Taj Ultimate and Tottori Farewells:

I went to play in Tajima weekend before last; this is the same tournament i took an 8-hour road trip to play in back in the summer of 2005, when I first studied abroad in Japan, though this time it was only a 2-hour trip from nearby Tottori.  Another pickup team, another great time.

We had to book it back a day early, however, for our sayonara party with the other JETs.  Some superlative awards were given (I won for best dance moves, for reasons I'm sure you all are aware of), speeches were made, but generally we just had a great time with our last hurrah as this group of JETs.

Many of us are leaving and scattering across the globe, and though the goodbyes were sad...in a strange way, I feel like leaving will make us closer.  While here we were acquaintances, forced to be something more than that by circumstance (namely, the circumstance of being part of the .5% foreign population in Tottori); should our paths ever cross again, that same shared circumstance will lend us a camaraderie in many ways greater than the sum of our time together here.  It's not just the time with each other, but the shared experience of having lived and taught here, in our Tottori, that strengthens this bond.  No tears for these farewells, but strong emotion, in large part nostalgia.