Mini-Sayonara Party

My favorite students from Heguri Junior High graduated in April and went to various high schools in Nara and Osaka. I wasn't able to see them as often as I'd liked this summer, but they found out that I was leaving, so they came to visit me at my house. They were SOOO sweet. They brought drinks and snacks over and all these cute presents. They bought me a wind chime, the Japanese versions of the 3 Little Pig (3 of the girls call themselves the 3 Little Pigs) and this other old Japanese story. They told me to keep practicing my Japanese. They also gave me this album of pictures of them in various places around school and a picture of "Love Gina" on the ground in rocks with my stuffed animal that they gave me. Sooo thoughtful of them! I'll NEVER forget these girls. Mariko cried sooo much before we separated and then she called me again and cried some more. I'm going to miss her SOO much because she's so thoughtful and always made me smile when I was having a rough day at work. Yurie was also sweet even though she was the school bully. If she found out that an underclassman was giving me a hard time in class she'd ask, "Sensei, do you want me to fight them?" and I'd be like, "Noooo! It's ok, I'll talk to them later." Itsuka and Mai have been really good students too. They wanted to help me do my laundry and help me pack too. The only one that was missing was my little Misa, but she will come by the morning that I leave to see me off. I'm going to cry soo much on the plane!!!