Today I said goodbye to my favorite teenage class and it was really hard! Then one of my adult students gave me the manga to my favorite Ghibili movie and I nearly cried I was so happy that she remembered and ordered it and everything. Then Yoko-sensei realized that this was the last time we would be teaching on the same day and we said goodbye, too! and this was after all day of saying goodbye to class after class of my elementary age kids….
I am probably going to gush like a fountain by Friday. I really have such warm feelings for so many of my students… I was so lucky to have a job where I spend most of the day grinning like an idiot, and even when things have gone to hell I’m still laughing my ass off! At least I know I love this job and maybe I can find a way to be a rock star and still work with Japanese youth. I know that really Japan is a country of humans like every other country of humans on this planet, but for me it is extra sparkly– the language is the language of love, the social conditioning contains some of my choice values, their sense of humor is just about perfect, their music is awesome, I am in awe of the character of its people… I am going to have to find ways to keep it in my life forever, because the idea that I might lose it is too hard.
But for tonight, I have to finish packing, somehow. Dora, the new teacher is coming over tomorrow morning (in 12 hours) to see the apartment!