The Beginning of an End, an End of a Beginning

It's hard to believe it, but our time here in Japan is almost over. We sent our resignation letters in this week, and if all goes well, we will find ourselves back in the States on May 26th. That's only a little over two months away! We're both beginning to feel a little "senioritis" and are thinking more and more about home, things and people we miss and making mental lists of the first things we're going to do when we get home! Here are some things from the top of the list:

1. Of course, seeing, hugging and talking to all of our loved ones
2. CAMPING!!
3. Hanging out in the Uptown area of Minneapolis - running around the lakes, going to our favorite restaurants and just enjoying that wonderfully unique environment
4. Drive around in a car!
5. Eat all our favorite meals (no, not at once). For Jon that includes COOKIES! For Veronica that includes good coffee and chai!

Excluded from the list is the obvious get 2 jobs in San Diego. It would be great if we are both able to secure jobs before we come back, but if not, that's definitely top priority aside from #1.

Some things that we will be happy to avoid:

1) Rice and green tea for a good long while.

2) Sleeping and maintaining a futon bed

3) Using Japanese - style toilets

4) Did I mention rice?

So what are our plans, you ask? Well, as previously mentioned, we are hoping to get jobs and move to San Diego, CA. Veronica is hoping for a non-profit type job, and Jon is hoping for a teaching type job. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Once we arrive and settle in California, Veronica will begin to study for the GRE, take said test, and hopefully enroll in the graduate program at San Diego State University as a resident of CA in the fall of 2011. She will be going for her MSW (Master of Social Work degree).

In the last month since our planning began in earnest, it's been somewhat of a struggle to stay "present". We've got to make the most of our last two months here, though, and hopefully we'll be able to stay mentally in the moment. Some things, though, you can't help but notice.


Some interesting things have happened in our "school life". On March 11th, we got to attend the 3rd grade graduation (9th grade for you Americans), the last year of junior high school and the last year of "required schooling"in Japan. I was waiting to see if the big slackers graduated, and they sure did. It seems like you don't have to do much to graduate junior high. Both of us, however, felt very honored to be witnesses to the graduation ceremony. In Japanese culture, as the head teacher of Veronica's school explained, "emotions make for a better memory". It is not awkward or embarassing to express your emotions here, and many of the students and teachers cried quite visibly and audibly during the ceremony. At one point, a student leader read a speech that seemed to cause the whole auditorium to erupt in tears. It was very moving and a wonderful experience.

Up until graduation, the 3rd graders had been preparing for, and taking entrance exams for high school. Graduation occurred on a Thursday, and on Friday, they found out the results of the exams. One of the Japanese teachers told me that this is a new system and they used to find out the results before graduation, but this caused a lot of stress for the students and they weren't able to enjoy the graduation if they knew they weren't going on to high school, so for the student's sake, this is the way things are done now. I think this system is very indicative of Japanese culture as a whole. Children seem to be protected from a lot here. A couple months ago, some students broke into the school and graffitied a bunch of inappropriate things all over the school. The teacher who opened the school in the morning found the damage and called the other teachers to come to school early and cover up the evidence. When I found out about this, my first reaction was - "what? Why didn't the students have to clean it up?" To which the answer was, "we didn't want the other students to be upset by it." Hm. I still think that if you did it, you should have to fix it!

We've got two more school days before the end of the Japanese school year, then two weeks off! Although we want to see as much of Japan as possible while we're here, it's stressful to think of the possibility of not having jobs secured right away in the US when we get back, so we're trying to save money. We'll do some local tourist destinations over the break, and then at the beginning of May, our friend Al is coming to visit (and hopefully Lane!) to end our Japanese experience the right way! We're so lucky to be able to share our experience with at least 3 (or 4) of our friends!

Now, the cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom and the days are getting longer, and it's a wonderful time to be outside in Japan. We hope you all are happy and healthy! See you soon. Ja mata!