February
Will the cold never stop?!:


February 2, Dinner with Henry, Laura, Susan, David, and Erica.
- About one week prior, David's girlfriend came here from Brazil. This was the first time we got to meet her. I had gone snowboarding all day before this, so I only came for a short time, and therefore there are only 2 pictures from this :(


February 3, Setsubun/Mamemaki (a.k.a. the bean throwing ceremony)
- There is a deep-seeded belief in evil spirits/devils (oni) in Japanese traditional culture. How would you get rid of these spirits you ask? By throwing beans at them of course! Today, they throw peanuts instead of the traditional beans. This year, Akaishi Jinja invited me, Emma, Emily, Adrian, and Emma's neighbor Kim to participate in the ceremony and then throw peanuts at all the kids in front of the shrine.


February 9-10, Weekend at Yuda-cho's snow festival!
- Ben Beaty invited us down to Yuda for the weekend. Laura, Jess, Susan, and Susan's friend Jacqui from Yokohama rode with me down to the festival. We also ate some bear soup, got buried in snow, almost got killed on the drive down, saw world-class snowball fighting, and visited the Yudaman (and his big 'piece')


February 10, We saw the Iwate snow festival at Koiwai farm.
- Went with Darren, Yuriko, Susan, Jacqui, and Jess to see all of the snow scuptures at Koiwai farm's snow festival. We REALLY like yakiniku!


February 20, Elementary school class at Nagaoka Elementary School
- Every month, I have about 6 days of elementary school classes... one of the teachers at Nagaoka took some pictures while I was having classes on this day!


February 23-March1, I went to New York.
- I went to New York for work, and was gone for 6 days. A coworker and I went with the intention of starting a new exchange program for our students in Shiwa. For part of the time, we had a chance to look around New York City, too.