goodbye, Mashams!

The Mashams, our good friends and neighbours, are leaving. So we held a party.

Sam and Keiko both work at Sony, and with that giant firm's recent problems Sam is being transferred abroad. Another gaijin friend departing! Unlike so many others, he's not going home or finding a new role in Asia. They're moving to Barcelona. Making the best of a challenging situation, they're facing it with good spirits.

The party was a typical child-focused affair (there were five families with a total of six children) fueled by a super-abundance of snacks and beer. The conversations mostly trended towards kid stuff, naturally, and I'm sure it would have bored any childless participants to tears. But at the same time there was none of the old yack about how drunk we all got the weekend before, which if I recall correctly, was what we mostly talked about before having kids.

We'll miss the Mashams, but it's good to see that something positive is coming of it. I presented all of the visiting families with a small photo book that I'd made. A small memento of our time in each other's company for the past year, it focused of course on the kids playing together. Everyone signed the copy that we gave the Mashams. Keiko seemed particularly touched.