The final farewells

Things I will shed a tear for:

Mihama Village, zenzai, azuki beans, Pucca chocolate, onigiri, miso-flavored stuff, the beach, the Union supermarket and theme song, kids staring at my eyes and nose, beautiful flowers, people covered up completely a la Michael Jackson in the sun, kawaii kids, cartoons for everything, my apartment, the mushroom cookies, mochi, ginger ale at every restaurant, AFN and award-winning commercials, the gym and naked conversations, 100 yen stores, Blue Seal ice cream, seeing geckos and huge butterflies on my walks, the joy of conbinis, feeling like a novelty, fun stores, cell phone emoticons, Nihonglish everywhere, vending machines at every turn, beautiful green/blue water, cute little Japanesey things, riding in a bus and watching people, quirky Kokusaidori, friends, genki students, lunch sets, having interesting things to blog about, Starbucks on Thursday nights, print club, taxi cab chats, massage chairs, Mr. Donut "crack" coffee, sashimi, ice coffee with sugar syrup, sliding doors and tatami mats, the urinal



Things I can't wait to kick to the curb:

infuriating parking tactics and defensive driving, kids staring at my eyes and nose, the heat, walking in the rain, only having one TV channel, talking about the weather, blank stares from students, teachers who are the only ones in the room repeating after me (and with the wrong pronunciation), listening to people answer the phones behind my head, the grunting, paperwork, snorting/spitting, 1600 yen movies, pizza with mayo, the same questions over and over and over, listening to the annoying math teacher talk during morning meetings, the stairs at my apartment building, sleeping on the floor, the threat of cockroaches, feeling like a novelty, back and tummy sweat at all times, heat and sun stroke, humidity, sitting in the metal building baking, trying to waste six hours at a desk each day, not being able to bake/cook anything because I can't read labels, glares from the man downstairs, bloody politicians with their megaphones, saying "Ohayo gozaimasu," not being able to find trashcans anywhere, stairs at school and apartment, military folks everywhere, the weird grey/brown paper at school that smudges ink, not knowing what people are saying about me, feeling like a child that has to be looked after, bad imitations of American food, Spam, slippery sidewalks, generally not knowing any details ever, mold