さよなら

This last week has gone by so fast. I worked at the Board of Education for a few days after getting back from Naoshima. I helped plan for English camp next week, although I obviously won't be there. In the evenings I mostly packed and cleaned my apartment. Wednesday was my last game day and that night Marc, Tanya, Juha, and Megan came over to play a new game, Dead of Winter. I lost, but it was a really fun game. We played another 3 vs. 1 game after DoW and it was really fun. I was the one person trying to complete secret missions and escape and although I barely made it out, it was a ton of fun and a great last game.

Thursday was my last day at work. Afterward, I went over to Kikumi's to watch some movies. Shinki and I went to a local fish market to get some sashimi for dinner before starting the movies and Megan came over as well to watch with us. Friday I slept in before finishing the majority of my packing and starting to really get stuff ready for the new ALT taking over the apartment. I stayed home most of the day, but went out in the evening to Riverwalk where I met up with Megan to go see the new Pokémon. We ended up getting dinner after the movie and Megan doing some last minute shopping before the stores closed.

Saturday I met up with Leah for lunch before heading home to put on my yukata and head into Tobata. The weekend before I'd missed the summer fesitval in Kokura while in Noashima, but Tobata's summer festival was this weekend and so many people came out! I saw my friend Teppei who I hadn't seen in a long time and a bunch of ALTs in Kitakyushu were there. It was a great last weekend in Japan!

Sunday I finished up my packing and cleaning and had some friends over to help out. Megan, Leah, Bec, and Chris all come over to help me finish up the cleaning. We played some games after we finished and it was really a nice day. We all parted way for dinner and I went into Konyamachi to see Kikumi and Shinki who were playing with their band. I always enjoy seeing them play and it was nice to see everyone from the band one last time.

Monday I met up with Kikumi and Shinki again to take a beach trip! All the bartenders from Konyamachi went out and there were about fifteen of us all together. We set up BBQs in the sand and had a great day! We went swimming in the ocean, ate a ton of good food, and I even played soccer (and our team won!). We stayed at the beach for hours, but I went home a bit early to be back in Kokura by dinner time. Dan, another leaving ALT, was having a party at a beer garden and I went to say goodbye. Almost all the ALTs came out and even someone from the BoE joined us. It was nice to go to the beer garden one last time. After dinner some people went home, but some of us stayed out and went to karaoke. We sang our hearts out for two hours before saying goodbye to Dan and all parting ways.

Yesterday (Tuesday, July 28th) was pretty quiet for me. I went out for lunch with some of the ALTs and Bec came over afterwords with her car to help me move my bags to Leah's where I'm staying until I leave. Leah was tired from the night before, so I went out for dinner with Megan to an okonomiya/monja restaurant. The food was delicious and after dinner we decided to find the cat cafe in Kokura that we'd both heard about, but not visited. The cafe was really cute and I'm so glad I went before leaving! I was back at Leah's pretty early and we hung out just talking and watching TV until we decided it was bed time.

Today (Wednesday, July 29th) I'm hanging at Leah's until I got meet the new ALTs in the afternoon. There are two new ALTs moving into my apartment complex and I'll help show them around the area. Juha will show the new ALTs around the other area and we'll meet up for dinner at Tetsunabe where we'll join all the Kitakyushu ALTs for a welcome dinner. Because it's also my last night, we'll go out after dinner and have some fun and there will be a lot of goodbyes.

My flight tomorrow leaves at 2:10 PM from Fukuoka airport. Leah and I have breakfast plans before she leaves for work and Kikumi and Shinki will pick me up around lunch time to drive to the aiport. My last meal in Japan will of course be a sushi lunch with them before I head back home!

Living in Japan has been one of the best experiences of my life and although I know it's time for me to move on, it's certainly bittersweet. I'm leaving behind a lot of amazing people who I will never forget. I hope to see everyone again in the future and as sad as I am to leave, I'm so excited for my next adventure in Denver!