End of the Year

The end of the year is nearly here already, and we're all starting to think about the winter break. Do you have any plans? Some of you will be looking forward to a "romantic" Christmas, others will be having fun with friends. Both sound fine to me. Of course Christmas has nothing to do with romance in Western countries...it's a family time, more like O-shogatsu here. Families enjoy very special lunches/dinners together...certainly not KFC!!! That's like having MacDonalds as your Shogatsu food.


As the new year approaches, it's also a traditional custom to take stock of yourself (= think about how you are now, what you would like to change). People make new year's resolutions (things they promise themselves they will change, e.g. some bad habits or weak points of their character). My resolution is to eat more pizza and drink more beer, because I didn't have enough in 2013 (ha ha).

How about you? Do you have any regrets about 2013? What would you like to change for 2014?

Loy Krathong

I chose this photo because when there are so many sad and crazy things happening in the world all the time, it's nice to be reminded of the beauty in the human spirit, too. These are sky lanterns being released into the air during the Loy Krathong festival in Thailand. Thailand is 95% Buddhist, which is a religion I respect far more than others. Among other things, true believers are satisfied with not having much, are not greedy or envious, and making money is not the only thing they think of. Some countries have a rule that all young men must serve 1-2 years in the military, whereas in Thailand every boy must spend at least a year as a monk. This is a great credit to Thailand, I think.

Where is This?

 

Where do you think this is?  Nagano?  Somewhere in the Tohoku region?  The answer might surprise a few of you.  A student in another class thought only Japan has beautiful autumn leaves.  Of course most of you know that many countries have similar scenery every year.  This photo is of New England, an area just north of Boston.

Differences of Opinion

The next essay we will write will be an opinion essay, where you will argue your opinion on an issue.  Today we can start with a blog post about the strange behavior of the opposite sex.

One of the members of another class wrote on her blog about a party she enjoyed with some classmates:

"We told about some complaints of our boyfriends till midnight :)haha"

I wonder what they said...It's hard to understand the behaviour of others sometimes (and good fun to complain about them). Has everyone had the experience of feeling confused or unhappy with their partner's (or friend of the opposite sex's ) behavior/attitude? Surely, the answer is "Yes!!".

For your next post, please share your story of male/female behavior you find hard to understand or accept.

Autumn

Temperatures are dropping, so autumn is really here now. We've started eating hot pot (nabe) at home already. What have you been doing lately?  Did you go to the school festival? What did you do there? Actually, I didn't go this year.  One day I played golf in Ohara with friends, and another day I went to a friend's housewarming party.  He and his wife bought a house net to Lake Biwa, so they had a barbecue there and invited friends to celebrate.




How does this time of year make you feel? Do you have any plans to go and check out the autumn leaves this year? If you want to see some good autumn scenes, one of my favorite places is Tofuku-ji temple in Kyoto. I'd recommend you see it sometime. This photo is one of the most famous views. Have you been there?






Yoshimine temple, near Muko, is also worth checking out. You can see views of Kyoto city from the side of the mountain. Do you have any favorite places for seeing the autumn leaves?

Photos

I love looking at (and taking) photos. How about you? I think they often give us a lot of ideas, or make us think, laugh, dream etc. Sometimes I'll ask you to choose a photo from the links on the right of your screen. First, save a photo, upload it to your post, and then:

* Write about why you were interested in it. How did the photo make you feel? Did it make you think about a problem/ issue?What is your opinion about this issue?

* Maybe it was about a happy/ funny subject. Can you relate that to your life in some way? For example, have you experienced or seen something kind of similar? Tell us about it.

* Maybe it just reminds of of something you love doing in your free time, or want to try in the future. Tell us about it!

Clowns

I like this photo, especially for the idea that clowns would feel it necessary to gather for a conference. It seems silly! I wonder what they are talking about in this photo. Is it a new technique to use in their performance? Maybe not. I guess the conversation is:

A: "Hey, the burritos at Javier's Bar & Grill are the best!"
B: "No baby, you've gotta try The Blue Parrot. They've got this special sauce they use."

By the way, I've read that some people have clown phobia; i.e. they're afraid of clowns. It seems strange, but if you bumped into one on a dark street corner at night, it might be surprising!

Do you have any phobias? One student told me she can't stand to see many dots together in one place, for example a polka dot shirt!! Life must be tough if you have many phobias. I don't like high places so much, especially standing near the egde, but that's all.

Are You Healthy?

How healthy do you think you are, and why do you say so? Have you been in this condition since you were a young child? What would you like to do to improve your health?

In my case, I'm lucky because I seem to have good DNA. I haven't been very careful about my health, but I rarely get sick and am still active.

As a child I played many sports and loved to be outside. I quit playing futsal 10 years ago because I was getting injured too often, so now tennis or golf are the only sports I play. I love to work in my yard on sunny weekends, or go hiking in the mountains if I have a chance. Also, I love fruit and vegetables, plus tofu and other healthy foods, which is very important. Of course I love beer and shochu, but I'm trying to love them a little less these days. I gain weight too easily, so I have to be careful..

A Great City I've Visited

  
Have you heard of Dubrovnik? Maybe not. It's on the coast of Croatia, which used to be part of Yugoslavia before the war in the early 1990s. A few centuries ago, it was controlled by Venice (when Venice was an independent city-state, before Italy was formed). Many of the better buildings in the old town were designed by the Venetians.

