Lifeline

Thursday, July 06, 2006

And now, the end is near...

For the last few weeks I`ve been so busy, first writing papers and then packing my stuff and saying goodbye to people. Everybody who hasn`t had an answer to his/her e-mail in that period, please forgive me.
Last monday I had to leave the dormitory, because starting from friday a whole bunch of Americans will follow some summercourse at Waseda and stay at OUR dormitory. They should have let us stay there some longer. Now we had our last class on friday, the closing ceremony on saturday and we had to leave the dorm on monday. Normally it would have been right after the closing ceremony, but because that was a sunday we had one day more. Lucky us >_<
So I decided to use this as a reason to do something nice like travelling around Japan. Actually, for most of the time of this month I`ll be staying at a temple called Bukkokuji in Obama (at the west-side of the main island of Japan), but on the way there I`m visiting Matsumoto, Takayama and today Kanazawa. A nice way to see some more of Japan, and the travelling makes me forget that I`ve left Tokyo as my home-town.
Also because I knew of course that I had to leave, and I already felt bad about it since maybe a month ago, I did`t even feel that sad when I left my dorm and Tokyo. Instead of feeling regret for leaving so many friends behind, I was thankful that I had the chance to have such a nice experience and meet so many wonderful people. Even though I might not meet most of them ever again, I know I will see those who where closest to me again somewhere on the world. And even if I would`t meet them again, I`ll always remember them and know that they`ll remember me.
But next to this sentimental talk, let me also say something about the city. Tokyo was just unbelieveably awesome! Now that I`m visiting other cities I realize again how great the Japanese capital is. When I was walking through Takayama at 21.30 o`clock, the shops were closed and the streets where empty. Here in Kanazawa there is some more activity, but only in a certain area of the city. In Tokyo, there are always people on the main streets, and even if it gets quiet maybe around 4, the day starts again at 5 with people going home from clubs or going to work. I really mise that lifely athmosphere.
But for the next 3 weeks I`ll be staying at a temple, so I`ll just have to get used to a more quiet life. I hope it won`t be too difficult. I`m getting a bit nervous about it, but I think it will be a nice experience. When I leave the temple, I`ll go visit the family of my girlfriend in Fukuoka again, and then I go back to Tokyo to catch the plane back to Holland. Luckily I`ll go back to Tokyo once, and I will spend my last day and my last night in that wonderful city. Once I get back to Holland I will write some more about what I`ve learned, what I liked and what I hated most about my life in Japan. If I have the time...