Last Day of School

Monday was the last day of my contract at school...

I packed up my desk and had a final lunch with my favorite students...



Many students (even some who I had never taught) found me in the staff room and gave me sweet farewell presents!

I packed up my bags to leave and said "sayonara" to some lingering students in the hallways. Some of them threw themselves at me and we stood there hugging and crying... I had scoffed when the teachers were bawling their eyes out at graduation, but here I was!!!

I told them to "ganbatte" ("fight!"/ "try hard!"/ "good luck!") and changed my shoes one final time, and walked my bike out to the front of the school where all the teachers and staff had formed a "passage" for me to walk through. I remember seeing through my tears all the genuine smiles of teachers who I had never talked to, and of others who I had shared many hours teaching with in the classroom.

As I walked out the school gate, I turned around to wave one final time, and saw Atsuhiro and Yuka running to catch up to me! (It was like something out of a movie....) We stood at the gate and hugged and cried again, promising to write and keep in touch.

As cheesy as all this sounds- it was really a good ending to the school year...

Sayonara Miyazu High School!

いつまでも宮津をわすれません。

I will never forget Miyazu!

Kanebiki no taki matsuri

My last weekend in Japan ended with the long awaited "waterfall of fire" festival, right near my house!
The Kanebiki no Taki festival is based on a local legend in which a Buddhist deity sets a waterfall on fire with a flaming arrow to get rid of a nasty red oni demon.

Hundreds of tea lights glowing in plastic bottles lit the winding roads leading up to the falls- a simple yet beautiful presentation! However, Jannie and I stood out as the only people wearing yukatas (even Kumi didn't wear one!) as everyone else decided to wear sensible shoes and clothes to hike up those treacherous steps!!!

There were traditional miko dances and awesome taiko drum performances all on a precarious stage built above the slippery rocks and water.

It was the most amazingly intimate setting I have ever been in for a festival.... People were perched everywhere, on the mossy rocks, in trees, on lookout points and benches...

Rightfully so (yet unfortunately), they had recently stopped setting the 40-meter high waterfall on fire due to environmental and fire danger concerns so instead, there were dozens of flaming torches and candles that gave the entire place a beautiful glow.

Playing with fire(works)...

I can't believe it took this long for me to play with fireworks....

Bryn and I went over to one of my students' family's home for dinner the other night and then we all had a very wholesome family night of setting off fireworks in front of their house! We had little competitions on whose "incense" fireworks would burn the longest and who could make the most dynamic presentations with their sparklers.

It was surreal- rice fields in the background, cicadas chriping in the moonlight.. the animated suspense of setting off each one mingled with the general happiness and peace that we felt.

Monju-do Defune Festival

On Tuesday evening, Jun, Yumi, and I donned our yukatas and joined Hide on the boat from Miyazu to Amanohashidate for one of the biggest festivals of the area.

It is an ancient traditional festival dedicated to "sea safety" (or another reason to have fireworks and fire breathing dragons).

We ate from the many food stands (yakisoba and my favorite- "taiyaki", a red bean filled sweet shaped like a fish) and milled around until we found Bryn, Jannie and Becky sitting along the water.

About 200 torches were lit along Amaohashidate and the bay glowed with hundreds of floating paper lanterns. We were entertained by taiko performances, traditional dances, and two dancing dragons, all on a stage set up on the water! A spectacular fireworks show ended the festival!

I felt like a rockstar as many of my students (who thought I had already left Japan) jumped up and down, screaming my name! (It was their first time to see me wearing a yukata!)

OH, and swimming season has "officially" started... just in time for me to leave!!! boo...

Farewell Parties

I have exactly 1 week left here in Japan, and it's been absolutely crazed... Giuli left last Wednesday, and then I started writing all my farewell speeches!

Last Friday morning was the closing ceremony (of 1st term) at Miyazu- as usual, it was a long, somber, drawn out event. But fortunately, my speech (more like a 2 minute message) came at the beginning, so I stood up there in front of hundreds of students (sitting on the floor of the gym) and gave my shaky speech... half in English, half in Japanese. As I said my final line "arigato gozaimashita" ("thank you") and bowed, a huge lump formed in my throat!

