The countdown is on

Well, it's really starting to hit me that I'm leaving. I'm now thinking in terms like, "only five more shaves till I finish work," or "I should really eat at this restaurant today as I might not be back in this neighborhood again before I leave Japan."

My group took me out for lunch today as a little goodbye party. I hope whoever comes after me takes good care of them. I don't think I was very nice to them because I was always so stressed out dealing with my boss. But we must have made some sort of connection: they clubbed together and got me the pen below as a parting gift. I don't know if you can really see the detail, but the pen is inlaid with red and gold dragonflies. You see, I once told them that one of my happiest memories of Japan was a trip to Yamanashi prefecture where I sat in the garden of a restaurant beside a reservoir in early summer with my sister and some friends and just watched hundreds of dragonflies fly in the blue sky around us. Just remembering that makes me smile, and now I'll feel the same way whenever I use the pen.