The Beginning of the Goodbye Saga

As of Monday night, I was 13 days from leaving Japan, and had 9 goodbye parties to go to (some joint, with other ALTs, some solo). This is in addition to three goodbye assemblies, and having to say goodbye in classes starting this week. It's kind of overwhelming. I really appreciate that they care enough to say goodbye this much, but it's so hard to have it this drug out. I really don't enjoy goodbyes, and am currently wishing I could fast-forward through the next two weeks. I know if I did that I'd miss out on a lot of things that will be important to me later, but it's still really tempting.

I've been trying to fixate on the fact that I'm so excited to come home, which is definitely helping to counteract how much I'll miss people. That, and just trying to get everything done in time. Doesn't give you much time to feel down.

So far, I've shipped two suitcases home (one with Brian, one with Mebbie), and assorted small boxes as I run across stuff I don't want to deal with at the airport (catnip, knives, oversized bottles of lotion, etc.). Last weekend I packed my last two suitcases, and will be living out of them for the next two weeks. I didn't want that hanging over my head. Plus, I now know that I have just enough space for my 2 L of non-declared alcohol, and will need to ship anything else I want to keep.

My town is switching from the JET Program to a private ALT company next year, and so my house will be vacant for the first time in 12. While it's nice for the town that they won't have to deal with things, it puts me in kind of an awkward position. Specifically, each JET usually sells whatever they have that's useful to the next person who takes their position, and I don't have anyone to sell to. I'd come to terms with that for most things, but it really rankles with my car. I have an awesome car- she's old, but has taken me (and Brian, and Abby, and Mebbie) all over Japan, is cute and gets excellent mileage. I would love to pass her along, as she's a real asset. Unfortunately, I have no way to do that and will have to send her to a dealer. What makes it worse is that she's old enough that I'll probably have to pay them to take her. I'm trying to counteract that by hiding as much of my random useful crap in my desks at school as possible- for some reason this makes me feel like I'm still helping the next person. Hopefully the new ALT will find it all...

In terms of coming home, I've been scouring Craigslist for apartments, and Brian has been checking them out for us. So far nothing quite right has shown up, so keep your fingers crossed (and let me know if you have any leads)! There has been a surprisingly steady flow of decent looking places, so I think we'll do alright- I just need to stay patient...

Also, I'm thinking about putting together a photobook from the last year when I get home. I don't think I'll look at my photos very often if they are in purely digital format. I've heard good things about Shutterfly, but would love to hear what you think of other sites...