End of three years in Magae

Today I have returned the key to my flat in Magae. Three years, since August 2010, I have been living there. I really got to like the neighborhood, the view onto the school, the voices of school children in the morning. The nice old lady diagonally downstairs that always loved to have a chat with me. I loved the three tatami rooms, the smell the first weeks I entered is still strong.

There are also things I didn’t like, foremost the noisy downstair family, hustling and bustling often late at night, 3am, 4am. Playing loud music at night in the car in front of the window. The cockroaches that crawled up from the first floor. The thin walls and horrible single glass windows that made heat and coolness disappear immediately.

Today I have returned the last key, have locked that door. Three good years. Three years in which I learned a lot, both about myself and about Japan and my surroundings. I am grateful for the time there. Grateful for the experience I made. Thanks goes to all the friends that have shared so much time, so many parties with me in these rooms.

Thanks and good bye, Magae!