Sighhhhhhh

Hey there... so I've moved and it's taken me ages to get settled in because I've had JTE seminars for the last two weeks!! But my Internet is back up... so here I am again!! YAYYYYY!!!
This post is not about the move, my subsequent lack of basic utilities (like electricity and gas) or my new school, it's about the closing ceremony at Niitsu High last Monday... will delve into the rest later!

I prepared a farewell speech in Japanese for the teachers and kids - telling them how truly great they all are and when I got to how indebted I am to the teachers (a bunch of whom helped me pack, clean my flat and move), how unique the students are and how much I would miss everybody I started bawling! I was so choked up, I could barely finish... but finish I did and I got a sincere, warm round of applause from the 1000 or so people in gym, I've taught more than half of the students and was on friendly terms with a lot of teachers who were NOT JTEs, so I meant every word I said and it really was wrenching! By the time I got the bouquet from a concerned student who patted my shoulder and told me to cheer up, I was in dire need of tissues! When the students all stood up to part in the middle so that I could pass through them, I was inconsolable and when a whole bunch of third grade girls swamped me as I was walking toward the back of the gym, to give me a yukata that they had all chipped in to buy for me... man, words cannot describe how I was feeling! It was such an emotional, heart-wrenching farewell for me, that I found it hard to comprehend that I wasn't actually LEAVING Japan.

I will miss them all for a long time to come and I will never forget them!