Der Besuch der alten Dame

I know that is a wildly inappropriate title but it was the first thing I thought of when my office-lady-friend commented "Your old-lady-friendo visit. Wow."

Yesterday morning I got an email on my phone from Yamamoto Obachan (little aunty) from Oki. It was long, detailed and in kanji. It saddened me how difficult it was to understand - when I received such mails daily my Japanese comprehension was much, much better. Anyway. I managed to get through all the bit about how she was and where she was living and how her aunt and uncle were doing and how the weather was warming up, and then I went to class without reading the last sentence 今おばちゃんは、アクアライナーで浜田に向かってます。 "Right now, I am on a train to Hamada."

And so it came about that at cleaning time, Yamamoto Obachan and three of her obachan friends came to visit me at school. Due to various untimely happenings (including Obachan having to leave the island half an hour before I arrived to visit a sick relative) I hadn't seen her since shortly after I left the Oki, so I was really touched that she still thought me worth the effort!

We stood in the corridor while she and her friends prodded me to make sure I was good and healthy and then talked about food, the weather, old times and old friends, while my students and teachers gawked and giggled. It was lovely to see Obachan, and her friends (one of whom was a ni-chu alumnus and another of whom taught one of the teachers here) have promised to look after me. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy and cared-for.

Those of you who read my rambles in my first few months in Japan will recall my adventures eating various sea creatures at Obachan's and my bafflement at evening after evening of Japanese game shows. Before I leave Japan I plan to spend a week on Oki. I am looking forward to cooking with her again and sitting in her little front room on hot summer evenings and watching still-incomprehensible Japanese TV. I am just really not looking forward to saying goodbye.