I am the North

Bennie in northernmost Hokkaido, Japan - main blog is rabbut

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Thanks Wakkanai, for all the beautiful memories

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So I’ve moved back to America and have been back one full day. I already miss Japan, and missed Wakkanai pretty much as soon as I boarded the plane. Good luck to all returning JETs, and best wishes to the new ones. Treasure your moments, because before you know it you’ll be leaving. 

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Said goodbye to the first school I ever visited as an ALT. My last class there ended with my one fourth grade girl saying, unprompted, that when she’d first started English alone she hadn’t been able to say anything and was really uneasy, but thanks to me it became fun and she enjoys it now and that she’d miss me and that she was sad.  And then when I walked out of the teachers office to leave I found the entire school lined up at the genkan and they’d hung up a banner that said Thank you! Goodbye! and they all started applauding and handed me a packet of letters. I uh, yeah, I started crying. There was no way to stop it, but I managed to get out that it was the first school I’d ever visited and I thanked them for the six years. 

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I only have one full week of work left. Next week will all be goodbyes.  Six years.  I was looking through my facebook albums today and I’m glad I take so many pictures, because I was able to sit back and really appreciate all that I’ve done. There are so many little moments that would’ve been lost otherwise.  I created a life for myself here, and while it was not always easy, the majority of it was good. I will miss this time of my life fiercely. I don’t think I’ve ever been this stable or this safe. I came here right after my mom died, and I’ve only spent 5 weeks in the states since. It’s good that I’m going back into something (grad school) because I’m going to desperately need the structure.  It’s almost unbelievable to me that I’ll be leaving friends here, and my office, which has become my family away from the states. I’m going into so much with school and my dreams, but I feel like I’m losing a lot in the process.  I am a big ol jumble right now. 

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They set aside some time at school for the kids to say goodbye. I walked into the room and took some pictures with some third years. Then an entire crowd of students entered the room. They gave me a little poster board and everyone started clapping. We took pictures together and they left.  Yeah, that got me.

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Said goodbye to a school I’ve taught at for six years, with students I’ve taught since elementary. Time is passing fast. I’ve got three weeks left here. This blog’ll be winding down as well. Can’t believe how fast these six years have gone. 

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These lads were absolutely knackered this morning

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Got a wisdom tooth taken out yesterday. I hadn’t planned on it because I thought it was fine, but it was actually Not Fine. I’ll go back in a few weeks to get the second one taken out because they only do one at a time.

The dentist made me balloons and had me guess the animals. The first one is a long neck dog, and the second is a big nose dog. When I commented on how fast they took the tooth out, he was like we can put the tooth back in as many times as you want.

They also gave me my tooth in a little tooth case, and the roots are twisted like legs so the nurse was like, it’s sexy.

It was my favorite visit to the dentist ever. 😂

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Wakkanai sakura

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Drove to Wakkanai Koen today...not very golden of golden week 🤷🏼‍♂️

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Also, just a btw, I got into school, I’m moving to Arizona in August which is like...the absolute opposite of Hokkaido

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I guess the other thing too is that my mom friend coworker & my boss have both suddenly retired, and out of all the people that made up the original office when I got here six years ago, only I’m left.  Plus, my JTE friend is also leaving the profession. There’s a ton of change going on at the schools. I don’t know, just doesn’t feel like there’s much reason to stay anymore. Everyone is moving on to other things, so it’s really time that I should too. 

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So it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything here, but it’s because I’ve been super busy with life & it was a very snowy winter & now I’ve got four months left till I’m headed back to the states.  I was offered a seventh year, but I’m ready for the next thing. Plus, I really want to get a second cat and I can’t see that happening in Japan. 

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Got an email from the embassy about how the u.s. is now requiring people to have a corona test within three days of boarding their flight to the states & I’m just like, okay so I have to replan the entirety of my move cool cool cool It wouldn’t matter if I lived in Tokyo or another city - but I live in Wakkanai and it takes 6 hours by train to get to Sapporo. Normally how I swing this is 1.) travel to Sapporo, stay overnight, fly out the next day to Tokyo and then my international destination. The normal takes 2 days.  My plan before this was to take the train to Sapporo, then Hakodate (10 hours) then the Shinkansen to Tokyo (8 hrs.) after an overnight in Hakodate. Because I wanted to spare my cat having to fly cargo because Japan, for some reason, does not allow animals to fly in cabin in domestic flights. But this trip would’ve taken me 3 days to do, so it’s now out. I can’t afford to make mistakes because my cat has to have a vet visit within 10 days of leaving the country for his quarantine appt. I need to email those papers to the office to make sure there’s no mistakes beforehand. Plus, I’ll need to get this stupid corona test, and I’ll have to do that in Wakkanai, cus once my contract is up I don’t have ~health insurance~ anymore.  Look, moving internationally is stressful enough without  e v e r y t h i n g  else. 

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Had a little Christmas party at the office - my office is truly the best, no contest ❤️🥰

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I think it’s important that I share some pics of my cat in my tiny bathtub 🛁

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Day three of bathtub hopping

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I think it’s important that I share some pics of my cat in my tiny bathtub 🛁