Do I find it any coincidence that Kobe Bryant...who proudly wears the number 24...announced his official retirement on my 24th birthday?? nope. Kobe knew I'd be thinking of him all the way over here in Japan and wanted to make sure I felt ALL the emotions on my birthday haha (lets just say I cried on the bus to school reading his letter)

After whipping my tears from the news about Kobe I walked into school as usual only to be greeted by students with a cheerful "Happy Birthday!!" followed quickly by "So how old are you now??"

What I realized was that being a high school teacher and having a birthday would be pretty fun. Especially when you teach Japanese students learning English and you get cute cards like the one above that says "Happy Birthday Amie!! Present for you :) by my mother" and receive a mandarin orange with Happy Birthday Amie written on it. That was honestly one of the sweetest gifts I have ever received!

Steph was awesome and got this amazing cake/apple pie/croissant deliciousness from the mall at kashiwa station and we shared it with the other teachers. I really felt all the love from family and friends back home, as well as my community here in Japan. Thankful to celebrate another year of life!

In other news...the trees at school are turning this incredibly beautiful yellow color and I just want to stand there and stare at them all day. My California eyes can hardly believe they're real! God has so blessed me this past year of life and I have embraced 24 with open arms.

Goals for my 24th year of life