When I walked off the stage, all the students stood up and parted down the middle to allow me to walk down this aisle while they clapped. I almost cried again but some of my students cheered and called out my name or waved. I walked out of the gym, turned around, and bowed- and that was it. Tanaka-sensei was waiting for me outside and whisked me off to Kaiyo, where I would give a similar speech (all in Japanese) at their closing ceremony.

Ha, I thought I had lucked out at Miyazu for getting to miss most of the ceremony, but at Kaiyo, my speech was all the way at the end!!! I just stood there as endless teachers droned on, waiting for my turn. Finally I gave my speech/ message but I was surprised that the student body president also had a speech to me, memorized in English! Too bad he was never one of my students! Then the students parted again and clapped for me as I walked out of the gym.

The funny thing is, all they probably thought I was getting on a plane that night or the next day to go back to New York- but in fact, I am still sitting at my desk at Miyazu until July 30th, the last day of my contract! So the students see me at school or around town, and they think I just lied to them. It's kind of weird.



Anyway, Friday night, the festivities started.... The farewell party thrown by my teachers was held at the Amanohashidate Beer Garden (again!) but this time it was very civilized and well behaved. It was fun to see my English teachers from all 3 schools come together, along with various other teachers who joined in. Good clean fun and great to talk to some teachers who have been so busy for most of the year that this was the FIRST time I'd ever spoken to them!

The next day was the first time for me to sleep in, without visitors or guests, in over a month! It was fantastic to sleep in until... 9am. I was so stressed out with packing and cleaning my apartment!

Then, later on that evening, Jun and I headed over to Leigh's farewell party where Becky, Tom, Jason, and I were the guests of honor...





Another night of drunkenness which turned into a fun dance party! No fights and a few sad hugs at the end, but overall, a fantastic night of being with some of the good friends I had made here in Japan!

Those of you who know me- if I'm dancing, yes, that means I was drunk, VERY drunk.... Jun slept over and we got in bed about 4:30am. We slept in on Sunday until... 8:30am!!! What is my problem?!? We had some eggs and toast and she rushed off to get her day started and I woozily stood up and realized that I was still drunk! So the day I had planned for MASSIVE cleaning and packing turned into a hazy, dizzy day of naps and snacking and spurts of packing and/or cleaning.

I was dreading my 3rd night of drinking- my volleyball farewell party was that night! I left my house for the first time around 6:45pm and arrived at the restaurant where Keita was already anxiously awaiting his first drinking partner.



I thought I'd be able to make it to dinner and get home by 9pm, but people kept showing up!!! I mean, who shows up for dinner at 10pm, or 10:30pm?!? we ended up being there until 11:30... late for a Sunday night before school/work!

Since I still felt awful from the night before, I insisted on not drinking, which visibly disappointed Keita. However, that didn't stop him from drinking my share of drinks for the night!

Random stuff found in the ¥100 Shop

#1 & #2) MULTI-PURPOSE ETIQUETTE PLASTIC BAG: So useful! A stylish plastic bag for containing your vomit! Get one for the whole family!!


























#3) Another variation of the dried squid as ecologically responsible vessel for your favorite alcoholic beverages! (This time, for beer!)
















#4) Adhesives to protect your clothing from nasty underarm sweat or deoderant stains!



















#5) Suspicious massaging tool.

Fishing expedition

Despite the late night and general wooziness, many of us still went on a fishing trip that Masami & his friend had organized.





Although the typhoon was moving off track (away from Japan), it was still rainy and a bit cool. Jun saved the day by going to her office and borrowing several brand new rainjackets/pants for us to wear! Giuli and I were such city girls that we showed up wearing skirts and carrying umbrellas!

