My Farewell Party

Last night, the lab members threw me a small going away party. They made food from scratch which was really tasty- the picture shows Casey helping Nose-san and Mizugaki-sensei fan the rice so it would cool.
It was a nice party and I got to speak with quite a few of the students. Nose-san said a little speech, although it was in Japanese so I had to have Casey translate it for me later. Then it was my turn to give a speech, so I thanked them for making me feel welcome even though I wasn't a lab member. I also said for them to call if they are in America, and we will help them since they have helped us so much. Lastly, I said something in Japanese (because I thought after all of this time I kind of owed them that much) so I said "Anatani oaidekite hontoni yokatta desu" which is supposed to mean "I am happy to know you", if my source tells me correctly. They smiled after I said that so hopefully if it wasn't correct, it at least didn't offend anyone. :) I actually made it through the entire evening without crying, which was unexpected even to me. :)
At the end they gave me flowers, and there was a cute little card attached- see the picture. My favorite thing about it is the drawing- Kanai-san drew a little picture of me with my hat on. :)
So after the party, Casey and I decided to go to the Hummingbird Cafe for a bit since I didn't know if I would get to go there again. I intended to get a picture with William, the Jamacian guy who owns the bar, but he's a smooth talker and when I told him I would be going to America next Friday, he said, "So I'll see you later in the week!" So of course we are going to try to make it back there with a few of the lab members.
Anyway, now I am waiting for Casey to call and let me know when we will leave to go with Hara-san to see 'ume no ki', or plum blossoms. Hopefully it'll be a bit warmer than yesterday... but then again, it's not snowing today, so it looks like an improvement already. Tomorrow it's supposed to be almost 60 degrees, which means I won't have to wear this huge coat! I am excited! I feel like I look like the Stay-Puft Marshmellow woman in it sometimes. Not the most flattering coat I own, that's for sure.
So I will leave one more picture, not only to show you how huge the coat is, but also to show you the convenience store by our apartment building. We go in here almost daily, which is kind of sad sometimes. Last night I wanted to go back in there to get the koala bear biscuits just for sentimental sake... so this is me outside looking pretty strange. :) Fun times in Osaka.

-Ashley