In Japan, I gave my time to take part in various cross-cultural affairs, usually to allow small children to experience foreign people and culture, such as doing a small presentation on an American holiday, judging English contests, or giving little English lessons. One day, another teacher and I went to the local elementary school and conducted active, but simple English games with the children, such as running across the gym to touch the right letter of the alphabet. Several times I was asked to judge contests held by the Nara English Speaking Society, a dedicated group of college students. Their organization holds speech contests, debate contests, and drama contests throughout the year. Judging those contests was always a pleasure. In addition to these volunteer functions, I have also helped coach my children’s baseball teams, both in Japan and the United States.