Goodbye Toyota

Wow, I have been a slacker about posting. Sorry about that guys. Let’s see if I can catch you up a bit on what has been going on. As I said before I was offered a new job with Amity as a traveling Emergency Teacher. This meant that I had to say goodbye to all of my students and friends in Toyota. It was so hard saying goodbye to them. I had some really great students at Toyota. I spent the last week there saying goodbye and teaching my replacement the ropes of our school. The first student that I had to say goodbye to was Yutsuki; he was three years old and a great student. After the class was over and he left the other teachers were all asking my how I was and I said “Well, I'm not crying yet.” Then Yutsuki came back and wanted a hug. Then I started crying. He was so sweet. For the most part the week was pretty standard as far as what I expected, until Friday. I had a private lesson with a little 5th grade girl named Rina. She had lived in the States and spoke English fluently. After class was over and we took a picture she started to cry. She was practically bawling. I felt so bad. She was a great student and I will really miss her.

Then on Saturday I had to say goodbye to my junior high school students. They were my favorite class every week. It was always a great way to end the week. I always had so much fun teaching them. I was able to speak to them as if they were bilingual. As long as I spoke slowly and didn’t use to many big words they usually understood me. The girl in the class, Ayumi, brought donuts for everyone and we pretty much had a little party after the class. Then they wanted to stick around for a bit and just hang out. Usually they run out the door at the end of class, but that day they lingered around and didn’t want to go home. I will miss those kids a lot, too. They were always so fun to teach. Goodbye Toyota Amity, I hope I can come visit sometime.

So then Tuesday I flew out of Nagoya on my way back home. The flight was awesome, because it was practically empty. So I had three seats all to myself and was able to stretch out. It was sooooooo nice. I arrived in Detroit and had an hour to collect my bags and recheck them and go back through security and make my connection to Atlanta. Fortunately, the flight leaving Detroit was late so I had time to spare.

I ended up spending a few days in Atlanta visiting with people before heading up to Chattanooga to see my family. I was in Chattanooga for a few days before taking a trip down to Louisiana for a good friend’s wedding. But I think I will save that story for the next post.