Last Day

This time tomorrow I will be on a plane to the USA. I'm both nervous and excited. I've lost count of how many times I've said "goodbye" in the past month. They have started to blur together and I've become numb. Today a group of teachers said their farewells. Some of them I know well, others hardly at all, but they all got the same wave, bow, and "sayonara." I often walk away feeling that I haven't done a proper job of saying "goodbye."

Due to a mixture of being busy and lazy, I never wrote a wrap-up of my trip to Laos. It went well. The cooking class was a lot of fun, and it was very interesting to see such a different part of the world. To see a set of pictures, check out this set I made on flickr.

To my friends back home, I look forward to seeing you soon. And to my friends in Japan, I hope to see you all again some day.

That's it for now.

End of School and Laos

Hello!

Despite many interesting things happenning, the reason that I haven't posted anything recently is because I've been busy. July 21 was my last day of school. I gave a speech to the entire school, had some final classes, received gifts and cards from students and teachers, then had a goodbye party that night. I had three goodbye parties given by different groups within a single week. In one of my classes each student gave me a card with a message and a photo, which will help me remember them later on.

And then after school finished, I was busy cleaning my apartment, which took longer than planned. I've got more things than I can fit in my suitcases to take to america, and right now they are in boxes waiting for me to sort out later.

Right now I am in Vientiane, Laos, at an internet cafe (which is why I haven't posted photos yet). I flew into Thailand on Saturday, spent one night in Bangkok (like the song!), then headed to Laos and met my friend Alex at the border. So far, so good. This is the most undeveloped place I've ever visited, but it does have some charm. The food is excellent. The people are friendly. And everything is very very cheap. Lunch - $1, t-shirt - $2, sauna and massage - $4. I've been trying to improve my bargaining skills, which is required certain kinds of places.

Well, I'm off later today to a town called Luang Prabang, and then on Saturday it's back to Japan.