget the hilarity of one of the nurse aids: my favourite was when she pointed to herself and said "old woman" and walked away with an imaginary cane and her back hunched over...."baiii". Or the other nurse aid who calls herself my older sister and yelled "IT'S MY FAVOURITE" when I asked her if she liked sushi. We got along just fine.
I'll also miss some of the patients who were staying here, especially a woman who always has her hair done in pigtails and who laughs at me as I dance in the hallway. She also pinches my waist and gives me high fives as she walks by. I've shared some great laughs with patients these past two weeks as I teach them English and apologize for my lack of ability to speak Japanese. They are all so very sweet though so I can't complain. :)

This afternoon there was a Japanese cultural festival at the nursing school that's associated with the hospital. Yano san joined Samantha and I for some really delicious and cheap eats, an informal tea ceremony (they were very impressed that I could sit on my heels) and more Shodou!
This is also official: I love Shodou and I'm not afraid to say it! It's SO much more difficult than it looks and really takes serious concentration, artistic fineness  freedom and control all at the same time. Plus the end results are excellent pieces of art that are beautiful in series like these (left). I like it so much despite the shodou sensei being the absolute cutest man in the entire world! I can tell he is thrilled to see that I am having a good time and want to spend more time practicing. Today I got to write the kanji for beauty: "bi" onto a huge sheet of paper with a massive brush! I had to wide step around the paper on the floor and crouch down to paint it. It was really fun :) I was admiring the work hanging around the room so much that one of the students offered to paint one for me! Its the same as the second from the right on the picture to the left. It's her series of two kanji. They even stamped it and framed it for me and everything! I'm so happy!

Uosumi sensi, the shodou teacher, is in the middle. The others are nursing staff :)