Tuesday.
It’s a weird part of the week- far from Friday but without the excitement of Monday. But oddly enough, my Tuesdays have always been the most social of times. Something about my energy is good for connecting with others on Tuesdays. To the point, that I sometimes prefer to have first dates on Tuesdays. So, today’s gratitudes will be mostly socially focused.
1. I’m grateful for a friend I haven’t seen in a while contacting me.
Today, I got a message on my LINE app from a really good friend of mine. I hadn’t seen her in a while, and I really missed her. But we live really busy lives, today I got a message from her asking if we could hang out. It was really nice, and I’m grateful for it.
2. I’m grateful that I got to have dinner with another friend of mine tonight that I was able to reconnect with.
Once again, life moves fast and as someone prone to working too hard, it’s nice to be able to reconnect with others. I had a wonderful Indian dinner with a friend, and it was nice to talk to someone who is so levelheaded.
When you have positive, good-natured people in your life, it makes like better.
3. I’m grateful that I’m single.
This is kind of controversial. But I appreciate the opportunity to be single. My social life always flourishes when I’m not dating someone, and since I live in a foreign country, my social life is important to building a social network. I’m really grateful that I am at a point in my life when being single isn’t a chore anymore. Instead, it’s fun.
Of course, I’d like to meet someone. But I’m grateful that I’ve become happy enough with myself that I don’t need a significant other.
4. I’m grateful that I was invited to see some fireworks on a Saturday when I didn’t have any plans.
It was nice that my friend invited me to see the fireworks with her friends this weekend. Since I wasn’t doing anything, it sounds really fun. Plus, the fireworks in Japan are beautiful and the yukatas others will be wearing are always gorgeous. It sounds like a wonderful way to spend my Saturday.
5. I’m grateful that I teach young minds that surprise me everyday.
Everyday, I go to school and teach young children. This week our school is covering human rights and our responsibilities as global citizens. It’s so interesting to see how my students view the world.
As a class, we made a list of all the human rights we could think of. Then, I played the hot air balloon activity. The students had to throw out the rights one by one until only one was left. They then had to explain why they felt that the right left was the most important one.
Not only did they follow directions and participate well, but my students had real reasons for choosing the rights they did. One of my groups even mentioned that access to a good education was the most important because education could help solve a lot of the other problems such as unclean air and water.
I know my students are intelligent and have interesting views on the world, but when I teach high level concepts like this- it’s really rewarding to see how they develop such a deep understanding of concepts. Wow! Fantastic work, class!
Here’s a great resource for teaching 2nd graders about rights.
Click to access Setting_our_Sights_on_Rights.pdf
Traveling in Eastern Asia 
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