Goodbye! Farewell! Sayonara! Until Next Time!

Spring is here, although it's been kind of cold all weekend and today, so it doesn't feel very springy. Anyway, with spring comes flowers and in Japan that means plenty of beautiful cheery blossoms (sakura). Over here, people go sakura flower viewing because it is so beautiful. They even have a name for this called hanami ( 花見）、which literally means flower viewing.

Anyway, although Sunday was a little bit chilly, really cloudy and even rained a bit, we went to go see the sakura nearby at Takuoka Castle. It was so beautiful. It left me speechless, which is a hard thing to do. lol. I almost got teary eyed because it was so beautiful and it was one of those moments were you tell yourself, "Oh my gosh, I am in freakin Japan. I can't believe it!" You would be surprised how easily you forget once your life becomes routine here as well.

This is an example of the before and after picture of the castle.
This is Takuoka Castle in the Fall



This is the castle in the spring.



If you want to take a look at more of my pictures of the cherry blossoms, you can go here to my Flickr Account.




Today, it was the Farewell Ceremony for the teachers who are being transferred out. Basically, all the teachers came into the main teacher's office 30 minutes before the ceremony. The principal said each one of their names and where they were going. We all clapped and bowed. Then, they made their way to the gym with all of the other teachers and students.

Today it's kind of cold and rainy, which means that the gym is cold, including the floor. Why do I never remember my indoor sneakers when I really need them? I was a bit jealous of the teachers who remembered to bring their indoor sneakers because my feet were freezing. lol.

Anyway, each teacher that was leaving gave a speech, including our vice-principal, who is going to be the principal at Alex's school. There are like 16 or 17 teachers in total who are going, including 2 who are retiring. This means that it took a really, really long time to get through all of the speeches, especially since many of the speeches were like 10 minutes or more, or at least that's what it felt like.

One teacher went all out for his speech. He spoke for like 20 minutes, he had visual aids, he made the student's do pair work, and he even had his own farewell song playing at the end of his speech. The next teacher who came up after him made a speech that was less than 2 minutes long. I was greatful to the second guy. lol.

Anyway by the end of it, some teacher's whose friends were leaving, were crying. A few of the kids were also emotional. I noticed that when the school band was playing a farewell song for the teachers, one flute player could barely play because she was crying so much. She had to keep wiping away her tears. Actually while I am writing this, she came into the teacher's room still teary eyed and asking one of the teachers, who is going away, to take a picture with her. Awwwwww!!!

There were also a lot of graduates here today. It's crazy to see them now. A month ago they were all wearing their uniforms and had straight, black hair in ponytails. Now they had dyed hair, perms, ridiculously high high-heeled shoes, and crazy clothing. It's cool to see how far the kids go with their looks because for so many years they can't do anything, not even put highlights in their hair, so the minute they graduate, they do everything and anything that they can to change their look. lol.

Oh another thing I didn't know about farewells is that the people who are leaving usually leave behind presents for the other teachers. Today, the mailboxes were all full of presents. I can't wait to see what I have, but I also feel a bit bad that I didn't buy anything for the English teachers who are leaving. Crap!

I have been a bit confused about why they are always transferring the teachers, but today one of the English teachers gave me an answer to that. He said that they don't want teachers to end up being too lazy, laid back (I guess too comfortable with their position) at a school. He also said it's because by transferring teachers, they will be unable to make very strong connections with one school, which would allow them to do anything they want. I guess it's a system of keeping teachers on their toes.

It still kind of sucks because they are not really stable. They don't really know where they are going to move next. Some teachers end up transferring a couple of hours away, so they have to live apart from their families during the weekdays because their families can't move with them. However, some teachers get excited because they are moving closer to their families or they are moving to a school that they know well and know the people there. It all depends on the person and the location that they are being placed in.

Anyway, today is the Farewell Teacher's Party at night. It should be fun! :)