On the way to my last Hyper class, I sent an e-mail to Yayoi-san about meeting up in our usual place, but I didn't hear back from her. However, out of the blue I got an e-mail from Nori-chan, asking if we were meeting there, so I ended up meeting up with her there. When we got to Higashi-Kanagawa I realized I had an e-mail I hadn't noticed from Yayoi-san, agreeing and asking where I was, so we got off and waited for her to catch up with us. On the way to the Rapport, I taught them the English version of 'Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer', at their request. (also I think we may be singing it tomorrow). It was a lot of fun, it felt almost like I was teaching kids, because listening to them sing the song in their halting little voices. LOL
When we got to the Rapport, I-chan ran up and gave me a paper weight. Then after we changed, we went into the lobby to watch the end of the Pop Class. This was when I got really emotional, and got choked up and teary-eyed by first all the little Pop Kids, and Anna-san dancing around with them to 'Sekai hitotsu dake no hana', and then to the fact that (tomoko-san and Aman-chan alerted that) Yuuta was here, as well as Atushi and Namio. It made me very happy that I would get to see Yuuta for the last time. And he had his hair down in a black cloth headband thing, which also made me happy LOL. Then when Anna-san came out for a drink of water, I thought 'Anna-san's so pretty....', and got teary-eyed again. Then when we went into the lesson room, and one of the Pop boys said goodbye to me, and when Emi-chan gave me a hug, and pretended to cry and said 'But the sadness is real, even if I can't cry'.
Then we did exercises, which I thankfully was not tearful during. LOL Today Anna-san was wearing red windbreaker pants and a white tanktop (kind of like a wifebeater), anf her hair seemed a longer/straighter today. As always, she looked beautiful. During exercises, a little Pop girl ran around the room, and Anna-san smiled at her, and it was so heartwarming. (Later on when the girl left, Atsushi and Yuuta even smiled and waved goodbye and it was so adorable). Although I was glad that Yuuta came, he didn't seem very enthusiastic. He stopped doing the stretches halfway through and said on the floor and did his own stretches, and stayed sitting there for like half the lesson.
Then we did Miami, and Yagyugaiden. I completely messed up Yagyu, because I couldn't concentrate, it being my last Hyper and all.
Then Anna-san announced that we would work on the Group Dances. She talked first with the Cool and Funny groups, who had started to choreograph their dances, etc. My group chatted while we waited.
At some point AtsuYuu and Namio had started dancing, so while the group talked I watched them. The puppies were doing one armed spins and whatnot, and I was overjoyed to see Yuuta kind of lounging (lasciviously?) on the floor at some points. Then they dragged out a bouncy mat from god knows where and spent most of the rest of the lesson doing backflips on it. Which in it'self was pretty amazing. And yet not instructing.
Anyway, then Anna-san called us over, in her oh so niau (LOL) 'yankee' impression (mostly aimed at Emi), and announced that we would start learning the dance now. She showed it too us, singing softly the first line of the chorus (If you wanna be my lover...), in half Japanesey english-half Nativey english (waa I suppose the only thing is to get her to talk to people in English somehow... ). It looked pretty difficult, so she showed it to us a couple times, slowing it down, and calling out the actions (kette hiite oite kette hiite pon!), and after a while told us to practice on our own, which we did. ZinRye were still doing backflips in the background. Then Anna-san came back after a while, and had us practice again, to both the music, and the count. She demonstated with her fabulous comic impressions how we now had the kette~ part down, but were frantic and stumpted about what came after it, and showed us the move again. Then she did it with us to the music, but she stopped halfway through, confused, and then said that she got lost because she was now facing the opposite direction, and began again with a 'Shitsurei shimashita!' and a little laugh. She told us that we would finish the dance on Sunday, which made me sad cuz I won't be there.
