last class

     Today is our last IE core class. I loved my IE members! They are all funny and heartwarming. To look back, everyday was really fulfilled with our IE classesI felt that I was becoming better in English everytime. I wish these classes last more.

     I hope this IE class members' relationship will last. 

     Let's go eat dinner again sometime:) and thank you all for the fun time.

Last class

 I can't believe that today is our last core class. Time flys. To be honest, at first, I didn't like writing media discussion reports. But now, I can think that that was a good practice for writing reports. It really helped.
 I think we, classmates have been good friends not only in class, but outside the class too. I had fun in this class, and I love you all!!

Last IE Core Class

Today we have our last IE core class ;(
We have been doing so many things together such as discussions, book reports, and lastly we're gonna do our presentation today.
I hope all of us will do our best and the last presentation will be great!
I'm gonna miss Mr. Armstrong and all of my classmates ;(
I'm really looking forward to seeing you guys!
See u later!!

IE presentation

 Good morning, IE class. We are going to have a final presentation today. I'm kind of excited to see what each group did in this two weeks.
 Our group is going to make a presentation about media. I'm won't talk about it in this blog, but I think we did a good job.
 See you guys later!!

I went to Mitama festival today! I went there with my friends from my club activity. There were so many people and I was like buried in them. It was like a full train which I go through every morning, but we got many good such as okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and yakitori, and then we went a open space where there were less people.  I felt like summer finally has come. I don't like the hot weather but I'm looking forward to having a summer vacation and doing what we can do only for summer!!!!

Final IE Core Lesson

Fifteen weeks have already passed, the time when I took part in the ceremony of entering Aoyama University is just like yesterday, time really flies. Today is the final lesson of IE Core, through IE core, my listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of English have been got graded up. I like this class, and like the interaction with my classmates. I hope the IE Seminar will also be interesting.

Tomorrow's presentation!!

Tomorrow is the final class of IEⅢ core. All my classmates are nice, so I guess I will really miss them when IE Seminar starts. Today, our group prepared for tomorrow's final presentation at lunch time and after school. At near ten o'clock, we wrapped up our work and with other presentation group members, we all went to a family restaurant to eat dinner. It was a fun time! Tomorrow before IE class, we decided to gather and practice for our presentation. I hope it goes well!!

My friend from high school

     On the day of the marathon on Saturday. I had a lot of time to talk will my high school friends. One of them who goes to a different university is now living alone. Her father went to India for work and her other family members went too, with her alone. Her mother is here for a week now.

     She says that she is thankful for her mother because she cooks delicious warm meals. The times she was alone, she said she just boiled some pasta and put salt on it.

      My father will go to America for work this September alone. My mother will go to his house in America to look after him for a week maybe every two months. The time my mother will be with my father, I am responsible for my brother.  I was thinking about the things I must do without my mother and appreciated my mother for all of the hard work she does in the house.

     I will do my best when the time comes.

This will be my fourth blog this week. I must make up for the three blogs I haven't done the past weeks.and the two for this week. Im sorry for the late posts.

training

     There was a training session in my part time job on Sunday. I work at a cram school for high school students. I learned how to deal with visitors, the way to talk and work properly and what kinds pamphlets to give in each case. I also learned how to get a phone call. There are proper ways to answer a phone call so that we can stay polite to the people we are talking to.
     I think the part time job I am working at will be useful in the future as well because it will definitely be a necessary skill in a job. I hope I will be able to master these skills at my part time job so that I will become a good worker. I want to do this job for my four years in university as there are people in my work place, because they all do everything so perfectly and teach me and other first year workers how to do things. I want to be like them and become a reliable worker as well.

Britain

     My brother finally has gone to Britain to study abroad yesterday. I am really worried because he keeps on sending messages to me on LINE. He is home staying at a family of a grandmother, grandfather and a huge dog. My brother is scared of big dogs. I think he is worried about the big dog in the house and also about the language school he is going to. I hope he becomes stronger by this visit and comes back home lively.
     Something related to studying abroad, I went to a studying abroad information session at Aoyama gakuin University on Saturday, before the marathon. It made me want to go study abroad, listening the experiences from the people who had already went.
     I hope my brother shares his experiences to me because I've never been to Britain and I don't know anything about what it is like there.
   

Ghibli Museum!!

On Sunday, I went to Mitaka Ghibli Museum with my friends! I had a wonderful time there!! First, after entering the museum, we looked at some displays. They were all very cute! :D Then, we shopped at the souvenir shop. I bought a bag, which I would like to use at university. When we finished shopping, we were hungry so we decided to go to the cafe inside the museum. It was crowded and we waited for about an hour. I ordered a glass of soda and deep fried breaded cutlet sandwich. They were really good!! I was surprised that the soda's straw was made from wheat straw! After finishing our lunch, we went to the rooftop. We found a big statue of the robot soldier which is one of the character in "Castle in the Sky". It was huge! :) At the end, we went to Miyazaki Hayao's exhibition area. The exhibition was his first job after retirement. It was based on a book called "Nutcracker and the King of Mice", which is a German book. I enjoyed it!! I hope I can go there again!!

