very sad farewell...........

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Wow, time goes by so fast. I remembered my anxiety of not finding a job in this country. Now I’m on the last week of my six month contract at my Junior High as ALT. I am very sad to say the least. I never thought I would be accepted with so much enthusiasm by my students.

My last week was filled with a lot of sad farewells. I was deeply moved by the different ways my students and even my colleagues showed me how much they appreciate me being part of the school. I didn’t realize I can make so much impact to a lot of lives in just six months. But what saddens me the most is that my leaving the school made a lot of my students very sad. Of course, they’re children, they’ll get over it. But if this is a prelude to my future jobs as ALT, it just feels so hard to be leaving students that you have developed a sort of affection for.

I have learned a lot from these children about the country and its culture I am trying to understand. They gave me a broad understanding why this country had risen to be one of the world’s wealthiest nations. Be it there commitment to a group or feeling of shame; endurance and commitment to win a competition or hone their artistic talents. Sometimes I feel inadequate with my own commitment by seeing theirs. I have never seen so much crying or felt so much sadness about losing, as I have witness with these children. They cry every time they lose and they never hide their feeling of disgust about losing, be it a chorus contest, a speech contest, a sporting competition; losing is apparently not part of the game plan. I will forever remember these children who had taught me that losing is never an option.


And don’t forget my colleagues…. Wow! I know you are reading this guys! You’ve been so wonderful. God knows how anxious I am, being a foreigner starting a new job in Japan and not being able to speak the language. But my co-teachers made my first teaching stint in Japan a fun and memorable one. Foreign teachers are expected to team teach with a Japanese English teacher. Emphasis on the word team. You can only go far if your dynamics with the Japanese teacher works. Ours was excellent. The Japanese teachers I have worked with were very welcoming with my ideas and sometimes even lack of it, LOL. I have learned a lot from my colleagues and I am already missing them so dearly. I am the luckiest guy in that school to be working constantly with six of the loveliest ladies of Kobe.

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