Jack Johnson

April 12 I went to see Jack Johnson perform at the Akarenga Park in Yokohama with my daughter, Summer, her husband, Keijiro, and their baby, Forest, and some friends. The music was inspiring and the atmosphere was perfect: peaceful and full of positive energy.

I think Jack Johnson is a real hero. One reason is because he works hard to save the earth and also tries to educate his audience on environmental issues. Check out the link to his website.

The other reason he is a real hero to me is because his music always calms Forest when she is "too tired to fall asleep". We just say, "It's time for Jack"... and start playing one of his albums. She usually falls asleep before the end of the second song! Here she is dancing to Jack's opening acts... and with her papa, after Jack started playing.

Holiday in Cambodia

I went to Cambodia to attend the CamTESOL conference at the end of February. CamTESOL is a big English teachers' conference held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. If you go there you can meet a lot of other teachers teaching in Cambodia, Asia, and around the world. There were quite a few teachers there from Japan. You can also watch a lot of interesting presentations on various teaching methods. I enjoyed the conference and met some nice people.
After the conference, I visited a school in a small village in the countryside. I stayed with a lovely Cambodian family and met some wonderful students. I ate a lot of fantastic home-cooked Khmer food. I also visited Siem Reap and the Temples of Ankor. Absolutely mind-blowing! Back in Phnom Penh at the end of my stay I went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Musem, which documents the actrocities of the Khmer Rouge, and the Killing Fields. A very chilling, yet moving experience.
I visited Cambodia alone. It's rather unusual for women to travel solo in Cambodia, and a lot of people there were curious about me. The trip was at once wonderful, frustrating, awesome, saddening, and encouraging. An unforgettable experience that I am likely to repeat next year. Stay tuned.