Saying Goodbyes to the Cicadas' Cries

This week was pretty emotional yet also not. I regained some stability from working out and being able to interact with friends again, but having to go to the final meetings of courses, take finals, and slowly say goodbye to everyone I've met was pretty hard. Using the gym the last time, eating at the cafeteria for a final time, playing once more in the K-ON club-room, having my final photoshoot at the garden, and going to the Farewell party. There were traces of apathy just from the sheer disbelief of me leaving. It may not hit until I am on a plane.

The farewell party was pretty neat. A lot of people came dressed up (either Western modern or in yukata and kimono). I did not realize it was a dress-up affair (thankfully neither did others, including my performance buddies). Also, I performed! I had thought this semester would be a break from performances, but I have given a fancy speech with a wall-size power-point-presentation, a mini speech, a live for K-ON club, and now this performance for another club I dabbled in this semester.

This performance, with the kickboxing aka taido club-members, was choreographed and polished in less than 48 hours and we were all proud of it. We had practiced and learned so much that we were able to just use what came naturally. And, since we were focused on having fun plus showing some technique, we did that: had fun with it. The story goes, a panda hero has learned much and excelled in the ways of taido but there is an evil taido master demon king controlling the land. Panda hero's goal is to take this king down, free the people, and become the taido master. He meets one of the king's servants along the way and quickly beats him, offering him a hand once his opponent is down. The demon's servant is impressed by the panda and switches to his side. Next, the two demon twins, servants of the king, meet the panda. Knowing he beat up their comrade, they start a fight with him (this is where I come in!). They take turns kicking, but to no avail. They try a combination punch, but the panda hero ducks and then does an upper cut. Once again, he offers a hand. One says they'll join the panda in his quest while the other (that's me) dramatically, Nicholas-Cage-like yells "never" and runs away. The king makes his way on stage and the one loyal servant appears, telling him what happened. Then the panda and his new friends appear! Panda hero and Demon king fight, but the panda is quickly defeated, with some cheating sneak attacks done by the servant. The devil and demon think they won, but with the power of his new found friendship, Panda Hero regains strength and they decide to fight. The demon twins fight and the loyal servant goes down, bested by their sister. The first demon servant tries to rush at the king but is taken down easily. Panda hero, with emotions from victory and his friend's defeat, finally defeats the king. (Then we threw in some extra comedy on top - after bowing, one friend says "wait, I wanted to be the demon king - we then proceed to take turns punching him, he is 'knocked out,' and two people carry him away while the other two act as guides and make siren noises). It was great. My favorite parts were the audience's involvement (cheering the panda man on and so on) and the obvious laughter from the children. Some parts of the party were boring for them, so to see them enjoying our performance was awesome.

There were also singers, a violin-piano duet that performed Tale as Old as Time, and two dancers who were phenomenal - hip hop like and had some tricking in there (when one did a back flip the crowd went wild, so to speak - you couldn't hear the music!).

My host parents got to meet some of my friends and vice versa. I got to get pictures and multilingual messages from all the people I've met in class and in school this semester.

It is really thanks to everyone that my time at KGU was so amazing. People sharing their personal opinions and experience and advice as well as information about their culture, language, and countries. Inviting me or letting me tag along on adventures. Accompanying me on mine. Helping me in and out of class. Being patient when I got emotional. I am really going to miss a lot of the people I met this semester (of course, like others agreed, there are always going to be some people that one is totally okay with never seeing again).


After the official party, most of the study abroad students hung out on a river-side in Takarazuka. This meant I got to see a bit of that area, get a stamp from the station, got "Chihayafuru" pocky, see a bright moon and beautiful lights off the water, hear some interesting tales and information, get some advice, and take the last train after meeting Japanese police. Wait...let me explain. Some friends and I left the main group to use the bathroom of a conbini nearby. When we returned, one of the students was walking our way and saying "gotta go home, the cops are kicking us out." We thought he was joking, until we saw everyone standing and people with vests and bright flashlights. It was near midnight and our large group of foreigners (many of whom were consuming at least some alcohol) must have prompted one of the nearby apartment tenants to call the police. But we rounded up our stuff and they were very nice and made sure we got to the station. But then, once my friends and I got off at our station, they all had to use the bathroom and I was the only sober one there. They started singing loudly from the bathroom and a security guard starting looking our way (really my way because I was the one visible) and said something I couldn't quite catch. We finally rounded each other up and, once again with a escort several feet behind us, made our way out the station. To say the least, it was an interesting experience.

