29

For my 29th birthday, I took 29 photos. It was a work day and nobody knew that I had just stepped further into maturity. My last year of the twenties. So, like others, I have made a list of the 29 things I will do in my 29th year:

1. Go to Kyoto
2. Sew 5 dresses for myself
3. Become pera-pera in Japanese
4. Read one book entirely in Japanese
5. Get perfect scores in all my classes
6. Go to the dentist
7. Vote for Obama
8. Knit a scarf to completion by winter
9. Make a print block postcard once a month
10. Teach Sebastian how to write
11. Toilet train Nico
12. Do yoga at least twice a week
13. Join the Japan Association of Language Teachers and attend Nagasaki chapter meetings
14. Publish at least two pieces of writing
15. Draw more
16. Go camping at least once
17. Swim at Takahama Beach
18. Donate money to Karma Kagyu
19. Do a litter pick up every other month
20. Donate to NPR
21. Up my intake of locally produced food to 75 percent
22. Keep daily journal of bilingual progress and post online
23. Buy a new Montessori material every month
24. Grow plants indoors and out
25. Get some furniture
26. Save 20 percent of income
27. Go to Fukuoka
28. Meditate daily
29. Remember to take pictures every day

Something I came across

Two homemade Montessori-at-home video which are very sweet.

Visualizing

Here is Nico making a postcard. We are trying to get better about communicating. We are so busy now that when we come up for air, we just breathe. It is necessary to let a lot of projects be shelved for a while. A stack of linens waits by my little sewing machine for a quiet night to make pants for the boys, a dress for myself. The looming tower of Japanese study books is left alone so I can learn about assessment techniques and language acquisition theories. The weekends are family orientated with exploring and creating taking up most of the agenda. Taking classes online puts me in front of the computer too much, causing me to shy away from it in my spare time. So until I can give what I want to here, I am starting a new flickr account where you can see what we are up to. The link will remain in the sidebar for easy access (ahem, hi mom(s)!).
Hope you are well. Take care.

Shifting Seasons

Though it is still horribly hot here, there are signs of change. Chestnuts abound, and persimmons are ripening on the branches. Here are a few images from my walk around the rice fields during my weekly visit to the second preschool. I hope to be back with my words and photographs later this week but I am already quite swamped with reading and assignments for my two classes so I can't promise that postings here will be as regular as I would like.
I hope you are all well. Take care.

Another step

I am officially a student again. This week I begin work on my graduate degree in teaching English language to speakers of other languages (TESOL). So, yes, that means I am teaching, parenting, studying Japanese, exploring, sewing (I got a sewing machine, did I mention that? more on that later.), and formally developing myself as a language teacher. Busy, busy but good busy. (also, I just caught onto NPR podcasts. very addictive.)
Hope you are well. Take care.

Exploring the Cove

Last week's hike gave us a better idea of our neighborhood so yesterday we went to find the pretty harbor we saw from the observatory tower. It is close to our house with a concrete dock where junior high school boys were jumping into the blue waters. We walked along the rocky beach, investigating tidal pools and finding beautiful shells and dried sea urchins. I really enjoy these weekend explorations since my week is full of work and parenting demands. These good moments remind me during the week that another weekend is always approaching, ripe for wandering and reflection.