Saying Goodbye

My Beautiful Sayanara Gift

With Jenny and Katie

The past two weeks has been filled with nothing buy goodbye breakfasts,  lunches, dinners, and small get togethers for both Scott and I. Last Thursday my friend Denise hosted a group of my really close friends at her home for a nice Egyptian lunch of beef spinach curry, falafel and shwarma sandwiches, tabule salad,  rice, pita bread, and of course, wine (and a vodka shot to kick it off!). As everyone who knows me well knows, I do not like big parties- I like small ones where I can talk and be personal, not big ones where you have such superficial conversations and only get to talk to everyone for a few minutes, so I chose not to invite all of my friends, just the ones I hang out with on a daily/weekly basis. I have been able to get together with other small groups of friends as well, and each one has been sad yet fun. This week will be a sad week, as we are going to have to say our final farewells to everyone...and frankly, that stinks. I think our girls are going to be sad daily, which makes me sad thinking about it.

Kim and I and our Vodka Shots

Scott receiving his gifts

Scott's work hosted a Sayonara party for both of us this past Friday. We went bowling at Round One, then on to a fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant, where we had a beer tasting contest, gift presentations and a ton of laughs. You would think that in a place where the majority ONLY speak Japanese, and Scott and I primarily only speak English, it would have been uncomfortable, but it was not in the least. Scott-san placed third in the beer tasting contest (I didn't make it past the second round!), I won a prize for the person who had the most total strikes, with very few spares who didn't manage to make it in the final top three scores (pretty sure they just felt bad for me, and wanted to make me feel better!), as well as for the third place team in bowling. Our prizes- a lightbulb, an electric toothbrush and a bottle of wine! :)  It was so nice to see how much Scott enjoyed his team, and they enjoyed him. They gave a few speeches thanking him, which of course, made me tear up. Such a sweet ending to a wonderful ride- we couldn't thank them enough and be more grateful for the group he worked with, for his wonderful interpreter and friend Yumiko and for his overall experience- we have been truly blessed.

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