All shashined out

If I so much as glance at another camera I'm bloody well gonna scream (this, incidentally, does not bode well for our wedding in a couple of months).

Yesterday was my last day at my JHS and I'd forgotten how crazy the Japanese are about photos. Man, I thought I was obsessed. By the end of the morning, I was buggered (an expression my JTEs were delighted to learn).

"So, were you sad?" A little, although I rarely get emotional at partings (yes, yes, like you didn't know I was a hard-hearted bitch). I had a melancholy Seinfeld moment late yesterday, where all my memories of the school flooded back in exaggerated, slow-mo mode, but I was more exhausted than sad.

Being artisans in the school of obligation and duty, all the Japanese staff and some of the kids (although most of them were too busy with the infinitely more fun duty of being kids) made sure I didn't escape without proper closure - my JTEs swooned about how much they'd miss me (one of my JTEs kept saying, "You saved my teacher's life!" Like, 10 times or something). I had to give a farewell speech to the staff, I had to spread Tim-tams like jam in the teacher's room (thank you, God, for Arnotts; they saved my teacher's life), I had to give my "sign" on 10 thousand text books, I had to schmooze Koucho-sensei in very bad Japanese. Even the janitors came out and cornered me for the "last conversation". Jeez, shoot me if I didn't feel like Jesus at the Last Supper.

If you are familiar with the Japanese school system, you may know that the two heads of the school are called Koucho-sensei (principal) and Kyoto-sensei (vice-principal). Unlike the school system back home, Koucho-sensei is more of a figurehead, responsible for schmoozing rich and influential people into giving the school funding. Kyoto-sensei is where its all at. He or she is the real head of the school, insofar as the daily running of the school goes. If your Kyoto-sensei sucks, chances are your school will suck, too.

My Kyoto-sensei is seriously the man. He's organised, empathetic and the fact that he's always reminded me of Tattoo from Fantasy Island, just adds to his charm. I think I'll probably miss him the most. I think he was the guiding hand that made me feel like a piece of furniture rather than the gaijin-out-of-water.

"Why, Koucho-sensei! You're looking a little feminine today..."

"And, did any of the kids cry?" The only reaction I got was from my first-year girls. On being told that the class would finish 10 minutes early so they could have a farewell photo taken with Kim-Sensei, they all whipped our their pocket mirrors and checked their hair. I'm not kidding. They are 11 years old.

One of my third graders was in tears, but I'm fairly certain she was crying about something else...