Vacation plans and life prior to them

How long has it been? Five years? More? It doesn't matter really. We're finally going back to the States on our first overseas family trip. Lilica, at two years old, will become an international traveler...very cool. She already has her American and her Japanese passports ready to go and we've cleared Katsumi's ESTA status for her visitor's entry into my good-ole' US of A. We're just making last minute arrangements with the travel agent and planning out how we'll pack for Lilica, mainly. This is going to be a fantastic visit!!!

In the meantime, I have an observation coming up with a representative of the Kurashiki City Board of Education on Wednesday. My Japanese teacher of English (JTE) and I have made all of the preparations for this lesson with a second year class and tomorrow, we'll go over the "game plan" once more. This observation, in conjunction with reports from my supervisors, other teachers and various parents and community members will affect what kind of bonus I can qualify for this first year. Each year there is another observation and each year there is a chance to increase that bonus amount. Of course, I'm going for the gold and aiming high.

Yet, I now have a moment to recount the past experiences from these last three months. Kurashiki and its urban-ish living has been great for us. I say "urban-ish" because it also has a bit of rural flavor still mixed in. We literally live between wide ranges of rice fields, cut up by streets, canals and many smalls buildings. And, it's still possible to order out for dinner, go shopping at a "real" mall or even a 24-hour grocery nearby. We have been extremely blessed and I hope to continue this stream of positive energy flowing through our lives by working my hardest at my job and contributing as much as I can to my school.

My professional career path has evolved up until this point, but I also need to re-develop my creative energies as well. In the mist of this humid, rainy season, the new Mescalero/Aztec poet-actor will find new venues to perform, too. All in good time...and what a good time the journey is!!!