The End of Things

Well, today was the last official day of my internship with Interac. They had a ceremony for the interns in the afternoon - we got certificates and sweet trophies. Then we went out to dinner. It was a nice way to end the summer, but I'm kind of sad to be going.
I still have two weeks left in Japan, at least. I'm going to be staying with Professor Watabe from BYU and helping with English classes/a youth conference in Yokohama. I'm really excited for the opportunity.
The last few weeks in the office have been interesting. My direct supervisor was out of the office this past week, so I've been helping to answer his emails. He gets a ton. This summer has really made me more sensitive to application processes and that the people on the other end are just regular people. There's no need for me to be afraid of them, though that's kind of irrational anyway.
I had to write an exit survey-type thing that asked what I discovered through the internship - about Japan, about myself, about schools, working in the office, environment. I'll put some here so you can read them, too.

Things I've discovered this summer:

• I am not that bad at teaching, when I focus and enjoy what I'm doing.
• Pretty much every Japanese student can ride a unicycle.
  
• Working in an office can be mind-numbing but oddly satisfying.
• I can be an adult and make friends and have a life on my own.
• There's a satisfaction in solitude.
• My family's got my back.
• I feel like speaking Japanese is becoming more natural for me.
• A happiness when I can understand the majority of what I watch on TV

I'll keep posting these next two weeks, and I can probably post more entries in review. I'm going to be working a lot on my previously neglected homework this week, so I'll be thinking a lot about the summer.
Hope you all are doing well!

Today was my last day working at schools. :(
Next week starts summer vacation here, and they don't come back until September, when I'll already be back in the states.
The kids were way cute - they did their class dances and some of them wrote me notes and sang songs. I'm sad to leave them. I hope their next teacher will be good!
I think, with the teaching portion of the internship over, I can safely say that I would be happy to come back and teach again, for like a full year this time.
For the rest of the internship I'll just be working in the office. I don't know what they'll have me doing for sure. It seems like the work with the recruiting department is slowing down, since they are just finishing a hiring cycle for teachers to come in August and September. We'll see, I guess.

I leave you with a video of my 15 minute walk home from the station, condensed to like 30 seconds thanks to time lapse. My battery died right at the end, though. The last apartment building you see a full shot of is mine, I was just about to round the corner to get to it when it blacked out. :(