Answers

Hello. This time I’d like to answer questions.

To Masato

Like Shin’s case, my cram school teacher also influenced me a lot. 

The cram school I went had only two teachers, personal-running cram school.

But both of them were highly educated and doing everything they can for students. 

I was going for that cram school for second grade of elementary school through high school. The great thing about them is, they listen to not only studying questions but also life questions.

When I had a problem, I always asked them for the solution. And they’ve always gave me a great feedback, it helped me a lot. Also, they are quite active. Over the age of 60, they still go out for running full marathon, and trying to get a better result. I’m not sure if I could be so energetic at that age. 

These are why I admire them. Now, I’m not attending to the cram school but I’m thinking of visit there when I have a time.

To Jumpei

Yes, I’m wondering it too… But I think you’re hard worker than I so you can do it. I’ll try as much as I can so let’s make efforts together. 

By the way, it's hard to believe that today is our last class of IE Core...

All the members in IE class were great and I enjoyed this class very much.

Thank you all!

Final class

Thank you for reply, Mikako and Shin.
Today we have a last IE Core class.
Everyone is very excellent and has a lot of things I should learn from.
I was not outstanding student in the class, but I enjoyed interaction with you.
Everyone is very kind and characteristic.
I guess that you don't understand what kind of person I am until now.
I was very happy to have joined this IE3 class.
Thank you for everything!

Marathon

     This Saturday I ran a marathon. The marathon is called "electric run". It was only five kilometers which is quite a short marathon but it was very exhausting for me. This is probably because I never have the chance to exercise anymore like the way I used to in high school. So it was a very good opportunity for me to get moving.

     It was placed at Inage. I think Jyumpei introduced this place once on this blog before so knew the place! It was a very huge area with a lot of green. The marathon is called "electric run" because it starts at 7 o'clock PM and the running course is very beautiful will electric lights and decorations. It was very refreshing to run there and look at all the ornaments. We also get lighting goods to keep ourselves bright too. There is a t-shirt we must wear at the marathon and it became my suvineer. 

     I went to this marathon with my friends from high school. It was really fun running with them and talking about things at school recently and what it was like in high school.

     This "electric run" will be placed again so I recommend you to go there the next time this event will come up.

Last class

I'm getting sleepy but I have to write on the blog. This might be my last time writing on the blog. It was hard to always post to blogs every week . However it was very interesting interacting south you guys. Through out this blog I got to know you guys better. I'm so sad tomorrow is the last class. We'll, I 'm looking forward listening to your presentations!!
Sleep tight!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow we have our last IE Ⅲ Core Lesson.
We entered this school only 3 months ago, but it feels like we've been classmates for a long time.
I'm so glad that I met all of you guys. You all are very kind and nice people!

See you tomorrow. I hope we do our best on the presentation!
Have a nice dream.

Last Saturday

Last Saturday, I had my part time job(administrator) without boss or sempai for the first time.
I opened the cram school where I work at, and did what boss said to me to do for the first. Then I found a notebook which expains how to do in many situations. On last page, I found a message, "Do your best Azusa! From boss and sempai".... They are so nice person.

Boss and sempai said Saturday used to be such a boring day to work, but last Saturday was unusual.
(I can't explain detail on the blog, but) I had a lot of new things to do. It was such a thrilling. I may have seemed extremely awkward. It was a good opportunity to do things without someone's advice! I'm trained a lot on last Saturday.

BBQ

It's Momoko again. Yesterday, I had a barbeque as an ESS event.
It's not sunny and too hot, it was a great day for a barbeque.
One thing that I regret is that I can't eat much. I brought two water pistols and play with it with my friends.
I was soaked to the skin, but it was so fun!

I want to have a Yakiniku party with you guys! Then I'll eat until I get full :D
See you soon!

Presentation

Tomorrow we are going to make a presentation!
Our group is going to give a presentation on culture shock. Culture shock is a difficult problem to solve, but at the same time it's an interesting point, right? Please enjoy listening to our group's presentation! I'm looking forward to listening to other groups' presentations too!

Please don't stay up late at night for the preparation!

