Yesterday Nikola and I had a party with our friends. We prepped a bunch of finger foods such as sausages, deconstructed BLTs, mozarella and tomatoes. Our moms made yummy foods like cheese pita and spring rolls! It was a lot of fun and everyone was a little bit sad because many of our friends are also leaving or starting work in various places.

Here are some food photos:

During the party, I realized how great my friends are. I love them to bits and pieces and I’m really sad that I won’t see everyone as frequently as I get to. We’re so lucky to be living in such a connected digital age but it’s still not the same being able to hang out in person, laugh and tell stories together. It’s okay. We’ll have lots of stories to share when we meet up again! And my home in Japan is always open to anyone who wants to visit 🙂

Here are some friend photos:

   

Sentimental and cutesy business aside, today I had JET Programme Final Mandatory Orientation & Mandatory Farewell Reception. At first I dreaded going because it meant waking up early, having to dress up in formal clothes and commuting downtown and then up to St. Clair West. But it was mandatory so I got ready and as I walked in I realized I was almost the last person to enter the room. I personally think everyone was just keen to get inside and I was not late.

We received quite a few things during the first half of our final mandatory orientation which was downtown. The most important was probably our passport and visa. We also received baggage information which would have been more helpful if it was given 2 weeks ago and not the day before we left. I’m most likely going to ship my 2 check-in luggages ahead to my placement and just keep my carry-on for Tokyo Orientation. It feels like they’re constantly holding our hand through this process of moving to Japan as they printed out many sheets of paper detailing what’s not allowed in carryon or check-in, when to arrive at the airport etc.

For the reception, we TTCed to the Consulate General’s house which was massive and surrounded by other grand mansions. They had a few speeches congratulating us and welcoming us on this new and wonderful journey. The lunch was quite tasty with a variety of sushi, sandwiches and a variety of skewers. For dessert they served lovely cakes in a variety of flavours — blueberry, black sesame and strawberry to name a few.

At first it was a little bit awkward for me because I felt like I didn’t know anyone. I hadn’t attended any of the events that were organized by the other JETs, nor did I attend the Japanese classes that they had programmed back in May/June because I was travelling. Nonetheless, everyone is quite willing to have a conversation and chat about what they’re excited about, what they’re not looking forward to and planning potential future trips together.

It still hasn’t sunken in that I’m leaving yet.

But honestly, maybe that’s fine. I’m excited to meet the other ALTs in my prefecture that are from other countries! I’m also excited to make some money… I’m a little low on funds haha. Discussing with other JETs, it can be hard if you don’t have much money to start with. Some people are really unfortunate and have no predecessor. That means they have to buy everything from scratch which can cost a lot. I was lucky and had a predecessor and she was also Canadian so payment was made easy through an e-transfer. She passed on a lot of appliances and even a car!

Last minute, my mom said that we should go out for dinner. I’ve been avoiding Japanese food because I know I’ll get sick of it… but all you can eat sushi is just so good. Nikola, mom and I went to KB sushi on Queensway and they’ve honestly stepped up their game.

Aburi sushi? Coconut icecream? YES PLEASE. 10/10 would recommend!

ANYWAYS. Well, it’s currently 1AM and my flight is at 1:40 PM so that means I need to be at the airport around 10AM to pick up stuff from our travel agency and confirm that we’ve checked in for our flight. So, I guess it’s time to go to bed for now. Cheers to my last night in Toronto… thanks to everyone at home who made my summer so much fun. I’ll see y’all soon!

Lots of love,

Carole