Like an ant on hot concrete

I have been so busy recently. Blogging isn't the only thing I haven't had time to do. I've also not written in my private diary for weeks, and the washing is really starting to pile up.

The other week (July 12th to be precise) I took the day off work so I could go all the way into Akita City to apply for a tourist visa starting from when my work visa finishes. I only had to be at the Immigration bureau for 15 minutes or so but because Akita City is so far away and the trains so inconveninetly timetabled it was a full day trip.

I had lunch near the station. I couldn't be bothered going into a restaurant. Most other ALTs, when in need of food or drink in that area, go to Starbucks. I usually end up tagging along, but considering the fact that I drink tea not coffee Starbucks really isn't the place for me. Why should I have to pay the same price for a Lipton teabag in a paper cup and a small plastic bubble of cream that never goes off as other people pay for fresh drip coffee, or whatever you call it? There is another coffee shop a few metres down the road from Starbucks in Akita City called Nagahama Coffee that I had never been to because other people had told me it was icky and no one goes there. Well, I should have known better than to listen to them. My cup of tea was in an actual cup, and the milk was real milk in a little jug. The sandwich wasn't half bad either.

In my copious free time before the next train home I went to Tower Records. I bought Songs From the Labyrinth sung by Sting, played on the lute by Edin Karamazov and composed hundreds of years ago by John Dowland. Just for something different. I also for some reason bought Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales. I kind of missed it, because it's one of my Dad's favourite albums and he's always listening to it.

The next day the BOE held a farewell party for the two other Nikaho City ALTs and I. It was held in a room in the Community Centre. The food on offer was plastic trays of Japanese style nibbly foods such as edamame, pickles and whole grilled fish with the head still attached. Everything had a 'has been left out in the heat for at least half a day' taste to it. Even though us ALTs were the guests of honour and in any other Japanese party would be the centre of attention, the BOE people ran away from us and left us on our own. They actually moved their chairs away and had a conversation going on the other side of the room. Eventually our respective school principals and other teachers who had been invited felt sorry for us and came over to talk to us. Obvioulsy the BOE people feel very fondly towards us and are sorry to see us go *snort*. Well, they gave me a kabazaiku (cherry bark craft) mini set of drawers which must have been a bit expensive so I suppose I can't complain too much.

Last Sunday the first typhoon of the season arrived. Despite that Sumiko and I went to Sakata to visit the Domon Ken Museum of Photography. Domon Ken was born in Sakata and became one of Japan's most famous photographers. His works include pictures of happy children in post war Tokyo, much poorer children in a mining town in the 1950's, the burn victims in a Hiroshima hospital and the temples of Nara and Kyoto. Not only the photos contained within but the building itself is a work of art.

I have a nagging feeling that I did something on Monday evening, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.

On Wednesday I went to the Elementary school for the last time. In the morning there was a goodbye ceremony for me. I had to do a speech in Japanese. I got a bunch of flowers. I spent the rest of the day doing last classes with all of the grades. When I got home I had to throw out the flowers I had received from the people at Kamagadai the week before so I would have room in my juice jug to put the elementary school flowers. That evening I had my last Eikaiwa class. We didn't do much, just exchanged addresses and such. After class a bunch of us went to Gusto to hang out and talk for a while before going home.

Friday was my last day at Konoura Jr. High and my last day of work. Again I had to give a speech in front of the whole school in Japanese. I choked up near the end and thought that I wouldn't be able to finish. I was told afterwards that I had made a good impression with my speech. I thought about it and realised that the place I had choked up at was exactly the right place to make a good impression with Japanese, considering both the words that had come before the loss of my voice and the length of speech I had left to say after I got my voice back. I wasn't even trying!

That evening we had an end of term / goodbye me party. The food served was a little different to the usual work party fare, in that there was a lot more foods I was able to eat than usual. I was actually able to eat until I was full. The teachers gave me a necklace that is made out of thin silver wire, a handcraft of Akita. It is shiny-shiny and very pretty. They also gave me flowers. I had already borrowed a vase from school for the flowers I had got from the students, so I was thinking What am I going to do with these? but when I got home i found that I could just squish two bouquets into my juice jug. Lucky, lucky.