All of our things packed and the house mostly cleaned, Yohei and I got up around 8:30 looking forward to what would be a very long day. March 21st was my last day in Japan and Yohei’s first in America.
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| Clockwise from front: Takeru, Remi, Sora, Me, Mayo (Tomamu 1st and 2nd grade nut jobs) |
Takeuchi, who has been my go to, my rock, my knowledge bank, and friend was coming to the house at 10am to load the car with all our stuff…including 4 big bags filled with mostly my stuff, 3 carry on bags, a small guitar, and a dog crate. I wasn’t sure why he was coming at 10 considering we didn’t need to leave Shimukappu until 2pm…but I have often found it easier to go with the flow then question things when it comes to Shimukappu life. . And so there he was at 10 ready to help us clean the house only to find we had already done it. I had no idea cleaning was part of his intention, but he was certainly pleased to discover it had already been done. So, we loaded the car…he went off to get a few hours of work in and Yohei and I went to get some early lunch.
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| Maki, me, Takeuchi, (other guy?) 2 of my greatest students and friends |
There are only about 4 restaurants in Shimukappu, Fry Pan (which the other American owns and there isn’t particularly much I could eat), The Owl Café (which is only open in the summer and I ADORE), the Izakaya (kinda a bar/food spot only open at night), and then Maple which we had heard was great but had never been to because it was out by the train station. So…we headed to Maple. We were the first customers and once we got our meal we chatted away about our time in Shimukappu and the excitement about our trip to America.
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| Tachibana, Kaori, me, Mitchi (my basketball class and friends) |
With an extra couple of hours til pick up we went back to the house and put a blanket back down on the bed and somehow fell asleep until we heard the knock on the door. Shimukappu politics and other bullshit required Yohei and Maya to be picked up at a different location so none of the city people would see them in the city car. There had already been about 5 different kinds of farewells for me…but there was to be one final one in front of the city hall building just before we took off. So, Maya and Yohei headed to the rest stop in town and we drove to the city hall.
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| Wakana, Moe, Haruna, Misaki (first grade monsters!) |
There was a small group of people waiting to say goodbye. Some were kid students, some adult students, some teachers, some of my basketball and volleyball friends, and my co-workers. With hugs and a small speech I waved my final goodbye to Shimukappu. We picked up Yohei and Maya and hit the road towards the airport.
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| LOVE this group of girls! |
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| Ayaka, Yuna, Ayaka, me, Yuka, Aoi (5th grade jr. H. AWESOME class. Miss them!) |
Now our flight wasn’t until 9pm, but Maya had an appointment to get checked out and okayed for flying at 4pm. Once at the airport we found the place, they checked all the paper work and her microchip…then they stamped us good to go. Now it was only 4:30…what to do?
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| Clockwise-Mei, Chiharu, Akane, Arisa, me, Kurumi, Asami, Rina, Keitaro, Shuya (3rd and 4th grade) LOVE THEM! |
One of the teachers I worked with had mentioned she might come to the airport to say goodbye before my flight, and just as we were discussing what we should do she called to say she was in the airport already. So we parked and met her in the airport café for a cocoa. After we said goodbye to her and she jumped on the train back to Shimukappu we decided to get an early dinner—my last meal in Japan.
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| Rara, me, Akihiro, Chiharu (my Tomamu adult class) |
Dinner out of the way we still had hours to waste so we headed back to the car to spend some time with Maya. The boys stayed in the car and Maya and I went for a walk…a walk a walk…a walk in which I tried to explain to her how very sorry I was for what was about to happen. We then went back to the car and chilled and chatted. Mostly chatted about the immense number of people in Shimukappu who suffer from depression and what would be required to change that—A LOT.
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| teaching a lesson in the Tomamu school |
We next got a phone call from my best girl friend in Japan…Chisato. She was on our way to meet us to see us off. She parked next to us and we all headed into the airport. Maya had to get into the cage once we got inside and we had to put the cage on a cart to get her to the gate…she HATED it! I was already stressed out and now her crying just put me into tears. We made it to the gate and started getting checked in. We were made aware that we would have to pick up Maya in Tokyo and take her from the domestic terminal to the international terminal and re-check her in. WHAT? Fuck. We only had about 45 minutes lay over in Tokyo…how were we gonna do it? Thank GOD they were able to bump us up onto an earlier flight…which meant we better get through security now.
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| After Yuna finished her 'thank you/goodbye' speech (in english), my favorite student and i grabbed a hug |
Saying goodbye to Chisato and Takeuchi wasn’t easy. My only comfort was a bit of certainty that of all the Shimukappu people, they were two who like to travel and I believe I will see again. We got on the short flight from Sapporo to Tokyo and rushed off like mad people to fetch my dog. Despite our flight being moved up we still had a major rush on our hands. She came off and the tears in my eyes were back as we rushed outside in the rain and got her to do a pee, put her back in the cage and onto the bus headed to the international terminal.
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| My final exit from the school |
Our flight was so close that an agent from ANA (our airline) met us at the bus stop and showed us the way to the check-in gate (you’d never find that in the USA!) Once again we had to check Maya in as she cried in the cage. I handed her little bites of her food and gave her a Benadryl in hopes it would calm her and help her sleep on the flight. Once we said goodbye to her we had to run!
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| Taichii, me, Hayato (Tomamu 6th graders) great kids. |
Once through security we had just enough time to go to the bathroom and get in line for the plane. Once at the front of the line I gave them my ticket and waited for Yohei to get through before heading into the tunnel…but for some reason they weren’t letting him through. After I had a mini-panic attack that something might be wrong I saw them pass over his wallet…OH MY GOD.
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| At one of my farwell parties with teachers, coworkers, and teachers. |
Someone else found it in the bathroom and gave it to the gate. They looked at his license picture and name to recognize him when he came through the gate. SOOOO lucky! Safe on the plane and as we took off I said a little goodbye to Japan and a little prayer for Maya’s sake hoping she wasn’t panicking below us. See you later Japan.
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