far, far away

And so, this is the End

This will be the last post that I make. My cable modem gets taken away on Friday and I've just been really busy trying to tie up all the loose ends, so, ya, this is it.

One whole year. Not often is one period in life so well defined. We don't live birthday to birthday, or New Year's Day to New Year's Day. Time just sort of passes by for us, one day at a time.

One year ago I made a big jump. I took a leap. Looking back now, things turned out a lot differently than I ever thought they would have. Teaching was hard sometimes. Living here was even more difficult at times. I had bad students (imagine that!). I got engaged. I decided not to stay another year.

None of those things were expected, but I don't regret or feel badly about any of them. I came to love my students, even the bad ones. As much as I felt like giving up sometimes, I stuck it out and I'm proud of myself for having done that. Work is work. Even bad students are usually good kids.

I learned so much, experienced so many things. I felt new levels of loneliness and pain, which I think opened up even greater levels of hope, happiness, a sense of accomplishment, and love. I had a lot of time to myself this year, a lot of time to think.

I will miss this place. I will certainly miss my students, from the kindergarten up through the middle school.

Lastly, I have just one request.

Once I return home Japan will be over for you, my family and friends. Try to understand that I had an entire life here. I had a home, a job, friends, and a (host) family. I lived in this country. I rode the train to work everyday and took trips on many weekends. I saw great cities, stunning temples, ate strange and tasty food, and drank my fare share of shochu.

I got frustrated and angry. I was happy and elated. I cried because I was sad and because I was overjoyed. I celebrated surviving my first week of classes and I felt empty when my last week was finished.

The point is, Japan will never be over for me. It will be a part of me for life. So, when you hear me tell a story, or get excited about some picture I want you to see, just humor me. Try to listen and try to understand why I came here and why, at least in some small way, I will have never really left.

Thanks.

Up and Down

Sweet Jesus...well we climbed Mt.Fuji. It rained. It was windy. It was cold. I couldn't breathe quite right after the 7th station. I'm just glad we did it. The view from the top was amazing, both with clouds and when it cleared up from time to time. We were at the summit for only about 10 minutes or so. I sent some post cards from the post office up there, we got a drink and ate some food, and then got the heck off of that mountain.

The trip down wasn't much better. At least it wasn't raining and the air got better and better as we got further down. My knees and legs are still feeling the pain of going down a mountain for 4 hours or so. Ouch.

Would I do it again? Hell no. Should you do it if you have the change? Of course. As the Japanese say, "A wise man climbs Fuji once, only a fool climbs Fuji twice."

We spent the next two days in the resort town of Hakone. We couldn't really move around much, but thankfully Hakone is full of hot springs. We soaked are battered, broken bodies, had some good food, and drank some beers. It was a nice relaxing two days.

Back in Osaka now. Aaron is here until the day I leave for the US...which is just over a week from now...yikes...

When you feel like this, the only thing to do is climb a mountain

My farewell ceremony was yesterday. It was really nice. All the classes gave me a present and the teachers bought me a really nice bouquet of flowers. Later that afternoon 3 of my students came and gave me letters and presents, which really cheered me up a bit. I felt very empty. Dinner with my teachers didn't help much either. It was a very nice dinner, but then I had to say goodbye to them as well.

So, I figure I'll go climb Mt.Fuji. I'll be back in a few days, hopefully with my head cleared up a bit.

Last Lessons and Last Minutes

This week was it. Really. Taught my last lesson today. It was sort of surreal. It didn't feel any different than any other lesson really. I guess it hasn't really hit me yet.

Tomorrow I go in to give some speeches. In Japanese you ask? Of course! You think they'd make it easy on me? The teachers get a speech, then the kids...and then...for some strange reason I have to give the teachers another speech at my farewell dinner that night....ehhh...whatever! I'm free after tomorrow night...NO MATTER WHAT! HAHAHAHAHA!

I get giddy in a mad scientist sort of way at the thought...

On a slightly more worrisome note my friend is currently stuck in Nagasaki trying to get his Japanese drivers license, which is vital, because where he lives there are no trains.

Now, this wouldn't be such a huge deal, except we're supposed to climb Mt.Fuji together starting on Friday morning and he can't very well do that stuck in Nagasaki. So, let's all hope that he passes his driving test tomorrow. Strangely enough, he's been driving for several years in the U.S. and a whole year in Japan....do I smell racism...perhaps...though, to be fair I hear it's very difficult to pass for anyone.

