The Kory Who Lived: Winding down

Well we officially have 24 days left until we leave. It's amazing how quickly the time is going by right now. We've got so much to do to get ready to go it's hard to imagine getting it all done. We have a long to-do list and we're slowly knocking things out one at a time. Somehow it'll all get done. I hope.

I started telling my classes in the past couple of weeks that I'm leaving. The reactions have been about what I expected. A large group "Ehhhh??" (which basically is Japanese for "you're kidding, right?) and then a few students who throw in some individual exclamations. In one class, a group of girls who are pretty big fans of mine said "No!!!" and then "I need you!" "I want you!" "I love you!" One boy brought his worksheet up to me after class and asked me to sign it. His reaction when I said I was leaving was, "Unbelievable." It's going to get harder and harder over these next few weeks, but I'm going to do my best to maintain my composure as long as I can.

This upcoming week will be my last week with a full slate of classes. The week after will be final exam week and then my last week I'll have just about 5 classes. My last class will be on July 15 with my last day at work being July 16. It's hard to believe there's only 3 weeks of school left.

Farewell party season has officially gotten underway. A bunch of us got together at Ashley's last night for a farewell party for our usual group. We had a Mexican themed party with lots of great Mexican food. Most of us aren't leaving for a few weeks of course, but the next few weeks will be so busy for all of us that it was most convenient to have the party this weekend. It's kind of crazy to think that in less than a month we'll split apart from all of these people that we've gotten to know and go our separate ways. It's very likely that we will never see most of them again. We'll stay in contact of course through Facebook and other random things, but over the years I'm sure the contact will be less and less, and then eventually we may never talk at all. It's funny how life works that way. But it's been great getting to know people from all different walks of life and backgrounds and parts of the world. It's been an interesting two years, and I'm glad that we could spend it with a good group of friends.

As Kelly mentioned on her blog, rainy season has been going full steam for the past couple of weeks. It's been pretty unpleasant outside for the most part. The worst is the morning rain. One of the worst ways to start your day is to put on a hot rain suit, hop on a bike, and ride 25 minutes to work. Then go inside and take off the rain suit only to find that you're soaking wet anyway from sweat. I've spent the majority of the last two weeks sweaty. You kind of just always sweat. It doesn't really stop. The school is still refusing to turn on the air conditioners in the classrooms because it's not July yet. It makes for really uncomfortable classes. None of the students want to do anything because everybody is so hot, and I've even found that I'm having a hard time focusing when I'm teaching. I lose my train of thought mid sentence or forget what part of the lesson I'm in. Rainy season is a strange animal. I'm used to hot and humid weather of course being from Houston, but the weather during this time of year in Japan is so different. It's much worse. It's hard to really describe it. I think you almost have to experience it for yourself to really understand.

So anyway, I was remarking earlier this week that though I'm still sad to leave my job and my students, rainy season is making it a little less painful. All I know is that in three and a half weeks, I will never have to ride my bike to work in the rain again. And that is a very happy thing.

Finally, here are some gems from the student classwork archives. There was a lesson in a book about Turkish cuisine and how it's a fusion of Asian and European culture. So I had them create a new food that was a fusion of foods from different cultures and then draw it on the board. Here are the two best: