The Bus Out 8/01/09

My last evening in Japan was spent with Brad's wonderful Japanese teacher, Mirori Sensei at Cafe Bubo in Naruto. She corrected the way I held my chopsticks. I had held them incorrectly for two years. Then we went back to Sarah's apartment where I shoved that Care Bear I won in Tokyo into my last box to America and I figured out how to use my new fancy camera.

That was six months ago. It was really hot and I had a lot of money. Tonight my back is up against the radiator and I have exactly four dollars in my wallet for bus fare for Monday. The last moments I spent in Japan were perfect. I went out to lunch wearing a tank top and tight shorts. Women commented on my summer attire I understood this subtlety. I had just stopped caring.

Brad and I set a $50 per day budget for our trip and a goal that after we left the Beijing airport we would not arrive at another airport until we left for America, whenever that may be. We had a plane ticket to Beijing and from there a train ticket to Mongolia. We had an approximate date we would arrive in Prague to see my host family. And a lot of stuff we wanted to do and learn as we traveled across the world.

Brad's supervisor was one of the many people at the bus stop to see us off. She brought the new Naruto English teacher's. They looked confused, bored, and hot. We waved to them from the bus that was taking us to the airport and I was thrilled to know I would never feel the way those new people were feeling again.