August 20, 2010 aka. Last Day IN Japan :(

Today was definitely one of the hardest days I have ever had to go through. Even like compared to break ups and stuff. These kids mean more to me than everything. Blitz this morning when we were doing songs that had our names in it, we did our real names instead of our Disney names. It was so weird, and It was all I could do to not start bawling like a baby in the middle of the songs. The kids like let out a huge gasp as we were each revealing our names. Lol. It was pretty adorable. Nikolas just had a bad day in general. I had gone to the center really early to finish our cardboard/ducttape boat, and when he got there he was already crying and nothing had even happened. He was just like I’m so tired. Blah blah blah. At least I didn’t get like a false last image of how awful he actually was lol. Gosh I love that kid so much. When we went to the theater for blitz he tried to hide under the boat tink and I built so he could sleep. Dumb kid. Speaking off building the boat, it was pretty awesome looking. But I came like really really early to finish it. We usually leave our barracks at like seven thirty and arrive at 50 after or so. I got there at like 7, so it was like almost an hour early. I was going to skype and stuff for a while, but no one was on. Oh well, it was good to try and finish it. I wore my hair down today, because my kids have literally been asking me for the entire year to do that. They wanted to as they said “make sure” I was the real Jasmine. So cute! But Paige was so happy I did it, she was playing with my hair for a while and like wouldn’t stop touching it. The kids were so rowdy today even though we told them like a zillion times it was our last day and they should be extra nice to us. I think they were probably just like too hyper with us leaving and all to be very good, which it’s odd how that works I think. But after clubs, during which we had the kids make memory books from the summer, we went to the indoor pool in ranger gym to race the boats all the classes had made. Have to say that ours and Room 5’s looked the most legit, which it makes sense that room 5’s looked so awesome because Ms. Dori has done lots of those boats before. I was the one that ended up in the boat, and it was definitely like scary getting into it, because I didn’t know if it was going to float. But it did thank goodness, and I was able to stay upright. But as soon as we actually started racing and had to paddle it was like impossible to keep the boat upright. We made it small so it would just fit me, but it just wasn’t happening. So hard to keep balance and that’s what did us in. We did super awesome with the waterproof par t though. I ended up dragging the boat behind me for a while as I swam because I just couldn’t figure out how to get back into the boat. My class was still cheering though so whatever. They loved it still. I have to say, it was still pretty fun even though it was insanity lol. After our failed attempt at boat racing The same counselors did a jumping off the diving board competition. I ended up doing a belly flop to win that. Darn my fricken competitive spirit. I just couldn’t help it. Had like the worst head ache ever afterwards. But still fun. The kids loved it, and I just wanted to go all out on my last day with them. When we got back to the center and after we ate lunch we passed out the awards for the kids. Last night Tink and I made fake awards for the kids. Like Nikolas was “Biggest Sports Fan” because he always wears sports stuff, and Robert was “Next American Idol” since he is always singing. They loved it and were all clapping for eachother. I started bawling when I gave Nikolas his. I told him how incredibly much I loved him and pulled him aside for a little bit to talk to him. The whole group, well the girls, all started crying and Nikolas was the most adorable thing ever. He went and one by one grabbed everyone who was crying a tissue with this look of pouty sadness on his face, and then started crying himself. I read them Oh The Places You’ll Go, and got myself to stop crying. But after I finished the book, Nikolas’s dad came and picked him up early. I completely lost it and started crying hysterically. But Sarah, who is one of the workers at the Youth Center, broke my camera and offered to buy me a new one, and she saw Nikolas and his dad as they were leaving. I guess the dad didn’t know it was our last day, so he brought Nikolas back and gave me their address and got mine. He invited me over for dinner too, but we are leaving at like six tomorrow morning to go to the airport. Its like, um, you had the entire summer to do that! Why wait to invite me until I can’t come! Oh well. It was nice to hear from the dad too how much I’ve meant to my Nikolas. Gosh. I feel like I am legit leaving my child by leaving him behind and most likely never seeing him again. But after that, I think the rest of the kids weren’t quite as hard to say goodbye to. Jaquin was probably second hardest. His mom came in during closing and asked to get a picture of me with Jaquin. She says he talks about me all the time and was so excited to finally get to sit next to me yesterday. Jaquin sat next to me on the field trip on the bus yesterday, and it was fricken adorable. He wanted me to put my arm around him the whole time and he ended up falling asleep on me. I let him use my jacket as like a pillow, and he ended up slobbering all over it. It was kind of gross, but so adorable. I felt so blessed that the two kids who meant the absolute world to me had parents that came up to me and shared with me what an impact I’ve made in their child’s life. Closing was so emotional. I bawled like crazy hard the entire time, and there were lots of other girls and counselors crying too. Not as many boys lol. But Sara pulled me aside and this little six year old girl was like, “You are the nicest teacher I’ve ever met in my life. I love you.” I was sobbing. I promised her I would see her again someday and gave her my address. I really hope I’m able to make good on that promise, cuz I definitely wasn’t just saying that. Ms. Sarah, who broke my camera, was like, Ms. Jasmine, you have to come back next year. There are quite a few kids that are traumatized by you leaving. Stuff like that just means so much to me. At the very end after we were saying our goodbyes and leaving Desteni’s mom gave Tink and I these fricken sweet like tea sets with a Japanese tea pot and cups and stuff. So awesome. Although it is heavy and I had to rearrange absolutely everything in my bag to even fit it in there. I told Thara’s mom when she picked Thara up and was saying thank you and goodbye about the time when she was witnessing to Nilanie and how blessed I was to see it. She almost was like crying and wanted to get a picture with me after that. She said she does devotions with Thara every night. It was just so sweet and I feel like by telling the mom that I was able to bless her. After our tearful goodbyes we walked back to our rooms and got ready to go to dinner. Sarah and Jessica prepared this like huge dinner for us and it was really sweet. Although I was so tired from crying that I wasn’t really wanting to stay long. Then we came back to the barracks and did our counselor awards and stuff. The directors and PC gave us like silly awards and mine was Most Likely to Have the “Best Life EVER!”. I did not even realize that I said “Best….Ever” Or “Cutest…..Ever” so often. They said it was adorable, but now I feel a little self conscious about it. I just get so excited about things that I exaggerate a little. Lol. Then we all went around in a circle and said warm fuzzies about people. That was nice because it helped us wrap up the summer and share memories about eachother. Plus Ryan’s slide show brought out even more tears sigh. I think I’m out of them now. But now I’m in my room and its four in the morning. I’m finishing packing and writing this blog and getting ready to go. I figure staying up all night and then sleeping on the plane will help me adjust since I am arriving in Portland at 9ish am on sat Washington time. But then I have to stay up that whole day on the stupid layover. Oh Well. It was pretty much the perfect last day through all the tears and everything!!!! Goodbye Japan. God has blessed me so much this summer, and it is overwhelming to think about how much this trip has impacted my life. I am so glad I chose to write everyday about my experiences and I hope my blogs have been entertaining or enlightening to whoever read them. God Bless, and I’ll see you in the good ol’ USA!