See ya tomorrow <3

Last class ;(

I can't believe that it's last class tomorrow.
It was the first time for me to write book reports and media discussion paper.
At first I though it was hard for me, but gradually I came to know how to do it.
4 months have already passed since we first met. Time goes too fast.
I want to be in IEⅢ class more with you all ;(
I have to prepare for presentation.....
Good luck on your presentation! See you tomorrow :)

Today

Today, I went to Ginza to do some shopping with my sister and her friend.
There are so many shops, but first of all, we went to Abercrombie & Fitch :)
The shop smelled sooooo nice and there were some nice guys standing in front of the building.
Some of my friends work at there, but I couldn't meet them this time, so I want to go again before long.
Next we went to eat Chinese food and we ate xiaolongbao (eastern Chinese steamed bun) and Chinese fried rice, which were absolutely nice!!
Then we ate ice cream for our desserts :p
It seems we ate too much, but it was very fun and great day for me!

BBQ

Yesterday, I had a BBQ by the river as ESS activity. It was cloudy and cool. So,it was easy to have a BBQ. Some of ESS members brought a big water guns and had a fight!! It looked so fantastic and interesting! We had a good time.

IE core class will be over tomorrow. I enjoyed the class thanks to your kindness. Thank you so much!!

Birthday Party :)

I forgot to write one thing about last Satuday!

One of my friends, Yui, turned 19 years old on July 11.

My friends and I went to movie theater and watched "Maleficent" in Roppongi. 

We took this photo in front of the Roppongi Hills. This statue you can see behind us was like a big spider.

After that, we went to T.G.I. Fridays and had dinner :D

I love to be there with my friend, and they made my Saturday :)

Owesome Saturday

Hi everyone. It's Momoko.

Last Saturday, I watched Maleficent with my friends :)

Did you watch this Movie?

This movie is based on "Sleeping Beauty" and it is a story of Maleficent, from the perspective of the villainous Maleficent, who we know as a bad witch.

I didn't know Maleficent is a fairy. In this movie, Maleficent is performed by Angelina Jolie.

She is absolutely beautiful in this movie.

I won't tell you a lot about this story, because you want to watch it, but this movie is so touching.

If you have time after the exams, you should watch this movie!

Final Book Report

For my second book report, I chose a book named "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
The author writes in old and strange English so it was not very easy to read, but the story was interesting and it brings me to feel like I'm in my childhood. The adventures that Huck and his friend do are the ways to pass through the difficulties in their life, and passing through each ones, they grow up.
If you have some free time while your summer vacation, I recommend you to read this book not just lying around in your room. :)

Our last class :(

It's are last class tomorrow....;(
In addition to that, we have our presentation tomorrow.

I believe all of us have been putting effort preparing for the presentation.
I hope every group tomorrow will finish their presentation in a big smile:)

I'm looking forward to meet everybody tomorrow.

Have a good night!!

A sense of achievement

Last Saturday I took part in a dance recital with the dance circle members that I'm belong to. We had practiced for it since last April. The performance definitely succeeded.

Not only our dance circle but also other universities' dance circles participated in this event, so I saw my friend for the first time in four months because she is belonged to another dance circle. She went to the same high school as me and was belonged to the dance club that I belonged to as well. I was really glad to be able to see her dance performance last Saturday.

I sometimes feel it's difficult to combine dancing and studying, but I wanna make my efforts toward both. It is just because I wanna study for my future and dance for a break.

Thanks for reading :)

preparation for our presentation tomorrow

We're preparing for our presentation right now at the library. Our group is the human relationships group and we will be talking about LOVE.

Right now there's only me and Jumpei, so there isn't much progress yet.

I hope we do well!

writing term papers

Hi, guys!
How are you going?

Now I have a lot of homework to do.
Recently I'm very busy, so I need much more time.
Especially writing term papers takes much time.
I'm rather bad at doing a long paper.
I don't know what I should write on the paper.
I feel like giving up my homework in frustration.

SASANOHA

Last Saturday, I attended a fashion show, SASANOHA, hosted by the Aogaku Art Club. I was asked to wear a beautiful homemade dress, and walk around as a model. The theme of the dress was " a fairy" but I thought it was more like a princess.

My friend who made the dress is the second one to the left.

My friends did my hair, make up (sprakly green eye shadow!) , they even did my nails for me!
I kind of felt like a princess.

The other outfits were all unique and beautiful.
One person was a fox, a witch, oriental.

I just had so much fun!!

I went to roppongi hills with my friend last Monday. It was Tanabata, so there was an temporary cafe which had planetarium at 52nd floor's level. We could see such a beautiful view including Tokyo tower, other high buildings and the planetarium at the same time!!! The special drink I had looked like the image that reminded me of planets in the earth because of the special colored icecream and the peace of orange on the top!!! It was good too. I had a very good time at the 52nd floor of roppongi hills:)

A cappella Live Concert

Hey guys, how's it going? Hope you guys had a nice weekend :)

Today, I'm gonna be writing about my first a cappella concert held in Sagamihara campus yesterday.

