good news, everyone!
I have finally finished a rough draft of the reference letter! Huzzah! Now, I will send it out to prospective editors; however, that is a fairly short list at the moment. Any volunteers? I won't try to proofread it myself until tomorrow, when I've had a bit of distance from it.
The next priority will be my farewell speech for the AET Farewell Party on Wednesday. I have a general idea of what I will say, but I'm not sure what to mention specifically. Perhaps what I have particularly enjoyed about life in Iwate, and what I have particularly enjoyed about each of my schools. In the farewells written to me by students, they usually come up with a memory or a quality they liked about me in particular. Thankfully, Japanese has a number of set phrases with which to open and close these speeches, so the intro and conclusion almost write themselves.
And after all the writing is finished, I can focus on organizing and packing. The easy part, at last!
Or I can panic about not having a place to stay. I've asked each of the other AETs through e-mail if they would be able to put me up for a few nights after I move out but before I go to Tokyo, and so far, no one has responded. This does not bode well. I may call hotels today, but I'm betting they will be booked out because we have a huge festival here at that same time. :( I should have gotten on top of this much earlier, but I let things get away from me.
The other hard part of this week is that I will have no camera for my last two schools, or for the Farewell Party. My camera had dirt on the inside of the lens, up against the sensor. It was causing my pictures to have a long, discolored streak across them. So, I took it into a camera shop in the city; however, they told me that they would have to send it back to the manufacturer for cleaning, and it would not be back until the 22nd. And that was with a rush order on it. *sigh*
Well, maybe I can sleep at an Internet cafe in the city, if no one will put me up. :(
The next priority will be my farewell speech for the AET Farewell Party on Wednesday. I have a general idea of what I will say, but I'm not sure what to mention specifically. Perhaps what I have particularly enjoyed about life in Iwate, and what I have particularly enjoyed about each of my schools. In the farewells written to me by students, they usually come up with a memory or a quality they liked about me in particular. Thankfully, Japanese has a number of set phrases with which to open and close these speeches, so the intro and conclusion almost write themselves.
And after all the writing is finished, I can focus on organizing and packing. The easy part, at last!
Or I can panic about not having a place to stay. I've asked each of the other AETs through e-mail if they would be able to put me up for a few nights after I move out but before I go to Tokyo, and so far, no one has responded. This does not bode well. I may call hotels today, but I'm betting they will be booked out because we have a huge festival here at that same time. :( I should have gotten on top of this much earlier, but I let things get away from me.
The other hard part of this week is that I will have no camera for my last two schools, or for the Farewell Party. My camera had dirt on the inside of the lens, up against the sensor. It was causing my pictures to have a long, discolored streak across them. So, I took it into a camera shop in the city; however, they told me that they would have to send it back to the manufacturer for cleaning, and it would not be back until the 22nd. And that was with a rush order on it. *sigh*
Well, maybe I can sleep at an Internet cafe in the city, if no one will put me up. :(