Monday 8 October 2007

my treasure trove


Yesterday, I finally mustered up the courage to sort through and organise some of the souvenirs of my year in Okinawa. I had been postponing this process, for obvious reasons... I didn't want to reorganise them as it would mean that that part of my life was finally over and done with and I'd have to put them away in a box and keep them until the next spring cleaning, when I would throw away the least important of those items (or maybe not... I'd just look at them and keep them away again.)

{I know I am childish and silly about these things, but little things mean so much more to me than anything else!}

The box contained:

the pretty seashells and sea glass pieces I collected;
my JET Diary where I jotted down every single days activity at school/otherwise;
my Okinawa notebook, which contained info about Oki, words of Oki-ben, places to visit in Oki. etc;
my keitai and battery (which can't work in India since I need a step-down converter first);
my Inkan, official and the special Hello Kitty one with the kanji Ayumi found of my name;
the glass art photo frame I made at the Nago Glass factory;
Yaeyama Star Sand vials;
the lavender potpourri from Minami-Furano (Motobu's sister town) that the BoE gave me;
goya and Blue Manta keitai thingies;
the I(heart)沖縄 of leftover clay when making Shiisas;
the Kanehide point card and other cards from various cafes;
the felt paper badges I made with the special ed. students of Kamimotobu Chugakko;
the wisdom tooth I finally had wisdom to get removed while I was there;
the Khajinho miniature Okinawan-shirt coasters that Shoko gave me;
the bracelet Minako stayed up all night making before Dave, I n John left;
the various purikura done over the year;
the novel purikura with Ayumi's funky camera;
the towel Saori san gave me, dyed with Fukugi tree leaves as a symbol to protect me as those trees protect Okinawa in typhoons;

Oh Gosh, I cant go on...

5 comments:

Rachel said...

I'm the same way... I have a receipt fetish too. "Oh, look, though! It has Japanese writing on it!" Sad, sad.

Unknown said...

:)

have you regreted your decision to not recontract? I have... occassionally... wondered what it would be like still living there, with a job, not studying again!!

Chi said...

Oh Juhi! Okinawa misses you! I wish that we had more time to hang out and get to know each other! I will be here for at least another 3 years (I hope!) so if you ever want to visit you know who to call for a place to stay!

Rachel said...

I honestly haven't thought about Okinawa much... I miss my apartment and occasionally the kids, but since it isn't an overwhelming feeling, I know that I made the right decision. I really enjoyed the last six months or so, but it was time to do something else. But I'm afraid I lost any shred of work ethic that I used to have!

Unknown said...

thank you Chiye! u r a darling!

Rach! u made a very good decision! My situation was different, I am still ambiguous about it all!! but ah well, and time to get my act together!