It is officially freak-out time: I am going home in less than 48 hours!!
Most of my junk has been packed, or eaten, or thrown away (to the extent possible by Japan's arcane garbage laws). I haven't decided yet whether my older computer is going to make the amazing journey back to Canada. It is in serious danger of being disassembled and thoroughly destroyed very soon.
This week was the beginning of the goodbyes. On Tuesday, we had a lab farewell party at a vegetarian-friendly buffet restaurant near my apartment. I got some very cute gifts, including a Hello Kitty button and a cute cat statue. Actually there was a definite cat theme to all of my gifts :)
On Thursday my prof invited me to have dinner at his place with his family. It was so nice to have the chance to say goodbye to his kids, and the meal that his wife prepared was without a doubt the most delicious thing that I ate in my entire time here. She made tempura without using eggs (there is often egg in the batter). It was SO GOOD. I really want to make it when I get home!
On Saturday I went to the beer garden with the other international folks from the lab, and we had a great time just sitting around chatting. Our plan for Sunday was to climb a little mountain, but my friend's kid had an ear infection and we decided that the change in elevation probably wouldn't do her much good, so instead we hiked back to my place and ate a picnic on the floor. I'm still not sure how I'm going to say goodbye to them tomorrow.
Anyway, for a significant chunk of my time in Japan, I had snippets of a song running through my head that went something like "Oh, I wish I was back at home in Canada..." I tried googling around several times, but just this week I FINALLY hit on the right random string of words and found the song!! I think it expresses my thoughts perfectly.
Last weekend I found a big bookstore downtown that has a small foreign-language section, and on Saturday afternoon I picked up a paperback copy of The Martian, which everyone has been raving about. I got it at about 1 pm on Saturday, then met my friends at 4 pm and got home around midnight. It is now Sunday at 7:30 pm, and I was with my friends from noon to 7. I am on page 320 of about 420. It's really good!! I think I'm going to leave my copy here for my friend to read, because I'll be finished before I leave Sapporo :)
I'll try to update the blog again during my trip home, and again when I arrive (in the off-chance that anyone other than my parents and brother might be reading this). Now I have to get to work on finishing that box of red bean popsicles that somehow appeared in my freezer yesterday. However will I finish them on time??!
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