so sad to say goodbye

My Dear Kaplan Students,

Maybe some of you have already heard, I'll be leaving Kaplan very shortly. May 22nd will be my last day. The reason for this change is mainly my getting married. Our wedding will be in Florida, so we're going to fly back for that in about 2 weeks. Afterwards we will be back to Japan, but at that time will do a bit of traveling. I guess the specifics aren't so important, I just want to say that the reason I'm leaving is just that the changes in my life call for it. (And what exciting changes they are!)

I want to say that I've had a wonderful experience here at Kaplan. The best thing about this job really has been you students, because you're who I spend most of my time with here! Yeah, whenever people ask me if I like my job I always say that the students are great and so the job is as well. I've only been in Japan for about 3 years now, and almost all of it has been spent here at Kaplan. So this job and the people here have really kind of shaped my experience in Japan as a whole. It's been so wonderful to see different students achieve their goals and pass tests that they were studying for. It's been really rewarding to be a part of that process. I've really enjoyed hearing all of your different opinions in the discussion classes. And I've also just really enjoyed teaching English. It's great fun for me to try and figure out some grammar point so I can teach it.

As my husband-to-be is Japanese, I'll never really leave Japan for good, and that's a really comforting fact to me. I really do love Japan. If I had to leave here for good it'd be a very sad day for me indeed. So while current circumstances are leading me away from Kaplan and eventually even Japan (we plan to start our married life out in America), the future is full of possibilities.

Let me bring this to a close. I'd just like to thank you for helping make my experience in Japan so rich.

Amberly Sullivan
(soon to be Amberly Sugihara :)