nothing to prove

farewell for now

Basically every night was with a different set of teachers. On Friday, Ojima had their enkai (drinking party) for me. I was pleasantly surprised that thirteen teachers, out of around fifteen, showed up. Plus a couple other random teachers from other schools were there as well. We had yakiniku (grilled meat and vegetables) for our food while we all drank plenty of beer. This was probably the saddest of the parties because I definitely feel a huge attachment to Ojima. Sadly I finished early because of exhaustion from the week. Saying good-bye is draining.


It all started on Wednesday with one of the English teachers at Yonchu asking me out for a drink that night. That was actually the first, and only, time I drank with teachers from Yonchu so it was interesting to see how people handled their alcohol. Since it was my last week in Japan all my teachers insisted on drinking with me. Ironically enough I ended up at the same izakaiya (bar and restaurant) the next night with Nuria, Sarah, and Rosalind. Just some low key last minute hanging out. We even did some print club before the night was over


Saturday I got to sleep in and clean house a little bit. That evening Melissa and Phil had a wedding to attend in Sanjo so later I joined them out in Honjikoji, the bar district in Sanjo. We had an all you can drink night at a new bar in the area. After we had enough awkward Japanese socializing, we went to a nearby ramen shop and I ate some of the best gyoza (potstickers) I have ever had. Then we decided to walk back to my place and crash. The next day we got some hung over McDonalds before heading to the beach for the afternoon.


The enkai Sunday night was nice because two of my former teachers, who transferred to different schools at the start of the new school year in April, came back to Sanjo so we could see each other one last time. This party was a lot smaller than the other ones but we still had a great time. We even ended up at karaoke later in the night to sing some drunken tunes. Unfortunately I had to give my final farewell speech the next morning. I am going to miss most of my teachers a lot. They have taught me so much over the past year.

posted by Aaron @ 8:00 PM