It’s been an odd day.

The weather gods must have gotten tired of listening to me whine, because it was only in the 60s today. Only in North Carolina could you have a 25-degree difference in highs between two consecutive days. But hey, I’m not complaining – I rather enjoyed it, overcast skies and all. (Hey, I’m originally from Michigan, and sometimes I get a little homesick for that kind of weather.)

Speaking of homesick, I had a really weird encounter with a blog this afternoon. I was bored, so I started googling random blogs. I started to reminisce about the time I spent in Japan, and I found myself googling for blogs about Kansai Gaidai, the university that I studied abroad at. I clicked a link and started reading this blog by a girl who’s currently studying there, and it brought back so many memories. She talked about the classes, the day trips, and her host family. She wrote about how her host family seemed to be a bit distant lately, and that, too, brought back a lot of memories. I never really felt like I clicked with mine…

The Teranishi family – my host family when I studied abroad in Japan in 2001

But then I read something that stopped me dead in my tracks – something that was altogether eerie. This girl? Her host family? Her host family is my former host family. At first, when I read the family’s surname, I shrugged it off as coincidence. Maybe there were lots of families named Teranishi that served as host families for Kansai Gaidai students. But then in another post, she mentioned the kids’ names, and that settled it. This girl was living in the same place I lived 6 years ago. It was weird to read about Ken-kun, the son, getting ready to take the high school entrance exams, and about Aya-chan, the daughter, being in college. They were just little kids when I lived with them!

Anyway, it was just really weird… the first blog I visited – the only blog I visited – and it turns out to be someone who’s living with my former host family. She probably rides the same bike I rode, sleeps on the same futon I slept on, does her homework on the same desk I did mine on, stops for doughnuts at the same Mister Donut shop in Kuzuha station that I occasionally visited. Freaky, huh?

In other news, I decided to brush the cats last night. They’re both shedding like mad, and I was coming away with a handful of hair every time I’d pet them, so I got the brush, held them down one at a time, and brushed the little buggers. They were not happy (and I have the scratches to prove it). The really funny part happened when I was brushing Seymour. He was growling something fierce, and the longer I held him down, the more upset he got. Gambit had jumped up on the bed to see what all the commotion was about, and at one point, when Seymour got free enough to take a swipe at me, Gambit attacked him. He literally attacked Seymour – pounced on him and held him down. Like he was defending me or something. Of course, he didn’t seem so pleased when it was his turn to be brushed, but still… my baby protected me! Seymour joined us back on the bed during Gambit’s turn, and I swear, it was like he was laughing at Gambit. Seriously – there was a little kitty smirk on his face. All’s well now, though. Both seem to have completely forgotten their grievances with me, and they cuddled up with me on the couch while we watched the two-hour long Grey’s Anatomy tonight. And more importantly? I didn’t get up covered in cat hair, for once.

** Back when I was living in Japan, we’d say this anytime it’d rain – it was always sort of a joke inside saying among my friends, “mi kasa es su kasa.” “Kasa” being the Japanese word for umbrella. “My umbrella is your umbrella.” Yeah, we were dorks.