Home!

I finally made it back home after about a day of traveling! My flight left Narita Airport on Agust 4th at around 2pm and landed in Korea around 5pm, left Korea about 6pm then landed in Atlanta at 7:30pm on August 4th. I'm still a bit confused as to what day it is... but don't feel overly jetlagged! (Don't really have time to be jetlagged since there is a wedding on Saturday to prepare for!!) Thank you all for reading my blog and keeping up with my adventures from overseas! I really appreciate it! 

Yamamoto Sensei

Went to a cafe with Yamamoto Sensei a few days before leaving Japan.. We'd both been so busy this year that it was hard to see her often but I was happy to see her once more before I left!

She gave me a present of the famous Great Wave by Hiroshige. If my mom doesn't steal it from me (it's her favorite) then I will treasure it forever!

Suda Sensei

Met Suda Sensei for lunch in Shibuya on Wednesday, we were originally supposed to meet with another one of my old classmates - Aoi-kun - but there was some misunderstanding and he couldn't make it. It was a sad lunch once we realized this was the last time we'd get to spend together during my time in Tokyo. It's such a special relationship that we have - she was my 1st and 2nd grade homeroom teacher - but I know I'll see her again soon!

Another Farewell Party!

My three favorite English students were all introduced to me by Suda Sensei, so they all know each other and decided to throw me a farewell party! It was so much fun. All three of these guys are from the Kansai area (ask anyone, people raised in Kansai are generally more loud, outgoing, and funny than those from Tokyo), so having all three together was like having dinner with the three stooges. Although I was their English teacher... mostly Japanese was spoken at this dinner.. 

I'm going to miss them!! It's so much fun talking with these three jokers. We've become facebook friends though so we can stay in touch! After dinner, I asked that we take purikura (Japanese photo-booth thing)... wasn't sure if they would go for it but they did! It was a struggle finding a place that had purikura though, we were in Shinbashi which is known as the 'old man's town' so mainly pachinko parlours and bars. We ended up walking to Ginza, but the game center was closed. After that we managed to find one in Yurakuchou (but we had to take a taxi to get there... such a struggle!) It was such an effort to take purikura but in the end we managed it! 

Suda Sensei & Me

This is Kohei-san, he's from the Kobe area.

This is Wakamatsu-san, nicknamed 'the Bouzu'. Bouzu means monk, but it's also used for describing people with shaved heads. 

This is Nakadoi-san, he is the one who gave me advice and lent me some gear for climbing Mt. Fuji.

Everyone chipped in and got me a farewell gift... they wrote me all a sweet message and read the card out to me at the restaurant. I'm not afraid to admit that my throat was welling up a bit, there were a few tears. They gave me a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful pair of earrings which I will treasure! And they also gave me a Japanese book/magazine on everything Yakuza. (I told them that I had to do a presentation on Yakuza for my Japanese culture class and they couldn't believe it. They were constantly telling me not to research too intently..) I haven't had too much time to look at it yet but I can't wait to read it! I was also told not to read the book in public (while I'm in Japan), especially not at the airport.