Looking back at 2009: Mark's Top 10 Events

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for all the help and support you have given me and my family in 2009. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to have the fun, peaceful and meaningful year that we had. Thank you!

I want to separate the Top 10 into Top 5s for professional and personal/family:

Top 5 Teaching/Learning Events:

• Asia TEFL presentation and first time visiting Bangkok in August
• Consulting for high school English curriculum reform project in Akita in Sept
• JACET presentation and steering committee duties in Sapporo in Sept
• The Reading/Writing Workshop Method study group & offline conference at ICU in Sept
• Publishing new LRB article on video-based Academic Speaking assessment in Dec.

Top 5 Personal/Family Events

• Celebrating 10 wonderful years of marriage with Megumi in Jan.
• Guam family trip in July, visiting my sister's family in Denver in March
  
• Marathon personal best 4hrs 26 m in March, half marathon personal best 1hr 45m in Nov.
• Soccer madness in our house, Michael is addicted
  
• Not any particular event, but the fact that Megumi, Michael, Mei and I all got through the year safely and in good health. In particular, I am very happy to see Michael and Mei growing and learning so many things. Michael's letter to me in December (below) was particularly touching.

The best things in life are not necessarily the big events, but the day to day joy of waking up together, eating, playing learning, and saying good night with hugs and kisses. We are very blessed that we can do that and that, all by itself, made 2009 a beautiful year!

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