Then we did Miami and Yagyugaiden once more. Then Anna-san gave us a sheet of paper with the details of the live in Feb. She said that she had told us she'd talk about it, but this seemed fasted. We all laughed. Then she explained about all the stuff that was written on the sheet. During the explaination, I got tearful again, and there was one moment where I almost started crying,but I didn't. Then I looked over and noticed Atsuko-san was crying. Anna-san was about to end the meeting, when she said, in typical Anna-san fashion, 'a, sou da!' (oh right!) 'Today's A-chan's last day of lessons.' (evne though we'll see her tomorrow at the Christmas party'. As soon as she said that, I started crying for real. Anna-san asked if I had been in Hyper a year, and I said yes, and she said that it felt like so much longer, like it felt like I had always been there. I continued to cry. I wished that Anna-san would come over and hug me, but she just looked at me with a sympathetic smile, from across the circle. Maybe she would have if I'd been closer. Then Atsuko-san, as the representative of Hyper gave a speech, about when she first met me, and very nice things about how yasashii I am and how I have kirei part that most people have forgotten about now, etc, which I cried through, and then Anna-san asked me to speak. So, still pretty much crying, I just thanked everyone, and told them how close I'd gotten to all of them, and how at times I'd wanted to stay in Japan just so I wouldn't have to leave Hyper, and how that was what I was saddest about. Anna-san watched me with a very moved, almost tearful expression on her face. When I was done (well, I kind of petered off, not knowing how to express myself LOL) Anna-san spoke. She told me that she, and all of Hyper, were waiting for the day that I could dance again with them. (Mata issho ni odoreru hi, matteru yo). Love Junx will always be here, she said. And I'm pretty confident everyone will still be here and not quit, she added with a laugh. I'm dreaming of, and hoping you get to be in the live in Feb. She said, her hands clasped together. So let's dance on that stage together, ok! (2gatsu ni kuru koto wo yumemite, neggateru kara, issho ni ste-ji de odorou!' I cried more, and nodded. Atsuko-san gave me some food she'd made because I did have lunch etc on the dorm on weekends.
Then I remembered, and told ZinRye that I was happy that the three of them were all here today. They kind of bowed, and said 'Otsukare-sama!'. Then Atsuko-san brought out a cake for Atsushi because it was his 18th birthday this week, and had me give it to him. (Atsushi: You didn't need to make poor A-chan give it to me....) So we all sang happy birthday to Atushi, and then to Yuuta because he hadn't be there on his birthday, when we had eated his cake without him. (Anna-san: You have to come to lessons the day before and after your birthday!), and Yuuta cracked up at the 31 spoons included with the cake. Then we took a kinen-shashin. I got to sit in the middle, next to Anna-san (and Atsushi with his cake), and my knee was touching hers, and it made me happy. I wanted to lie my head on her shoulder, the way I can with the other ryugakusei, etc, but of course I couldn't. After we took the picture, and everyone was leaving to go get changed, I went over, and asked Anna-san if she would teach me the wave again one last time. She cracked up at that,and said 'OK!' in her Native English, and then took me over to the mirror. It was only the two of us in the room. First she demonstated the wave a few times in sucession. I was always touching her, I was so close, and that wave was the absolutely sexiest thing I have ever seen in my life. I was actually breathless. So for a moment all I could do was stare at her, unable to think. Then she started off showing me the feet, and how you lean your weight first forward and then backwards. When you go forwards you push your chest out, as you roll your arms back, and as they get back straight behind you, you lean your body backwards, kind of concave. She touched my arm and put in in the right place. Your arms have to be at shoulder level, which is really high, and hurts me, until she told me to relax my shoulders. She also told me to push out my chest as far as I could, demonstrating all the time. Well, I definately couldn't do it the way she could; the angle and tauntness of her body was just beautiful. It was like a perfect < shape. Or something like that. At any rate, it was beautiful. She kept telling me to look at the mirror, becase I was looking down, because I was embarressed at my suckiness. But she was just patient, and smiled, and helped me out, and finally I kind of got it. She told me that if I kept doing what she had just taught me, eventually my body would gradually curve and twist to make the wave. I thanked her, and as we walked out of the lessons room together, she said once again that she hoped I could be in the Live. I said that I would ganbaru and try to perfect my wave by then, to which she told me to ganbare, and laughed kindly.
