Countdown thoughts

My last two weeks in Japan and summer has returned with a vengence today. It's hot and sticky and I'm dreading going into Shibya to sort out insurance and other details. But I have so few days left to be in amongst it all here I kind of treasure the chance to sweat it all the way to the station before being chilled to the bone by train air-con.

This place has become my home more completely than I ever believed possible. There are moments I suddenly remember that I don't look like everyone around me and the realisation surprises me - to forget that you are a foreigner in a foreign country is a wonderful thing. I no longer feel like I'm in a fishbowl.

I have been so frustrated by teaching lately - so ready to move on and begin my adventure - that I failed to see how precious this time has been. I taught my last class to a group of kids at an outservice the other day. Three kids, about eight years old, often difficult to teach but a lot of fun regardless. I wasn't in the mood for a kids class when I made my way through the Kamata streets but they were so much fun. At the end of the class the mothers gave me a present, and I got hugs and kisses from the two girls. One of them gave me a card that she'd written in Japanese. It said "I love Rosemary-sensei, and I will never forget you." I will never see those kids again.

It is very easy to slip into boredom and resentment when a job becomes routine, and there have been many times when it took everything I had to walk into the classroom with a smile on my face. But the gifts I received from my students - the stories, the confessions, the cultural lessons and the laughter - were far greater than any grammar point I successfully explained.I'm so grateful for those experiences now, even though I rarely appreciated them at the time.

So I'm counting down towards departure and in a flurry of packing and parties, but in the middle of it all I think I'm beginning to understand why I came here, why it was necessary, and how blessed I am for it all.