Already starting to miss them

Bret enjoys his surprise cake
Originally uploaded by locket479.

There are many, many things that we are going to miss about leaving this country and Obihiro, the lovely little city we've called home for the past two and half years. Of all the things we'll miss, the great friends we've made will be on the top of the list. Some have already returned home, Alixe leaves this weekend and this summer a good load of us gaijin will shed many tears in airports and train stations and then go our seperate ways.

Waving good-bye to Bret and Sara will be truly heartbreaking. They are both the most unlikely & likely folks to be married and we love them so much for that and in fact for all the things they do and say. Everything's an adventure when we hang out with you two and we're really gonna miss the dinners, headturning escapades, cultural blunders and bizarre yet refreshing use of the Japanese language!

I snagged this photo from Sara's Flickr page. Bret's not too fond of sweets but Sara really wanted him to have a special treat so she made him this ridiculously brilliant birthday cake. In an effort to keep it a surprise she assembled the burgers and fries into the form of a 2 layer cake in her car, in the parking lot of their apartment building, in the dark! God, I wish I could have been there to see her order 22 cheeseburgers and 1 order of small fries at the local MacDonald's! I can't even imagine what that would smell like in the car! Then to sit there in the dark and put it all together as other folks from the building walked by. Just a glimpse into a typical day in the lives of Bret & Sara! Keep on keepin' on just as you are. You rock!