Closing Time

Yo said bye before the BBQ

Ayaka and I at the beach bbq!

Wow! Time has flown by and this is really it. Tomorrow is my last day at work, but I have to leave for part of it to close down my bank account, the new ALT has arrived to so I am also showing her the ropes. My ropes...it is a strange feeling. My bags are packed,  and I just have cleaning left to do. By Tuesday night I will be in Beijing eating something weird on a stick in unbearable heat. I am pretty excited!! 
I have had so many goodbyes and received more gifts than I knew was possible. Last weekend some students from my favorite class, 3-6, threw me a beach bbq. It was a sweltering 37 degrees and while sweat dripped down our backs we ate squid yaki soba and enjoyed some shabu shabu. Yo-san couldn't be there herself, even though she planned it and her parents organized it, but she had even created a fun questions game for us all to play. She wrote adorable questions in Japanese and English so we could all understand. It was so heartwarming, and it was my last time at Higashihama beach, one of the most beautiful places.

Some of 3-6 and younger siblings too, a fantastic memory of my time.

That week I made three speeches in Japanese and two in English and burst into tears in  one. I had dinner at my old supervisor's house and chilled out with his son Sousuke, running around with cars and balls and anpanman :) 

Hamahashi Sensei was the first teacher to meet me in Tottori.
 He took me for udon. I'll miss him!

 A friend from church made me maki sushi and we fellowshipped together with another church couple. 

Yohei, Etsuko and Anon enjoying dinner at Yoshida's     

My 2nd grade students took me out to LaBar for a coffee date and gave me some cool gifts that included a owl shaped wind chime!! I met up with Ayumi, a graduate of Nishi and an old member of English club. I also had a final coffee date with Ayaka san at Daura, the awesome tea shop literally on Nishi's property.

Ayaka at Daura, she is like my little sis.

The 2nd Graders were the best!!

Ayumi, a Nishi graduate

 I went to the going away English teachers party (which is where I cried) and the sweet thing was that at the moment I was crying I was looking down and when I looked up and caught my breathe all of the teachers (except my lame supervisor) had tears in their eyes too. It was pretty touching.

English Teachers! (sans men, plus tears)

Baseball boys who always made me laugh!!

 I went to the summer teachers enkai where I was given a cash gift (woot $50) and the principal came and told me I was the best ALT he had ever worked with. Yesterday I met up with Hannah and Sarah and we reminisced over mochi waffles for a few hours at Source and then ambled down the main street taking in the summer festival. Everywhere I turned I saw students, and one of my favorites, Endo kun, shook my hand and said thanks. I will never forget the joy I had with some the Nishi kids. This morning I had coffee with my other friend, Ayaka, a young teacher at a different school. Then Ayaka and I headed to church together and after the service I made a short thank you speech and took photos with literally the whole congregation it seemed like.

Endo kun! I love him

My church family, including Pastor Yoshida (L) and my blind friend, Mr. Onishi (R)

The goodbyes have really begun to blur together. The amount of gifts, the amount of hugs and promised emails. In the end it is the memories that I will never forget. The genuine kindness I felt here...it is a beautiful thing. When I left Canada I was fearful and excited, a mix of emotions at the unknown. I am leaving Tottori as a 27 year old. I have a new perspective on Asian education (which was one of my goals), I literally travelled the world, and I survived in a completely foreign culture. In some ways I even thrived. I went for a run the other night and started crying looking at the house around me. I will really miss my life here. In some ways it is so simple and perfect. I have a wonderful job, a disposable income and the freedom to travel on a regular basis. However one of the hardest things in Japan is the lack of spirituality. The culture here is more worried about being polite and making money than it is in the spiritual aspect of life. It is so much more than bowing quickly at a shrine or seeing your family at Obon. For me it is an everyday, tangible, and ever changing relationship with God. I have struggled with it a lot here, but through it all I have seen how God has carried me. He never let me go. God is every faithful and never changing.

 I am looking forward to a fresh start at home, and to go to a church with drums and guitars again. :)

Earl Grey Beer and Tiger Mosquitos

A few weeks ago, before typhoon and crazy humudity hit, I headed for Mt. Daisen to enjoy the local Beer Fest. Every year the mountain in Yonago is the host for a craft beer festival. The event features close to 75 craft beers from all over Japan, and a nomihoudai ticket for $45, which includes a limited edition beer glass. If you are cheap like me you can just buy a 5 drink ticket (or 2) for around $16, which is more than enough considering this is real beer and not the watered down stuff they normally serve at izakayas. Anyways the beer of the day was definitely the Earl Grey beer. Seems like a strange combination but it was the most refreshing beer I have ever tried!! I made the mistake of trying the banana beer, not good. I love fruit beers, but banana was a bust. The location was superb, as the festival was just at the mountain base. In addition to all the beer there was handmade food being sold and performances throughout the day. Camping is also free for people attending the event, so if you are a Tottori resident it is a must do summer event! One major downside was the allergic reaction I had to the tiger mosquitos at the event. Yes, tiger mosquitos, they are a bug found mostly within Asian countries. My foot swelled up and was itchy in a way I had never experienced before. After two trips to the doctor and the ophthalmologist (my vision became blurry!!) I slowly began to recover. Also the eye doctor is insane in Japan. It felt like a twilight zone episode as I was led into a dusty old room filled with books and told to press my face into a giant round machine while clinic staff watched, all in the same matching pale teal colour uniform. It was so outdated and I felt like a specimen. The appointment ending with them laughing at me because ‘my eyes were fine’. It was bizzare and I definitely can’t wait to be able to go to an appointment next year and actually communicate effectively.

Later that week I stopped at a friend’s Juku (cram school) at her request. She teaches two students from my school and she wanted me to drop in and have some English conversation. The two students were shy, but the boy in particular was quite sweet and tried his best to chat. Overall it was awkward but I walked away with a bunch of gifts including a fan, chopsticks, furoshiki and some natural pressed juices. I made my friend happy, and I probably brightened up some otherwise tiresome lessons.

Watermelon Race

Team Watermelon! 

Weight lifting pre-game!

I spent a few months in training for a 10km Watermelon race in a nearby town, Hokuei. The race was free for all foreigners(!!) and included a new running shirt- woohoo!! I managed to talk a friend into training with me and kudos to her for starting at square one (no running, ever) to completing the whole 10km!! On race day I was anticipating a small town race but was pleasantly surprised to see the large crowds turning up for the race, with a beautiful course that wound its way up and back through watermelon fields.  I managed to run my best time for a 10km race, and about a week later I hit 3001kms on the Nike Running application I have been using for years. It is an unreal feeling to have been a runner for so long now. It has been one of the best ways for me to get out all my negative energy here too. When I am running my mind and body are free, and for the most part, runners etiquette dictates that a runner is a runner, regardless of race. I am always the foreigner here, but when I am running I am just another runner.

watermelon graveyard

woo!! Done and Done!