This is really tough. On one hand, having not been home in over a year, I'm getting very homesick. I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends again, and to just being somewhere spacious and familiar. On the other, I have so many friends here, so many people I can't be sure I'll ever see again in my life. So many of them are wonderful people: Saito, Iizawa, Aizawa, the entire staff of Icchu - and that I say with no exaggeration - my students, who have been incredibly sweet the last week or so... this is getting really hard. Perversely, as I get more upset about leaving, my homesickness is also building as I get closer to the hometime date. I think that's partly because Japan, and the leaving thereof, is causing me a lot of stress right now, so I am looking forward to being home and out of it.

This is my last "normal" day at Icchu. On Monday I'll give my goodbye speeches, and the answer to the riddle (one student has got it so far). I still have classes Monday, but it's going to be melancholy I think. Today, too, I'll be doing a couple farewell classes.

I've formulated a bit of a plan though. My current 2nd years, who are basically the coolest class of students I have ever taught, will be graduating in 21 months. That ought to be enough time to save up a ticket for Japan, and enough to really miss Natori but not have it change a lot. I'm going to set that as a Save Up Target. We'll see how that turns out.