It is very fascinating to be one of the few people not drinking in a group of drunk or 'buzzed' individuals, especially if you know them sober.














Today was also a day of goodbyes in a way. I went to the post office (unresolved package sending - have to get a second back-up address - but I sent postcards, finally) and to the city hall. The same city hall I went to when I first arrived. I had to cancel my health insurance, have my "My Number Card" handled (kept it for when I come back though I still am not quite sure what it is for), payed my final insurance bill, and changed my address/terminated my address here in Japan. It was sad, but also a bit liberating in the sense that I got to use my skills. When I first got here, everyone did the documentation together as a group with people who spoke English and had everything set up for us. This time, I was by myself (unlike the post office, to which my host dad accompanied me) so I had to communicate even though I didn't know every single word they used and had to be confident. Today was also the last time my host parents and I will have dinner together as just the three of us...because my older sister is coming to Japan! She should be arriving and I will pick her up in the morning! So excited! (Though it is also another sign of my time here ending).

I cannot believe my time here is ending soon.

Before I go to bed and prepare for an early rising, I will talk about some bugs. Mainly cicadas and dragonflies.

First, one of the students at the river 'party' showed me a picture of what he stumbled upon on his front door door frame: a cicada emerging from its old skin. It was amazing! The old, dark husk vertically attached to the door with a horizontal, solid, pale yellow, very much lively-looking creatures emerging from it. Stunning (but also kind of...gross). Second, apparently cicadas in Japan represent the coming end of the rainy season. There is another species that comes around autumn that signify the coming of autumn and apparently they are bigger (bigger than these???) and make a different sound - tsuketsukebooooshi. So they are called tsuketsukeboshi cicadas. I'm serious. These cicadas, of summer, are relentless. They've practically been crying (they saying crying in Japanese) constantly. You go to bed with a faint whine in the background and wake up to thunderous chattering. You walk to school with earbuds in and hear their cries. You are in the classroom, in the house, eating a meal, listening to classical music and they are there, crying. Sometimes they get so loud, I expect to see a horde of them on a tree. But I haven't gotten a good glimpse of a living one yet. I think I saw one flying around and bumping into things and one may have flown in my face the other day, but it could have been another large, noisy, brown bug. Their shells are also hard to come across. I have seen three or four. One had fallen, two were under leaves, and one was visible on a tree. In Las Vegas, ours are about half the size, with translucent yellow husks and cute mahogany bodies that make a nice buzzing. Also, you'll walk in a park in summer and see like twenty husks on a tree trunk. Here they are still kind of cute, reminding me of Oms from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, but twice as big, ten times as loud, and much more mysterious yet connected to each other. I swear, the scariest part about them isn't their size, it's how they stop or start crying in unison. Going from constant, loud chattering to silence is pretty jarring. It's nice that they are harmless though.

Next, dragonflies! I've been loving the dragonflies here in general, but the ones at the campus garden pond is amazing because there are so many and so lively! Flying around the place, battling with one another, resting on rocks, or just trying to defend territory and eat smaller bugs, flitting here and there. They are the reason I accidentally spent two hours taking photos yesterday. And why I have a sunburn now - didn't expect to be out in the sun, oh well. BUT what's REALLY NEAT is this type of dragonfly that I stumbled across called a choutonbo. This translates to Butterfly Dragonfly. And it's because it is a majestic fairy of a bug - it's a dragonfly that looks and flies kind of like a butterfly! But the time spent, the sweat, the several days of picture-taking, the sunburn, the being goggled at by middle school or high school campus tour groups, was worth it for I was able to shoot some pretty good photos, if I do say so myself.


Unfortunately, the butter-dragon-fly never left the middle of the lake so I could not get a stunning close up, but thanks to my telephoto lens, I was able to get some nice shots.

And, I almost cried at this next one, after seeing countless blurry photos and trying to get his picture since I saw him several weeks ago:

Dragonfly photo gallery, concluded.

Well, good night and good day!