A Cloudy Heart

A teacher at one of my schools used this expression to describe my moods these last few weeks at my schools. It was cloudy on that particular day so he said "Your heart is cloudy". I think he described it perfectly. I am using this in regards to all the goodbyes that I have had to say to my students...goodbyes that have NOT been easy. Today was no exception. This week is really busy with goodbye parties so today (Monday) was my last day playing softball after school with the girls. I have been anticipating this time for a while. I prepared a speech and letters for all of them but I still struggle with telling them how much they have helped me this year. So, it is hard to explain in English and then I had to translate it into Japanese! Ugh! I did the best I could and only cried at the very final sentence. Thankfully I still have the rest of the week to enjoy. Pray for me right now as I go through all these goodbyes, parties, PLUS trying to pack and clean up my apartment. Oh, and due to all this busyness, I have not been getting enough sleep....I think this is just how it is going to be for the whole month of July! Last weekend, I traveled to Aomori for a goodbye party with many other ALTs in my prefecture...it was a wonderful reminder of all the great people that I have met as a result of being here. It was also great to be able to speak all in English AND know that there are others leaving after one year. I will try to keep you all posted....I leaving Japan on July 19th!!!!