Graduation

Hello! Sorry this post is a day late! I had a pretty busy week. Between being at three different schools since my last update, graduation was also last week! I went back to Shinozaki for the ceremony and it was so nice seeing all the students graduate. Graduation was on Thursday and we had an enkai on Friday to celebrate. We went to the same place we'd gone for our New Year party and it was just as good as last time! The party was a litter bittersweet not only because of graduation, but because or principal is retiring and the English teacher I'm closest with is moving north of Tokyo in a few weeks. We all went to karaoke after dinner before going home and I had a blast, but I'll really miss all of them now that the school year is almost over and I won't be going back.

On Saturday I went over to Leah's new apartment. On Friday she moved to 金田 (Kaneda), which is much closer to Kokura than she'd previously been. This also means she's much closer to me! We got lunch together to celebrate and went shopping for the last few things she needed for the new place. We carried them to her apartment on my bike and I helped her put everything together while she unpacked. We took a break in the afternoon to meet Juha and Kyoko at the park for a little picnic since the weather is getting really nice here. They come over to Leah's new place for dinner afterwards and Leah and I went out to meet some other friends after dinner. Unfortunately, Leah lost her phone during the night and ended up staying with me.

The next morning I made breakfast for the two of us while we tried to find her phone. Leah doesn't have internet at her new apartment yet, so we used my computer to track her phone and put a message on it saying that if anyone finds the phone to please call my number. We had set out to look for it when a call came! Someone nearby had found the phone and were able to meet us in the park to return it. We found them quickly and were very thankful to have the phone back! We also found that there was a flee market going on in the park, so we stayed and walked around for a bit. Leah bought a few things, but I didn't find much I liked. I did find a nice bento box for picnics that I can use now that the weather is nicer and decided to get it! We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the weather before going back to her place. I helped her finish her unpacking and finding a place for everything and by the time we finished it was dinner. We went to the store for groceries and made dinner. I went home soon after and headed to bed.

This is the last full week of school in Japan, our closing ceremony is next Tuesday. I'm at Midorigaoka and Ishimine this week and will finish next week at Ishimine. I'm also going out tomorrow night for a special English teacher enkai with the English teacher moving away and meeting Caol for our now weekly dinner on Thursday. I also finalized another trip and will be heading to Korea in May. I'm getting really excited for spring break, the weather is becoming beautiful and the cherry trees are almost budding!