Goodbye/Hello

Last night marked the end of an era: Michel said his final farewell to AEON at a party in his honor last night. The party was also a welcome to Anthony, our new teacher. Anthony's from the UK but was transplanted in the US (Texas to be precise). He's a nice guy and still has his British accent which provides nice variety for our students. Michel's official last day of work was Wednesday, and I can tell you, I was already missing the big palooka by Thursday. In the last year, we've gotten to be good friends and I realized in the second half of this week how much I relied upon him to keep me sane - thankfully he and his bride will be in Japan until around the time I leave so I can see him at lunch and keep him up-to-date on the happenings at the school.

Here're (that contraction seemed hardly worth the effort to think about) some pictures from last night. I am not going to provide much commentary as I worked today and am tired. Suffice it to say, people were very sad to see Michel go and interested to meet the new teacher. I will just say this about the venue (Esprit - so 80s sounding, no?) - there was a bit of a kerfuffle over the venue due to some staff inflexibility - the food (served in plastic bowls) was lackluster at best, and my gin and tonic tasted as if it was made of weak limeade and a splash of gingerale. If we'd had the party at Fudan Cafe like Michel had suggested, I think I'd have enjoyed my meal much more.

Before heading over to the party, a few of us stopped off at the Lion's Head Pub for a drink in Michel's honor. Here's the man of the hour with Yoshiko and Yasuko:And here is Michel and Yoshiko again with one of our favorite Saturday students, Nozomi:Anthony got a good chance to meet some of his new students. Here's Takayuki, Miki, Yuriko (Takayuki's wife), Anthony, Motoki, and Me:At exactly 11 (because of the quality of the venue) we were escorted out of the party room and those staying, went over to the karaoke room. In eternal honor of SpSp and BP, I always begin by singing a Sinatra number ("I've Got You Under My Skin"). The rest of my night's offerings were pretty atypical to what I usually do. I sang: "I Will Survive" - Cake version, and then a series of duets with Michel: "Bye Bye Love" (Simon & Garfunkle), "Day-O" (Harry Belafonte), and "Country Roads" (that was sung for Scott). In the karaoke room Nozomi soon became acquainted with the crazy guys Yuichiro and Masa:It was a lot of fun to see many of my current and former students. Here's Keizo, Emiko, Yuji, and Atsushi:Here's Hiroki and Yuji - Hiroki is planning on taking a year off starting next month and traveling around the world. He's quite an AEON success story: he began taking 4 lessons a week about a month or so ago, and started going to every free chat hour we offer. In addition he said he studies English in his free time. In the last three weeks, I've seen so much improvement in his speaking and listening ability. As the crazy guys kept hopping on people's laps around the room throughout the night, I decided to hop on Masa's lap. I think I must have crushed him - notice the look on his face (tho' he often has that look on his face, even in our lobby between classes):Here I am about to be kissed by the crazy guys. The look on Michel's face is priceless.
I was tired this morning when I had to go in to work for our Sunday open, but it was worth it to see everyone, welcome Anthony, and say goodbye to Michel.

We'll miss you, pal.