farewell speeches: 3 down, 2 to go
Farewell Party was tonight. It went... much better than I expected, to be honest.
The departing ALTs entered with an escort through the dining room doors after everyone else had been seated. Despite nerves before the party, I was beginning to think I had a good hold on myself, and might get through this party without crying too much. And then the song playing as we entered was "Sakura", a cover version of the song written by Naotaro Moriyama. If you don't know the song, it is a sad, sweet song about farewells. (See Link: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=i9dRtVTrgmw&feature=related) My eyes immediately began to well with tears, which I held back by blinking furiously. We all sat down, while the BoE rep opened the party, and then we listened to a speech by the Superintendent. He joked that the party was more like a wedding, it was so fancy. He put himself in the role of father, the BoE rep in the role of the mother, and assigned various other roles to everyone in the room. We all laughed - he always has witty speeches. Then we had the ceremonial toast. I don't like beer, but my supervisor insisted; and when the supervisor insists, you bite your tongue and drink the beer. It did help me relax a bit before my speech. Alicia gave a beautiful speech, with the theme of what she had learned during her time teaching English in Japan. Mine was focused on the memories I would take back with me of my time here. It was originally a page and a half, but I cut it to a page due to the fact that I began tearing up during the second sentence, and was full on weeping by the end of the second paragraph. Everyone seemed to like the speech, though. They told me they were impressed with how much emotion I put into my speech. I'm so glad I'm in a country where bursting into tears during a ceremony is more socially acceptable than not. And then we had Matt, the Japanese comedian. :P He didn't have a speech prepared, so he winged it on stage. He still managed to get the requisite thanks in there, though. When we finished our speech, we were each presented with a gift: a beautiful set of chopsticks in a lovely cloth case, with a cap for the ends of the chopsticks. After that, we were allowed to eat and socialize, and the school principals and other officials kept pouring me beer. Even when I politely refused, they would pour a bit in there. I drank slowly to make up for the fact that I'm a lightweight. We ate the delicious food (most of which was identical to last year's party food), and I made sure to greet everyone who had come from Tamayama to see me.
The next half of the party began with each of us getting on stage, and having one of our co-workers talk about us as an AET. Each person usually gets one teacher, but coming from four junior high schools, I had two teachers give speeches about me. I expected Ms. N to give one, because she and I are practically sisters, but I was surprised when Ms. K from Shibu came up, too. You know, the other best part about this party was that the teachers who showed up were my favorite teachers. The one teacher I don't get along with so well didn't come at all. And the teacher I was working with today didn't come. But, we have a farewell party at that school tomorrow, so she probably didn't feel the need to be there. After the teacher's speeches, we had more time to chat and enjoy the food. Catherine saved me from my beer pouring superiors with Oolong tea. Alicia and I arranged to meet up when we're both back in America. And I found a place to stay! Huzzah! Just before the closing words, we had an official from the BoE do a cheer for us, leading the audience. This year's official cheerleader was fantastic, too. Alicia and I were barely able to keep from laughing out loud. As it was, we were giggling pretty hard. He started by emphasizing each syllable of our names, before getting onto the cheer. My name turned out like this: SHA---NO---Nnnnn!! Then for the group version, he made the letters ALT with his body as he pronounced each one. Everyone was so delighted with this that they called encore, and he did it again. It was a great high note on which to the end the party. Ms. K volunteered to drive me home, since we live in the same area. I thanked her profusely for the ride. And I took the chance to ask after my students. She said they miss me already, and extended an invitation to the end of term ceremony next Friday. I might take her up on it, too.
Overall, the farewell party was just wonderful. I was able to make conversation, my speech was well-accepted, and I made it through the entire thing without completely breaking down. And there was quite a bit of socially-forced beer. Ick. :P I hope I don't have a headache tomorrow.
The departing ALTs entered with an escort through the dining room doors after everyone else had been seated. Despite nerves before the party, I was beginning to think I had a good hold on myself, and might get through this party without crying too much. And then the song playing as we entered was "Sakura", a cover version of the song written by Naotaro Moriyama. If you don't know the song, it is a sad, sweet song about farewells. (See Link: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=i9dRtVTrgmw&feature=related) My eyes immediately began to well with tears, which I held back by blinking furiously. We all sat down, while the BoE rep opened the party, and then we listened to a speech by the Superintendent. He joked that the party was more like a wedding, it was so fancy. He put himself in the role of father, the BoE rep in the role of the mother, and assigned various other roles to everyone in the room. We all laughed - he always has witty speeches. Then we had the ceremonial toast. I don't like beer, but my supervisor insisted; and when the supervisor insists, you bite your tongue and drink the beer. It did help me relax a bit before my speech. Alicia gave a beautiful speech, with the theme of what she had learned during her time teaching English in Japan. Mine was focused on the memories I would take back with me of my time here. It was originally a page and a half, but I cut it to a page due to the fact that I began tearing up during the second sentence, and was full on weeping by the end of the second paragraph. Everyone seemed to like the speech, though. They told me they were impressed with how much emotion I put into my speech. I'm so glad I'm in a country where bursting into tears during a ceremony is more socially acceptable than not. And then we had Matt, the Japanese comedian. :P He didn't have a speech prepared, so he winged it on stage. He still managed to get the requisite thanks in there, though. When we finished our speech, we were each presented with a gift: a beautiful set of chopsticks in a lovely cloth case, with a cap for the ends of the chopsticks. After that, we were allowed to eat and socialize, and the school principals and other officials kept pouring me beer. Even when I politely refused, they would pour a bit in there. I drank slowly to make up for the fact that I'm a lightweight. We ate the delicious food (most of which was identical to last year's party food), and I made sure to greet everyone who had come from Tamayama to see me.
The next half of the party began with each of us getting on stage, and having one of our co-workers talk about us as an AET. Each person usually gets one teacher, but coming from four junior high schools, I had two teachers give speeches about me. I expected Ms. N to give one, because she and I are practically sisters, but I was surprised when Ms. K from Shibu came up, too. You know, the other best part about this party was that the teachers who showed up were my favorite teachers. The one teacher I don't get along with so well didn't come at all. And the teacher I was working with today didn't come. But, we have a farewell party at that school tomorrow, so she probably didn't feel the need to be there. After the teacher's speeches, we had more time to chat and enjoy the food. Catherine saved me from my beer pouring superiors with Oolong tea. Alicia and I arranged to meet up when we're both back in America. And I found a place to stay! Huzzah! Just before the closing words, we had an official from the BoE do a cheer for us, leading the audience. This year's official cheerleader was fantastic, too. Alicia and I were barely able to keep from laughing out loud. As it was, we were giggling pretty hard. He started by emphasizing each syllable of our names, before getting onto the cheer. My name turned out like this: SHA---NO---Nnnnn!! Then for the group version, he made the letters ALT with his body as he pronounced each one. Everyone was so delighted with this that they called encore, and he did it again. It was a great high note on which to the end the party. Ms. K volunteered to drive me home, since we live in the same area. I thanked her profusely for the ride. And I took the chance to ask after my students. She said they miss me already, and extended an invitation to the end of term ceremony next Friday. I might take her up on it, too.
Overall, the farewell party was just wonderful. I was able to make conversation, my speech was well-accepted, and I made it through the entire thing without completely breaking down. And there was quite a bit of socially-forced beer. Ick. :P I hope I don't have a headache tomorrow.