The Final Page
13th
This can only be a short update, without pictures - My computer has crashed, and I'm using an internet cafe.
Less than two weeks now. This past week was spent having "farewell parties" at all of the schools I've worked at, and the BoE. Party is a misnomer - it consisted of going up on stage, being presented with a bunch of flowers and a piece of origami, and having children who don't know you reminisce about all the great times we've had together. One of the schools even organised to have all the children sing "hello goodbye" by the Beatles to us, which was cute and creepy in equal measures. Then I got to read my pre-prepared Japanese Speech, along the lines of "I don't care if you don't like studying and hate English, I just wish you success in whatever it is you want to do", which generally contradicted what the Headmaster had just said about how much he knew I hoped the children would contuinue studying English very hard after my departure. Ooops.
The BoE "party" was horrendous. The new Head Honcho is a career psychopath who hates the English teachers, and only 15 minutes earlier had been complaining about how much our salaries were costing the Board. Then he makes a complete about turn and delivers some sickening Thank You Speech infront of the assembled dignitaries which he definitely didn't write, but took full credit for. Finally, myself and the other leaving AET were presented with nasty tacky Japanese doll type thingies which not only are too mis-shapen but also too heavy to transport back within a 20kg limit. As a result I'm currently considering burying it near the shrine, or holding a doll barbecue before leaving.
That's the bad bit. On the plus side, I've been singing a lot of Karaoke, meeting up with friends and saying good-byes. I have very complicated feelings towards my two years in Japan, but will definitely be sorry to leave the place. I'm about to depart on my last holiday, to the remote and rather inaccessible mountainous interior, and hope to take lots of lovely phots of rural traditional unspoilt Japan which, I'm afraid, many of you will probably not see.
I may or may not update again before leaving.
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