I was o glad that I asked Anna-san to teach me that again, because I was able to make a last memory of her teaching me completely alone. It was quite intimate, really.
Then after I changed, and said goodbye to Tomoko-san, and hugged her, we went out to find everyone eatting Atsushi's cake. (apparently Atsushi loves sweet things, BTW). I ate some, and took cellphone photos with people, and tried to teach Namio-kun how to say eat with your fingers, because he announced that we should all yubi de tabeyou, like people in India, to which I agreed and Anna-san laughed, and then he revised it to 'finger de taberu', and I said he should say it all in English, which became 'eat finger!'. LOL Then he had to go, and he patted me (thumped? LOL) on the shoulder twice, and said he would see me again, and then walked to the elevator doing a mixture of the drinking symbol (I guess he wanted to say we'd go drinking again?), and the so-so hand motion, which I did back to him with a grin. Anna-san waved at me from the elevator, which a big smile.
Then, the puppies came over to me, and asked me 'Issho ni shashin tottekidasai.' (I believe it was Yuuta who asked.) Then he bowed, and said 'Onegai shimasu!'. So I went over and took a picture in between the puppies! Yay! Then I took more keitai pics with people, and the puppies left. I waved to them as they were leaving, and Yuuta bowed back.
Then I went on the bus with some people, and gave big hugs and goodbyes to Yayoi-san and Ishimi-chan who won't be at the part tomorrow, and we said 'Let's dance together again soon.' Then we waved back and forth as I walked to the subway.

 
What will be my second to last Hyper Class was early Sunday morning, at the Kanagawa Sports Center. At the bus stop I ran into the chuugakusei, so we chatted a bit on the bus. I-chan and her mother were also on the bus with us.
Since I felt like we were getting there early, I had wondered if Anna-san and the others would be waiting in the lobby like they had been the last time we had lessons there, but no one was there. So we went up and Anna-san, and Maiko-san waved to us through the door as we went to go change. I was glad Maiko-san was there, because she doesn’t come on Fridays, so this was only my second or third lesson with her since she came back to LJ. When we went into the lesson room, Anna-san and Maiko-san were doing these strange almost yoga-like stretches and laughing and talking together. You can really tell how close they are. This lesson Anna-san was especially hyper (LOL) and in high spirits, and I think it had to do with Maiko-san being there. They make a great teaching combination. Mai-chin was wearing her LJ tee shirt and tan windpants. Her, which is very long now, was tied in a ponytail, with the front pieces hanging down. Anna-san had her hair in a ponytail as well, although it was a very stubby little ponytail, which I’ve always liked. She was wearing a tight black t-shirt and flared black windpants. It was very interesting because the shirt was longer than usual, tight around her waist and hips, and her pants were more hip hugging then usual, so it was a bit of a different silhouette than usual. When they got up from doing their exercises, Anna-san called over to me and said that my eyes looked brighter than usual. ‘You’re wearing contacts, right?’ She asked. I walked over to her. ‘Yes. I always wear contacts, I have really bad eyesight.’ I explained. ‘But, you’re wearing colored ones today, right?’ She asked. I shook my head, and moved closer so she could see my eyes better. She looked into them with interest. She asked what color they were, and I said they were green. She said they looked brighter than usual, and I said it must be that fact that it was so bright in the lesson room, being morning, and and she agreed. Maiko-san, who was also peering at me, commented that my pupils really stood out. The two of them continued to stare into my eyes. Anna-san cooed, 'Kire~i!!' (They're so pretty!) and then said, with a big smile, 'Oishisou!' (They look delicious!) I said, 'Please don't eat them!' and joked that maybe I would be dancing in the back of the room today. Anna-san laughed. Then she called everyone together for the lesson. Everyone was standing in this really weird U shaped line, and she said, with a laugh 'What's this space here? It's like everyone's avoiding me.' ( Nanda kono bimyouna aida ha? Nanka atashi wo saketeru mitaina...') So, before exercises, she reintroduced Maiko., because there were some people who hadn't been here when she was in LJ, and Maiko did a jikoshoukai. Then we did exercises and I had trouble deciding whether to watch Anna-san or Maichin. LOL Then we practiced Miami. We went over a lot of it more carefully, especially the part where we have to walk around in a circle, because Anna-san said that we were all so absorbed in the walking part that we forgot to pose, and that was completely boring for the audiance. She told us that we had to completely let ourselves go (jibun wo sutete), and said, 'It's ok if you can't get married after this.' (yome ni ikenakute ii kara) to which Maiko-san yelped 'Ee? Komaru~!' (Whaat? That'd be a problem!) LOL They both demonstrated various comic, totally out there poses, and we all cracked up. Then we did Yagyugaiden. Anna-san reviewed it with us slowly, and it made me mess up, because I got too into watching her LOL. It'd been a while since I'd actually seen her do the dance, and once again I was blown away by how casually cool she was. It really is the perfect dance for her, so sharp and dramatic, and cool.
