Wednesday

Today was crazy.

Today was my last day of working at Nova. I worked a short shift from 10 - 2 just with Mark and it was a great time. I happened to have all my favourite students. First Aya, a university student (who got back from Melbourne about a month ago) - we talked about friendship. Then I had Yoshiko, one of my favourite students for sure! Yoshiko is a retired dentist and she has recently put together a book of all of her art. She does parchment paper work and acrylic paintings and watercolours too. She had translated a story for me from her book, about her old dog Yamato who she loved dearly. It was a great translation, and such a wonderful story. She and I had a great time talking and at the end of the class she gave me an envelope of postcards of her art. I was just delighted! What a wonderful surprise.

My final class at Nova was with probably my favourite student. Her name is Tokiko, and she's an older lady, I think maybe was a housewife. She is a brilliant woman and is a G level (the hightest level) and we always have a wonderful free chat about our lives. Sometimes we talk about religion and God and other times we talk about our families. Today we talked about cultures around the world and adopting. My favourite class with her was the one before last where we talked about love and life. She shared with me a wonderful story about her life that I will always remember. At the end of class today she gave me some traditional Japanese crafts her mother in law made. Two Japanese Paper Dolls and this beautiful decoration made of multi-coloured threads. I love them!

After work, Mark and I went out for lunch at the okonomiyaki place we frequent in Nara. I had Yaki-Soba curry flavour and Mark had the Mega-Jumbo Okonomiyaki. It was good. After, we did a bit of shopping and then met Mike and Miyume at my favourite pond in Nara Park. Maybe Nara Park is my favourite place to hang out in Japan, and this pond is absolutely beautiful. It's so peaceful and there is a huge bridge and gazebo in the middle. We talked and read and saw the water spiders and an egret and took pictures and walked the perimeter of the pond. It was a wonderful afternoon in the sun with friends. A perfect way to spend one of my last days in Japan.

I realized today that I only have just over 2 more days left in Japan. Tomorrow, the 7th (shopping and then serious dancing) and the 15th (we'll go to USJ and then out for dinner in Nara) and the 16th (packing/organizing) and then I go home on the 17th. I can't believe it. It's just coming too fast.

After Nara Park I came back to Osaka and went out for food with my friend Mayumi. I met Mayumi the first week I was in Japan, through a friend from home. She and I have seen eachother probably 4 or 5 times despite living in Osaka due to our busy schedules. But I went to her church a few times, and we spent Christmas Eve together so we bonded very well. Tonight I said bye to her which was hard. She lived in Toronto for 9 months and wants to come back to Canada so I have hope to see her again soon. We talked all night about our lives and reverse culture shock and how she felt when she came back and how it was the same or different from how I might feel. It helped me a lot and I'm so thankful for her advice. I will miss the chats I had with her. Then we went to Starbucks to talk more. She gave me a beautiful pair of Japanese style earrings, handmade. :)

I should go to bed now because i'm ultra tired, but this was an incredible day. Crazy and filled with goodbyes and sad times but also great memories in the sun and meaningful music and so much love. I will remember this day for a long time to come.