Endings

Well, with every beginning comes a few endings, too.

My last day at the daycare will be two weeks from yesterday (August 31st). I'm a little relieved, I have to admit, to get away from some of the stress that goes along with working with large groups of kids. But overall I will definitely miss every single one of those kids as well as my coworkers and the parents who have been so kind to me.

I'm sure my last day of working at the dentist office will probably be either September 2nd or September 9th.

Also, I've come to the end of my waiting for my visa! I received it yesterday in the mail. At first all I found in the envelope was my passport, which scared me a little. Haha, I thought I had not been granted the visa at first. But then I noticed that it was just attached on the inside of the passport. It had made my day exponentially better. Not to mention that I received the movies I had ordered an Amazon.com. I'm still waiting for my kanji dictionary, but that should be coming any day now.

Also, some good news to report. My former roommate no longer has a boyfriend...she has a fiance! They are thinking about tying the knot sometime in May. Unfortunately I will not be there to witness the ceremony, but I wish them the best of luck in their coming marriage.

However, I am still waiting to receive a host family. One of my best friends, who will be studying in Nagoya this year, has already received a letter from her family. I'm hoping to find SOMETHING out before I leave so I can get something appropriate for them.

The children I work with have also told me some things I should take pictures of while I'm in Japan. Let's see, I think the list contained the Daibutsu (big Buddha), friends I make over there, my host family, Mt. Fuji, a sumo match, a koi pond, samurai armor and weaponry, a Buddhist temple, the university I will be attending, Japanese currency, a volcano, a Transformer, and some more that I cannot remember off the top of my head. That should be fun...