Maki Lives!

I am so, so, so, very happy to be writing this. So much indeed, I am nearly in tears.

Not many of you who read my blog are aware that in the town where I live back home, there used to be a Japanese restaurant by the name of Unkh's, and it was run by an Egyptian American 5-Star Chef and his Japanese wife, Maki. Now, Maki was a master sushi chef, I mean, everything she made was delicious. Sure, it was pricey but this was quality Japanese cuisine and it was fantabulous. Me and Michael made a habit of going there for special occasions, and later...we did lunch there once a week.

Well, about a year ago, Maki and Unkh got divorced and she decided to move back home to Japan. Me and Mike, obviously bummed, wanted to stay in contact with her. She was a great friend and very sweet. She was worried that it'd be hard for her to find a job back in Japan due to being "too old" (she's mid-30s, 'ancient' by Japanese standard). We got her a gift (teddy bears, since she loved them) and a nice card. We exchanged addresses and what not.

So I wrote her via email frequently, and then it stopped. To be honest, I thought about writing letters, but I felt like I would be hounding her. Though I did share with her I was coming to Japan in the following Autumn.

Since arriving, I decided to send her a post card to see how she's doing. Weeks later, no response, so I send out another one. It had been a few weeks then and at that point, I had given up hope that she even remembered me or Michael.

Today, in my mailbox was a post card. With a stuffed bear on the reverse side.

It was from Maki!

She's doing great, been very busy, and trying not to catch a cold but all in all she's doing well. I hope to keep writing her, and maybe in March go see her down in Osaka with Michael :3