To Quote Dorothy..."There's no place like home"
Well, I'm back. I've been back for roughly two days now, and to be honest it feels quite like I never went away. Everything is pretty much the same. I guess time flew by, so it seems like I just havent seen everyone for a few weeks or so.
My flight home was fine. It only took 10 hours, instead of 11. I was on one of the airbuses, so i had my own small tv screen attached to the back of the seat in front of me and a remote to control it. I was able to choose what TV/movies/music/games i wanted and could pause, rewind, fast forward as much as i wanted. It was actually really good entertainment. I also managed to get about 3 hours sleep, which helped but I was still really tired once I got off the plane.
My adventures in Tomioka are over for the moment. The only thing left for me to do now, is to attempt to unpack....that will be an adventure in itself!
At The Airport
I'm at the airport now. I got myself some wireless internet access to keep my busy for my 5 hour wait. The trip here was good - felt a little faster than usual, even though we were 2 minutes late getting to Ueno. The airport train was pretty empty. I've been here about an hour so far. My suitcase is being stored at the baggage storage area, and i had some seafood curry. I'll probably go shopping in a bit, depends on how long my laptop battery can last.
Last night I went to Kookai for the last time. It was nice Got to have my favourites for the last time, and also say bye to the kookai staff. They gave me a letter and a discount! Gotta love that. After I came home, I finished packing the final things and tidied up a little then hit the sack. This morning Yumi came to get me at 8.15am. We had a bit of a mission getting my suitcase down the stairs but we managed to do it and not get hurt. Then we went to the station and Mr Arai met us there. He helped us carry my luggage up and over the tracks and also onto the suepr hitachi. It was nice to have the help!
Last Day in Tomioka
My internet is getting cut off this evening so I wont be able to undate this again until I get home on Thursday. Everything is pretty much done now. Just have a few things left to pack tomorrow morning (tooth brush, pjs etc). I went to lunch with the first year teachers (Yamataka, Fujiwara, Sakai, Sakurai and Yashima) for the last time. It was nice. I got along really well with them and they always included me so it was nice to be able to see them once more before i leave. Tonight I'm planning on going to Kookai for the last time. I will be taking the 8.45am Super Hitachi from Tomioka tomorrow morning to Ueno, where I will then switch to the Skyliner which will take me all the way to the airport. I will end up having to spend a few hours at the airport because my flight isnt until 6.15pm, but i think that will be ok. Narita isn't a bad airport to have to kill time at. Then I'll be back home around 8am Thursday morning.
Monday
Today I managed to get a lot done. My suitcase is all packed. I sent two boxes to NZ, and I did most of the cleaning. I just have to vacuum and then I'm done. Phew. The place is looking kinda bare again. It's actually kinda nice with less clutter, but it's loosing it's "home" feeling very quickly.
I met Masato today. He helped me carry my box to the post office, then we went and hung out at Macdonalds for a while, because I wanted to "pay" him for helping me and also he wanted to hang out a little more. While we were there, he gave me a present. It's a small dog with an aroma pack and a gel hot/cold pad inside. You use it cold for your eyes and hot for your muscles. It's really cute. He also got me a cute little duck soap dispensor. He said that he thought it was really cute, which is why he got it. I like it when I get things I can actually use!
After that, I came home for a short while and found a homemade DVD in my letterbox. It was from Kubota-sensei (english teacher at JHS #2). He had made a DVD from a lesson with Shota, who was the special boy there. He graduated in March this year. Anyway the DVD is really funny - it shows Shota acting out the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. He was really fixated with that during the last few months before graduation.
This evening I went to Yumi's house for dinner. We had a lot of food - prawns, salad, potato salad, sushi, udon, fruit. It was nice to have a homecooked meal. After that I came back home and relaxed.
Packing Ain't Fun.
Today was mostly spent packing. I managed to get most things done so I am almost ready to leave. I have a few things left to pack and need to give the place a quick vacuum, but apart from that everything is finally on track.
I went to lunch with a couple of my adult students today. We went to Atom Boy, which is a kaitenzushi. One of the students gave me a CD with photos from the other night's farewell party. Some of them are funny, especially the one where one of them is passed out!
After that I came back home, and did a bit more packing and cleaning. Then Anna came and picked me up and we went to dinner with Christine and Jeff, Anna's replacement from Hawaii. We had soba and tempura at a restaurant in Naraha, and then headed to Namie's AA Family Restaurant for dessert. After that we dropped Christine off at her place and Jeff off at his host family's house. We then headed back here with Anna's scales in tow and I am happy to say that my suitcase weighs 20kgs exactly. I have a few pieces of clothing to add in, so I should be just about right for Wednesday. Phew!
Sushi
Today I had no day time plans with anyone, so I was able to have a bit of a sleep in. I managed to get some cleaning and packing done, although I'm far from being finished. I do think that I will be able to have Tuesday to relax though, before I have to make my way to the airport.
