On Goodbye Speeches

I was really proud of myself last night. I remember hearing that you should put a good effort into your goodbye speeches, because they are the last words many people will hear from you. It's really sad to think about that, that those are last words and I won't see many of my students aver again, but I decided to take that advice to heart and put some effort into these goodbye speeches. I am sooooooo glad I did. With all the cynicism I've had recently about my role as an ALT, I had some things I wanted to complain about. But I knew that after two years, most things were probably misunderstandings and I should talk about the positive parts of my experience here. So I did. And of course, the important thing about writing is that while it might be a pain to do it in the beginning, it really does make you think about what you have done and how you have changed. And I realized that there were so many positive things that have happened to me here. I really gave three excellent speeches. I bawled my eyes out at my elementary school, I couldn't stop once I saw all those cute little faces, and I knew that for many it would be the last time. I didn't cry anywhere else because no where else felt quite as safe and caring as elementary school, but I gave an excellent speech at junior high school. I told them how they taught me to look at people as people, not with their culture, and how their kindness was such a positive impact on foreigners. I told them how I would never forget them, and that I couldn't wait to share what I had learned in Japan with people across the world. I had everybody's attention, ever single kid, rapt attention, even the kids who sleep through every class.
My speech at the teacher's party which was also a farewell to was also great. I really feel like I impacted the teachers and since it was my chance to share what I had been thinking and feeling over the past two years, no matter what they think of me or how little they got to know me, they most certainly will remember your last words. It shows what's in your heart, and they will definitely remember that. I'm so glad I listened to that JET participants advice and put my very best into my speeches. It matters so much.
I came home so fulfilled and happy from last night. Maybe this is a Japanese thing, but beginnings and endings are so important. Actually, the middle is equally important even if there is no pomp and ceremony. I'm so glad I put that effort into my speeches!

Some blabber and Gifu sayonara party!

I wrote on our volunteer blog (http://building-communities.blogspot.com/) about my recent experience in India that "I didn't realize how deeply entrenched the caste system still is, coming from liberal Boston I sometimes forget how far we have to go...but, we've made progress." But reading that, I just felt I had to say, living in Japan has taught me A LOT of things about myself, but one thing is that just becasue I'm from liberal Boston doesn't mean that I can tell the world what to do. My experience here has taught me, this might seem like a cop-out, but anybody with international experience will tell you this, that you are not one to tell the world how it should live. Even if you think you are helping, usually you are doing nothing but being arrogant by trying to tell people the "right way" to do things. I've learned that in order to have a very fulfilling work experience here it's better to adapt to the Japanese teaching style and just accept it, and work with the kids in that way. That means exaggerating their accomplishments in situations where if it was American kids, it would be considered condescending, though here in Japan it is totally welcomed in building the kids confidence.

Recently it's been all busyness. There's so many people to say good bye to and ends to tie, an apartment to clean and things to prepare for the successor (next ALT taking over my position). I went to Gifu recently for a reunion with some of the volunteers who went on the India trip, and it was great to see most of them again. After that, three of us who lived in a similar area trekked back to Nagano (only one state up) and discovered some beautiful surprises. Actually, first I have to say this. My stupid windshield wipers broke in the POURING rain. Literally, it was pouring downfall and even at my fastest speed I couldn't keep the water off. But, the fuse burnt out so the windshield wipers stopped, and we had to drive to the nearest home store (cause the gas stations were closed on Sunday, all of them!!!) to find a fuse. We tried replacing it but it just kept going out, which means that there's some sort of inordinate power surge in that one socket. Oh well, eventually the rain stopped and we headed back to Nagano.

But back to the beautiful surprises. After returning back to Gifu with Jay, Emily and I we headed back to Nakatsugawa. Jay knew of this one place that he had never been to that was on the way back called the Naegi castle ruins. We couldn't believe he had never been there because it has this amazing view of the Kiso valley and all it is made of, the fog draping the river and the lush green of the forests mountains, straight out of the Japanese landscape paintings (and Chinese for that matter) that you may have seen before. I took tons of pictures, and will try to put them up soon. After that, Jay took Emily and I to this fantabulous Italian restaurant called Kisaku, where I dropped about 40 dollars on pizza and pasta and ridiculously good mushrooms cooked in herbs and garlic and olive oil. The atmosphere was excellent, and though it might seem like a lot, it was absolutely fantastic. Some Japanese friends ealier tried to argue that Italian food is actually better in Japan than it is in Italy, I don't know about all that, but they definitely have a good case with this restaurant. But the night just couldn't end. Due to our euphoric forgetfulness at the restaurant, we missed Em's shinkansen back to Tokyo. But no worries, just another excuse to hang out more, and since Japan is the King of Convenience, there was an overnight bus she could catch a few hours later. In comes Miyazaki and $2.40 movie rentals! We rented mimi wo sumaseba（耳を澄ませば), definitely one of my favorite movies ever, while Em waited for her overnight bus. Due to the craziness of the day we made sure we did this one right and that she got on her bus. After that it was a ride back for me in my still stinky car that has been soaked in water (I got soaked and so did my car while i was frantically trying to change the fuse during the downpour. You have no idea how crazy it was, one of those instant downpours. So I have been keeping my windows open in my corolla whenever I can - which is not often enough since it's actually rainy season in Japan. Taihen!! i.e., what a pain!)

It was an all out impromptu adventure but those are the best;)

I'll try and put up pics soon. Hope you all are well!