I LOVE this pic!! These are my "brothers" they're 2nd in Yamagata for gymnastics... they HAVE to come to America to visit someday. 

I LOVE KEITA!! He's like a little brother to me... and heck, he sang Abba at Jusco to try to get me to give him money... how could I not love this kid?? 

This kid is a running phenom... he'll be going to the All-Japan track meet running the 1500!! 

what are we grinning about?? The first picture we took... Hiroshi managed to cover half my face with his hand! 

I look like a BIG freak... but Toshiki... how cool is he?? ;-)  

I LOVE this picture! Yuhei promised me a good picture before I left... I think he lived up to that promise. :-) 

Six times and counting!!

What is... the number of times I've already cried today?!?

This goodbye stuff is hard... though my speech was easier to give this time because I didn't focus on the goodbye aspect of things... instead I did a Top 10 list of memories from school!! Which was much better until I got to number 1... then I started crying...

Anyway, today is the hardest because then I don't know who I'll see again... my faves I will, but the others?? Who knows!?!

So there's the status report...

My Boys!!

This weekend I watched a baseball game that can only be described as tragic... my boys had led up until the 7th inning (and in junior high baseball they only play 7 innings!) and ended up losing the game in the 9th. I've never felt that crying over sports was something you should do... but after that... I cried! It was so hard to watch my boys crying... and not being able to do anything... not even give hugs or anything!! But they made me so proud... like I said in my farewell speech... win or lose, they'll always be winners to me!

In other crying related news... I've cried 3 times this morning and I haven't even given my speech yet. I'm going to bawl after that... seriously... it's too sad! My brother, Kazuki, mentioned the leaving ceremony and I teared up... gonna be a hard day! :-(

Hope you have a happier day!

GREAT GOODBYE!!

Had THE BEST farewell party last night! About half the staff from Amarume Junior high came out which made me feel good. :-) Just had the best meal (at one of my fave restaurants in Amarume)... then got a great present of 3 DVDs that I've wanted for awhile. :-)

And in a big surprise move... Suzuki-sensei came as well!! I haven't seen him since he moved schools in April. Was SO excited to see him... he was the only person who managed to make me cry! :-(

It was the best night... so, hope you're having a great day!! I sure am. :-)

bungled goodbye...

Today I said goodbye to my fave kids at Tachi-chu! It was really hard because who knows if I'll ever seen them after I leave Japan. I said my speech twice... once in English (that was REALLY hard for me!!) and once in Japanese (let the tears dry!). I was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers and hand-written messages from the kids!

The only thing that marred the day a bit was the end. I wanted to take a picture with my baseball boys... I've wanted that for AGES and finally they were all together in the entrance hall and I had a photographer all ready... when in steps Tomomi-sensei (my "friend") and puts a stop to the picture (which given 30 more seconds would have been over anyway). Why?? Because the kids had to go home... and that 30 extra seconds that would have delayed them was unacceptable. (What's more... she allowed these same kids to hang out under the eaves for another 10 minutes before they left!!)

I've never been so hurt in my life!! Tomomi is someone I consider a friend... after the kids did leave she tried to apologize... but for once, I turned into the old, semi-confrontational Alisha. The one who doesn't say "yeah, that's alright," and told her off. Told her that she doesn't know what leaving is like, and that I may never see any of those kids and that I've been trying to take pictures all month, all week... all day! Then my taxi arrived and I got in and left... seething.

So, my kids... were lovely. I LOVE them!! I'm not exactly sad to leave the teachers...

sorry for the rant! Just needed one last go at it before I let it go. I'm better now!

So, it's been a long weekend... but a good one all the same!

Friday, I went for purikura, to an izakaya (bar-ish place), and karaoken all in one night with Chisato and Lauren!! Was SO fun. And we had a great time talking to the nice waiter at the bar... SUCH a cutie! ;-)

We slept in until 11 on Saturday... at which time the blistering heat woke us up. Blah! Hate it when it gets so sticky and miserable. At 3 I met, Mami, Mayuko and Makiko (Mami's sister) at Jusco to do purikura and have a nice visit.

That night Lauren and I went to the last music party... saw some people for the very last time. Then came home and read a bit of Harry Potter before bed!

Sunday we woke up to GORGEOUS, but very hot weather. We headed to Tsuruoka to watch our brass bands play in the local band festival (it's their main competition for the year)... and then headed to Yonezawa.

Bryan Green married his girlfriend Rika on Sunday in a gorgeous (apparently) ceremony. Lauren and I went down for the reception. It was a lot of fun! A mix of Japanese and Western traditions... and a lot of Bryan's friends and family made it over. We just had a great time... and it was nice to see some people before we both leave!

