I tried to write kanji. I did my best to follow what the sensei was doing, but when I finished it, I noticed that my strokes/lines weren't as strong and I had ignored the space between them and some of them had gotten connected.

So, I looked at it and noticed the grids of my paper weren't big enough for my pen. So, that's what I should pay attention to next time. (This Persian saying is coming to my mind, "If the architect puts the first brick crooked, the wall will reach the stars crooked." I don't know how to say in English, but maybe it's kind of like the concept of "If you want to build castles in the air, build the foundation first." 🤔 Maybe!)

Then, I showed my kanji to my brother. He said, "Well, that's how the word chicken-scratch was discovered." We laughed at my writing, but my chicken-scratches are actually 9 important values that not only work for studying and learning a language, but for any life skill we want to master.

1. Effort/ perseverance

2. Patience

3. Continuation/ Consistency

4. Concentration

5. Break/ pause

6. Repetition

7. Preparedness/ Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

8. Enthusiasm

9. Self control/ discipline

I don't know how to say or read these Japanese words, but it's a great reminder for my journey. I should write them again and look at it every day.