I had classes in the morning, but the live concert was to be started at 2:30 pm, so there was no problem in my schedule. Classes being over at 0:30 pm, I hurried to the destination. It took less than an hour from Shibuya to Fuchinobe, the nearest station of Sagamihara campus. Actually it was the second time for me to visit it, but I was really impressed by how beautiful the campus was. Of course, the buildings themselves were great, but more surprisingly, there was a vast lawn spreading in front of a curch! How nice! When arriving there, the live concert was just around the corner. I was gradually getting nervous, and finally, the live concert started.

I don't know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, but our band was the first one to perform at the live concert. I wasn't confident at all, but I wished my hard work for over two months would pay off. After our band's turn coming, I did my best anyway. I was singing just hard, without thinking about anything. It was as if I were in a dream world. I don't remember the moment clearly... Our performance had been over when I came out of a dream. It seemed time flied. I don't remember the moment that much, but I can say with certainty that we did really well and our efforts were rewarded at that time. It's like nothing was better than the moment. We all had much fun singing a cappella at the live concert. Yeah, we were on cloud nine!

Back in the day when we started practicing a cappella in April, our performance was literally awful. Especially I couldn't easily sing as written on the score. But the harder I practiced, the more exactly I was able to sing. Even though I was literally swamped with lots of homework, I had an awesome time thanks to a cappella. I just like singing. I just like being with my band members. I was really happy to be a member of this band. It's a bit hard for me that our band has broken up after the live concert, but hopefully I'll be able to do a cappella with my band members again in the near future. I'm going to hone my singing ability even harder in order to contribute to more harmonious a cappella performances. But I always have to keep this proverb in my mind; "Don't forget the enthusiasm you had at the beginning." I want to be enthusiastic about a cappella for good.

Thanks for reading, and see you guys again soon ;)

birthday party

Yesterday was my friend's birthday and I participated in her birthday party. First, we watched a movie, Maleficent. It was a wonderful movie!! I had had only bad image about Maleficent. I changed my mind about Maleficent after watching this movie. After that,we went to an American hamburger shop. A little expensive, but it was so delicious!! I was very glad because she looked have a good time, but I spent much money. So,I have to work part-time job...

Hello again.

I was working on a PowerPoint slide for the presentation on Tuesday.
It's hard to believe that Tuesday's the last day for IE core class. Time sure flies.
Anyway, our group is going to be doing a presentation about culture shock.
There were a lot of unexpected answers to the question that we asked,
"What kind of culture shock have you experienced?"
There are a lot of common senses and behaviors that could be a little on the odd side
in this country, which is very interesting.

I was also working on a movie report for a different IE class.
The movie I've chosen is called Good Will Hunting, starring Matt Damon.
The script is great, but also the acting is just awesome. It's amazing that sometimes
his role is a secret agent, and on other times he's a football player or an ordinary person.
He also seems to be a very humble guy.

The movie really makes you wanna study math, and that enthusiasm usually only lasts for
a day or two. But it's still a great film to watch!

I'm looking forward to listening to other groups' presentation next week.
See you.

Baked a cake

Last month, my dad bought a new oven because the last one was swept away when we had kitchen reformed. I love to bake cakes since I was little. So this time I baked a pound cake with blueberry jam on Friday and shared it with sisters. Baking is one of my favorite things to do on a weekend.

My favorite place and people ever

Whenever I get tired and worried about something, I go to my grandma's house in Yokohama. Since I was a junior high school, I have visited there once a month without fail. I love my grandma. She does nothing but gives me smile. Thanks to a location of college, it is much easier to get to Yokohama because it takes only 30mins from Shibuya to Yokohama.

I visited her this morning. She tells me her stories. Today's story was about my grandpa who is living in heaven. And we went to sushi place and got peaches at grocery store.
She always tells me that my visit makes her happy. She can keeps me sane.

Sumo

Hey guys!

How is it going?

The sumo tournament started today.
Man, I'm excited. Last time the new yokozuna, Kakury, didn't do so well.
I hope he does better this time. He won today's bout, but being persistent seems to be
difficult, so let's see what happens.

It's interesting how some sumo wrestlers seem to weigh more than a ton
and they lose to a short and small wrestler. I guess it's all about technique and the wrestler's
state of mind.

Now I'd like to answer Masato's question.
The answer to the question is my cram school teacher.
He's very intelligent but doesn't have much vanity. At the same time, he's a super funny,
hilarious guy. He loves telling jokes and creates a nice atmosphere.I don't know how much
I have learned from him. I worship the ground that he walks on. He's everything I want to be.

  

Group Presentation

Hello, everyone.