Monday was a holiday and it was our last chance to climb Chokai... but needless to say we came up a bit short. The wind was crazy on the mountain... we decided that trying to climb it would be unwise. What's more, there were some men who headed out just ahead of us... they had all the right gear... and THEY turned around too!! :-) Didn't make us feel too bad after that. On the way down the mountain we entertained other hikers with rousing renditions of "99 bottles of beer on the wall" and "wheels on the bus." We decided singing was a good idea! ;-)

Then Lauren returned to my house for a Harry Potter marathon... we read for like 8 hours! We're crazy, yes... but it was fun!

And now we're at Wednesday... I've written my good-bye speech for Tachikawa... I'll just have to practice a bit before I give it tomorrow... am going to bawl!!

Anyway, talk to ya'll later!

argh!!

This afternoon I emailed my friend Tomomi about practicing kendo this week. Now, I just want to practice ONE LAST time with my Tachikawa kids. They have been the best teachers (kid teachers) that I've ever had... much better than Ama-chu (shhhh... it's a secret!).

Now, they are getting ready for a big taikai... but as it would be my LAST EVER time to practice with them, I thought maybe it'd be ok. Hahaha... yeah, sorry I forgot that winning is of utmost importance. Nope, I could go WATCH there practice. Which would leave me sitting on the sidelines burning up and becoming a sweaty mess. Hmmm... let's see... I've going to veto that one!

I just thought that saying goodbye would be something that would be valuable... and that a friend might understand that. Oops! Silly me. Now, I just get to be hurt and angry. A much less useful set of emotions.

In MUCH better news...

I got to play with some of my old students today. I met Mami, Mayuko and Makiko (Mami's younger sister!) at Jusco for some chilling and some purikura. We had a great time. It was really "hisashiburi"!! I'm going to miss those girls!

pictures...

Indeed a picture is worth a thousand words!! As I found out today as all I've done is walk around taking pictures of my kids... man, it's been good!! I've pulled a lot of "it's my LAST day" and faux crying to get some of my pictures... but hey, whatever works. I even got Go-Dai (full name Goto Daiki) to take a picture for me... how great is that!?! (he ALWAYS runs away!)

So, to liven things up I'm putting a goofy Kazuki pic up... just because my page looks boring with nothing on it!;-)

Last day at Ama-chu...

Last night I spent the entire night on a goodbye video for Ama-chu... it has LOADS of pictures from the last 3 years and just some fun memories. The end is going to be pictures of all sorts of things that I love about Japan going to the tune of Green Day's Good Riddance (Time of your Life). I know I'm going to BAWL like a baby during my official goodbye ceremony (not until next Monday)... but today's going to be hard as well!

And in better, happier news... got the email situation figured out with my kids. We were having some difficulties between an email provider in Japan and my yahoo account. So I switched accounts! And now, thanks to gmail, I can communicate with ALL my kids! :-)

Anyway... hope you're having a great day... we're in for a scorcher here! ;-)

funny moment of the day...

Today is field trip day... every class at school is going somewhere different... a business, a town office... or kindergarten!! As I was coming back from retrieving my shoes from school (indoor ones)... I watched as one of my boys nearly knocked a little old man off his bike... why?? He couldn't see over the bits of the cardboard castle he was carrying!! Funny stuff...

hope you have a good on!

a

A rock and a hard place...

I woke up to some bad news this morning... at least it's bad news to me...

My Tachikawa baseball team is REALLY good and will most likely be in the championship of the ken-taikai (state tournament). And I really want to go watch them play... as the team is comprised of a solid core of my favorite kids. But the championship game is the same day as the "good-bye" ceremony in Amarume. So, there's no way I can be at both. ARGH!!

So this is just me whining... but I'm bummed!!

How many times...

can one person cry in a day?? Let me answer that one... 5 times!! And that's not continuous... that's starting up again after stopping. Impressive, I know. ;-) Each time I thought maybe I'd be able to make it through the whole goodbye process without crying... and of course was proven wrong.

The last class was the worst... 3-4 (3 year, 4th class). Two of my taiso (gymnastics) "brothers" are in that class along with my baseball brother! And Ken my kendo mentor... if I ever get to be as good as Ken is now... I'll be happy. :-) Needless to say... I got choked up just walking to class... let alone having to tell them goodbye. And, if you could see me now... you'd see that I'm all choked up again. MAN I hate goodbyes!!

I've finally figured out why things are SO much more difficult with leaving Japan... after a series of conversations with Lauren we've come to the conclusion that the reason leaving Japan is SO hard is the fact that we're probably saying our final goodbyes to a lot of these people. We may never see them or hear from them again... which is super sad.

So there you have it... sorry that this was the dissertation on sadness about leaving Japan... will try to be more cheery in my next post!

Come on... who can help but love him?? ;-)  

Me and Tomoki!! This is the first kid I ever wanted to STEAL (hahahaha...)! And by far the cutest kid I know! ;-) 

Hi Ben!!! I got her to smile by saying this picture was for Ben... will send it to him next! ;-)