Goodbye Kitachu!

Yesterday was my last official day at Kitachu.  I had my final class and the school prepared my farewell ceremony.  I was given a bouquet of beautiful flowers, said my speech and exited to a standing ovation like some kind of super star.  I spent the rest of the day cleaning out my desk, saying my goodbyes and signing kids' folders, books and pencil cases.  

That evening my school had a farewell enkai for me.  I finally had a chat with the new principal and other administrative people.  Most memorable was chatting with my kyoutou sensei about my future endeavors.  He told me that I kumi was happy to have class with me.  That made me tear and smile at the same time.

Today I went to school to work with my speech competition students.  It was our first time practicing together but they did so well.  I wish I could watch them perform their speeches in September.

Then when I was leaving one of my teachers said her goodbye to me.  It was so emotional that we were hugging each other with red teary eyes.  I was surprised that I made such an impact on her.  I think we made a good team when we taught with each other.  And I will miss her as much as she will miss me.

The goodbyes will continue as I will take purikura with my former sannensei student and have my last badminton practice at Ozaki.

Out with the old...in with the new

I realized when I played badminton on Friday that my grip was done for.  I've had the same grip for some time so it was dirty and lost its tackiness.  To make it worse, the humidity had gotten to it; making it damp with sweat from its last use.  Yuck!  My practice that night was terrible and my racket even slipped out of my hand.

My last racket was gripped by my kareshi because he has regripped many times before.  He's not here so I had to consult YouTube sensei.  After a couple of tries, I haphazardly succeeded.  Or at least that's what I think until I play again on Thursday.

I also purged half of my wardrobe.   Not a big shopper so this was a big step for me.  What moving constantly has forced me to do is pack lighter.  So I want to have more room for omiyage.  That means I need to get rid of my stuff.  I filled up a Nitori bag of stuff to purge.

After discarding all that stuff, I replaced it with one skirt :p. I wish I was more of a shopper sometimes.

Chiffon cake!

Saying goodbye seems to drag out longer than I would like.  For example, today I said goodbye to little Midori chan about 20 times.  I don't know if I'll see her and her family again before I leave.  I want to at least stop by so we can take pictures together.

Anywho, we made chiffon cake together.  I remember I tried to make it a long long time ago and failed with a flat dense cake.  That was my first time making a meringue and didn't know anything about shiny stiff peaks.  So when Sasaki Sensei showed me how to make it today, I knew what she was trying to tell me even though I don't understand more than half of the Japanese she was saying.  Success!  She made some fresh whipped cream too.  We ate both with sweet blueberries!  To top it all off, I watched DVDs with Midori chan while mom could relax a bit.  I'm going to miss this family!