There were some men in black (LOL) who came to watch the lesson, and halfway through Anna-san went over to talk to them. She introduced herself, and thanked them profusely for coming, and bowed more deeply than I've ever seen her. I was struck by just how polite she was, and how at ease with the social formalities which I guess must come from having been in a job where you meet really important people a lot for so long. I'm not sure who them men were, maybe potential sponsers of some kind?
So anyway, when the lesson was over, I went over to Maichin and asked her if she'd be at the Halloween party. She said she would, and gave me a big tight hug.
The lesson felt really full and satisfying, even though by now I can't remember all the little details. It was especially fun and energetic, thanks to the combination of Maiko-san, and a very hyper Anna-san. It was a lesson that made me realize once again how much I love Hyper, and how much fun it really is.
At one point everyone (students) noticed my Namie shirt, and all crowded around me to read the back. LOL
Afterwards, we waited in the lobby through both Pro and regular Pop class, because the Kakkoii group was practicing their dance. I sat and talked to I-chan, and then to Marilyn and Atsuko-san about Actor's, and about how Marilyn got into it thru SPEED originally, and how the people that don't know about OAS can just act normal around Anna-san and the instructors, but how when you know about OAS you're like, 'oooh....' because there's a bit of a wall between you because you know how really amazing they are, so you kind of put them up on a pesdastal, and how it's easier to be normal with Maiko, because she's so nice, and sweet, but that both of us are still in awe of Anna-san. Then I-chan and I practiced the dances all by ourselves, laughing and having a lot of fun. During the Pop class, we could hear Anna-san's 'One! Two! Three!' all the way down the hall. The volume and energy she put into her voice was quite impressive. LOL
Then, finally, we all went to lunch, although we called and reserved a table on the bus because we were running late, and Sachiko and I had to leave early. We even ordered out food as the waiting was seating us. We had what took the quicked to prepare, which was a Japanese style steak, and turned out to be really delicious. We ate quickly, and then Sachiko and I rushed to the train, and sat and talked until her stop.

What I was rushing home for was the 2nd floor farewell party, but I ended up being 30 min late because I though it was at the dorm so I went back there, and then had to go all the way back to Ikebukuro. Kara came to meet me at the station, and then we bought tea from the vending machine before returned to the Karaoke place, where we split into our designated groups. Karaoke was pretty fun, I found out that Ikue has a pretty good voice. Kiwa, as could be expected, because I remembered that she had wanted to go to Actor's at one point, has a VERY good voice. Watching her, and listening, I thought that she could have been in B.B, if she had gone to Actor's. Because of course she needed training, but she still has an amazing voice with the right songs, and can sing difficult changes in key and whatnot very well. Everyone was very impressed and cheered and begged her to sing certain songs, like Utada Hikaru, which wasn't so much fun for me, because I'm selfish and was a bit annoyed that everyone was fawning over her.
