Another Year....

...Older.

Goodbye Ojika

I have been very fortunate in my 28 years. (Today is my birthday, BTW, so maybe I'm feeling especially reflective.) I have been lucky enough to have some life-changing experiences and one of my greatest fears is that as time trickles on, I'll start to forget all the wonderful people and amazing moments I've had as I've been away from home. Although I wish with all of my fist-clenched might that I could hold onto those times and what I felt while in those specific moments, I know that they'll fade over the coming years, and I'll be left with a vague, warm overall feeling. And, when people ask me what living on Ojika was like (for example) I'll be unable to say anything more to them than, "It was amazing."

I do, however, find solace in the fact that the core of my being was shaped by my experiences, and that will never change. So, even in thirty years, whatever I do, wherever I am, I will be a living, breathing small sub-section of Ojika island.

My Ojikan friends and Ojikan family went out of their way to make me feel like I was at home on that island and I will never be able to repay them the full extent. I can only do my best to give such love and friendship to those I meet in the future who are in a similar situation -- feeling lonely and far away from home.

Here are photos from my send-off on July 26th.

The storming of Nippon

Jodi and her husband, KC, decided to spend a portion of their summer vacation with me in Japan. This made me very happy as I haven't seen Jodi in a little over two years and her presence makes the grass a little greener, jokes a whole lot funnier, and anko ( sweet, red bean paste) a thousand times more delicious. -- Well, all that is true except for the last part. I don't believe anko could ever be 'delicious.'

Here we are at the shrine at the peak of Madara-jima's scenic park. Jodi and KC flew into Fukuoka, where I met them. Then, the three of us returned to Ojika for a few days before I left my island for good.

Because my contract ended and I decided to transfer schools, I had several good-bye parties on my island to attend while Jodi and KC were in town. Luckily, or unluckily for them -- you'd have to ask them--, they were invited to join the mayhem. Here we are at the apres pottery BBQ karaoke jam.
And, here we are at the Hammamotos.

And, here we are at the yakitori joint with HS teachers.

And, here we are at Mrs. Egawa's house.

Once we left the island, we continued our trip onto the central island of Honshu, with a couple of nights in between in Fukuoka. Jodi and KC are really laid back, so traveling with them was easy. KC only had two non-negotiable rules/requests. Because of an allergy ("arerugi") all dishes with shell fish was out of the question when we were eating, and we HAD to see a baseball game.

We saw the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks pull off an exciting win in the 9th when Zuruta hit a home run with a guy on second. The final score was 2-1.

Here, Jodi and KC pose with Kaoru and her brother. Kaoru is my friend from Ojika who now lives in Fukuoka. She's a die-hard SoftBanks fan and knows all the player's special cheers.

After Fukuoka, we moved onto Hiroshima for two nights. We went to Miyajima and spent a day at the atomic bomb memorial. Here, Jodi and I pose with The Hot Pepper near the Hiroshima shopping arcade.

Our next stop was Kyoto. Kyoto is amazing.

After two nights in Kyoto, we continued in the direction of Tokyo, and spent two nights in Nagoya. Now, Nagoya isn't really known as being a tourist heaven, but for some reason when Yoshino-sensei's wife asked me why we were going, I ended up telling her that Jodi and KC were interested in seeing the buildings of Nagoya. Now, this seemed like a logical thing for me to say at the time, but she didn't seem to understand why anyone would be in interested in that particularly. My lie became hilarious when we arrived in Nagoya and found nothing more than an average city with lots of strip-mall like shopping complexes. Really interesting, right? Well, we did make it to the castle, so that's gotta count for something.

On our second day in Nagoya, we got out of the city, and went to a near-by town call Gujo Hachiman. The town was criss-crossed with three rivers and we spent all day cooling our heels in the water. We were entertained for a half-hour or so of people jumping off of a rather high bridge into the river.

We also stumbled upon GODZILLA, but he'd befallen quite a fate by the time we found him.

Jodi and KC took the Shinkansen to Tokyo the next morning. They were there for two nights before jetting off to Hawaii for a cruise with KC's family. It was really, really tough to see them go.

Eh?

My ejournal needs a facelift. I shall change things around soon. I've got lots of pictures to post of my most recent adventure with Jodi and KC Spiro, which includes, but is not limited to, photos of the glorious buildings of Nagoya.

I also have to pour my heart out about leaving Ojika. I've only been on the mainland for a week, but I'm severly missing my bike rides and the fresh air.

More to come soon. I "yakusoku o suru" promise.