Well, after nearly an hour of teary goodbyes yesterday morning, our little Azu headed off to the Airport to go back home. She was taking it pretty hard, but hopefully all our reassurances about visiting her in October will help ease the pain.

The last full day all the Japanese students were here they went to a kind of children's arts dreamland, an establishment located here at Hallmark's world headquarters called "Kaleidoscope". For years, elementary aged children have been able to spend the day there, doing all sorts of arts and crafts, going through mazes, completing puzzles, all kinds of fun things. Well, while she was there, Azu drew little manga doodles of my family, showing each of us and one of our dominant characteristics - her own form of caricatures. It's absolutely adorable, and she pointed at our art-covered front door and said, "to go here." Sure enough, it's there, held firmly and safely in place by magnetic rocks. She was so happy to see it join the ranks of my sister's, Shika's, drawings. I'm sure it will be there for years. ^^

I found out a bit more of her home situation, explaining her motherly nature. Since she was very small, her mother has been teaching piano nearly all day at Azu's grandfather's house a few blocks from where she lives. For years, she's been left in charge of caring for her younger siblings after getting home from school until her mom finished the day's lessons. Her father is an office worker that doesn't get home until late, so he wasn't much help with the kids. All that work has made her a very caring and attentive person.

Here's one of the few pictures we got of her (all our cameras are being beyond stupid). The other one's Shika with her newest and by far shortest haircut yet. I guess really they're both cute. ^^ *swells with sisterly love*