I have had two farewell parties so far, not including the ALT party which rocked socks btw (until 6.30 am in the morning and involving much nudity and bared bums – brilliant!). The first was with my Junior High School teachers in the evening of the day of my leaving ceremony there. I hadn’t actually prepared a speech as I was not sure what to say, I had written some things down but then decided to wing it. I never felt particularly affectionate of my JHS teachers to be perfectly honest (except two both of whom left this May – boohoo!). Yes that is right all the sh*t comes out now that I am leaving! I devoted myself and my time to the pupils but when it came to the teachers I would forgo their parties and meetings and the like or at least leave at the first possible opportunity. I preferred to involve myself in island life, in which my teachers were often not involved. That and my incurable habit of taking days off I perhaps (or definitely) should not have, so I didn’t want to get to close to them incase they started asking questions. Yes, yes, I was far from a model employee but like I said I was there for the pupils not the teachers. Anyway the party rolled around and I was awfully surprised by what the teachers said about me. The English teacher and the teacher I taught the special needs kids with both praised me on always having good lessons plans and innovative ideas for games etc. Other teachers also came to thank me for making English fun for the kids etc. It was all very nice but I was never going to cry because I had done that already and that was for the kids not the teachers. It was however nice to know the kids like the way I taught English, on their thank you cards to me the messages I like best were along the lines of ‘your lessons always interesting, I like English now, I can speak English, Thank you Kureigu Teacha,’ although my favourite was from Kodai, the brother of my favourite student last year who said simply ‘we are friends forever.’ Ok enough of the horrid self congratulatory stuff it is making me queasy. In my speech I ended up just talking about how I had changed in Japan and what Japan has given me. It is true I didn’t like children before coming to Japan, now I do. It is true I wasn’t into endurance sports before Japan (weights only please!), not I do. Also I appreciate healthy food now, I was fond of fry ups back home. Other things which I did not know how to say in Japanese are that I have an appreciation of the importance/benefits of (local) community. Something we are loosing in the West, maybe. Also I have discovered internal motivation (mostly by training for the triathlon and then studying by myself for the grad diploma I am doing), before I think most of my motivation came from external sources; deadlines, the need to pass exams etc. I had the habit of doing just enough to pass or get the grade I wanted in exams and no more. Was I afraid of trying my best and therefore revealing my limitations? Well to be fair in my final year of Uni I went all out. My 21st birthday was only 2 days before an exam (a dam important exam) so I locked myself in my room and studied, not even accepted visitors. Yeah….
Anyway back to the party, I gave my speech and then was presented with a traditional Okinawan piece of clothing the name of which has escaped my mind which bore the kanji for ‘Umin chu’ meaning ‘sea person’. It is a fairly ubiquitous brand of tourist apparel in Okinawa. I was very happy with it though! After the party was karaoke with the younger male teachers and boy did we rock out! It was all high energy stuff; much enthusiastic kampai-ing (cheers-ing), jumping on the chairs and screaming out hearts out. My voice was instantly croak as the previous night has seen a pretty heavy karaoke sesh too. We stopped when a couple of teachers passed out, one of whom we had to carry home. Good times.
At the moment I am working (in the loosest sense of the word) at the Board of Education. The guys here are a bit old and self important but nice chaps. I saved their bacon by finding out that the new ALT is not arriving on the 8th as they though but on the 1st of August. So me agreeing to stay later was rather in vain but that is ok, another week in Okinawa is no bad thing.
That is by the by though. Time to talk about my character flaw(s)! Last night was the primary (elementary) school end of term / goodbye party. Now I should mention that most, or probably all of the ALTs seem to be getting presents from their schools when they leave, maybe, actually maybe I am just assuming that, but a certain person I know is getting HEAPs of presents. So I was (greedily?) expecting something from this party. You see unlike the JHS teachers I have always got on well with the elementary school teachers, they have been nice to me and I have been nice to them. Also unlike the JHS where I don’t think I ever felt I got a lesson down perfectly (except for my English conversation club but the aim of the game there was fun rather than serious English learning) I felt most weeks that I hit the nail on the head. I have a sneaky suspicion you could do almost anything at the elementary school, make faces at the kid for 45 minutes, and they would love it! But I felt my lessons were good.
So.. where was I, ah yes! Well the party (actually a barbeque) was perfect. The perfect Okinawan party, at the beach; lovely weather, beautiful sunset, great food and cold beer (Orion of course). And children playing in the water to complete the scene. Later we had speeches and played some party games which were great fun. It couldn’t have been a better night, kocho sensei said nice things about me in his closing speech and then it was time to pack up and go home. And I react (internally only! I didn’t let it show!) like a horrible spoilt child. To my shame today I was quite upset about not getting a present which is horrible and materialistic and know. My only consolation is that I didn’t let it show. Like I said we (I and the teachers) have always got on great, they would always come to speak to me and give me candy (way to anyones heart). They invited me to their field trips, parties, barbeques and to dinner parties at their houses. The Vice-principle has his endearing habit of giving me fresh laid eggs from the school hens, on my last day they all applauded as I left and the head master gave me a hearty hug. So I had all that, which surely means more than a present, which is just a thing. So why was I such a materialistic wretch and acting like a spoilt child! Meh, well there we go. I suppose we all (I hope it is not just me) have feelings and impulses we know are wrong and we can choose not to act on them. It is something uniquely human to not act purely on the basis of our feelings? Actually I don’t think so but it is probably quite special in the animal kingdom. Here is to higher brain functions! Hip Hip!
