Going back to Tokyo

Today the morning assembly was cancelled due to the rain like yesterday and then we started with the clean up process. The teachers had to get all of our stuff packed in the morning so that we could usher the students with all of their stuff to get ready to go back to Tokyo. The cleaning process is very boring for me because I don’t have anything to do. Usually the male teachers are just instructing the students how to do things and the students do the rest. But I just stood there not knowing either and I probably couldn’t since I was already sore from yesterday. My legs were aching today and I’m not sure why either since we really haven’t done any serious walking or hiking this trip.

After clean up was breakfast at 8am. We always have to eat in a hurry, but I eat slower than the other teachers, so I usually don’t get so much food to eat. The food this trip hasn’t been the best either. I have had better meals at this facility, but recently they have been serving things that just haven’t had the best taste, so I just refrain from eating too much.

We also had another time to clean up too, but this time it was the other teaching facilities. It wasn’t where we were staying. I think that it was a way to get us to clean more since we used the facilities and it was the help the place. There is always a very big clean up job to do before we leave and I’m never sure why either. But we did it actually the students did it because no one gave me a job to do, but just watch. They don’t because they don’t want to foreigner to do anything because I’m just a special guest for the event and not really part of the core teachers in charge of the event. I was just there to help with the English game.

We had lunch and then we had the ending ceremony in the auditorium. We all needed to switch back into our dress clothes and the students into their formal uniforms. We always have to do this in such a hurry and we just used an empty classroom to change too since we already had checked out of the rooms that we were staying in.

I was a bit sad because we came back. But it was nice because tomorrow I have the day off. I think that today, I finally realized my dream came true. During the final ceremony, Takagi sensei announced to the students that I will be leaving the school to go after my big dream. I was shocked that she revealed that. I was shocked that she knew that actually. But after that everything was sad. But I know that I have left an impact on their lives and I know it was for the better, so I accomplished what I came here to do. I was commented as being only a guest for this event and had experience with it last year. I had hoped that they enjoyed themselves and by the end of the ceremony, it appeared as if they did.

On the bus ride back all the students were talking to me in English. They were more curious about what I was going to do and just asking about various other things. I was still surprised that all the students were trying to speak in English with me, when it was announced that I spoke and understood Japanese. But I still played dumb and had the students speak to me in English. It’s better for them. We made a stop half way and got out and hung out for a little bit. I think all the teachers wanted to get some ice cream and just hang out, but we didn’t. We needed to only make a pit stop and make sure that the students were being good.

We stayed at school for a little bit after cleaning up and unpacking everything. We didn’t leave to eat shabu-shabu until 6:30pm and we didn’t finish eating till 9:30pm. The food was great and I really like shabu-shabu. We set up the room in a very good way. I didn’t have to sit in a troublesome position and it just worked out for me. I didn’t even have to give a speech like I did last year. Some teachers, mostly the newer teachers had to give an impression of what they thought but since the headmaster wasn’t there, only a certain amount of people talked. It wasn’t as long as I thought it would be, but I didn’t end up getting home till around midnight carrying my stuff. It was hard work. I was in much need of a rest.