March... a month of hellos and goodbyes

So, March has undoubtedly been a very crazy month, characterized in most part by all the people I've met and begun friendships with (not to mention those friendships that have continued to develop) and those I've said goodbye to as they move on from Akita.

You've already been introduced to Hisa. grins Here is a pic of one of his last nights in Akita (my last night seeing him before I headed up to Takanosu to spend some time with Amy's parents). Behind him is his friend, Yasu. Great fun. We're at an Irish St. Patrick's Day Dance - a fundraiser organizer by an Irish English teacher, all the funds from which were donated to building a school in Nepal. (yay!!)










Next are Neil (the spiky-hair one) and Jeff (the shaved-head one). Neil is an English teacher who just moved to Tokyo to teacher somewhere there. We got into some pretty serious and interesting "spiritual" conversations. He plays a pretty "mean guitar." grins And Jeff is a cool Australian who has been doing research for MRIs (on rats) at a hospital in Akita. His boss got offered a job in Chiba, near Tokyo, and his boss asked him to come with, so he's off. I'm sorry to see him go. He seems like one of those cool/collected/I-have-it-altogether-and-don't-need-anyone types on the surface... but after getting to know him a little, there seemed to be a need in him going down a whole lot deeper. I wonder what will come of him. And I really like his wit.










So. Those are the goodbyes. Here is a hello/not-goodbye one. Meet my friend Juri. He's my Starbucks-talk over coffee or chai or matcha (green tea) latte-friend. We compare languages and talk about the Bible and about life in general.










I also met a couple (the husband teaches English here) who are super nice. Jesse, the husband, helped me rescue some of the important files off of my defeated computer, and Dina is going to start coming with me to my pottery class. She's a sweetheart. I'm really looking forward to getting to know her. And this is not a very good picture of them, but it's the only one I have right now.










So, that's a lot about people that most of you who are reading this will most likely never meet (unless God orchestrates it). But these are a few of the people in my life... or some of those who have come in and gone out... or come in and gone out, but with whom I'm still keeping in touch. With all that said though, and all those introductions, it amazes me how lonely I can still feel.

In other news, tomorrow I might find out about the ECHO internship. And if not tomorrow, then April 11. (yay!) We'll see what happens.