Picking up the Pace

I have made a discovery recently, and I would like to share it with you my faithful readers and friends. I like to come up with new ideas, and I like to write, but it seems that the best time for both of these activities, falls between the hours of 10 AM and 2 PM. So, when I sit down in front of my computer at 9 PM, my best has abandoned me and you poor folks (at least the ones that stick it out and read on) are stuck with whatever drivel I can drag out onto the screen. With this in mind I will keep tonight’s post short, and work diligently to adjust my schedule accordingly in the future. I just have a few points I wanted to touch on.

It feels like we have been inundated with Americans recently and I love it. We have had some great working visitors on exchange from Wasilla University in Tokyo (Rachel, Charlie, Brandon, and David), a bamboo expert and former long term volunteer from Oregon (Dane), and two world travelers formerly from the D.C. area (Ely and Savannah). The conversations have been deep and bountiful, the laughter has been common and relaxing, and the food has been shared by all. ARI draws some great people together.

The participants start arriving in a few weeks (on April 1^st no less,) and we are gearing up for their company. Last week we had 3 teaching assistants (overseas graduates) arrive, and our 3 graduate interns (Japanese graduates) came back from their study tour in Indonesia and the Philippines. It is starting to feel festive and exciting after a long quiet winter.

This weekend I went to a Couchsurfer’s gathering in Utsunomiya and had a great time eating Gyoza and singing karaoke with fellow travelers. After church today a few of the Couchsurfers from last night (Nori my host for the night and Megumi the organizer of the gathering) went with me to a climbing gym I heard about in Utsunomiya. It was awesome, the gym is part of a small non profit community center. There was a collection of walls in three different rooms and bouldering seemed to be the order of the day. I took some pictures and a video I want to post soon.

I have been having some trouble uploading videos recently this is rough because I have at least one 5 minute talk ready to go and a few more projects in the works. I am trying a new program to upload the videos so maybe this week. I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you. Go get some good food and give someone a hug. Peace and Love.