"Time to Say Goodbye"

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." -Dr. Seuss

This is a compilation of
my goodbyes.
{I said goodbye to my Chocolate apartment too, but there aren't any pictures of that.}

Goodbye to the Kawamoto family.

I'll always have a home in Japan
because of you, Akemi.

You feed me just as many goodies as my mama does.
...Boy, it sure seems like I'm always eating, here in Japan.

Oh, guess I am.

Goodbye, Kakogawa Ward.
You showed me the same Gospel I grew up with
from a refreshing perspective.

Goodbye, my Aussie gals.

You sent me messages
asking me how my classes went,
warning me about weather changes,
inviting me out to explore Japan with you.
Lauren, Kat, Vera,
I'm coming for Christmas one year.
Be ready.

The "Ghost Trees",
so rightfully named by Lauren.

The spirits of fallen samurai
wander amongst the shadows
of the illuminated Arashiyama bamboo forest...
Or maybe it's just the stray cats.

I'm going to step forward,
gathering all that I learned from
studying abroad,
and become the wonderful person
I dream to be.

My little life

will become a big one.

You're in my heart forever, 日本.

For now,

Sayonara, Japan. 

{♪ "Departure at Dawn" via Cecil Corbel}

"Alone in a Rabbit Hutch"

A fantabulous thing about Japanese apartments is they're

teensy-weensy.

So when you watch a horror flick,

you don't have to check that many rooms

for ghosts or murderers.

You just turn on the hall light

and you're good.

...

Except...

...

being alone is still scary...

...

...

...

Someone hold me.

{Image via WeHeartIt}
{Calvin & Hobbes © Bill Watterson}

Vlog: "Typhoons n' Nectarines"

And everything in between

right now.

{Image via LLSS}

{Music via Plumb}

"I Awoke to Buzzing This Morning"

And the thing is still in my apartment.

IT WON'T GO AWAY.

The lady on the bus said the sting of an

ashinagabachi

{long-legged wasp}

is poisonous,

and if I get stung twice

I must go to the hospital immediately.

Stung TWICE?!

byebyebuggyi'llsmashyounowwithabook.

{image found online}

"The Very Quiet Apartment"

My Chocolat Apartment

is now

my Very Quiet Apartment,

a change I knew

would bring back the long-battled

homesickness.

Can you all just come here and live with me, please?

Is a month next week tomorrow NOW too short of notice?

{Image via Felicia}

{Music via Yoko Kanno}

"I Was Going to Wash the Dishes..."

when a

SUDDEN

uncontrollable

URGE

overcome me,

and I swiveled on the hardwood floor

and danced instead.

Tom Cruise would be proud, I'm sure,

even though I had pants on while I did it.

My mother, however,

would not be so proud.

Better dance and wash next time.

It'd make for more bubbles, at the very least.

"A Small View of Chile"

"I'd swim the ocean for you. Lol jk, there are sharks in there." -Anon.

Last night,

I had just finished reading the chapters

in the scriptures

which described the natural disasters

the natives endured before Christ's coming . . .

when my bed began to tremble violently.

In reflection,

the water belongs to the fish,

the air to the bird . . .

so when the ground that belongs to you

refuses to let you walk freely upon it,

your world,

quite literally,

flips topsy-turvy,

and you realize how very fragile,

how very small you are.

Earthquakes. Gosh.

If I'm being completely honest,

it was the single most terrifying

AND the most thrilling thing

I have yet experienced,

all five seconds of it.

{PS: Nothing broke.}

{Photo via Papertissue}

"Skype"

...It really is a technological miracle.

♥

"This May Sound Crazy, But..."

When I use floss,

I remember you saying,

"Oh, you're one of those people",

meaning I use too much of it.

And I can't help but smile.

:)

When I watch the schoolboys pedal

their girlfriends around on bicycles,

I remember you picking me up on a Wednesday,

driving me to the mountains to walk my dog

and watch the sun go to sleep.

And when I have nights like last night,

when the toilet is my pillow

and stomach juices scorch my throat,

I think of you putting a washcloth on my forehead

and stroking my hair.

And it's enough to put me back to sleep,

just like that drowsy sun

when we walked my dog in the mountains together

on a Wednesday.

"The Chocolate Apartment"

"...establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." -Doctrine & Covenants 109:8

A belated introduction.

{Sorry, Mom.}

Welcome to Le Chocolat,

my home in Japan.

I'll be getting pretty cozy here,

as the junior high school I teach

extended my contract through December.

Translation?

I'm staying in Kakogawa,

teaching one school,

for the entirety of my internship.

This means I'll stay close to my host family,

live in the heart of Japanese history and culture,

and get to know my students and fellow coworkers

all the better.

♥

I've been thinking alot about growing up lately.

