Surprise!(?)

The other day I read my entire blog...I was getting sentimental. Blogs are like techno scrapbooks. So, as my Japan scrapbook comes to an end, I must have the mandatory Goodbye Party entry with the mandatory slew of pictures. My party was supposed to be a surprise, but Japanese are too honest to keep things a secret. Nonetheless, I was surprised and touched and sad that my sweet friends here threw me a Bye Bye Party. When I came in , the living was decorated with a banner and balloons and flowers. And the food!!! It was quite the feast. Shiona, my long lost American buddy who fled to Washington and got engaged, had secretly made a DVD of me in Japan and another DVD chronicling our climb to the top of Mt. Fuji...she is going to be a famous producer/editor someday. And then we went to karaoke, my most favorite pastime in Japan and sang songs like "Ain't to Proud to Beg", "You Raise Me Up", and "Good Riddance/Time of Your Life" (the most appropriate song ever for moments like this). I'm really sad as I write this. Only six days left.