Wow...that was a big party. At least by my standards. There were about 200 people, including little kids and infants, and I knew many of them as old family friends or old friends of my brother, Chad. As my cousin Su said, it was awfully nice of Chad to throw me a going away party. Actually, although the lady of honor was late (she overslept), she completely adorable in a little mu`umu`u made from the same patterned material as Chad and his wife Chris were wearing. My Aunty Donna and Uncle Carl had also flown down from Reno, Nevada, to visit and help out and share in the festivities, and it was great to see them. The party was Saturday, September 8th, just two days before I left, though really more like one, since I was leaving early on Monday morning.
Sunday was spent in packing, hanging out with family, and seeing a late night showing of 3:10 to Yuma, the second film version of the Elmore Leonard novel of the same title.
On Monday morning, I was early, around 5:30, I think, to pack up those last few things, eat a leisurely breakfast, and get driven to the airport by my dad. I was about two hours early for my flight, but I prefer that to any kind of last minute rush, and beside, with Honolulu traffic, one can never really be sure how long it will take to get somewhere. As I was taking a United flight, Lori, my step-mother, emailed some friends working the trip and so I was able to get a little personal service, which was really nice. All in all, a pleasant flight (especially as the seat next to me remained empty, making it easy for me to get up any time I wanted).
And though I left on Monday morning, I arrived Tuesday afternoon...a miracle of time travel! Or the ever confusing International Dateline. I was picked up at the airport by Rika, a woman who works at Osaka Gakuin University and was given the arduous task of helping me get settled. We took a luxurious ride in a taxi (cost: roughly $250!) Over the next few days, I spent a lot of time cleaning and setting up utilities (gas, cell phone, internet connection, bank account, and alien registration). Actually, Rika set it all up, even filling out the forms for me (it would have taken me years to write out the kanji as many times as she had to)...I just sort of sat there with her. Anyway, most of that was done, and the cleaning, by Saturday evening. So over the last few days, I've been meeting with friends, mostly old but some new, and organizing my things (which was not included in my "cleaning" time.)
Last Friday, though, in the midst of the cleaning frenzy, I took most of the day off to go back to my old town, Aioi, to meet Kaori, a former student and friend, and to go up to my old school, too. While trains almost always run on time here in Japan, or they used to anyway, Friday morning JR (the biggest company) was running late...so I was late meeting Kaori by 30 minutes. When I saw her, for the first time in years, I really felt like I'd come home.
A second home, to be sure, but a home. There in my old town, with my old friend. It was nice. As she'd had some time since I was late, she'd gone up to the school and discovered that that day there was a cultural festival at the school (which I'd helped students work on when I was there). However, the gym was under renovation, so everyone, students and teachers, were in the next town over at a concert hall. Kaori and I went up to the school and chatted for a few minutes with some of the old office staff, then drove over to Ako where the festival had moved to. I got to see some old teachers, but not as many as I would have liked, many of them having moved on; in Japan, teachers usually only stay at a school for up to seven years, thereafter being transferred to another school within a certain geographic area. Anyway, that was a lot of fun, and I'm planning to make another trip back in the fall.On Sunday, I got to meet up with Tomoko, a Japanese girl I'd met in Virginia when she worked at the office of my old job at George Mason University. We spent a fun day hanging around Umeda (the main train station area of Osaka) with a high school friend of hers.
That brings us up to today. I went to Kyoto to meet a friend for dinner, but unfortunately she had to leave immediately as her mother was ill. Tomorrow my uncle Trav is in town; he's a flight attendant with United Airlines and is on a layover. On Friday I'm getting together with some of my new colleagues (most of whom I've not yet met), and Sunday holds a get together with some of my best Japanese friends, Ryota and Sunao and their daughter Himari, who, I think, is two...and apparently speaks some English!
School starts October 1st, and I'm going to start having meetings as of next week, so this is my last hurrah...I've been off for the last three and a half months, and while I'm not dreading returning to work, I'm not overly eager for it either. Oh well, it is what is. I think I'll enjoy the work, and I'm already enjoying the environment.
Take a look at my flickr webpage for more pictures of my apartment, and hopefully pictures of other stuff soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment