5 THINGS I'M GRATEFUL FOR

           Image via Wikipedia
1.  I was able to take a lot of time for myself. I quit my job at the end of March, and only worked part time for the rest of the year.I was inspired to do this because of two people who I admire - Stefan Sagmeister (you can listen to his talk The Power of Time Off  on Ted.com), and Tim Ferris (He wrote about "mini retirements" in The 4 Hour Work Week). I've used up most of my savings, but I'll never regret that I did that. It made lots of good things possible. I was able to fulfill some dreams, and I learned more about myself and my expanded  capabilities.


2.  My trip home in April-May. Although I've been in Japan for seven years, I've only been home twice, one time for a family funeral, and the other a very brief, rushed Christmas visit. But because I quit my job so I could spend a whole month in NZ. It was great. I could spend some quality time with my family and friends, do some fun things, and visit some nostalgic places.

3.  My friends. I made a lot of new friends in 2010 who have enriched my life and made it more interesting. Then there were my existing friends who continued to support me and share good times with me. I was able to reconnect with some old friends too. Gratitude to you all!

4. The people who  bought my art. I don't know who most of you are, but it really encouraged me and made me feel great. So I'm sending out gratitude vibes to you all!

5. Another year in Japan. I love living here. I recognize that I have this amazing opportunity simply because I happened to be born in an English speaking country. I'm grateful.

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HOLIDAY GREETINGS

I wish you all a happy holiday and a wonderful New Year!

STARBUCKS CHRISTMAS IN JAPAN

I arrived in Japan at the end of November 2003 and began working at an English conversation school called Nova. My workplace was right over a Starbucks cafe, which was a much nicer place to relax than the teacher's room.

Christmas decorations and fairy lights appear all over the place at Christmas, especially in shopping areas. And strangely, it's considered on a par with Valentine's Day as a romantic occasion for young couples. Some families give their kids presents, and people eat Kentucky Fried Chicken and Japanese Christmas cake. But for the majority of Japanese people it's just another day. So on my first Christmas day in Japan it was off to work as usual.

Except that...

It was my first winter Christmas (December is mid-summer in New Zealand.) And when I woke up and looked out the window, it had snowed lightly. So it was my first white Christmas too! I walked to work with snowflakes drifting down and catching on my eyelashes. I went early because I decided to treat myself to a Starbucks coffee before work. At that hour of the morning there weren't many people about, and I got an armchair by the window. They were playing my favorite Christmas album - Bing Crosby - and the coffee was good. I sat watching the snow and enjoying the ambience. It was a perfect moment.

It's a really precious memory!

Related articles

• Christmas came early to Starbucks this year (seattlepi.com)
• Bing Crosby - "White Christmas" (joetroiano.wordpress.com)

TED STRIKES AGAIN

I'm a big fan of TED. I don't watch TV, but every so often I check out the videos on the TED website. The videos are mostly talks by all kinds of people on all kinds of subjects. I often find food for optimism on this website. I always find something to entertain and inspire me. Today it was this talk by Rachel Botsman on how sharing via internet and cellphone technologies can transform our economies and our lives.



Maybe the future will be good after all!

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• TED Talks - Ideas Worth Sharing (connectwithyourteens.blogspot.com)

KINDERGARTEN CONCERT

I teach English to little kids - or maybe it's truer to say I play games, sing, songs and read storybooks to little kids, and somehow they learn a little English. Recently my school put on a end of year concert for the families of the children attending their kindergarten and day care center.

And my goodness, they went all out! They hired a huge hall with a beautiful stage, lighting, and sound system, and they put on quite a show. The children seemed to really enjoy themselves. In the whole three hour extravaganza there was only one tearful episode, where one of the year old babies fell on his nose. And he only cried for a couple of minutes, which I find remarkable under the circumstances. 

I enjoyed every minute of it, but for me the highlights were the babies in Santa suits (because they're my baby class), and the boys in black who performed a very cool dance.

None of the children involved in the concert were over six years old. I wasn't involved in the preparation so I don't know how the teachers managed to produce such a high standard of performance with little kids. But I suspect magic...

ROTTI BUNS

 There's another new shop in Teramachi... (or maybe it's actually Sanjo)... and it's my idea of heaven (well, almost!) "Rotti Bun". It doesn't sound immediately appealing, does it? I'm not even sure it sounds edible. But the glorious smell hooked me as I was walking past, and drew me into the shop. It smells like your mother is the best baker in the whole world, and she's been baking cookies and cakes just loaded up with love all day long. Seriously!

They had a selection of drinks (comparable in price and style to Starbucks) and a choice of three different buns - regular, vanilla, and chocolate. I ordered caramel macchiato and a regular rotti bun, and took a seat by the window. The coffee was just how I like it, and the *bun* ... was... !!!!!... even better than it smelt!

So what is a rotti bun? Well if you know what melon pan is you've got a starting point. A sort of cross between a sweet roll and sponge cake with a slightly crisp shell covering it (if it's any good at all.) And if you've ever eaten a freshly baked melon pan while it's still warm, well you're getting closer to a rotti bun. But its  better than that. And in the center it has just the right amount of sweet butter. Every mouthful was divine, right to the last, and it was so good I didn't rush up to the counter and buy another one, because it was unthinkable that I should sully such a perfect experience with greedy repetition.

But I want to go back and have another perfect experience very soon...

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• New Tea Store in Kyoto (eatplayrove.blogspot.com)