There and Back Again

本庄〜またね！

Well, I'm home now! That is to say I'm back in Seattle, Washington -- town of the needle that reaches SPACE and the 1962 transportation gift to mankind: the Monorail (you're welcome, world). I will no doubt face new adventures in this strange yet familiar land... such as unemployment, making friends, and reminding myself not to bow to Asian people I see on the street. This will take time.

The last few days in Honjo were spent huddling over my toilet and, in a way, letting my feelings out. Anxiety hit my stomach with a wave of vengeance such as the world had never seen. I spent my last Saturday night in Japan with a high fever, body aches, and nausea while Kate and Natanya , Champions of wellness and friendship, spoon-fed me ginger ale as we watched "Walk Hard" (which certainly didn't help my bout of illness).

I continued going to work, usually just for a few hours to talk to people, feel like the butterflies in my stomach were stabbing each other for drug-money with ice picks, and rushing home to finish packing and cleaning. On my last weekend, besides feeling ill, I shipped my two enormous suitcases to the airport via 空港サービス (airport service). Thank God for Japan -- my suitcases weighed 110 lbs together and there was no way I could have handled them by myself on the trains to the airport without the guardian angels of Kuroneko Yamato special delivery service. I also completed and handed out all of my gift bags, which were comprised of folded paper cranes and Hershey kisses thrown into adorably patterned plastic bags. I managed to gift these to 70 people -- おつかれさまでした!

On Sunday I felt well enough to drive down to Mineyama to have dinner with Megan, Kate, Eric and Yumi at Honeycomb and to ship my iMac desktop computer to the US via express delivery service. However, the delivery people, who usually deliver within Japan, wanted to charge me about $600 for their services, which I declined. I decided instead to use the FedEx/Kinko's in Kyoto city and save about $350 in doing so. Still, it meant I had another 25lb box to schlep down to Kyoto on my final day in Japan, which would not be fun.

Monday was a particularly sad day for me as I said goodbye to all four of my schools, my neighbours, and my entire Board of Education. I gave a speech, managed not to choke up, and left the building for the last time with Nishihara-san (my supervisor for two years who has done everything for me). We said some teary goodbyes and had a nice big hug and a final photo together. I sure will miss that lady.

I then sobbed, "DON'T FORGET ME INE~" while driving away from Ine and its beautiful boathouses and bay and continued my way South to Miyazu. I would spend the night at Yumi's family's house in hopes of finding comfort my last night with a familiar family. The Okkuda family showed me a great time! We watched Japanese game shows on TV while eating delicious steak and shrimp -- yum! Yumi's crazy mother then insisted that I take one of her "antique" vases as Japanese omiyage... though I feel that I was snookered into taking something she didn't really want anymore. Still, it's the thought. I then took a nice hot bath and curled up on a futon and watched cartoons with Yumi until we both fell asleep.

The following morning was another sad, teary, Japanese goodbye. The worst of all because it was a goodbye to YUMI. I can't imagine what my life would have been without her, but it would have been bleak and without dental appointments for certain. In any case it was completely awful and afterward she went to work and I drove to my car lease company to drop off dear Shadowfax the Car. The company owner was kind enough to drive me, my carry-on luggage, and my ridiculously large iMac computer to Mineyama station to meet Kate and her entourage of merry high school teachers for one last Tango goodbye.

A photo of Kate and Natanya at the Mineyama post office, sending their boxes home.

Kate and I hopped the train to Kyoto City, meeting up with Natanya along the way. It was nice to have a relaxing train ride before our final goodbye to Kate, who has gone back to Minnesota since. Natanya and I then wandered over to the FedEx/Kinko's and were successful in sending home my desktop computer. My arms were very thankful to relieve themselves of the bulky burden (ouch!). We then grabbed lunch at a really strange cafe -- the servers were all attractive young men and the patrons were nearly all middle-aged Japanese women. It was a bit eerie, but they served sparkling wine, so who were we to question their practices?

Natanya and I then returned to Kyoto station to seek out cheap and adorable souvenirs from Japan for our friends and family. I bought a lot of small handkerchief type presents as they were the only items I was able to squeeze into my ridiculous luggage. Who doesn't need a handkerchief, right? ...right?

The best part of the day was meeting Danielle and Lauren for ramen and beer at Kyoto station -- I hadn't seen Danielle in months and we talked more about her wedding next March in Colorado and about the house that she and her fiancé are having built. It's so exciting to hear about these things and it's nice to know that Danielle will continue living her life in Osaka and that I'll be able to stay in contact with her, and thus stay in contact with Japan.

Lauren, Natanya and I went to stay at Lauren's apartment for the night. We studied vocabulary in Lauren's GRE book (Avert your eyes, you captious braggart!) and hunkered down for the night watching some of Grey's Anatomy (THERE'S A BOMB IN THE PATIENT! CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK!) It was my last night in Japan, but I managed to catch a few hours of sleep anyway.

The next several hours were uneventful. I went to the airport, picked up my enormous suitcases, managed to get them on the flight without paying extra, ended up in Seoul, Korea for five boring hours, hopped another flight to Seattle where I sat next to an elderly Korean man with the CONSUMPTION, and ended up in Zaydeh's condo on Alaskan Way. Yes, I realise that's all one sentence, but it feels like I did the whole thing in one big breath.

So now it's over (the blog and the flight and all that). I'm pleased and punch to be back in a familiar yet exciting area and I'm looking forward to what's happening next. So far, I've been helping Zaydeh look through Bubbeh's old things. Not that the things are necessarily old, but I suppose one starts calling things 'old' when somebody passes away. I'm not sure I agree with it. Let's just say, we're going through Bubbeh's "effects". That woman kept 5 can-openers and 5 sets of silverware. Don't even get me started on the margarita mug shaped like a cactus or the entire cabinet of paper plates. This is going to be fun.

So until I decide on what to call the next blog, このブロッグを読んでくれてありがとうございました。Thanks for reading my blog. It was fun to write, fun to look back on -- and I hope it was fun to read.

Rachel