On our IE Core Presentation group, we're now working on theme about smartphones. Probably most of the people in the class has a smartphone, and if you look around on the train, you'll see that many people using it too. I think that tells us smartphones are now prevailed more and more. I think older people（not everyone）has relatively negative image toward smartphones. Whereas young people has more familiarity with smartphones. In my opinion, smartphones has both advantages and disadvantages. We'll talk about deeply on our presentation but for me, how you use it is what important. If you use it properly, smartphones will become your faithful companion. But if you are too inclined to it, you'll overwhelmed by it. But that's raises another problem. What about children? Because they don't have much control on themselves. In fact, young people's smartphone addiction is becoming more serious problem. I think we have to come up with the way for them to keep the balance of it, not to addicted.

reply to "test"

yes, the final test is coming, not only tests but also many report need to write, but on considering that after the test, there will be a 2 months' summer holiday, I will study hard and try my best to pass these tests, the darkest hour is that before the dawn, good luck every body.

sunstroke

Today was so hot, after I finished part time job, I felt dizzy, I was afraid that I got sunstroke, so after getting home, I took a cold shower, ate a piece of watermelon and drank a lot of water, now I feel better. because it's getting hotter and hotter, please drink more water, and be careful of not getting sunstroke.

Test

Good afternoon everyone!
I hope everyone spent a wonderful morning thanks to the typhoon.

It`s almost summer vacation! I`m so excited....!
But, before that, we have our test coming soon in the end of this term.

Since it`s the first time, of course, I have no idea how I should start studying.
Does anybody have ideas?

I hope everyone is going to have a wonderful weekend and I`m looking forward to meet you guys next week!

It`s gonna be our last class..... but I`m looking forward to the snack party.

Response to Masato

Hi! Today I'll answer to Masato's question, who were you most influenced by in your life? Well, for me it's my friend who lives in the States. She was Italian and we had a lot in common. We liked the same singer , we both loved Italian food, we shared secrets and we also had a crush on a same boy. She was very polite and she also had great leadership and was diligent. She always tried her best and she taught me the importance of doing my best anytime. She said she wanted to work at the United Nations in the near future. I think she can make it. Seeing her doing her best for her dream inspires me in many ways. I still keep in touch with her by texting but I haven't met her for years. I really miss her
Good night

Hang out for lunch

Hi everyone! It's Momoko.

Today, I went to Sanmaruku-cafe with Brianne and Takumi.

I ate German potato bread and this danish. It was soooo yummy!

Sanmaruku-cafe is in front of our university, so if you have time, you should go there :D♥

Making one's dream come true

One of my friends, who went to the same high school as me, is good at singing and dreaming of being a singer. Last Sunday he participated in a concert, so I went to see it. He sang very well and won the audience prize.

Actually one famous company has asked him to join it, but he refuse the offer because he wanted to aim for the top like being a member of EXILE.

I'm proud of having such a friend. As you know, being a singer is difficult, many people are dreaming of being a singer, but only a few can make their dreams come true. He does his best to be a singer and goes to university as well. I'm always on his side up until now and from now on :)

drinking to much recently

      Yesterday the fifth lesson was canceled, so after IE core, I went to Sumidagawa for relaxing my self by sitting along the river and enjoying the breeze. Then I went to Izakaya with my friend. It was really a great time when chating and drinking with her. After graduation from language school, I hardly have get-together with my friends which I used to do quite often, because some of them returned to their mother country, and those who is left in JPN are very busy either with study or parttime job. I was too busy to feel lonely, but after yesterday's get-together, I think that sometimes make time out of the busy schedule to have a chat and drink with friends really easys my stress and comforts me a lot.
     

 

Book Report 2

      Yesterday we finished our book report 2, not like last time when I read lord of the flies and wrote analysis on it, I confess I didn't like that book, I wrote book report 1 just for finishing a task although I did a lot of search and got a good score from Mr. Armstrong. But this time, I wrote book report on Camille for fun, I enjoyed reading and analysing it, which is my favorite book even this is my fourth time to read it. It changed my point of view of love.
      My book report has 7 pages, but even by 7 pages, I did not analyse the book thoroughly, in my book report, I analysed the book from 4 prospectives, which is structure, 2 leading characters, the author and one quotation which I like. But in my draft, except these 4 prospectives, I also analysed the social background of the story which is in the July Monarchy, and the 2 suporting characters who is the hero's father and the old courtesan Prudence, and some other quotations of the book which can support my point of view. If I add these parts into the report, I think the report will be too long, so I cut these parts.
      The picture is my draft.

