Anrakuji is a magical place.

Today was really nice.  I spent the whole afternoon and evening at Anrakuji with my old host family and Annika!  I truly love spending time with my old host family.  They feel like my real family, and are so wonderful to be around.  I think it is because they are all genuinely happy people, and that happiness spreads to the people around them and creates an atmosphere of comfort and acceptance and love.
And it is nice to spend time with Annika, because no one can really understand the life of an exchange student except another exchange student, especially one in the same country.  She is also just fun to be around :]
It was the first time Annika had been to Anrakuji, so I got to show her around and explain all the murals and customs.  We played New Year's games [one where you flick little round chips across a horizontal dart board, trying to knock off the other person's pieces and get your own into the high scoring areas, and a card game] and ate yummy food [I forget the name, but it is a big pancake made of cabbage and lots of other things with Japanese sauce and mayonnaise.]

Today was simple and happy.

I love the kotatsu!

Annika in the grocery store