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.