Summer, Saiyonara and Sentimentality
Today is FINALLY a really sunny day, leading me to actually believe my eyes in that Summer has arrived. Poking my nose out the classroom I can catch a whiff of the fresh air with a hint of the many pine forests that litter the interior. When the wind changes I can smell the gross fishy smell of the scallop factory on the coast. Not so nice! As a plus, it’s very warm. Relatively speaking. 18 degrees here feels like a summer day, whereas in SA I’d likely be wearing a jersey!
I’m starting to gather boxes and budget lists and whatnot in preparation for leaving in 30 days time, which involves a remarkable amount of admin. I’m still inbetween, finding I’m really looking forward to going home while at the same time I’m really going to miss this slice of Japan. Driving through the countryside I can see the ski slopes, towns and places I’ve been to through all of the seasons, and I think the simple contrast in the surroundings will be sorely missed. Before coming to Japan I was reminded time and time again of how miserable a long, snowy winter is. But contrary to popular opinion I found it to be my favourite season of the year. Aside from snowboarding, simply waking up to a snowy wonderland was genuinely awesome, and something I really shall miss when I leave. Indeed, the long snowy winter is something that counted strongly FOR the chance of recontracting when I had to think about it in February. If only Hokkaido had a need for political consultants who speak English… then I think I might have found my eden.
Likewise I turned 24 on Sunday, an event which went by largely unremarked here, as birthdays are generally not celebrated overly much. That was something I missed; going out with friends for a birthday beer. A simple pleasure, but one made impossible here by language and geographical barriers. Also there’s a 0.0 alcohol limit when driving, which makes it all the harder. So now, feeling like a proper adult (hah!), I await my return to SA and the real world while still enjoying what’s left of Japan as much as possible.
This includes the job, as I’ve gradually grown very familiar with the students, teachers and community surrounding them by now. While learning the technicalities of the job took a very short time, gaining the trust and comfortable ease of working here took far longer. Now, joking with the kids in the hallways, talking with Eizo about the finer points of English grammer and vocabulary (the intricate meaning of ‘hindsight’ for example :-P), reading the internet at the BoE or having a short conversation with a student’s mother or father at the grocery store, I find I’ll miss being known and recognised. I’ll truly miss living in a town where everyone knows my name and is generally very friendly. The small graces of polite conversation is something I had forgotten about, and perhaps I shall once again forget, but it has been enjoyable while it lasted.
At any rate, if I can ever learn Japanese properly by the time I’m ready to retire, I think I know just where my retirement home shall be. With all the other o-ji-sans in Sarufutsu, sipping prune juice through a straw and throwing rocks at the children. Truly a blissful existence!
