it’s that time of year.

school’s out for summer vacation. to celebrate my teachers organized a party recently. we had a bowling tournament; my team [ishiyama sensei, next to me, and narita sensei, across in the middle] won and i took second overall for the ladies. it was a blast. then we were on to the all you can eat and drink madness at yasune, a huge beer garden that’s reminiscent of the inside of a circus tent. then on to the third party but after all you can drink only a few of us managed to make it this far.

summer also marks the end of contracts for JET participants. this means many of our friends are heading home, some because they’ve exhausted the maximum 3 years on the program, others because they have obligations in their countries, others because they thought they were ready to go home, but as their time comes to a close they are rethinking and remorseful about leaving. a couple of the people in this latter category have scrambled and found private positions. we recently had a huge goodbye party at funaei, one of our favorite holes that recently moved shop into a classy building that doesn’t quite feel right yet.


mel, liz, beth, me and carrie; the girls.


followed by karaoke galore.

beth and melanie are both leaving japan which has made for some emotional moments lately. we had a last big hurrah at the fuji rock concert this past weekend [more to come on that] and it’s incredibly sad to think we won’t have the chance to make memories like that all together again. it helps to remind myself why it was that many of us ended up in japan, doing this job in the first place. we made changes in our lives in an attempt to learn and experience the new. moving on from here means encountering different, exciting challenges. although i know i won’t be fulfilled by this role forever, as many of my friends wouldn’t because we are all a little wild and filled with wanderlust, it just seems that until now our time together has been so short. amazing how attached you can become to people in so few months. it’s been a year now. how unbelievable.