Sayonara

Konbanwa students,

Well, this is my last night in Japan. I leave tomorrow to come back to the States enriched by the experiences that I have had in Japan, but eager to return to you with those experiences.

It hardly seems like three weeks since I left home to venture to this land I knew only through my many hours of research, but yet it seems like I have been here for a lifetime because some of my experiences have changed my perspective so much as to be life altering.

There are many things I will miss about Japan: the freshest of seafood, the cleanliness of the cities, the beauty of the land, the long history, but mostly I will miss the people of Japan and their gentleness, humbleness, humor, unassuming ways, and connection and love of Nature.

Sayonara is the Japanese word that is traditionally translated as "goodbye" in English, but the exact translation from Japanese to English is "if it must be so.

And so I say to Japan "Sayonara", and hope that one day I will return.