Last night with a few of my friends we went to a Christmas mass in Roppongi.  It was my first Christmas mass and it was so heart warming even though I wasn’t familiar with most of the readings from the Bible and certain procedures. We sang lots of Christmas carols and a very gentle priest told us about some of his experiences of living in Japan as a priest. He told us how sad he gets when he sees lots of people on the train not communicating with eachother and constantly looking at their cell phones and ignoring one another. He wished that we could greet people around us sometimes and make effort to communicate with eachother more often and open our hearts to the world. His words really warmed my heart. I realized that perhaps we could also apply his wish to our guesthouse where we can have an open communication with eachother with politeness and respect.  May we all have a wonderful Merry Christmas and a new year filled with love and peace!

Everyone gives wine as a hostess gift usually on holidays. Why not take the opportunity to introduce friends and family to some of the more enjoyable fruits of organic agriculture? A growing number of liquor stores carry organic labels such as Bonterra Chardonnay.  Introduce beer fans to a pretty bottle of St. Peter’s Organic English Ale or a local organic brew.Enjoy an ORGANIC holiday that is very healthy for our world!

We are getting closer to the winter holidays at last! It has been a tough year with irregular weather patterns, financial crisis and guesthouse issues. However, after a couple of weeks, we can leave it all behind as the New Year begins. I hope that 2009 would be a peaceful year with lots of happiness and joy to everyone around us! Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

This is just a small note to everyone who’s living in a guesthouse or thinking about living in one. Recently I’ve learned that flexibility and respect for others are some of the most important factors for anyone who lives in a guesthouse. There has been several incidents this year, where there has been disrespectful behaviour, such as racisim or shouting towards other members of the guesthouse or even pulling a knife on your roommate. There are absolutely no excuses for such behaviour and this kind of behaviour brings sorrow to everyone. It would be nice to have monthly meetings in every guesthouse where we could all discuss with our landlord our problems so they won’t build up and become worse over time. I hope we can all live in a peaceful and safe environment no matter where or who we are.

It seems like winter has arrived and it’s time for, as we like to call it in Canada,’Hybernation’ time!! During the winter time, it feels very comfortable to eat a lot, sleep a lot and try to stay warm as much as possible. Recently I discovered a new way to stay warm–ONSEN–the Japanese natural hot spring or the local sento will do the trick! It keeps me warm at least for one week then I can focus at my work and gain energy by eating healthy food..and of course lots of meat!! I hope everyone stay warm and healthy during this winter season:)