  You can still walk around the outside of the old town on top of the city walls. Down below are charming stone houses built close together, some of them on a steep slope. You can see many cats sleeping on the steps, or just hanging out together, as you walk around.  My wife and I rented an apartment here for a few days. The people are friendly, the weather is usually good and the seafood is always fresh. This is a photo I took of the old town after swimming at the beach below.

What's a good city you've visited?

 

My Character

Maybe every culture uses an expression similar to the English "no one's perfect", and in my case I certainly am a mixture of good and bad characteristics. My best point is probably that I'm reliable. If I say I'll do something, I try to make sure that I really do it. That's something that I think is important, for myself or anyone. I'm also glad to say that I'm not a follower of fashion. I prefer to do things my way, and don't care what is "popular". I never try to tell others how they should live their life either. Also, I'm not especially fussy. Simple things can satisfy me. I don't need to spend a lot of money to feel content.

On the other hand, I have many bad points too. Maybe the worst is that I'm not strict enough with myself. I usually eat and drink too much. If I want something, I have it. If I exercised more, it might be okay, but these days I don't have much chance to play sport. Anyway, I'm also a little lazy. I don't like cleaning my room very often, and tend to leave things until the last minute (for example, I often have to run to catch the train...it's my most common exercise). My wife says I'm stubborn too. I guess that's right, although maybe that can sometimes be a good thing.

Now it's your turn. Describe your character.

Which Story is True?

Write about two of your experiences, one true and one a lie. Classmates should read them and post comments saying which they think is the true story. Here are my two stories:

1. When I was in India with a friend 25 years ago, I went to an Indian wedding party. My friend and I had just parked our bicycles at the bottom of a long set of steps (we were going to visit a castle on top of the hill). Suddenly a woman dressed in beautiful clothes came out of a house nearby, and asked us to come inside. We thought she was joking at first, but she said her family was having a wedding party in their house and garden, and they would be happy to have some foreign guests (even though we didn't know them!). We accepted her offer, and were glad we did. We were able to try lots of different delicious foods, including many types of curry, and met some very friendly people.

2. When I was a student, I had a part-time job at a big hotel in Sydney. I had many duties, especially changing the furniture in the biggest rooms, depending on what kind of event was being held. Sometimes there were wedding parties, so I had to put out many round tables, cover them with white tablecloths, put on the cutlery (knives, forks etc). When there were business meetings, I had to take out the tables and replace them with rows of chairs, plus a mic, projector, lecturn etc for speakers. One time while I was working, Michael Jackson, who was staying at the hotel, came to where I was working. He was lost and looking for the swimming pool. I told him where it was, and he thanked me and said I was doing a good job.

Summer

Welcome back to KGU! How was your summer? It was so hot!  I hope you were able to do everything you wanted to.

My summer was okay, not so amazing really. I went to Yakushima for a week with my family.  At first we rented a house in a very quiet place overlooking the sea for a few nights.  One morning we saw a deer in the yard. At night the sky was full of stars, including many shooting stars.  We rented a car and drove around the island, passing many monkeys and deer on the road.  We stopped to swim in a river a couple of times.  My daughter really enjoyed "kawa asobi".  We also did two hour-long hikes in the forest.  Although Sophie just had her 4th birthday, she's very strong and could walk for an hour without any trouble.  As you know, some of the cedar trees in the forest are at least 3,000 years old, and about half the island is a world heritage site.

Apart from that, I played golf with friends several times.  One time we did an overnight trip to Mie to play on a course there.  It's a difficult game to play, but my scores are getting better these days.

Anyway, for your first post I'd like you to just write about what you did this summer.

Summer Plans

What are you going to do this summer?  Anything exciting?  Let's hear about it, whatever you're up to.  If you're not sure, say what you might do.

Treasure Hunt

1.     Who is the CEO of Mercedes Benz?

2.   In which city was Benetton founded?

3.   What’s the currency of Saudi Arabia?

4.   What’s the main export of Mexico?

5.    Who is responsible for developing the assembly line?

6.   Which 5 universities are considered the best in the world this year?

7.    What’s an IPO?

8.   What color is the word “eleven” on 7-eleven’s logo?

9.   What were the names of the first models of cars put into production by Toyota?

10.              Which major financial institution was a casualty of the GFC in 2008?

11.What business is “Banyon Tree” involved in?

12.               What kind of work does a “grip” do?

13.               What are the four main Australian banks?

14.               A few weeks ago, a woman became the first in Pakistan’s history to get a job as a ....(?)

15.               Today, how much money (in British pounds) if you exchange 10,000 yen?

16.               Who is famous for developing Keynesian economic theory?

17.               What kind of person would use a scalpel in his/her job?

18.              What is deflation?

19.               What was the purpose of the Bretton Woods conference?

20.             What do the letters “TPP” stand for?

21.               What kind person would use a spirit level in his job?

22.             What do VB, Stella Artois, and 333 have in common?

23.             Roughly how many employees does Sony have now?

24.             Complete the phrase: “Butter mountains and ….. lakes”.

25.              What kind of products does Billabong make?

Creative Writing

1. Look at these four photos.  What do you think is happening in each one?  Try to think of possible explanations.  Discuss your ideas with a partner.  (Where were the photos taken?  What are the people doing?  Why? What happened before the photos were taken? What will happen next?)

2.  Choose one photo, and write a story (100 words or more) which includes that "scene".  When you reach the part in your story that is shown in the photo, you can write (photo 1, photo 2 etc) at the end of the sentence.