I know it's no coincidence I've been accepted here,

and I'm so thankful for it.

This is my home now.

{Until December.}

{Music via V.V. Brown}

"Good Morning, Mr. Vampire"

"If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters." -Anon

I dunno about you,

but I stink at waking up the first time my alarm clock jingle-jangles.

"5 more minutes, just 5 more min... zZzZz..."

So, to get genki for my students today,

I sang a silly song

and danced with a curling iron next to my face.

I can't wait for the summertime.

My mornings are just plain groggy when I'm up before the sun.

Do you have a magic trick that helps you wake up?

Besides coffee? :)

{Image via Dani}

"You Have to Get Ready All the Times..."

"...to get her LOVE."

And there he is,

being all sneaky-like in an apple tree.

I found this at a hyaku-en shoppe.

There's no way I can pack it in my suitcase,

but I had to get it for my Kakogawa home.

It's just... SO cute. :)

"Fresh Air by the Tombstones"

"Life is a process. We are a process." -Anne Wilson Schaef

I took a stroll in the cemetery today.

Like the rest of their architecture,

Japan builds their tombs up.

There were statues of gods in every courtyard,

along with wells where you wash your hands and pray.

I need hardly say it,

but I think this country is growing on me.

"Just Around the River Bend..."

"Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time."

-Leo F. Buscaglia

Sorry, I've got Disney princesses singing in my ear right now.

First Belle, now Pocahontas.

Not that that has anything to do with anything...

{*ahem*}

Just around the corner,

and down a few streets,

there's an LDS Church building.

{A blessed miracle.}

My scriptures were taken at the train station,

gone with my tote bag.

And even though most of the members in my new ward

were hesitant to speak English to me,

they accepted my broken Japanese

with eye-crinkling grins.

And let me borrow an English quad

from the Church library.

I made a new friend

{Sayo}

and with her, came the rest of her family,

all smiles, all happiness.

Especially her grandmother,

who stands as high as my ribcage.

Her words in English,

"welcome to my house"

{she meant, "welcome to Church"}

warmed me up.

There is a sister who served in Hawaii,

who used her English skills to ask me questions like,

"Do you want to make miso?"

&

"Do you want to wear a kimono?"

And when they learned I just celebrated my birthday,

they made me a card

and gave me Japanese biscuits. ♥

The ward here is just like home;

everything is structured the same.

The only difference is the language

and the amount of members.

{There were, at best, 15-20 people in the congregation.}

I'm doing my best to fight off homesickness,

and am sharing these little adventures with you

because I wish you all were here,

experiencing them with me.

{Image via Nelson Seawright}

"The Convenience of it All"

While training in Tokyo,

I was told horror stories of ICs

{internship coordinators}

who abandoned their interns after the first day.

I was worried it might happen to me,

but Yoshiko has stayed by my side

and checked up on me

the entire time I've been here.

She's helped me

file my alien registration,

set up my bank account,

shop for home necessities,

configure my internet settings,

learn the layout of the city,

and even acted as my lawyer

to the principal and staff of my junior high school.

She's been with me every step of the way,

and I am forever grateful to her.

My chocolat apartment is located near

the train station

the post office/bank

{they're in the same building}

the mall

the grocery store

a multitude of restaurants

the barber shoppe

and, miraculously, my new ward

{which is conducted entirely in Japanese}.

I don't have to pay to go to Church anymore!

The only place that isn't close to me

is the junior high school, where I teach.

Since Monday is a holiday over here

{"Coming of Age" Day}

I start work on Tuesday.

Cross your fingers for me.

I'll need all the prayers I can get.

"Little Town, it's a Quiet Village..."

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."

-Andre Gide

When riding the shinkansen,

you can't really feel the speed.

You recline in plush seats,

and watch the fickle landscape of Japan

rush by outside the window.

I say fickle...

because I watched the weather change from

sunny sailboats

to blizzardy mountains

to rainy villages

in a matter of minutes.

But I think the most spectacular thing I saw

happened when another bullet train passed by us;

I could see the landscape through its windows,

like an old animation reel.

Watch the film and take a peek.

It brought me joy.

Katsumeshi is the local dish of Kakogawa,

the little town I live in.

I went to a New Year's/Welcoming Party

at an extremely formal Japanese restaurant.

Dish after dish came

filled with traditional recipes.

I really fell in love with this omelette.

They sweeten their eggs here,

serving them with a spoonful o' sugar.

Maguro was the final dish.

{Tuna.}

Just look at the size of it!

And this was only part of the fish.

Massive.

Won't get anything like this back in Utah...

Gotta eat as much of it as I can

while I can!

Iced sake.

Everyone at my welcoming party ordered alcohol,

and gave me their water glasses.

:)

And here you go, your dish of Engrish.

There is so much I could say about this...

But I won't.