Sayonara....now it's time to say goodbye...

It has officially been a year since I have been here. With that being said, it has been truly wonderful thus far. I have moved successfully to Japan and established a life here. Crazy. I must say that the people I have met here are some of the strongest, greatest people I have ever met in my life. I am truly going to miss being surrounded with such beauty all the time. So to those of you who are not staying and have finished your contract, all my love and best of luck with the life that lays before you. You are in my heart, so for all the times we have had to overcome our greatest weaknesses just to survive here, kiss kiss, and konpai!

How lucky am I to know someone who it was so hard to say goodbye to.

The girls, Melanie, Liz, Beth, Tiffany, and me...the whole Joetsu crew got together for a Sayonara party at Funaie. Mel and Beth are returning to England and Scotland...I am going to miss them a lot. These are my girls. We had a sad discovery while taking this picture that through all the wild, and i am talking WILD, times we have had together, that this photo was the first one we had ever gotten together for, and this is the going away party..

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

maria and i : Maria is a dancer, come writer, come driving instructor, come brilliant superstar. Recently, she has supplied me with driving lessons..I am buying her car, which is a stick, and I am in need of knowledge on how to drive it..she is very patient with me...not only when I am behind the wheel, but she has been patient in Japanese class all year too carrying the weight of the questions as I show up without having studied all week. I never got to see her enough.

chris and satako: Satako is for real one of the coolest chicks around. She is dating Chris- who has spent the year being our local Joetsu Regional Advisor. He has valiantly let us grow and become part of the community without putting his head down and shaking it in shame too often. Satako will be going to England to work for a year, and with her luck she got her placement close to the uni chris will be taking grad classes at! Lovely people these two...lovely...

me and laura : Another gal I never saw enough of...Laura and I spent days on the slope together- but she being the expert boarder she was, we only would see eachother when she popped over to the bunny slopes to visit me.. She and I also got into a stir of trouble as we were left to entertain four men from Saitama recently at the Sayonara party in Kashiwazaki... Canada watch out, this giril is TROUBLE..babe my money is on day 10.

I couldn't decide which one was hotter.

dave and i

We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we all take a little bit of each other everywhere...some people come in and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never the same...

brooke and dave: Brooke just got great news, she just landed a job in Joetsu! She hadn't recontracted and decided around Golden Week that she was not ready to leave us! Smart girl. I am so happy for her. And then Dave, oh, Dave. I am going to miss that lovely Kiwi voice saying "Hey Carrie" as he answers my calls. We definitly are two completely different people, but the thing we share in common is a love for life and a love for others, so therefore when I get together with him it is a guaranteed good time; gonna miss those times.

me and zeshan : he's not leaving, but he is a great guy who puts up with me- I always love catching up with him when I see him.

liz ; not leaving, but damn this is hot! Spent the last few weekends chillin on the beach together.

mel looking equally as hot!

maria and jehanne so this is what hanging at a bar in japan looks like. Everyone grabs a seat on the floor, works the room, and digs into the eats with their chopsticks!

There was a special announcement..

liz and chuck: Chuck is totemo cool. Best damn ultimate player around.

dave and carolyn; obviously I missed something.
After a great party at the brand new Funaie, (and by the way I kind of already miss the old one- how are we going to meet people there now!?) We all headed to nijikai at PTA. PTA was packed with us singing....

beth and i singing Big Spender maybe? and she sang for me my ultimate Beth favorite- Garbage's Cherry Lips (Go Baby, go, go)

this girl has a voice i tell you- she's gonna be big one day..and i am not talking karaoke circuit..

tif and beth close

tif and beth

mel and tif . After all the singing we went to sanjikai (3rd party) at Nova, our local "club" and danced well until the morning, leaving only after the sun had come up.
Thank you for being a friend, travel round the world and back again, your heart is true you are a pal and a confident...(...if you don't know the tune you are missing out on a white haired classic..)