Konbonwa my dear friends and family!

I hate to say it, but this is sayounara. This will be your last installment of “The Adventures of Burandon-san in Japan.” As crushed as I know you all are, let me assure you that I am more. Here in Fukui it’s hot hot hot again. The rice is tall and brilliantly green once more. The cicadas are back…as are the cockroaches and the sweat rags. School is out and yukattas (summer kimonos worn to festivals) fill the stores. It is summer again, and with it comes the knowledge that I have come full circle and my time on this roller coaster is nearly up. It seems like just yesterday that I was excitedly emailing you about the glorious onsens (public baths) and the squid on a stick… the ladies strolling about with their parasols and the men with pink Hello Kitty toys hanging off their phones. It seems like just yesterday and yet I leave Fukui in less than 4 days! I don’t know how this year has passed so quickly!

Life over the last month has been an endless string of dinners, parties, ceremonies, and farewells.  It's been terribly tiring (both physically and emotionally) and at the same time a process that's been really reassuring, beautiful, and rich ...in it there is a sense of affirmation ...proof that I have made a connection and that I will be missed.   There's the laughter that comes with taking the time to reflect on all the fun memories made with friends...and the tears that come in realizing that the making of those particular memories (of this time and this place and these people) will end.  There's gratitude and love and the time and space to express those emotions openly.  Most of all, I've found it's a time that lends itself to comparisons.  Befores and afters.  It’s really neat to look back at how I saw things in the beginning and see that I've grown and changed and moved to a place and understanding that's a little more complete... a little more honest …maybe a little more understanding …and possibly a little more cynical, too. 

I'm not going to lie.  It this process stinks, too! I feel I've just now acquired the Japanese to make good Japanese friends.  I've just figured out how to interact with my students and bond.  I've just now made this place home - not just a fun vacation stop-over.  I ride by bike by the river and watch the sun set behind the mountains...I notice the villages huddled against the dark shadows that the mountains cast...I see the lights reflecting in the river...I nod at the passerby and chirp a little 'konbanwa'... and I know I'm going to miss it terribly. 

I've found that I'm strangely nostalgic about things that I used to find so strange and/or mundane.  I want to take a picture of the man in the pin-striped suit who waves and tips his hat to me everyday on the bus.  I want to send home a bag of white rice because now I think it's undoubtedly supreme to western white rice.  I want to save every funny email I’ve received and tape all the hilarious stories my friends tell about students grabbing their boobs in the public baths. I stop to savor the crosswalk tune; I smile when the supermarket clerk finishes our transaction with “otsukaresamadeshita” (literally, you worked hard – good job); I regret having to change from a futon back to a western bed. And, I fear walking into a store and not being greeted with a screeching “irraishai” (welcome) and a big deep bow. I guess, though, the bittersweet ending is the one for which every author aims and I'm no exception. 

To list for you all that I’ve done in the last two months would seriously be a novel. On top of that, those engagements, fun though they all were, are not what is occupying my mind now. Rather every spare moment is filled with a slideshow of images… sounds… smells… moments. So, let me leave you with a little slideshow of the things I’ll miss.

- I’ll miss the tiny bald and toothless man who sits on the stoop at the top of the hill greeting me everyday as I bike to and from school. I swear his grin stretches from ear to ear and his eyes shine almost as brightly as the sun on his smooth shiny noggin’.

- I’ll miss preschoolers in their matching blue shorts, white shirts, and yellow hats crossing the streets with their hands raised above their heads so the cars can see them better.

- I’ll miss sunsets over the river.

- I’ll miss the annoying sprinklers that spray WATER to clear the snow off the roads in winter.

I’ll miss:

- The giggles and the nervous scurry that is the response I get every time I say hello to a student outside of class.

- The toilet shoes and indoor shoes, gym shoes and outdoor shoes, the ridiculous high heels and the great big rubber snow boots, the hated plastic slippers and the pink fuzzy slippers that my principal wears (with is his suit no less).

- The ease with which a name is changed to a term of endearment – Rora-chan, Robbie-chan, Mari-chan… I’ll miss being Bran-chan

- The polyester tracksuits and the carefully coiffed orange mullets.

- Pigtails.

- Doing the funky chicken in aerobics class and the women who love to touch my hair after class “just to see how it feels.”

- ‘Blue’ apples and the “ehhs” they evoke from all my students when I take a bite.

- The women who wear knee-high nylons with skirts a bit too short.

- Putting a new word to use and the exhilaration when someone understands!

- Holding hands with my elementary students and the times when they speak to me in fast, slang-filled Japanese because they don’t even realize that I’m ‘gaijin’ and, thus, I might not understand.

- The buzz of my tires as they spin against my bike light and power me through the night.

- When my students ask the most inappropriate stuff, like: “Are you a virgin?”

- Or, when high school students ask, “Are you a boy?” (To their credit that question was in response to my telling them that I have a boy’s name.)

- Swimming with my students in a cove where the mountains literally fall into the sea.

- Karaoke Karaoke Karaoke!

- The intoxicating song of the harp and the guitar at Harumi’s dinner parties.

- Tying an obi and shuffling along in a kimono.

- The grunts of disapproval that my calligraphy teacher gives me when I mess up – and the elation when she finally accepts one.

- Grandmas hunched over in their bonnets and aprons sweeping cheery petals out of the streets

- Students with their bums high in the air, cleaning the floors.

- The sea of accents and crazy vocabulary that is the product of an international expat community.

- BBQs and my local ramen shop, rotating sushi and bags of fresh veggies.

- The willingness of strangers to invite me to their homes.

- The willingness of my junior high school boys to hug each other.

- Catching the whiff of incense from a shrine.

- Smiling at people when I catch them staring.

- Hopping in a cold bath after lingering in a hot one.

- Hot drinks from the vending machine on a bitterly cold night.

- Biking past the “Vow Wow” pet store and receiving programs that instruct me to “crap my hands.”

- “See you!” and the flurry of farewell notes that end with something resembling the following: “I pray your future success & get best husband”

Yes – I’m going to miss this place something crazy! That is not to say that this year has been without valleys… I’ve had many. But, overall – It’s been an incredible experience wherein I’ve made lifelong friends (both Japanese and western) and unforgettable memories. I’ve learned worlds about myself… about Japan… and, about the depth of communication that is possible in a simple smile. Still – it is my time to go and as sad as I am that this episode must end, I know my timing is right. Soon enough, I’ll be moving to DC and starting a new adventure-filled life there – the first adventure being - finding a job! I’m really really looking forward to seeing you all and catching up on all that’s new in your lives. I’m really looking forward to picking up salsa, swing, and ballet again. I’m excited to try my hand at some guitar playing, to smell the sweet air of the NC mountains, to dive through the waves at Nags Head, and to speak a little Espanol too. I’m curious, also, to see how I’ll perceive the States after being away for a whole year. When I return please forgive me for my abhorrent English grammar – for the fact that I now speak without particles – for the fact that my mannerisms and intonation are terribly exaggerated – and for the fact that I’ll unknowingly be throwing in Japanese words like ‘tabun’ (maybe) in nearly every sentence. I’ll be taking a quick little stop over in Laos on the way home but I should be back in the States on Aug. 3 and back in Charlotte on Aug. 8. So, this is ado… but only for a short little bit. To the land of Engrish and Lice and everyone here – samishii (I’ll miss you). To the land of Georgia peaches and Krispy Kremes and everyone there – here I come!

So, see you soon!

Love always,

Bran-chan

PS. As always, there are more pictures up on the website. Check it out!