I had been working on the book, the great Gatsby and finally finished it yesterday night. But disappointedly, now I'm going to go late as I slept in ... But It was quite interesting to read the book. The first time I saw a movie of the novel, I thought it was just a story about love based relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, but as I was reading up the book, I noticed that it wasn't just that much. It was more than that! It was really connected to 1920's of America and all characters in this novel are the representations of each human on different status.
On the promise that I know about it, it was much more interesting to read and see the story.
But because I'm not a fast reader, I missed some parts of the story, so I would like to spend time reading the book again in summer vacation!!

Noooooo!!

Noooo!!! I late on this important day!!! I don't think that I can make it to class on time!! I'm sorry IE members, I'm sorry mr. Armstrong! Somebody, stop the clock, please...
 What a Tuesday.

Rainy Star Festival

 Why is it always raining on July 7th? Yesterday was Tanabata, or Star Festival in English. I've always wanted to see the stars on this day, but never granted. The newspaper said that 7th of the July was a rainy day or a cloudy day for over 20 years! I wonder how it will be for next Tanabata. Maybe I should make some turu-teru bo-zu.

Book report

Hello guys :)

Today's our final book report day.
I can't believe it.....

We heard the existence of this book report on the first class on April.
I thought it was a long future assignment, however some how, it's today...

I really enjoyed reading the book I chose, and searching for extra information.
I also compared the book with my previous book I chose for the first book report.
It was a hard time compiling the numerous amount of information and choosing what are the important ones.
But I enjoyed it :)

If only I hadn't injured my knees and elbows, today would be a wonderful day for me.
I simply had so much trouble typing on the computer.
My arm gets tired two times faster than normally that I had to take a break every 10minutes.

I think I'm going to associate the book report to my injury....lol
 Well overall I thought I really had lots of memorable experiences during this IE class:)

See ya guys later!

Hello

Hi! Have you guys finished your book report? I slept late last night and I just got up. I need to eat breakfast and get ready for school. Well, see you later! Looking forward to hear everyone's book reports!

Memory of the Star Festival

Yesterday was the Star Festival. I didn't do anything special related to it but I remembered my memories when I was a little kid. Near my hometown, in Hiratsuka City, there is a festival held every year with many decorations and lights at night. Visitors enjoy observing the fancy decorations throughout the street. There are also a lot of stands selling various kinds of food and toys. I hope I can go there again in the near future.

Lord of the Flies film version

Yesterday, I watched the film version of the novel, "Lord of the Flies" for my book report. It was a black-and-white film because it was made in 1963. It was quite faithful to the novel which helped me to understand the story deeper. There were many depressing scenes caused by people turning into savages. I would like to watch the other film based on the same novel that was made in 1990, too.

Book Report

We finished almost all of our IE classes, and tomorrow is the Book Report day!!

We've been working really hard on our works, but it's coming an end!

We did lots of Media Discussion Papers, reviewing of some films, and one Book Report. I personally feel my English skill was  upgraded by doing such things, as well as learning correct MLA style gradually.

I'm looking forward to having discussion with you about your final Book Report guys!

Good night!

Reading

My teacher once said," reading is a shortcut for learning the new acquiring knowledge."

As I graduated from high school, I had decided to read a bunch of books in college. When I was in high school I did not have time to read at all.

This summer my goal is to read a book in English and 5 books in Japanese. I hope that I experience something new from books.

One of the biggest world social issues

.

I am interested in the field of world food issues such as GM food and mass food production & consumption. Food is directly related to our health: obesity and poverty

There is a video on America's food education by Jamie Oliver from TED. I want you to watch this if you have time. I agree with him that "food education" make a little bit change.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver

My respected teacher

I'd like to talk about my respected teacher.
He is a high school English teacher, and my class teacher.
He teaches English very well and was loved by everyone.
To my surprise he studies English very hard although he acquires mastery of English.
He gets a perfect score on a TOEIC test every time.
Because of him I got to like and have an interest in English.
If I hadn't met him, I would not study English now.
He is a person who had a big influence on me.

I'll ask you everyone a question.
Who were you the most influenced by in your life?

IE

We have one month left until the summer vacation! I just can't wait to go to the U.K. and hang out with my friends, but our IE3 class will be separated into seminars in the next semester, I'm sad since we're getting along with each other and I wanna be with you guys for a longer time.

Everyone in IE3 class can speak English well and always inspire me. Since I entered this university, my English skill has been improving thanks to all of you, I have to make more efforts to improve it, though.

Thanks everyone :) Even if we are separated into seminars, keep in touch!!

Hope we will have a good time for the rest of days.

Cruise party

I went to a private cruise party with Azusa last Friday, it was SUPER DUPER AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

Azusa and I dressed in yukata, and so did many participants.

I made a lot of friends including international exchange students and had so much fun!!

In addition, we could see beautiful scenery from all angles and took a lot of nice pics.

