Last Sleepover Party

One of the interesting things about living in Japan on the JET program is the ridiculously large amount of sleepover parties that occur.

Usually when you are a child you get a pink invitation with ballons on it saying something along the lines of "Genna is having a sleep over party. When, Where, Why etc". But here on the JET program you get geared up for a night out or a party and then it turns into a sleepover party by the end of the night. This of course is due to the fact that most of us live a good hour or 2 away from our friends and drinking and driving is prohibited.

I am always baffled by the fact that before a night out, myself and many other people in the ken get dolled up, buy new clothes and try to look fantastic. Why is this when you know that you are just going to end up waking up next to these same people, hungover and looking like hell the next day?

I am happy to say, that this weekend brought my last sleepless sleepover party in Japan. They are always a lot of fun, don't get me wrong. The most odd conversations usually occur, this weekend being no exception. Hannah looked over at me at one point and said "This is exactly like a sleepover when you were a kid except I don't think you ever said 'Steph, go back to your own futon'". One of my fav sleepover parties was at Bruce's apartment when all of his buddies stayed over that same night. Imagine a room with Tom, Lee, Kilby, John, Bruce and a few girls after a night out. Utterly hilarious.

The reason I am happy that these sleepovers are over is because I have never once, in two years, woken up hungover in my own bed at my own house. And to make matters worse, where ever I do wake up is at least a 2 hour drive to my house. That drive home the next day is horrible, and I do it weekend after weekend. So I would just like to say 'Sayonara' to JET sleepovers.

Owari

I have eaten my last kyushoku, I have cleaned my last school, I have attended my last owakareshiki, I have made my last speech. School is officially over today. I feel that I should justify my time here with a more heartfelt 'final' blog. So until I can conjure up the emotions to write something worthwhile, consider this my final post for Japan.

Busy as a Bee

Just when I think things are starting to wind down, the excitement never ends here in old Japan.

This morning I quickly went outside to take my trash out before going to school. I had on a white skimpy undershirt tank top on that showed my black bra, a skirt and bare feet (this is a scandelous outfit in Japan), but I figured I would only be out for a second. I went to put the garbage in the can when I noticed an unusual large amount of bees swarming around one of the trash cans. So much so that I was afraid to go back into my house because they were blocking the front door. So I did what I usually do in a case of emergency, I went across the street to the Arita's.

Her husband came out and sighed 'oh, no' and attempted to move the can more in the front yard. I was expecting about 30-40 bees to be inside the can, not too much of a problem. He lifted the lid and boy, was I wrong. I would say there were 500-1000 bees inside the garbage can. You know in elementary science class or on National Geographic when you watch a program about bees, well that is what this situation reminded me of. All the bees has formed a connical shape around the queen and were starting to make honey. At that moment Arita-san's husband had to go to work and he was replaced by a milkman who knew a ton about bees.

Mind you when I was taking the trash out I had to leave for work in about 5 minutes. Well 20 minutes later the real task was at hand. We had to get the queen off of the lid and into a box so the rest of the bees would follow her. The milkman dressed in long sleeves, a towel around his face and hat and gloves to deal with them. He gave the lid a hard shake and half the bees fell into the box. The other half formed a cloud of bees in the front yard prohibiting me from going in my house or my car. Guess I would be late for school today. They kept on wanting to go back inside the trash can because they had already started producing honey and they were following their own scent. So, if you can remember correctly, bees disperse when using smoke. So we smoked the bees out of the trash can. Then they started to form another nest on my house by the front door. So we had to smoke them off the stoop and then sprayed insecticide to mask their odor. Finally most of the bees were in the box in my front yard and I was able to get my stuff to go to school.

So as I was leaving for school, Arita and the milkman were trying to figure out what to do with a box of bees. Guess I will have to wait and see until I get home.

People about to come to Japan, MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS!!! You never know what might come up...

Suggestions Please

My BOE told me they have 20,000円 to spend on me for a going away present. What should I ask for???

I already have kimono, geta and all that jazz. Plenty of Hagi Yaki....Help!

The flood gates are open

I have been starting to say goodbye to many of my schools. The first two goodbyes were to schools that I don't go to often and don't know the kids well, so it wasn't too sad.

Yesterday however, I showed up at my very favorite school and was informed that it was my last day. I thought I had one more day there, but apparantly it has changed. I had no speeches prepared and I wanted to bring something to show my appreciation, but I missed out on that.

First was 3/4 nen sei. We played fun games and I recieved the usual cards from the kids. Then was 1/2 nensei. We met in the gym and I was told I would have 3 gifts. 1. A game 2. A song 3. A thing. First we played the game and I taught them Red Rover. Then came the song. They actually wrote it for me. 'Arigato, Sayonara Sara-senseI....' It was so sweet, I was shocked that they didn't sing me something simple like B-I-N-G-O. Then they all huddled around me and the told them to shake my hand. I have trained this class to give hugs (which is rarely, if never, done in Japan). So I grabbed them all one by one and gave them hugs. Then I saw two little girls crying which got me going. We were taking a group and I had tears streaming down my face. Then when all the rest of them saw me crying they all started. So we had a gym of 20 kids and 3 s all crying. It was really sad. These kids are really special to me. Then they gave me a large card with a of them they made for me.

During lunch they had me give a speech that I concocted as quick as I could before lunch. It turned out well, and I was able to say everything I wanted to, and they all seemed to understand it. They all applauded me and one of the s said it was the loudest applause he has ever heard at that school. It is really nice to know that they appreciate me. They also told me something that every ALT wants to hear. They said I was the best ALT they have had. You always want them to think you are the best but you never know what the previous ALTs have done. So it is nice to be reassured. Man, I am going to miss those kids.

Now only 4 more schools to say goodbye to. This sucks.