So anyway, then we went to the restaurant. I think that we were the only people there, all at a big table. I sat next to Ikue and Rieko, and across from Kara and Mari. Various plates of food came out, and they were all very good. And it was nomi-houdai (all you can drink), so we all proceeded to order drinks. And order more drinks LOL. I had malibu milk, which turned out to be coconut flavoured, and macha (green tea) milk, and I tasted peoples Strawberry, Mango, Chocolate, Cassis, and Kahlua milks. Mari especially was a big drinker, even ordering a tequila sunrise (which turne dout to be too strong for all of us LOL), and wine after many drinks. I might have gotten drunk, I'm not sure, maybe I was somewherein between that and tipsy, but everything was very amusing, especially untying the ribbons holding people's shirts on their shoulders LOL, and I had a bit of trouble with my tongue and the Japanese words, but that only last for a little bit. Mostly everything was funny, I think.
But it was very amusing because Ikue and Rieko, who are the leaders of our floor, and in general pretty serious and conservative, got very drunk, and were very cute and cheerful and touchy feely and whatnot
And Rieko threw her arm around my shoulder and got all nostalgic about having been in the same cleaning group for morning dorm cleaning Ikue (along with Hoshimi, which we'll get to later) is definately one of my fav. people in the sense that she is something of my type. And she was very cheerful and happy and cute when she was drunk, talking to me about not being sexy, and how she wanted to be sexy, and blowing kisses etc. I asked her if I could take her hair down, and she said that she spent a long time putting it up for me and Kara. I said she should take it down for us, but she said she would went we got back to the dorm, in my room, and giggled. LOL

They all gave us little books that they had all written in and made photo collages in, and I cried, and then I cried again when they brought out cakes for us. It was so sweet. Afterwards we all took photos together, and Rieko was still very touchy-feely, glomping us, and wanting to be squeezed between us. Ikue let me sit on her lap and pretend she was Santa, and hugged me that way for a picture.
Then we went to take PuriKura, and discoved that yes, it is possible to fit 18 people (our whole floor) into one booth.

Today was our Christmas Party. We sat by floor, and played bingo (I won, and at the same time as Ikue! and guess that song, and a game where you had to pick somehtign in the category that was different than what any other group had picked, and then we did our floor dashimono (show). 2kai when first, with our sparkly Santa hats and our 'Ruldolph/Jingle Bells' round. After we were done, 4kai went, and there's was very impressive. They put candles all around, and turned off the lights, and played 'Silent Night' and 'We wish you a merry christmas' on water glasses, complete with harmonization and chords and all that. It was so pretty. It must have taken so long to work out. Then 'sexy' 3kai went. Their skit stared out with everyone pretending to wake up, and then they all danced to a christmas song I forget at the moment. Then it became 'All I want for Christmas' during which they stripped off their sweaters to camisoles, and danced. Last, they sung a harmonized very of 'Silent Night'. Yuumin was especially good, because she is both an amazing singer, and has amazing English. They all wore huge red bows in their hair, and looked so cute. Hoshimi was especially amusing because she was so lively and into it, but she kept messing up. Then we voted for the best skit, and 4kai won.
Then they gave me a birthday present, since I won;t be here for my birthday which made me very happy.
Then they called all us ryugakusei up and gave us boards which all the floors had written on, and we gave speechs. Of course we cried through them. Kinoko and I hugged and cried, and Chen-chan and I hugged for a long time and cried, and promised that she would come to Boston and I would be waiting. Then we kind of went around hugging people and crying. I hugged Hoshimi who was absolutely sobbing incontrolably, and she was very soft in my arms. I hugged her tight and she sobbed and sobbed 'Iya da!' and I cried again as we hugged because she was crying so hard, and I promised her that we'd see each other again.
Then well all went around and took pictures, and finally went upstairs, where we watched 'Ainori', and I gave everyone Hen's mother's cookies.