It has been one month since I turned 29 and began my 30 before 30 quest. I am proud to say I have started working toward some of my goals!

5. Learn Japanese

My new friend Beth (who speaks great Japanese) told me about an app called Mind Snacks. It is a game where you are given a lesson (which is a selection of words with a theme- numbers, fruit, greetings, etc), and games to play to help learn the lesson. Each time you play you earn points and unlock more features. You can learn in Romanji, Hiragana, and Kanji. I have playing for a couple of weeks and I am on lesson 9 and level 15. I am having a ton of fun learning. Mind Snacks is available in a bunch of languages- German, French, Spanish, Chinese, etc.

While I am nowhere near fluent, I feel like I am starting to understand more. I can pick out words, and get the general idea of a conversation.

6. Run Half Marathon #3 in 2016

Training has been going well. Okinawa has the unique challenge of hills and humidity, but thankfully it is starting to cool down here a bit. I am running 4ish days a week- 3 shorter runs and 1 long run. I am going to need to push back my race by 2 weeks due to hubby having a work commitment. No worries though, 2 more weeks of training won’t hurt.

I have been trying out different running groups and I am trying to find the right one for me. Not a lot of slower runners in any of the groups I have tried so far. I was spoiled in Fort Collins, and I miss my mommy running group <3

14. Learn calligraphy

This has been my favorite so far. I took a Watercolor Brush Calligraphy class from Brit + Co. and it was perfect! No new supplies (brush + paint + water) and a medium I am super comfortable using. I have had a ridiculous amount of fun learning and practicing. I hope to start integrating brush calligraphy into some of my art. And if you are getting a Christmas card from us this year it is likely I will use addressing 50 cards as an excuse to practice.

19. Make New Friends

Lots of work in this area. I am getting better at reaching out to people and I joined a few local groups to try to meet more people. One of those groups is Okinawa International Women’s Club. It is a group of 250+ women who come together to learn about each others cultures. My first meeting was a luncheon where we were encouraged to wear a yukata. Yukata is a kind of summer kimono. Everyone looked so beautiful dressed up. The artist in me loved all of the different patterns and colors.