final farewells

My final day entailed three visits.  One was to an elementary school (similar to the prior post; at this one a student read a message to me in English with tears in her eyes and it was all I could do to avoid breaking down right then and there).

The other two went to my junior high schools.  Both were difficult farewells, but one was especially tough.

Of the anecdotes above and throughout the past year, most all of them have been from one school in particular.  If you recall graduation in March, I was pretty bummed to miss the ceremony at one of the schools--it's the same one.  I've come to love all of my students, but I especially relish every chance with the ones at Hatto.

...I try really really hard not to cry.  Call me bull-headed, old-fashioned, stubborn, whatever; it's an emotion I take very seriously.  I try especially hard not to cry with an audience.

I cried when I said my goodbye at Hatto. I wasn't the only one.

I thanked my students for fun classes, and for their smiles--their smiles, welcoming me from the beginning, when I was nervous about my life as a teacher in Japan.  I told them that I enjoyed seeing their energy, in class and out, and that they had gone from shy students to friends who would stop anywhere to say hello.

I told them that I was going to medical school, and that, since I was becoming a student again, we should both do our best at our studies, together.

I told them that I'd never forget them.  And I sobbed out a final "thank you".

They gave me flowers.  They gave me a book full of farewell messages. They gave me a round of applause as I left.