This cruise party was definitely an unforgettable memory for me! :)))

BBQ

Today I went to Noborito, and did BBQ with my friends of my circle activity. It was so fun, and many of my friends went into the river and became very wet. Food was good, and I enjoyed a lot. I really thought I want to hang around this summer with my friends. I want to try hard on the test coming soon. I am  looking forward a lot.

At the airport

Today I went to Narita airport to meet my friend who will go to Australia for his university. About 10 of his friends gathered there, and his family was also at the airport. He was my friend in high school, and I met him last about 2 month ago, but I was really sad that I can't meet him until 1 or 2 years later. We were friends from 6 years old, and I cried a lot today. This July and August, many of my friends will go to the university abroad, and I think I am going to go see them at the airport. I think I will become really sad but I hope I can see them near future.

The Catcher in the Rye

Good evening everyone.

The good news is I'm almost done with the book report.
All that is left is the reference.

Anyway, today I would like to talk about a book I started reading.
It's called The Catcher in the Rye, and one day when I was making
complaints about everything, my friend recommended me read it.
Sometimes when everything seems superficial and you are acting like a
pessimist reading this book might be a good thing to do.

I've only read thirty pages or so, so it's still hard to tell what the theme is
and what the author is trying to convey, but so far it is interesting and easy
to read.    

cross-culture

Hi everyone!
How are you doing with your homework?

In the last class we prepared for the Final Presentation.
Our group's theme is cross-culture.
We decided to carry out a survey about culture shock.
So, I'd like to talk about culture shock.
But I have never been to foreign countries, I will talk about culture shock I learned in a survey.
I asked a woman.
She has been to Britain many times.
In Britain's station she has never gone up a flight of the stairs without man' help.
This is a good example of an English gentleman.
Even a five-year old boy tried to help her.
This culture of Britain is very interesting and good.

I got to like Britain more and more!

The biggest failure in my life

To Jumpei,
I saw a picture you posted on Twitter. It looked like really painful. Hopefully you'll get better soon.


Related to his post, I'm gonna be talking about my biggest failure in my life today.

As I said before, I was a vocalist of a band when I was in high school. Our band started practicing three songs roughly two months before the live concert at the school festival. We met up every week and practiced really hard in order to make our performance more harmonious. We did our best and were confident in our performance until just before the live concert... however...

We were doing well as usual at the beginning of the performance. But I forgot a part of the lyrics out of the blue, and my mind went blank while I was singing on the stage. I don't know why. I can't have been nervous. But it is obvious that my mind completely went blank. It was thoroughly because of me that our performance ended up being awful. I thought nothing was worse than my failure at that moment. The only thing I could do was, to cry myself. No matter how much I apologized to the other members for my failure, I couldn't stop feeling guilty. Perhaps that's what I think is the biggest failure in my life so far.

I was overwhelmed just after the live concert. However, thanks to the encouragement my friends gave me, I gradually got better and back to normal. Now, I think that experience gave me self-confidence as well as courage. Before, I was always feeling nervous whenever I had to make a speech in front of a large audience. After undergoing that experience, however, I came to be positive even under such circumstances.

The lesson my experience as a vocalist gave me is, in short, expressed with a following proverb: "Failure is a stepping stone to success." We tend to be negative after failing, but the experience definitely gives us some tips to be successful in the next stage. Actually my first a cappella live concert is going to be held next week, which will be the first one in more than a year for me. I'm feeling a bit nervous and there's no guarantee that our performance is going well at the live concert, but I'll do my best anyway! Be positive. you can do it, Kentaro!!

To jumpei

I just read Jumpei's blog. It's terrible. I hope you get well soon.
I've never broke a bone but I often sprain by right ankle. I first sprained it when I was late for my club activities and running down the stairs at high school. I started dancing before my ankle was completely cured. I just couldn't sit down watching other students dancing I wanted to dance desperately. Well, it wasn't a good idea. Since then I started to sprain my ankle when I'm dancing. It became a bad habit. If you get injured I prefer you to stay still and wait until the injury is completely cured.

To be an early bird

Hello everyone!  I just read Jumpei's blog... I hope Jumpei will get better soon x(
Because I can't ride a bicycle, I've never broken a bone in my life.

Anyway I woke up just 2hours ago! I haven't been sleeping lately because of my homework and club activity. When I woke up today, I was shocked bacause I wasted more than half a day...
Wake up early in the morning leads to be more healthy. There is a time to run, read a book, take my dogs out for a walk, and to have healthy breakfast.

3months have passed since I entered this university. To live healthy life, I'll be careful not to stay up late and not to eat too much junk food.

finding a job

Hello everyone!
I hope you all are having a great weekend.