Sorry for two such a long post in quick succession! I promise a post of just pictures next but I need to pop back to the JHS to do that. Until next time!
Until next time!

Well. My friends started their long flight across Russia today, seriously how big does one country have to be? It has been an intense past couple of weeks, in a good way but with a dose of sadness. It was great having two friends from home to spend some of my last weeks on the island with. Going out kayaking or exploring uninhabited islands would not be the same alone. Also as one would expect with my return to the UK drawing close there has been much in the way of goodbyes and such like. First up was the elementary school, two weeks ago. On my final day I had the 4,5,6th grade classes and in a similar vein to the previous week when I had the final 1,2,3rd grade classes I went all out for an action packed lesson. There was much running, screaming, sweating and a little crying – that is to say Craig’s lessons at their best. The classes went well and each class presented me with a card (as they had done last week) but it was all a little too much for Richard and Gav and they had to retire at lunch time. I had promised the 1,2,3rd grades that I would play with them during their lunch break should they desire. About 30 or so of them turned up so it was pretty intense, there also being no teacher there to help me. We played the Nemo game and then when it all broke down into chaos towards the end I threw and swung kids with all my might, several times I was brought down to my knees by the sheer weight of kids climbing on me. Seriously, who needs weights when you throw around kids for a living? By the end I could not have lifted the lightest child if my life had depended on it. A couple of kids brought me gifts they had made themselves which was quite touching, most were in the form of paper cranes, one girl gave me a whole bag stuffed with them! Happily I had another lesson with my kindergarten kids the next week so I didn’t have to say goodbye to them just yet. Now if I remember correctly the following weekend a typhoon hit, it was the first real typhoon I had experienced as none of the typhoons last year hit Okinawa directly. It was actually quite fun, I and my guests stocked up on food (and beer) and bunkered down for the storm. Just FWI typhoon plus cape plus snorkel plus video camera equals FUN! My final yochien lesson the following week went well too, it turned into a marathon one hour lesson when then kids started requesting games we had done ages ago, I wasn’t going to deny them on our final lesson! Then they had a little goodbye ‘party’ for me and gave me some cute gifts they had made and finally we had a group picture. The kids were terrible during the photo taking; prodding and pinching me and even biting my fingernails!! Where they mad I was leaving? Anyway I made my escape (it felt like escape at that point) and then I, Richard and Gav had a fisherman give us a ride to Gushikawa jima (an uninhabited island). I have been there before and knew what to expect, and what to expect is pretty awesome. In one patch between Gushiwaya and the neighbouring island of Iheya the sea is the most amazing colours (due to strangly stable, winding banks of brilliant white sand just below the surface). After snorkeling and the like I left the boys to attempt an exploration of the interior, it was pretty intense due to there being giant orb spiders (some at least 15cm across with their legs bent naturally – NO exaggeration) everywhere, there webs can me as big as 1.5 to 2 metres across. I found the best technique to be to wave two sticks in front of me as I pushed and ducked through the trees. Even so I had some close calls! There was a surprising amount of open space inside and for a tiny island a fair variety of environments; from dry conifer forest to stifling jungle to areas covered in bamboo or elephant grass. I came across piles of stones I assume are the remains of the houses of the now absent inhabitants and I also found some archeological sites. Last year I met some archeologists who told me they were going to gushikawa to poke around in some 3000 odd year old remains. I assume anyway that it was they who left the blue tarps covering random areas, mostly at the bottom of cliffs. I must admit after almost an hour inside I was getting a little claustrophobic and jumpy! It was a relief to make it out! That night we drank with Yoshiaki san and friends and introduced them to the delights of (quarter cask) lauphraugh (a rather potent Islay malt), the previous night be had introduced Kamiyama san to it. To our pleasant surprise they liked it, we found out that after the war for ten years or so whisky was the drink of choice in Okinawa, so many men today grew up drinking it, it was only in the late 50’s that awamori became prominent. The following day was my final day at school. My final lessons went well and I still didn’t feel emotional, so far so good I thought. I wrote my speech and had my JTE check it. Every night of the previous week I had meant to write it but I never had a moments rest to do it. We had the whole closing ceremony and then it was the say goodbye to Kureigu ceremony, OK feeling a flutter of emotion now. I sit on a chair on the stage while first the headmaster and then a pupil give a speech about me, then I am presented with flowers and cards by the kids. Next up is yours truly and my speech. I start off strongly, in fact I do the whole thing in a pretty good voice but a definate tremor appears towards the end. I then exit to the sounds of pinkity plonkity music while the students clap. There is some amusement, for which I am grateful, when I completely don’t get which way I am supposed to walk out. By the time I make it back to the teacher’s room tears are flowing, as is my noise quite embarrassingly. I would like you to note it was manly crying, that is to say no noise just liquid excretions. A favourite studens comes to talk to me in the staff room but I am not up to much conversation, I soldier through my last school lunch (the very Japanese meal of a … burger!) before gathering my things and making an exit.
Once on the road I immediately feel better as I was on my way to go kayaking with two of my oldest friends, Richard and Gavin! At that moment life was good! I must admit that picking up my final paycheck along the way helped too ;). It did definitely help having my buddies there, going home to an empty house would perhaps have been quite depressing.
I feel this post is quite long enough, there followed after that my teachers party and the finally big JET party on the main island both of which were splendid fun and of course bittersweet as it was the last time I would see many of the fantastic folks I have had the much appreciated opportunity to meet here. I also haven’t writing about the music festivals we went to either! Expect another blog shortly, this time with pictures!
OK back to trying to get my affairs in order before I leave this country!