Hindsight

Two nights ago I broke down and bought some watermelon. That cost me 580 yen (about $5).

Checking out my daily luck on my (now archaic) phone.

Yesterday I went to Ichiran with Alex just before our ALT meeting.

The final ALT meeting seemed more relaxed, even though our reports to everyone were the usual. I was exit-interviewed by Kimura sensei – he was curious to hear about my schools and what problems there were.

I thought about it afterwards and its interesting how I’ve changed. About one year ago I came here, started working and complained about the kids. Now the year is almost up and my problems have generally been with staff. This comes to me as a good thing, and reminds me of how my perspective might have changed.

With the meeting ajourned, Sakamoto sensei handed us leaving ALTs the necessary exit information and reminded us of what we needed to do before leaving Japan. Over the course of the meeting I was smiling less and I realized that this was, in fact, the last ALT meeting I would go to.

When Sakamoto sensei asked if there were any major announcements I said “Yeah. I just wanted to say that it’s been a privilege working with such a great group of people.” It may have seemed out of place, but I wanted to say it. Followed by a short applause, the meeting finally came to a close.

Last night I went to Koichi’s to meet up with Jon who I won’t see this weekend (he’s off to Boston for a few weeks) in addition to Cayce (leaving for home as well). I drank quite a bit: a beer here, a vodka shot with Jon there and then Umeshu.

To make a long story short, I woke up in bed this morning with my shirt and jeans still on. The hangover was strong, but enough Pocari Sweat did the trick (it’s probably the Japanese equivalent of America’s “Gatorade”) .

Today, Ms. Tsujii’s 2-1 Homeroom class summoned me the last 10 minutes of first period. They gave me a beautiful bundle of folded, paper cranes with messages attached also. Pictured here was the message they wrote for me as I walked into the classroom. I will miss these kids.

The souji (cleaning time) was longer today, since it was to be the last before summer vacation. Windows were cleaned, trash cleared out. Just like any other day, the school was restored.

I had three 1-nensei classes today, a mix of bingo, new words and drawing (“go up 2, go right 3, draw Ms. Matsuo!). It was good fun. At the end of class, Matsuo sensei had the kids do jazz chants for me to say goodbye. Super warm fuzzies, as they say.

The picture taking has ramped up since my time with Tahara is done after tomorrow. Here’s Yurie, the girl who wrote out my name in beautiful kanji a week ago.