The Last Day

I slept in as best I could today but knowing what today was had me out of bed only an hour later then usual. After cleaning myself up and otherwise getting ready I headed over to Seth's to see if he was ready to go. Since Takuya had spent the night at Seth's, he, Mike, Seth, and myself piled into his car and drove over to the school. People began to slowly gather, the Katagiri's showed up pretty early as well. Anne came, but after last night I didn't have the resolve to talk to her yet. Eventually most of the group and friends were gathered so James Brown led us to the cafeteria.

In the cafeteria I sat with the Katagiri's. Hisako's husband gave us each a 3 pack of sake, not the most surprising gift from him. Nabe-chan gave everyone a fan with a message from him written on the back. It said, in Japanese, "Don't forget me," which is a bit amusing considering we couldn't forget Nabe-chan and his antics even if we wanted to (we don't). James gave a short speech and then presented us with JCLP course completion certificates. After the speech was time for food.

Before getting my food I went over to Anne and just said thank you, since I had told her the night before that I really wanted her to come today. After eating I asked her what she was doing the rest of the day. We tried to figure out something to do locally. It would have to wait though as it was time for the last group photo. What followed was probably the longest group photo of the entire trip, literally dozens of cameras had to be gone through so everyone could have the memory. Eventually it finally ended and everyone broke up into smaller groups for more photos. After the party died down I spoke with Anne again.

The last group photo.

We decided to go to a local karaoke place, or at least she did, karaoke definitely isn't my thing (can't sing for shit). We walked over and spent the next couple hours doing old fashioned Japanese karaoke. About a half hour from the time Anne had to go we stopped singing and just talked. It was the sort of serious "this is the last time" sort of talk. The outcome was that we agreed to be friends and keep in touch. Its not like I had much of a choice, I was counting down the minutes until the last time I saw her. A taxi came for her and she dropped me off at Matsumi where we said good bye and good luck. The taxi drove off and she was gone.

I met up with some other JCLP students at the apartments and we went to the sushi restaurant for one last meal. I ate my fill, then Andrew and I headed out for some quick shopping. We went to a local hobby store and bought some model kits, then went to a sporting goods store so I could buy another bag to help carry all the things I had bought home. We went back home where I spent much of the night packing and cleaning the apartment. Alex, Mariko, and some Japanese students stopped by for a while as they had one last drinking party. I just kept packing until they decided to go bowling. I declined their invitation and instead wandered from room to room, seeing how everyone was doing. I eventually returned to my own room and went back to work. Around midnight Seth returned with Yuka so I ended up at Seth's room until 3am. I finally came back to my own room and passed out.

Anne once wrote to me, meeting and good bye are the same. Today after Anne left at first I was immensely sad. However, I thought about how lucky I was to have spent the last couple weeks with her, and the sadness turned to joy. Every thing has a beginning and end, its what you make of the time in between that matters. I enjoyed my time with Anne, we shared many laughs and smiles. Later she wrote to me in an e-mail that our lives are separate adventures that we had to live on our own. My own life is waiting for me back in America and hers will lead her back to Thailand. No worries, don't look back, only forward. Ganbate Anne, and thank you for being my friend, it meant more then you will ever know.