This evening, I went to dinner with Yosimi and her mum. We went to a kaitenzushi restaurant. It's one of those restaurants where the sushi is placed on a conveyer belt thing and you just take what you want. It was delicious. Apparently, the place we went to is sorta famous and has been featured on TV before. It was really busy too. Yoshimi's mum gave me a present today. I got a small bag made from an obi (kimono sashbelt), a scarf/wall hanging with a geisha on it and this really cool mug. It's all ultra light cos they know that there is a weight restriction. I like it when people are considerate like that.
I forgot to mention yesterday that Mari-sensei gave me a present too. It's a scarf/wall hanging with cherry blossoms on it and some really nice origami paper.
送別会 (Farewell Party)
The farewell/end-of-year party at JHS #2 was fun, and kinda interesting too. I can say that I have not been to a "party" like this before. We were given a programme and inside was a cartoon picture of each of the leaving teachers and a message. (see photo)
It started at 5.30pm, and was held at Sunrise Inn in Tomioka. Konno-sensei and I arrived and i was sent to sit with the other teachers who are leaving. Once everyone arrived, us leaving teachers then were allowed to enter the dinning room, while everyone was clapping. The dinner was then, of course, opened with a short opening speech (it truly is just someone saying, we will now start the party), followed by a short speech by Sachie-sensei, who is the head of the social club. After that, the principal made a speech and said a few words about each of the leaving teachers. Then we had to say something back and then we were given a present. The other 4 teachers got flowers, but i got a japanese doll thing. After that we were able to start eating and drinking. We had a lot of food again - curry, noodles, salad, sashimi, squid, fruit, vegetables, fries. I talked alot with Konno-sensei and Enei-sensei, but also managed to chat with a few other teachers, some for the first time! After dinner, we had a cheer done for each of us. It was lead by a teacher that had something to do with you. My teacher was Enei-sensei and it was really funny. I laughed all through it but I think that it's supposed to be serious cos the others just stood there but that is ok. After that we sang the school song, then the teachers made an arch tunnel with their hands and we walked through it. After that it was hometime. It was a lot better than what I thought it was going to be like, and because it started early, it finished early so i can finally have an early night!
Food, Food and More Food!
Wednesday night was supposed to be my free night, but of course given the circumstances, I ended up going to dinner with Katie, Rebecca and Skye at Kookai. Anna was there too, but she was with Rie so she sat at a different table. It was fun, and I was glad that I got to say bye to them. They gave me a card that they'd all signed and also shouted me dinner, so that was nice.
Last night was dinner with the english teachers, and Noriko, at an Italian restaurant in Hirono (two towns down from here). We had freshly baked bread, corn soup, seafood salad, steak and veges(i had the veges), seafood pasta and tiramisu cake and tea/coffe for dessert. It was delicious, but so much food. We were also given bread that was left from the day to take home as we stayed at the restaurant until it closed. We had a lot of fun, laughing and talking. Enei-sensei gave me a CD he had made with different Japanese songs on, and a booklet with all the words in. He said it's to help me with my Japanese study, but I think it's really because he knows I like music and I gave him and some of the other teachers thank you gifts.
Tonight is the end-of-year dinner party for JHS #2. 4 other teachers are leaving so it's kind of like a farewell party too, apparently. We'll see how that goes anyway.
A Taste of China, A Little Karaoke and a Big Castle
School on Monday went as usual. I had a few classes for the last time, so we had goodbye/thank you speech time at the end of those classes. Konno-sensei gave me a present, which was two hand made ceramic glasses. They're actually very cool.
Monday night was dinner with my adult english students. We had dinner at New China - a chinese restaurant in Okuma, the next town up from here. We stayed there eating and drinking and chatting (in Japanese of course) for about 3 hours, then we headed over to the Karaoke place. We ended up staying here for 3.5 hours. (Which was a pretty long time, but my record time is 4 hours with Amanda and her family in Yokohama last year in May.) They gave me a japanese lunch box, which has cherry blossoms all over it and a matching carry bag. I finally got in at 2.30am, only to wake up 5 hours later to go to Aizu-wakamatsu with Noriko!
It took about 2 hours for us to get to Aizu. On the way, it started snowing, so it was a little bit scary being in the car. We finally arrived at Aizu Tsuruga-jo Castle and strolled through the park (in the snow!) and up to the castle. It was really amazing, I think that the snow made it more spectacular. We went inside, and checked out the 5 levels. It has been made into a museum, with artifacts from the Edo period. The top level is open and has a deck around the outside so you can look at the view. It was really cold and a little scary standing up there with the snow falling around. Because it was snowing so hard, we decided to head home. The trip home took around 3 hours, which wasn't too bad going, considering the weather.
