わたしと荒川先生

Arakawa Sensei and I

It's official, I have finished up with Japanese class! I remember starting out in August 2013, not knowing a single word except the character  "の" of which most of us has probably seen but never knew what it stood for. Now however, I have drilled it in my head what my 48 hiraganas and katakanas look like, piecing them together to form words just as we put together our "ABCs". My only verdict is...what a journey.

一年ぐらいのしゅくだい

Homework a year and a half

Truth be told, these lessons grew from a love for the culture to the fascination of the language and later on blossomed to the possibilities I could derive from my every day attempt to inject just that it of Japanese inside, making every piece of homework a worthy challenge. Sure, I burned out every now and then, thinking I wasn't cut out for this or that I would never ace it but the satisfaction today is real. Very real.

練習帳とノート

Work books and notes

Having to say goodbye today only made me realize that I shouldn't just stop here; I should keep going. I should be writing notes and making memos. I should be reading novels and listening to music or watching movies, making every Japanese language connectivity I could just to improve. And maybe, that's just not too hard. 

いろいろ練習帳

Various work books

Before officially returning to Japan for good, my teacher decided to also leave me with books that would help in making sure I never stop. And so I assured him, I won't. The amount of time, agony and heart put into learning the language isn't worth a give up, really.

先生はプレゼントをくれます

Gifts from Arakawa Sensei

So I made my promise to an old man, to always improve however I can and to visit him in Nagoya someday. And then I said, "どうぞお元気で" and bowed my way out. さようなら、荒川先生。