Rainy season is here

 The Japan Meteorological Agency has declared the earliest start to rainy season on record for the island of Shikoku.  I was checking their website and JMA predicts a 40-50% chance that temperatures will be above normal for the May-July time period.  Rainfall will be above normal for the rest of May and all of June (averaged over the whole month).  July is predicted to be drier than normal.  With absolutely no justification other than thinking about the transitions between months, my guess is it's going to rain a lot the next two weeks or so, then dry out for the end of June.  We'll see what happens.

On Friday I missed a certified letter.  It's my bank card.  Yuko called the postal service, and they will be by the apartment sometime between 4 and 6 pm today to have me sign for it.  This was especially good because Thao came in a little later and said accounting worked everything out and I get paid tomorrow.  She said she'll take me to the ATM to make sure I can change my PIN.  Susan has shown me the basics of the ATM a few times.  She will be my go-to if things go sideways.  For tomorrow I'll probably have Thao take me.  I know one reason the office staff wants to be able to help me is they get to practice their American English.  "It gets rusty when I don't use it" is a common refrain.  I'm happy to serve as a linguistic oil can.

I have also been given the details regarding the Welcome Party.  It will be June 2 from 12:10-12:30.  Normally it's a big affair with food and many students, faculty, administrators, and staff.  This will be no food, a half-dozen students, minimal faculty, administrators, and staff.  But lots of fun, I'm sure.

Malachi told me the family played Bananagrams Saturday night.  Those who have never played it, it's kind of like Scrabble, but each player makes his or her own crossword.  With 4 players, everyone starts with 21 tiles (we're all very good at counting by 3's now).  On "Split," flip over your tiles and do your best to make a crossword with what you have.  There are ways to exchange tiles (discard 1, draw 3), and when you use all in your hand you call "Peel."  Everyone has to draw an extra tile.  The goal is to be the one who finishes placing their tiles when there are not enough for everyone to take an extra.  At home we all work on our own, but we also look at each others boards to offer suggestions.  We're a cooperative family whenever we can be.  I was think this might be a good game for some of the students here to play.  Or it might be so difficult it's frustrating.  If I can find it online and deliverable for a reasonable price, I'll probably get it.  Even if you don't want to play with other people, you can use the tiles to make words.

Quiddler would be another good word game.  I like Boggle, too, but that is way noisy with the shaking in a plastic container.