Memories

My last finals were yesterday, history and visual anthropology.  I spent two hours in a ridiculous study group for the history final that helped ingrain some of the names with humor.  I'm terrible with names, especially when they're all Ashikaga So-And-So and Yoshitomo/Yoshitsune/Yoshi-whatever-the-ending-was.  I knew all the key terms and knew enough of the background for the essay questions to get away without actually knowing the names of the things I was referencing (curse you, four different sects of Buddhism).  VisAnth was alright as well, though some of the questions were vague.  The graded test was in my mailbox this morning; I got a B+, overall class grade A-, though, so it's all good.

Today I've got a big, long list of things to do (like turning off my phone, getting some last gifts and packing), and will be going to all-you-can-eat gyoza for lunch with friends, but before I do, I'm going to look back at the things I'll miss.  I don't have many pictures at the moment, but in theory there will be more in the nearly distant future.  Also, these aren't in order of importance, just as they came to my mind.  They're roughly in order of my daily routine.

I will miss my 3 futons and blanket.  We might not have always gotten along, but they were warm and very welcome when the weather shifted from OMG humid to AUGH freezing.  I just wish they didn't insist on sliding off the bed or bunching up on one side or riding up from the foot of the bed leaving my feet exposed and burying my head.

I will miss Okaasan's cooking.  Every meal I had with the family was awesome, and very rarely were they prepackaged or store-bought.  Half of the veggies came straight from her garden.  And I really appreciated that she left out the mushrooms for me, because it seems they're a mushroom heavy family.  She even made me my own pot of sukiyaki a night or two ago so it wouldn't have mushrooms.

I will miss bus 9A, all three types of buses that boasted the name, the bus drivers who weren't pricks who left the bus stop early when I was in sight of them, the Japanese businessmen/mothers/school kids/etc who shared the bus with me each day (kitten-heels girl, businessman with glasses, white coat guy), the people in the park by the stop who kept me entertained while I waited (tiny dog lady [also the only person I ever saw praying at the small shrine on the way to the stop], Corgi lady [please stop abusing that dog, it's really quite sweet], walker lady, mother and her elementary school girls, runner guy with backpack) and the sights along the route (tiny kittens!, Yamada shrine, Cafe Sally, that pink building off in the distance that may or may not be a love hotel, Hummer guy [I've seen just one Hummer while I've been here, a white H3, and I see it almost every morning], the massage place I never went to and the Happy Science building).



Happy Science building



I will miss Japanese class with Shimotani-sensei.  She's awesome.  Enough said.

I will miss my afternoon professors, Shinto/Kenney, History/Hlawatsch, VisAnth/Fedorowicz.  Each of them were dedicated, enthusiastic and knowledgable in their own ways, which kept the classes entertaining.

I will miss the windows of the CIE building without screens.  I loved being able to exit the building through them (like that time Arianna and I escaped from the bathroom).

I'm going to miss curry in general and Family Mart's 100 yen curry buns.  I was a pork bun fan until I tried them.  There was no going back after that.  Also, they were wonderful while I was waiting for the bus home at night when it was freezing.  Nice and warm.  On the matter of food, I'm going to miss sweet potatoes.  When they were in season, we had them every day in some form or another.  Okaasan is still pulling a few out of the ground in her garden.  Also, sweet potato Kit-Kats.  So good!

I will miss the tadaima (I'm home)/okairi (welcome home) game I played with Otousan.  He doesn't speak any English  and is at work until late at night, so it's the most interaction we tend to have each day.  The first time I welcomed him home, I said it before he said he was home, so it turned into something of a stand-off as to who was going to say their line first.

I will miss the bathtub (but not particularly the shower room) and the wonderful soaks I had in it.  The house has no central heating (as is the norm), so it was really welcome before bed.

I will miss bilingual TV.  I mentioned that Okaasan would switch movies to English with Japanese subtitles before.  In the past week or so, she's changed the news so that it's in both Japanese and English.  It took a while to get used to the two voices and shutting one out to hear the other, but it's great.

I will miss Misa's piano practice Saturday/Sunday mornings and Maki's piano playing in the evenings on the weekends.  I'll especially miss the family duets, when Maki and Misa play together or when Otousan accompanies on the drums.

I will miss the abundance of shrines, their inhabitants and the peace they've given me.

I will miss English sessions with Okaasan, such as teaching her the subtle difference between the pronounciation of "mother" and "murder," which come out sounding the same in Japanese.

I will miss the abundance of sock shops and other legging apparel stores.  The US needs more of these to fill my desires.  sockdreams.com is awesome, but is only one store.

I will miss the abundance of bakeries and their delicious creations.  I will miss Friday melon pan guy.

I will miss the ebi burgers at McD's.  That feels strange coming from me.

Of course, I'll miss all the people.  Adam, Alison, Amanda, Arianna, Arisa, Ayana, B, Chika, Daniel, Elizabeth, Jasmine, John, Joseph, Lauren, Matt, Miho, Mika, Miku, Momoko, Fuzzy, Ryan, Sebastian, Tan and Tetsuya to name the students.  Maki Shimotani, Shinko Hattori, Elizabeth Kenney, George Hlawatsch and Steven Fedorowicz to name the professors.  Tsurue, Toshihiko, Misa, Maki, Konta and Takeshi to name the family.  Y'all made the experience.