Farewell Yokohama

This weekend was full. Thursday night I enjoyed blowfish/pufferfish (how do we say it) with my private English student. It actually was the first time I've eaten fugu, a fish that if improperly prepared can be lethally toxic. It was tasty! I took photos with a disposable camera so I'll have to share them later. Friday night was our school combo farewell (me)/welcome (my replacement, among other new staff) party in Shinjuku. We were out singing karaoke until three am. Tomoko and I taxied to Tom's house to crash since it was both convenient and empty; Tom is in China (must add that he visited the wonderfully named town of Wu Hu on this trip.. no idea how its spelled but I've been saying it gleefully and giggling since he told me he'd arrived last week). Anyway, it goes without saying that Friday was a blast and its taken me two days to recover. My replacement at school, Samantha, seems really sweet and sang a mean "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" so I'm feeling a tad better about quiting at a really busy time in the year.

Last night, after a day of recouperation I managed to regain conciousness long enough to meet Miyata, one of my Wakayama classmates for dinner back in Shinjuku. It was much lower key than Friday night, thankfully! It is so wonderfull to still be in close contact with my Kaichi girlfriends even after ten (!!) years. That will all change again when I go home, but I'm holding my breath that someone comes to visit one of these days.


Today I met Kristin and her family for lunch. Kristin and I were in the same graduating class of Soc/Anthro majors at Olaf. It was a small and intimate group. She's now living in Yokosuka, as her husband is stationed at the Navy base there. Her seven month daughter Violet came along and impressed me as one of the happiest babies I've ever met. I was a touch bummed that she ignored the stuffed Tottoro (an enormously famous animated classic) I brought her in favor of the paper bag it came in. Oh well! Her cuteness made up for it.


I spent a few hours wandering around shopping before meeting Kana and Sayo, two of my host sisters from Wakayama. Kana lives near here in Kawasaki and Sayo lives in Wakayama but was up visiting. We had a delicious dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant near the station. Yum! I'm now looking forward to my Sayonara visit to Wakayama at the end of the month.


I'm down to my final three weekends; this coming weekend I've vowed to go somewhere but the list of options is dizzyingly long. Kyoto, Kanazawa, and Hokkaido are all options. Part of me is tempted to just stick around here too. I need to decide asap so it might be time to sit down with my guide books for inspiration. The 21st, a Tuesday, is also a national holiday so I might go to Kamakura or somewhere else around Tokyo. The next weekend, the 25th-26th I'll be moving out and then the first weekend in April I'll be in Wakayama and Osaka on my Farewell tour. Time is really getting short. Samantha starts working with us this Tuesday so tomorrow is my last "regular" day before it really starts feeling like The End. Yikes!! My "To Do" list is getting out of control again so this week will need to be full of multi-tasking and progress making. Definitily time to buy some more garbage bags.