Sayonara

This is actually one of the first pictures I took in Japan, all of us waiting at Narita airport to board our busses. It seems like such a short time ago, but my life has changed dramatically since then! It will take me a long time to process all that I have experienced. Taking my first trip out of the country has been amazing! To visit a culture so different from ours only to find so many similarities... what an experience.
For now, I will just thank those of you who have been reading and sending me messages. Other than one phone call, this has been my "link" to home! I really appreciated all of the communication you sent by email and comments.
Tomorrow, I can "look forward" to all of that airport/airplane stuff. A lot of waiting and wishing I could stretch my legs and get comfortable! But at the end of it all is my family that I have missed so much!
I will continue to use this blog to help record my experiences as I move into the next phase of the JFMF experience, the follow-on plan. Now my task is to take my experiences and translate them into my classroom and my community. I think the biggest impact will just be in my personal worldview. The world has gotten much bigger, and yet much smaller to me all at the same time.
This will be my last blog post from Japan. Sayonara!

(I fly out about 24 hours from now. Then, due to all the time change weirdness. I will arrive in St. Louis two hours later.)