Saigo no hi (my last day)

Minsan ohayo gozaimasu.
Ima made osewa ni narimashita.
Mina to isshoni isshokenmei hataraite, tanoshikatta desu.
Mina ga sugoku yasashikatta. Jimusho no hito mo yasashikatta.
Mina no goshinsetsu wa, wasuremasen.
Takasu chuu no seito mo zettai wasuremasen.
Mo chotto America ni kaette, sensei ni naritai desu.
Shakai no sensei ni naritai desu.
Daitai ichi nen nanaka getsu mae ni Nihon ni kite, subarashii keiken ni narimashita.
America ni kaette mo, kono ii keiken o ikashite, gambaritai to omoimasu.
Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. (followed by a bow)

Good morning everyone.
Until now you've taken great care of me.
Together we worked as hard as we could together and I had a good time.
Everyone is so nice. The office workers are so nice too.
I won't forget everyone's kindness.
I won't forget Takasu Junior High's students either.
Pretty soon I'll go back to America, I want to become a teacher.
I want to become a social studies teacher.
I came to Japan about 1 year and 7 months ago and it's all become a wonderful experience.
I'm going back to America, but I will make the most of this good experience and want to do my best.
It's been a pleasure.

This was my goodbye speech to the teachers at Takasu Junior High School on my last day of work, two days ago. It's a little hard to translate because the over-simplistic tone of it in English is part of what makes it sound more natural in Japanese. In any case, knowing it was gonna be kind of a big deal, I didn't sleep that well the night before. But, I think it turned out quite well and was a great way to finish out my time at this school. I also had to give a speech to the ichi and ni-nensei (7th and 8th grade) students (the san-nensei graduated over 2 weeks ago) in the gym during the closing ceremony. That one turned out well too, and was more a mix of English and Japanese. And for both of these speeches I was fortunate to have my brother Matt there watching me speak to all the teachers and students on my last day of work in Japan.

So I'm all done with work, I've moved out of my apartment, and tomorrow Matt and I leave for Korea for our last hurrah before going back to the states. These past 2 weeks have been especially busy for me and I'm ready for things to slow down some so I have more time to sleep, think, etc... really I shouldn't worry about these things as my next move after Korea will be living at home with my parents in sleepy Medford, OR, looking for work and maybe trying to get into graduate school.

Really I think this might be my last post, lest I decide to post a few pics I'll take in Korea in the next few days. Being in Japan has truly been a wonderful experience overall; I wasn't lying when I said that to my co-teachers a few days ago. And as much as I can try to describe how life is here on my blog, it's not even a close substitute to seeing things in person; since my brother Matt arrived a week ago he's been doing just that and I feel lucky to be able to share some of my life here with him. About a year ago my parents, grandma and aunt came to visit, and my girlfriend Elizabeth has visited me a few times as well. I feel really happy to have had these visits.

I have to say that this whole experience would have probably sucked without all the love and support of my family, friends, and Elizabeth. I know that sounds tacky and simplistic but quite often it wasn't easy being over here, many times feeling alone and way out of my comfort zone. Without all your support I can't imagine how much more difficult it could have been. So to you all nothing you've done is lost on me. Arigato gozaimashita!

As I heard one graduating student say, 'Ima kara arukitsuzukemasu' - from now I will continue to walk. I like the sound of that.