Nov 20 Best 10

Posted By Charlie3

A lot of little good things to be appreciated in the last few days. I need to be more diligent in journaling them! For instance, the drive up the mountain river valley almost like a time slip into some earlier, thatched roof Japanese time, the family that I met up there who offered me green tea and takuan pickles, and then the grandfather himself, 75 years old, who came down to teach us how to make rope from straw by kneading it with our hands.

For today:

1. Woke up to the first snow of the season. Yuto is excited for a snowfight, 2 year old Eli says she doesn’t like it.

2. Yuki calls in sick. This is really not a good news item, you see, but it does free up the day…:p

3. Abe stayed self motivated, produced an I CAN poster and sent it off to the national free school festival in Tokyo

4. Writing a letter the old friend who felt motivated to Paypal a donation to I CAN.

5. A visit by Atarashi san (the Franciscan monk) and his 2 Philippine nun friends. They were promoting their Christmas Gospel Concert. Kind of interesting when performed by Japanese, wearing incredibly politically incorrect afro wigs…in the Catholic Church.
6. A semi-productive meeting with the local newspaper about how to work together to produce a lecture/seminar on self esteem for kids in January.

7. Warm weather that melted the snow, delaying the purchase of new snow tires for which funds…I now require!

8. Finding out that 3 new non-Japanese aquaintances will be joining for Ms. Akai’s yoga weekend in the mountains this weekend. These are people who live locally, but whom I only know through facebook (susan, another nudge?) I’m happy to be able to help out Akai san in this way.

9. The first English class of the day, 9 and 10 year olds, who got genuinely excited when they matched two pictures of hippopotami during our game of concentration.

10. Getting back to these Best 10 lists!