Last Day Of School

After a few wonderful years at The 5th Junior High School of Kamagaya, I have reached my final day. 

Three years, four schools, seven JTEs, hundreds of English lessons, thousands of "Hello!s" and even more "Konichiwas", all happened while I blinked. 

Last Friday morning, on my neighbor Kim's last day of work, I made her pause in front of our apartments to take a picture to document our last day of school. Like a proud parent, I went back and looked at the pictures we took on our first day three years ago, returning with orders for a sleepy Kim. 

"You were standing right here, with your left hand on your hip."

"Really, Kate..."

"SMILE!!!"

[Kimu Sensei]

[Keito Sensei]

Here are a few fun facts from my last day today...

-It is a sweltering 34C/91F degrees outside AND inside of the classrooms.
-On my way into school, I gave a little thank you card to the crossing guard I talk to every morning.
-I put a box of sweets with a note in the back of the staff room thanking everyone for the past three years, and added my email so we can all keep in touch.
-I am unbelievably congested. The combination of that plus the heat has put any sadness on the back burner. Though I did well up a little when one of my favorite, former speech contest girls gave me a very heart felt note, and nearly shed a tear as she handed it to me.
-Keima and I took silly pictures in the back of the staff room.
-I had left over pizza for lunch.
-I only had three lessons today, all with the 3rd year students.
-At the end of one class, while I was talking to the girls about how yucky boys are, a boy was dragged to the front of the classroom by his friends. The girls told me to wait. The boy stood in front of me, stick straight and completely still, staring at the floor. He gave me one glance and said, "You are beautiful. I love you." He flushed red and left while his friends cheered.
-I gave most of my students my teacher email. They are over the moon about it.
-I had to do a lesson for observing parents.
-My Principal took pictures of me during the observation lesson, printed them out and handed them to me. All within 45 min.
-The students had to come stand right in front of me and read to me today, at which point one of the girls discovered I had green eyes. She gasped so loudly when she realized, we all stopped to look at her for a second. She laughed but couldn't stop staring.
-I alone was in charge of my cleaning crew today. We assigned everyone an animal as we emptied the trash cans and swept the floor.
-I told a few older girls I had my camera with me, so they came and got me after lunch and we had a mini photo/video shoot in the hall.
-My last day made it on the school's homepage.

It's been an amazing run. 

Thanks for the memories 5Chuu,
Keito Sensei

Just a tid bit from our assembly last week, just prior to my speech.