IrishOboe

Gomen ne! Sorry I haven’t written in ages! Life has been a bit stressful here in Japan as I’m trying to get ready to leave Japan, go home, plan Switzerland, etc. School has a been a little stressful as well for various reasons. I can’t believe my time here is nearly to an end! We’ve finished up oral exams with the fist years, and the final projects with the third years are finished, too. I’m happy with how both went, and am especially happy with a few third year students who did not do very well on their mid-term project, but learned from their mistakes and my suggestions and really came up with some good products. We had our farewell party Friday (July 14^th), which Naito sensei did a lot for, so that made me feel loved. The students didn’t want to talk too much about school or projects or what they wanted to do when Julie comes. They say they want to talk, but then why do I have a heck of a time getting them to talk? Maybe Julie can find the solution.

Oral exams with first years also had some great ones. One pair did a funny news report of Japan in an ice age. They’d practiced and timed it so it was very funny and everyone understood and laughed. It was great to see creative energy combined with a higher English ability. In general, my lower students make the most entertaining dialogues!

Of course the biggest news of this period was the birth of my new precious nephew, Noah Hezekiah Daley on June 28^th. I can’t wait to meet him!

During exam week (when there are no classes) I took time off (since I did all the oral exams the week before) so I was able to travel to Kyoto with APA and SB. It was a lovely time, but I’ll have to write about it separately or I won’t have time to finish this update.

July 1^st after Hippo we all went to Biki’s house and had dinner together. It was so much fun to hang around families and play with children. There was a combination of Japanese and English used, but far more Japanese than I’m usually exposed to. When a family from India joined us English became the dominant language. I was a little shocked at how the Japanese children were not willing to make the Indian children feel welcome, but I suppose their just not used to interacting with anyone so apparently different. Earlier the children had invented a game of counting while jumping on the little trampoline (so everyone could have a chance) and I modified it by counting in different languages (after all, we’re all in the Hippo language club!). Thus to help the new kids fit in I asked them to teach me how to count in Hindi. It was interesting! It was pointed out to me how similar it is to German, and then from that to English. I never would have realized the connection myself because it’s still so different. I’d write it out for you but I learned it aurally and I have no idea how they’re actually spelled.

I had intended to leave the party early to go to church but I was having such a culturally rich experience I couldn’t tear myself away. This is the kind of thing I was hoping for when I came to Japan! At one point the mother of a 12 year old girl came up to me and said (in Japanese in front of her daughter) that her daughter really likes me but is too shy to say anything. Of course I took her under my wing and we managed to enjoy the time with my limited Japanese. She taught me Japanese hand games and I taught her how to waltz. The whistle also came out at some point. Bah, the college social scene has nothing compared with dynamic families!

On the Sunday afternoon before going to Kyoto I went to see Kasia’s cello/piano concert in Nirasaki. She did a wonderful job of drawing the audience in and explaining what she’s about. I enjoyed it very much and of course it made me miss all the concerts at Eastman.

After Kyoto the rest of the week off was spent running errands (like getting official papers for leaving Japan and other such boring stuff). I’m finding the choices for Switzerland a bit overwhelming, and I’ve finally getting a taste of my own medicine as people won’t return my emails. I have nothing to complain about since I still have 400 in my inbox, but really, shouldn’t other people be organized even if I’m not? ;)

Friday, July 7^th, the day of the Tanabata Festival (star festival) we had our end of the term school enkai. At the last minute I was asked to give a farewell speech, and though I could think of all kinds of Japanese before I went up to talk it all left my mind when I got up there. Joy! It was sad to think of it as my last enkai, but I’m still so excited about seeing family and my nephews it’s hard to be all sad!

Saturday, July 8^th was the Yamanashi JET Sayonara party in Kiyosato. On the one hand it was typical college-age fun (i.e. not fun) but on the other I had a good time with people. Leslie and I got a cabin for the night all to ourselves due to some miscalculation I’m assuming. It was lovely to wake up in my bunk to the birds and the cool air and look out the window at the mist in the trees. After cleaning up Kasia picked me up (she lives very near the KEEP place we had the party) and she made me breakfast at her apartment and we hung out. It was nice! When I got home I went right to work since I’m beginning to panic that I can’t get everything done and I won’t know it until it’s too late!

This past week as been like that as I’ve pushed myself to do work before school then after with hardly time to breath. I also had some outing scheduled every day of the week. Bible study on Monday was lovely since it’d been three weeks since I’d seen church folks, on Tuesday I went to Kabuki with Miwako (more on that later), on Wednesday I had dinner at Maman Pumpkin’s with Adam and Courtnay and we had lovely conversation, Thursday was supposed to be my goodbye dinner with the English department but it got postponed since so many people couldn’t make it, on Friday I had dinner with Miwako and Courtnay since I’m missing Courtnay’s goodbye party at church on Saturday. So it’s all good stuff and I’ve been working like a dog inbetween it all and a lot has been accomplished, but it’s draining and Thursday I finally snapped and just bummed about the internet looking at articles. This weekend I’m retreating to the Nagano home of a Hippo club family, so I hope to get refreshed there!

Friday (July 14^th) was also the ICC (English club) goodbye party, which was funny since we hadn’t met in nearly two months! I was surprised about 16 people showed up since numbers have been steadily decreasing. They were very sweet, though, and decorated cakes for me, signed a card, and each person said a little something to me in English thanking me for the time. It was very sweet, and I appreciated it. Unfortunately, some things have been happening that have left me emotionally drained and numb and I don’t think I properly expressed how much they mean to me.

In my goodbye lessons as well I feel like I’m just saying words. A few sweet students have really expressed sadness in my goodbye lessons and I’ve been most shocked of all that two people have already emailed me because I passed out contact cards. That does make me feel loved even though their genki students and would probably have done it for any teacher.

Next Monday is a national holiday so I have a four day week next week and then I say goodbye to Shirane forever! I will miss some people terribly, especially Naito sensei and Fujiwara sensei (music teacher). However, every cloud has a silver lining and the recent stresses at work make me less sad to be leaving. A few months ago I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving, so it’s a blessing in disguise, I guess.

That’s it for now. I’m heading out to Nagano soon. Hurray! It’s cooler there. Yesterday it hit 37 (98.6) in Kofu. It was HOT! Florida AC here we come!