Happy New Year 2013! + Goals

To start 2013, my wife Megumi and I drove to the coast near her hometown in Kosai, Shizuoka to see a beautiful new year's sunrise coming up over the Pacific ocean.

I pray that this year will be peaceful, joyful and meaningful for all of you.

My resolutions for 2013 include:

1. Making a smooth transition to my new job (details to be announced in March).
   I have enjoyed seven wonderful years of teaching at ICU and would love to continue, but my contract will expire soon and I have had no choice but to seek new employment. This is  due to a strange policy of "non-renewable contracts" that Japanese universities use. Most students don't know this, but the majority of university language instructors in Japan are used in a system that discards experienced, contributing instructors after a few years and replaces them with outsiders regardless of performance. Although I knew my contract was non-renewable when I signed it seven years ago, it is still painful to be forced to leave a job I care about for no reason other than "it is the system." It is a system that must be change. Nevertheless, I hope to enjoy my last three months at ICU working closely with my students and colleagues to the end.
   
   Fortunately, I have found an exciting new position with Keio starting in April and am looking forward to the challenges. My main goal is to become an active, contributing member in a dynamic team of  educators providing a high quality learning environment to our students.
   
   That's the big, new one for this year. The rest are quite similar to those of previous years.
   
2. As a husband, have more dates with my wife Megumi. With work and kids, this is always a challenge each year. But the kids are getting older, and finding a babysitter arrangement should be easier.
    
3. As a father, keep helping my kids (Michael 9 and Mei 5)  learn to care about and be helpful to others. We'll continue our sponsorship of a World Vision project in Ethiopia, and I hope we can do something more hands on in Japan as well. I went to Tohoku by myself last year, but I hope we can do something as a family. I also hope to keep pursuing my goal of reading to them in English each night, and since we couldn't make it to the US to visit relatives last year, I hope to definitely take them in the summer.
   
4. Keep running and stay healthy. I'll start with a half marathon in February to make up for failing to get through the Tokyo Marathon lottery, and hopefully I can do a full one later in the year. I hope I can squeeze in some mountain climbing or overnight trekking in the summer as well
   .
5. Take up something new? I have a feeling I'll be busy enough adjusting to my new job, so I'll see how things go.
   

That should do it. Looking forward to making 2013 a sssssssssssssssstimulating and sssssssssssssssuccessfull year!

!