It is Sunday 6.29.08 and it is hot and humid and pouring, absolutely pouring.
Today I woke up late and hung around the apartment. Made some eggs and watched some TV. At about 3pm I met Petar at Garuda (the greatest Indian Food I’ve ever had in Japan, owned by an Indonesian man and his wife is from the Himalayas). We went back to his place and played some Tekken 5 before going to the train station to head to Shizuoka. There is a big Sayonara get together for Darnell, Rudy and Julian. They will all be finished working in Shizuoka-ken in the next week and I’m sad to see them go. The group of ‘Native Teachers’ that we’ve had in our area has been fairly tight. We don’t see one-another much, but we all get along wonderfully and everyone seems to have a distinct character that keeps every occasion interesting. In most areas of Japan that work for this same national company, the turn-over rate of employees is 3-6 months. I’ve been here 11months and I am still the ‘newest’ to Japan. Although we’ve all been together for more than 10 months, this summer seems to be when the majority of people are finishing up.
In Hamamatsu alone there are 4 teachers, 3 of which will be gone by the end of August. One from Kakegawa, one from Shizuoka and one from Numazu. It’s sad to think that the tightly knit group we’ve become will change dramatically once I leave. In August, Rhonda and I will leave and we can expect to have a large party ourselves in Shizuoka, although it won’t be the same without Rudy, Darnell and Julian.
written the following day…
For the record, I think that I could take a lot better and more memorable pictures if I wouldn’t drink so much. That said, I think the majority that were taken last night sum up the evening (and the people) quite well. Regardless, I think the few that turned out are pretty great.
I think they came out pretty well.
The worst thing about making friends overseas is saying goodbye to them all :’(