Yesterday I finally emailed Fukunari-sensei. I'd been intending to apologize for taking so long to be in touch and to explain that the next few months were busy with preparations for moving and projects at HPAC. Having only a few months left in Japan, I'm not particularly concerned with trying to improve my Japanese.
But as I was writing the email and trying to remember how to form the sentences and which words to use, I got sentimental for learning Japanese, and missed having lessons with her. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to lessons, to diminish our last meeting to dinner.
So I asked her for a few more. And she immediately responded that would be fine and I should just let her know when would be best. So now I will have to brush up on my Japanese again, to reinvest in a place that I'm about to leave. I don't really need to be stepping away so soon. Mastering Japanese was only a peripheral goal anyway; why not enjoy one of the most unique opportunities here in the few remaining months that I have?
I think when you leave Japan you may have a yearning desire to learn the language even more, like a weird feeling of melancholic longing. This happened to me after leaving Germany and Hawai'i.
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