The 8 of us (Randall & Toko, Steve, Leigh, Tom, Jun, Giuli, and I) donned the orange lifejackets and barely crammed into the tiny boat with Masami and his friend. We motored out to the middle of Miyazu Bay. He showed us his high-tech computer on board that allowed us to locate the fish and how deep they were and then showed us how to hook the frozen shrimp bait throw the lines in!

Within seconds, the fish were biting and when he pulled the line up, all of the 6 hooks were wriggling with "aji" (horse mackerel). He expertly grabbed each fish in his hand and deftly unhooked it, then threw it in a bucket of water. At some points, the water got a bit choppy and I started to feel pretty bad (NOT ship shape!). I couldn't imagine how some of the others felt, especially after that long night of drinking and on no sleep!

We were all pros by the end and probably caught over a hundred fish after 3 hours of being out there! However, we were grimy, wet, and smelled like shrimp and fish guts... I was happy to get back on land and we all piled into cars to head over to the Yoshidas, where we feasted on a big dinner that Kumi had been preparing all day. All of us were soooooo hungry that we just stormed the kitchen and devoured any food that was put in front of us.



(If the video doesn't play, click on the link below)
Meanwhile, Masami was busy at the sink, expertly cutting and skinning the fish (including the spiky part near the tail) while Kumi patted them in tempura flour and dropped them into the pot of boiling oil.

We thought the meal was over, but over the next several hours, we snacked on the fried fish, passed around the bread, ate more food, and caught up on life. There was an episode when we all jumped to the kitchen window to watch a frog that was caught in a gigantic spider's web, but soon got distracted by Masami's friend (who I guess, is also a chiropractor)! He started doing stupid human tricks with our arms and giving us back massages. So random!!!

It was like one big happy Thanksgiving family dinner!!!

Giuli in Giappone

Another whirlwind visitor... Giuli and I met in Kyoto on Friday the 13th, as Typhoon Man-Yi was bearing down on Japan and the festivities for the huge Gion Festival were underway. It is one of Japan's 3 biggest festivals and the city was packed! The best part was seeing everyone wearing their colorful yuaktas!





Turns out our hotel, the Toyoko lnn, was right at the crossroads of one of the biggest floats in the parade, so there were constantly huge crowds of shoppers bustling about taking photos, and buying good luck charms, snacks and souvenirs outside of our front door.

The nonstop pouring rain didn't stop people from being out, but the real beauty was when Giuli and I wandered out to Gion later on that night after a very delicious "yakiniku" dinner. The streets were slick and shiny with the rain and warm yellow lanterns glowed everywhere. We saw 2 geiko/maiko in their elaborate kimono and painted white faces, rushing about under their parasols, but most tourists had turned in for the night. When we finally arrived at Yasaka Shrine, we stood in awe at the hundreds of beautiful lit lanterns which illuminated the peaceful grounds.

On Saturday, we braved the oncoming typhoon weather, and spent the entire day shopping. Just like the visit with Anne Marie, it was difficult to go more than 10 feet without having to stop in some beautiful or cute store! We were so glad that we had gone to Yasaka Shrine the night before, because when we got there that afternoon, it was so depressing! Without the romantically lit lanterns, the dreary sky and the vacant idle vendors made the place a sad, gloomy sight. We were so tired and depressed from the chaos of umbrellas and the aggravating high pitched flute music that was played everywere in honor of the festival that we ended up taking the train back to Miyazu that evening.

It was great to sleep in (for the first time in almost a month!) and hang out in my apartment! We didn't get to rest for long though, because we were meeting up with a bunch of people at the beer garden in Amanohashidate that night.

It was an all-you-can-drink-and-eat thing for 3 hours which ended up being really fun. The weather cleared up for a bit and we were able to see the beautiful view of Amanohashidate from the terrace.


The night took a turn though as we all trooped back into Miyazu to a small snack/ karaoke bar. As usual, we gaijins drank way too much and since it was one of the last times that many of us AETs would see eachother, several of us got pretty emotional... The night ended with many tears and a big fist fight. Injuries sustained included a broken hand, broken friendships, hurt feelings, and upset stomachs.

Jeez. the drama!!!!