Become a Ghost

Several months ago, around graduation time, I wrote about how we live life in moments, short little spurts of time. Time passes without much notice for most of us. We live our lives and follow the same patterns today that we followed yesterday and that we'll likely follow tomorrow.

It is those brief moments in time when a sudden shift turns us on a dime that define us. As I approach one such moment in time I find myself feeling detached from my surroundings. I feel a growing disconnect in everything I do.

My college roommate, PJ, was talking to me the other day. He cleans pools, well, just in the summer time. He was telling me how hard it is to work in the neighborhood where his former girlfriend used to live. He said he felt like a ghost of his former self, taking a tour of his former life, detached from it all, but still well aware of what that place once meant to him.

I feel such a gap growing as I go about my daily routines. I feel more and more like an  outsider while walking to work. I feel like a tourist riding on the train. I don't see the point in eating Japanese food anymore, even though I still do. I'm not really sure why.

Maybe it's all that I can do.

So...

Obviously I'm a little rusty with messing around with HTML or youtube just won't let me re-size their video.

This post is merely here to add some space.

That's right...no content whatsoever.

Next post will have content.

I promise.

As for this post....I apologize.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well, I've been quite busy with preparations for my departure. Boxing stuff up, shipping stuff home, getting a flight date setup. I also found out who my replacement is. Her name is Kirstian and she is from Canada. She seems really nice and has an excellent educational background and some experience in Japan. I think she's going to do great.

I feel like my predecessor really let me down, so I'm trying hard to give her all the information she'll need and any help she wants. It seems like so long ago that I was just moving here. Crazy.

Not much else going on. Here's something to keep you occupied in the meantime- 

Class Trip

Today was that day that children relish above all other days- The class trip. An actual day of school that isn't school...wow...what a great thing. Let me tell you, it's even better when you get paid to do it.

In Japan there are two field trips a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. The spring one is more a day of relaxation. I went with the first grade (like 6th grade back home) to a park in Sakai, which is about 25 minutes from my house by train.

I wasn't really sure what we were going to do, but what we ended up doing wasn't what I had in mind, it was pretty neat though. The kids cooked a curry rice lunch from scratch, over fire. Strange, yes, but also pretty tasty. I really got a good chance to talk to the kids, which was lots of fun.

After lunch the kids had a dodge ball tournament and then it was back to school. Not a bad day at all. Pictures are up!

In other news, I went to Byodoin last weekend. That's the temple on the back of the 10 yen coin...for all of you that have 10 yen coins laying around.

Just pretend it happened this week..

Ya...so this is several days late...just read the title if that bothers you, heh. So, let's see...

Last weekend Aaron came out to the Osaka area for the JET re-contracting conference. He to stay with me on Friday night. He got here around 9 and we soon made our way to the local watering hole. To make a long night short, we spent a lot of money, got really drunk and ended up with the owner and some regular at our table.

The whole time we were there I was really craving some ramen. Unfortunately the ramen stand was closed when we walked by at 3am. I took out my anger on my umbrella and some high school kid making out with his girlfriend on a street corner (what's a kid doing out that late anyway...he was asking for it).

Look, the point is, when you want to travel into Kyoto and hike in the mountains the next day its not a good idea to get stupid drunk the night before. Despite doing this, we somehow made it into Kyoto by 2. We went to Fushimi Inari Shrine. It was quite worth the trip. Check out the pictures.

That night we had dinner with Aaron's old host family. They were quite nice and the two little girls were absolutely adorable. It's always fun to get invited into someones house in Japan. It doesn't happen all that often.

All Quiet

I guess you've noticed not much is going on lately. Well....let's see...Oh, I called out of work yesterday, that was pretty fun. Who doesn't like calling out of work? I sent money home and was quite happy with an exchange rate that has moved 8 yen in my favor since I last sent money home. That's only about 8 cents, but on 120,000 yen, it adds up.

My friend Aaron is in Kobe this week for the JET conference. We're going to head to Kyoto on Saturday and bring my host brother. I figure a bilingual 8-year old has got to be good for something. We're going to have dinner with Aaron's host family that night. Should be fun. I've never met his old host family before.

That's about it...I'll try to do something more interesting in the near future...