Since I’m obsessed I spend a good
part of the time before my successor (Julie) came cleaning, organizing, and
packing. That was most of Wednesday,
July 26th though I did some last minute omiyage (gift) shopping,
too. Thursday was similarly engaged in
chores such as closing my bank account and filing my tax rep papers at the tax
office. Bless Naito sensei for being
there for that. I ended up having to go
to the Kofu bank to close the account and send my money to America . They wanted to close the account, hand me
cash, then send me to the main bank to wire it, but I wasn’t doing that! Even at the main bank they wanted to hand me
cash and send me upstairs with it. After
objecting they did manage to do it electronically. They’re so trusting, but I’d rather have that
paper trail and no cash in my hands! It
was relatively painless to send the wire, though a tad expensive, but again, I
wanted the paper trail. Sometimes I
wonder if I have OCD. In the middle of
all that Naito sensei took me to a delightful little restaurant tucked away in
a neighborhood and known only by word of mouth.
It’s a reservation only, small, intimate, artistic place and the food
was amazing in taste and presentation. I
did my best to pay for the meal ($50 a head!) but once again Naito sensei
prevailed. I couldn't pay when I first
arrived because I was new and I couldn’t pay then because I was leaving! Oh how to give back! I’m going to miss Naito sensei a lot. Hm, I’m writing like I went out with her
yesterday, I DO miss her a lot! (More)
Well, there you have it folks. The main motivation for writing in my blog
was pressure from Mom to know what’s up in my life so now that I’m home I’ve
neglected the blog for months!
Gomen! Sorry! There’s always time to start again so here’s
to that. I’ve been quite busy in a
delightful way living at home with the folks.
First of all it’s great to be around loved ones again, though I miss
folks in Japan . I spend my days intensely studying German,
practicing (okay, so more piano than oboe), learning kanji, organizing the mess
of stuff I have from 24 years of my life, running, having serious discussions
with Mom (sadly Dad is off during the week on business), planning for Basel,
and last but not least, READING! Though
I’m told I read more than most, I never really got into reading as much as my
sister and especially my mother. In Japan I enjoyed
it more since I wasn’t as busy as I was at school, but I found it stressful to
come home from work, read, go to bed, then go to work again. I “lost” too much time. Now that my work in interwoven like an
unschooler’s I’ve discovered the delights of meeting with the greats mind to
mind. I’ve read ten books in October
alone. Who needs to go to school when
there are books? But I digress. I need to catch up on my last weeks in Japan , so
that’s all on the American life for now.
