我会想念日本的事情

当我倾向于这样做时，我坐在这里，从Hidafurukawa到名古屋的乘车和思考我在日本的经验。我不太觉得我将在不到两个月内离开。嗯，也许它感觉真实，但它尚未意味着什么。仍有太多学校留下来教导只是让它流过我，所以我还没有达到这一章结束的情感释放。

But, sitting on this train--while staring out the window into the darkness and an occasional street lamp--I've begun to reflect on some things that I will miss about Japan. These aren't going to be the entertainment highlights--karaoke, clubs or izakayas--but instead disjoint pieces of my transient experience here.

Kamioka

I really like the little town I have been living in. Its small, has a few nice places, and took excellent care of me in its absent-minded fashion. Initially the first thing that struck me about Kamioka is that its surrounded by these tall, gorgeous mountains that simply erupt into the sky in every direction. Its easy to lose sight of those sky-skewering peaks, but when you stop and look around you realize they're still there... and they're still amazing.

Kamioka has been an educational experience for me in so many little ways. Who the hell thought of shops closing on random days of the week? And all of them closing by 8:00 PM? Small town living isn't something I ever experienced quite like this before, and I'm grateful for the experience. Its certainly a complete pain in the ass sometimes, but I'm sure I'll miss it (since I won't have to deal with it anymore, and can just grin at the inconveniences instead of living with them).

Warren

Warren. Warren, is the other ALT in Kamioka, and is one of the few sane ALTs in my region. Seriously, if you pull the drawstring on your inflatable psychiatrist and send him out here, the good Doctor Acme will confirm this finding. Warren has a certain habit of looking at an absurd situation and saying "Really?" in a way that makes it fairly clear that the rest of the sentence--if completed--would be "Did thatreallyjust happen?"

Warren is among the sacred few individuals who hasn't inspired me to harbor those same "Really?" sentiments about him. And he's managed all of that, despite being a Canadian. Remarkable, really.

El Sol

El Sol is the best bar in Kamioka. Its perhaps the best bar in Japan, depending heavily on your bar criteria. The bartender, Keiko, is remarkably friendly, the food is good, the decor is comfortable, and nama beer is only 550 yen, instead of 600 like most places. Its basically the Mecca of the friendly bar.

I remember my 11th grade English teacher playing a recording of a poem for us one day. It was about Mary J. Blige, and the piece of the poem that I remember is "Sure, she gained a little weight..." and then it went on to say that she was still Mary J., and thus deserving of our love. Thats kind of how I feel about El Sol. Sure, it could be a little bit bigger, and--hey--it could have a pool table. But its keeps getting better without ever changing a bit. When your local bar has mastered the teachings of the Tao, you can rest assured you are in good hands.

Teiju

Teiju是Kamioka的基点。或者至少是我kamioka的基吻。我们倾向于将Kissatten翻译为咖啡馆或咖啡店，但我将更多的是咖啡馆更像是南瓜，当午餐时间开始时进入餐馆。Katsu Curry是惊人的，Katsu-Teishoku也是如此，也是Wafu-Hambagu-Teishoku。是的，我基本上只吃那三种三餐。

Its a friendly, inexpensive restaurant in a town with a serious restaurant shortage. Kamioka will immediately cease to exist simultaneously with Teiju finally closing its doors. Mark my word, nature abhors a vacuum, even if its only of restaurants.

Yamanomura

Yamanomura is one of the three schools I teach at, and its a completely different experience than my other two schools. The school has fourteen students, and most classes have three or four kids. This has let me really get to know the kids in a different way than I have at the other schools. The lessons tend to be extremely different as well, since the goal is teaching rather than survival.

The kids all grow up on farms in a rural community, The school feels like--and in some cases literally is--a family, and its a warm family to be briefly adopted into.

Thursday night basketball

For the past three months I've played basketball most every week with a group of local guys. Their ages range from maybe twenty to thirty, and they arereal people。只是让人出去每周打篮球并玩得开心。有一段时间，篮球是我几个星期的亮点。它仍然是我一周中最喜欢的时期之一，我玩的人是我在日本见过的一些人。我不确定我是否会再次找到一个正常的篮球比赛，就像这个我可以在那里每周来一次踢一次。希望。

I'm sure there are other things I'll miss, but these are the ones that come to mind on this evening train ride into civilization.