The Final - saigo (最後)

I'm finally home in America. I wanted to write one last post before I left but time did not permit me to do so. After six days in Tokyo, I had essentially two days to clean up and pack. I had a farewell party with S family and their host student C.

It was really fun. The food was amazing. (S Okaasan is amazing cook! C even made pizza with the S kids. )

After the party, I taught my okaasan how to play apples to apples. It was a gift that I had shipped from the US. The is a word card game full of English adjectives and nouns. It is a great way to learn English and other languages. Usually, when I play I have to explain the meanings of words in Japanese to other Japanese students. If I don't know the words we pull out the denki jisho and they teach me the Japanese equivalent of the word. As I mention before, my okaasan is an English teacher so this is a good way she can teach her students English. It can also help brush up her vocab too. It was really interesting because we were playing with four kids under 10. They were excited but didn't know English or the proper way to play the game.

(The oldest S kid M. She is really quiet but sweet. Right now she is learning English phonetics)

My ototo was surprisingly affectionate. He climb on top of me and played with my camera. It was really sweet. I felt bad because I didn't know how to interact with him throughout the semester. I mainly talked to him through his mother or watching NHK weekly children's programming. The night ended on a happy note.(S family and I family minus otousan cause he had to work. S okaasan was taking the picture.)

The next day, I spent time more packing and reorganizing. The last moment with my okaasan was going through the apples and apples and taking out all the nouns she did not know. Later, we had curry pizza for lunch. When it came time to leave to the airport. My ototo decided that he didn't want to go. Instead he was going to stay at a friend's house. It was cute watching him trying to run out of the door screaming "Abayo, Abayo" which is slang for goodbye. My okaasan explained to me that he doesn't like emotional goodbyes. He has done the same thing for all the other host students. After that my okaasan said that my otousan wished me luck. I wasn't able to sat goodbye to him because he had to work that day and we came home late the day earlier. It was really touching to hear that.

For the airport, my okaasan and my obaachan when with the s family (and C their host student) to the airport. It was an hour and half ride to the Kansai Airport (KIX.) (Obaachan with S kid Ma)

I really love the S kids they are so cute and quirky. We watched Manzai TV, chatted, and talked a lot. It was a good distraction. At the airport, they helped us bring our luggage to the counter. My friend C was over the weight limit so we were all rushing to help him to repack and get under the limit. In the end, he had to shell out $230 for an extra bag.

(We went through this process like 3 times. I think throwing away clothes would have been a good idea.)

Then it was the final good bye...before going through airport security. I took one last photo with my okaasan and obaachan. C did the same with S family. I was really about to cry. After the security check, we had to go down stairs to our terminal. The S kids ran after us through the window waving goodbye until we couldn't see them anymore. It was very touching. Sometime in between we gave up our Japanese Alien registration card and boarded the plane. There were a few Kansai Gaidai Students on the plane as well. But we were all spread apart on the plane. After the plane took up I saw Japan get smaller and smaller. Then I just started crying. I thought of my host family, s family, and all the other people I got to know. Over the last 6 months I developed an emotional attachment to Japan or more specifically to my host family. I have been very privileged to be able to see the dynamics of their household and to a short part of their lives. I really didn't want to go back home.

(Last picture with Obaachan and Okaasan)

14 hours of flight and 13 hours of jetlag induced sleep... I am back in America.

I plan on finishing up my post on my Tokyo Weekend and my second trip to Tokyo. I'll also write some comments on the Kansai Gaidai program and some advice for future study abroad students.

Tommorrow I'm officially unpacking and starting on my scrap book. I saved all my receipts, tickets, and brochures for this. I'll also planning to print all my posts in put in a book for memories. I'm also working on making video slides on Animoto. As for future posts...we'll see.