Sad farewell

We got Takako to O'Hare by 8:30 a.m. today. Sensei took her checked bag right to the counter and found out it was 4 kilograms overweight (about nine pounds). She said Takako's bag was overweight when she tried to leave after visiting last year, too. She did do a lot of shopping! Here's sensei with Takako, B and L, moving heavy items from the bag to be checked into her carryon. It worked. The next time the suitcase was weighed, it was under 50 pounds. Sensei is a master at packing suitcases. She's obviously done this a few times before.

The family. L is already crying.

Such sad goodbyes.

And lots of hugs.

This is B with another Japanese student, one of Takako's friends, whom I think he hung out with a lot over the last two weeks.

And sensei won't let the students leave until they pose for one final picture of all the OPRF and Japanese students together. It's quite a large group and the pictures rarely turn out good before they always pose in front of large windows. B and Takako are all the way on the left, bottom row, and L is standing, on the right side.

And here Takako and her friends wave as they walk toward the security check. They were among the last Japanese students to get into the line. We stayed until we couldn't see them any longer.