Lessons in Saying Goodbye

There are no guidelines for goodbyes.

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September 30 was my last day at the kost. Everything had been tidied up and cleaned, and all my belongings had been packed.

I had prepared various apologies and words of thanks in my mind. But I’m not good enough to say them directly, so I’ll try my best. Before going home, I bought some fuel first because the journey was a bit far, and I took the opportunity to buy some brownies for the kost owner as a small gift of thanks.

I returned to the kost, and it turned out that the housemother was already waiting in front of the room.

She said she was worried that something might have been left behind.

“Sorry, ma’am, I checked to make sure nothing was left behind.”

I hadn’t had a chance to say thank you, but the kost mother had already started her goodbye speech. In the end, I just went with the flow of her goodbye speech. I listened carefully and gave a response that was more or less the same. The atmosphere wasn’t clumsy; she seemed very comfortable saying goodbye. It seemed like she was used to many boarders coming and leaving. I learned a little about how to say goodbye.

A sufficient goodbye.