(Unofficial) Last Day of School

Today was my (unofficial) last day of school. Technically, my last day was last Thursday, which was a sudden announcement by my employer. However, my school invited me to come in today for not only lunch and a proper farewell, but also to see the students, who have come to not only submit their three weeks' worth of homework, but also to get the results of their last test. It was also an opportunity to give a proper farewell to the students in the Art Club that I joined at the beginning of last year.

We all gathered in one of the spare rooms, where the head of the club gave a short speech, before her and each of the members one by one gave me a farewell letter that they wrote. I gave them a short speech in return - I told them the usual how fun it was to hang out with them and such, but the most important thing for me was thanks to them, I was inspired to get back in to drawing on a more regular basis, and helped kick my imagination back in to gear... that and having my tablet to draw certainly helped. Afterwards we headed outside in front of the blooming sakura, and with Mt. Tsukuba in the back where we had our photos taken. Some were taken on my tablet, and some were taken on the teacher's phone. I was worried that with the sudden suspension of classes, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to properly say goodbye to them. Fortunately, I had the chance, and have no regrets. I told some of the other students, but not all of them, but with kids being kids, the news will spread quickly before the start of the new semester.

After that, I had a bento lunch provided for me in the teachers' room. Though they also gave me a farewell send off, gave me some flowers - apparently they are called multiple fold Sakura - and I gave a quick speech. Then we had lunch. Shortly after lunch I decided to head off, but not before personally thanking the Principal, Vice Principal and Head teacher for the past three years (despite the principal and vice principal only being in the school for the past 1 and 2 years respectively, but anyway). Just as I was about to head off, the English teachers gave me a going away present and thanking me for assisting them - while most of the English teachers only started this school year, I have worked with one for the last two years, and the other teacher for all three years. The teachers were pretty nice, and it is going to feel weird heading in to new schools with uncertainty of how those teachers will be. Hopefully they'll at least be as nice as the teachers I have had until now.

After that, I headed to Abiko in Chiba to pick up the keys to my new apartment, and to sort out payment methods and parking, because the person I was speaking to previously in their International Support division has oddly gone dark and have not heard back from them regarding my payment and parking inquiries. Fortunately, I was able to get it all sorted it out, so I'm just about ready to go. However, due to how much stuff I have, I will be shifting some of my things in to my new apartment tomorrow morning, before the company comes to help me move the rest on Thursday.