Go Allison!! - From Saturday night out in Goshogawara!!

My first shot as an interpreter!

Well, it's not as glam as it sounds....!

Yesterday my successor, Ben (say hello Ben!) arrived on a plane that had to circle for over an hour before plopping down out of a huge cloud at Aomori airport, along with about three dozen other very genki-looking newbie JETs.

Like a lot of other people I've been asked/arranged/conscripted by our Board of Ed to hang around and hand over the job, house, town, in person - and this has included interpreting for our supervisor, bosses, colleages, mayor, and whoever else. It's been a really interesting experience so far - on the one hand I am appalled by some pretty steep vocabularic insufficiencies - having to explain "suspension bridge" as "you know, the bridges with strings" (!! - it is a つり橋 apparently, although quite how we got to that point on self-introduction-day is another story altogether!) and how translating into Tsugaru-ben is doable enough but into regular Japanese - I suck! Ha!

But on the other hand there is a really exciting spontaneous side to it that I never expected my dictionary/textbook/test addicted mind to appreciate. The best thing is when someone cracks a joke, and you manage to interpret it quickly and aptly enough to make the other person laugh before the person who told it in the original language finishes laughing - and then of course the privileged position of being the only one who knows what's going on on both sides is pretty fun. We'll see how the rest of the week goes but maybe I want to be doing this kinda thing a bit more regularly - would certainly be an incentive to study anyway!

Some oldies

Not sure if I posted these pics last year but I had my data from my old laptop recovered and found a bunch of photos that I hadn't managed to back up...

Gosh Fireworks festival 

Iwaki on a (clear?) day last summer 

From the "Typhoon" last August  

Sunset in Fukaura - the reason why this town is "famous" (apart from Furofushi!)  

Very long Sunday

Just an excuse to post some pics from the weekend really...! Am loving this new [add image] button on Blogger!!

Went to Hachinohe yesterday (in the middle of the night) to watch the sunrise - something I really wanted to do before I left Japan.
When we left Aomori it was this time and DARK!:


We didn't quite make it to the coast in time but this was the view at Ogawarako:

After that we went on to one of the beaches near Hach. At 6am we pretty much had the beach to ourselves :) Was a bit cloudy when we got there...

... but cleared up and the sun came out (we fell asleep on the sand and got duly sunburnt!)

Then (for an extra treat) we went to Kabushima ("Turnip Island") which is home to like 3/4 of the world's seagulls (and, appropriately, covered in poo!) :

The guy asleep in the flowerbed didn't seem particularly bothered though...

So it was a long day but sleeping on the beach was so azumashii!! Was really cool to get up so early, forget about time, and have a 22-hour day, and I finally got to see the sunrise which was about the last thing I had left that I wanted to do in Aomori.

One particularly bonded bundle of buddies, and the luckiest moose alive :) Thanks guys xx 

End of a long week of goodbyes...

This week has been sayonnara week - eight days straight of leaving parties, school assembly speeches, last lessons, lunches - with friends, students, teachers past and present. At the beginning of this week I was most worried about getting the speeches and letters written, and wondering how, even if I managed to put what these three years have meant to me into words, I would ever be able to get that across in front of all these people. How can I ever show my gratitude to all the people who have been so kind to me and taught me so much?

Now, at the other end of this week, although I'm not sure if I'll ever be done saying thank you, I have at least basically conveyed what I wanted to say. I have learnt more in this one week than in any other week during my time here; my role, my achievements, the sheer effect that living here for three years has had on me, and exactly how much I have changed during that time, have really come into focus for me. I've had the opportunity to do and say things for the first time and put words to ideas and feelings that had until now been unclear. I guess that is closure.

Now isn't the time to go into all of that. What I really want to say tonight is just how utterly overwhelmed I have been by all the things people have written and said to me this week. The messages and flowers from all the kids were so cute and I am going to really miss hanging out at school and all the larking about that went on both in and out of lessons; it is a big loss for me not to be a part of these super kids' daily lives any more. I have so much respect for all the teachers here who made me feel so welcome and have taught me so much, it has been fascinating to work with such an inspired (and inspring) group of people. And to this particularly outstanding group of friends (many of whom were at the Aji party tonight - thank you soooooo much!) - I couldn't have asked for more supportive, grounded or hilarious people to swing it with in Tsugaru - it's been awesome hanging with you guys!!

Of course there is a sad side to leaving (sniff sniff!) and I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that no-one's seen me upset, cos upset I certainly have been at times when it seems (rather self-centrically considering that the one leaving is me!) that these hundreds of brilliant people are just going to fall out of my life, that there is a limit to the number of fun times we can have and that limit is coming soon, or has already passed. But everytime I was with people this week, I couldn't help smiling to be with the people who I have so many happy memories with, and by having to face saying goodbye to them all I have at least been saved from the greater evil of taking them - and my time with them - for granted. I feel really lucky to have had so many good times and anyway, it's not the case that people automatically disappear from your life just because you leave.

Ok, sorry, end of sapp-fest (for today at least!) but hey you gotta say this stuff when you feel it. It's been a pretty emotional week for mooses. }:-)

P.S. To anyone on my messenger list - there are party photos here...

Hoorah.

Small triumphs are the best. This morning I was sitting at my desk and casually asked the three students walking past that inevitable morning ice-breaker "How are you?" Student 1: "I'm happy!" Student 2:"I'm sleepy!" Student 3:"I'm hungry!"

Mission accomplished! I can leave my job next week safe in the knowledge that, for some percentage of the school at least, I have effected a transformation of the typical "I'm fine thank you and you" into a roll-call of the seven dwarves. Hoorah indeed.

Clouds 

Misty mountains - driving from Aomori to Kuroishi 

On the way home - Lighthouse at Kasose