Happy new year! Wooooh!
Ok, so I am a little bit late, sorry about that. Both Christmas and New Year have come and gone since my last entry, so I thought I’d just talk a wee bit about one of the gifts I received that really meant a lot to me.
But first, here’s one of my favourite versions of Auld Lang Syne!
I received a few gifts from friends and family all over the world, and although I’m not going to talk about those (for example the chocolate Santa Clause wrapped up in a certain newspaper’s third page), I do want to point out that I am very grateful for what I have been given.
Even though I haven’t lived in Yamaguchi prefecture for well over a year now, I still like to think I have a good link with the area. I try to go back and visit from time to time, and am always thrilled to bits when I bump into my old students and they remember me. Moreso if they remember something in particular and want to chat about it … and even moreso when they use English.
As I did back in 2013, I sent Christmas cards to all of my schools last Christmas, not expecting anything from it. As with last year I received a few postcards, short letters and pictures from staff members at those schools. But this year one of my old elementary schools went the extra mile.
Every single student at the school handwrote me a letter and sent it to me. While reading all of them I was almost moved to tears.
Comments in them ranged from how I was doing and how the students were, to whether or not I’d met Funassyi or been to Tokyo Disneyland. Even the students who I didn’t teach still wrote to me talking about things they’ve heard (all good I think).
I’m definitely looking forward to my next visit to Hohoku.