 Today I would like to talk to you about finding a job, of course, part time job. Having a part time job really helps me become independent. I used to work part time at a cram school near my house but I quitted as I entered college. I have never liked the job teaching so I did not regret quitting. Recently I do not have a job. I heard that gyu-don restaurants and convenient stores have good salary. If there is a part time job that anyone recommends, please introduce me!

thanks for reading!

Tragedy

Hello everyone!

Today I want to introduce 2 of my experiences I had so far in my life, based riding on the bicycle.

My first experience was when I was in high school.
I was a second year student and I was putting effort everyday in tennis for my last tournament, coming 4 months later.

This tragedy happened while I was going back home.
Because the sidewalk was so narrow, I chose to run my bike on the roadway.
After a while riding my bike, suddenly one of the car rang the car horn.
It was too sudden that I was surprised and I slipped.
Due to that, I broke 3 bones of my left arm, and my tennis life ended.....

The next experience was just yesterday.
This time, I was going down the  slope and I slipped on the rock, that I didn`t realize it.
I hopped up into the air and hit my self real hard on the concrete.
Eventually I injured both knees and both of my elbow.

Overall, I think I learned a lesson throughout this accident.
Not just me, including everybody, be careful when you ride on the bicycle and pay attention on the surroundings!
You cannot pay too much attention while riding.

I hope everyone lives a happily healthy life!!

See you next Tuesday!!

Book Report

Hello. How are you guys doing with your second book report?
 I’ve finished reading and watched the movie and yesterday I finished writing my report too.
As I said on this blog, I choose To Kill a Mockingbird as my second book report.
I purposely watched the movie after finishing reading the book. Because I wanted to compare my firsthand image with the image that created after watching the movie. Movies are visible so it’s easy to create a image of the novel. But firstly I wanted to create my own image of the novel.
Then, how was that worked? Well, The movie was almost same as I imagined, same kind of characters and town.
In this case I think the story was relatively easy to imagine, that’s why my images were corresponded with the movie.
But in other cases, like the novels based on future story, the imagination would be made differently and countlessly from the movie.
It’s nice to watch the movie, but on the other hand I think imagining the story on your mind is fun part of reading novels.  

Doing suevey

Last lesson, we are divided into some groups to have last presentations.
My teem is doing survey based on cross culture, and we chose "Culture shock" as a main topic.
Since many people have answered, we got a various kinds of answers.
Some of them are quite new to me...each of you guys would also find new things.
Our presentation will be a good one! 

Change over party

Today I had a change over party in my volunteer international club.

All the members thanked for the latest executive members and introduced next executive members.

The latest executive members cried when we gave them a surprise present. The interesting thing was that they also had a surprise present! That was so touching.

Some of the ex-members were also there, and it was very exiting to meet them. 

This year, we, members who joined this club in 2012 will be in charge of all the activities.

We feel very nervous, but promised to do our best!

I hope everything goes well. 

 

 

 

Book report 2

Hello.
How are your book reports going?

I actually started working on it last week and was trying to get it done today,
which didn't happen. But it's almost done so that's good.

The book I have chosen is called Lord of the Flies, and I discovered some interesting
facts about the author and the book. The author, William Golding, was in the navy
during the second World War and he was involved in the sinking of the German
battle ship Bismarck.

He also received the Nobel Prize for literature and was knighted by Elizabeth II.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone read for their book report on Tuesday.
Good night.

saying goodbye

Yesterday, I went to Narita Airport to say goodbye to my friend that's going abroad to study at Sydney University for five years. He said that he's going to study about commercial science.


We were friends since we were in high school even though we didn't go to the same school. He was my best friend, so it really hurt when he had to go.


I know he really studied hard to enter Sydney University and didn't want to leave his friends and family. I know he really wanted to achieve his dream, so I hope nothing happens to him until he comes back five years later.

Presentations

Hi everyone.

 Yesterday, I did a non-fiction book report presentation in my Reading class. Honestly, I'm not really good at speaking in front of people.
In the past, I did some same kind of presentation for couple of times, but I wasn't really good at it.
Yesterday’s presentation was the first time I've used Powerpoint and I thought it would be little different from what I experienced in the past.
Therefore I prepared and did some practice. I did my best on my presentation but in my opinion it wasn't very good. One thing I noticed was I spoke too fast. Probably that's because of nervousness. I thought that dealing with nervousness is important factor for presenting a better presentation.
But after all, my Reading teacher told me that I was OK. That was relief for me.
We are now expecting two presentations. One is that for Core class and the other is for Listening class. Both of them are group presentations. So it'll be different from today's presentation. Anyway, I'll do my best.

How to use bananas in seven unexpected ways

Who are these guys?
They are friends. One is the owner of the house.

What happened last night?
There was a big party.

What will happen at 12:30pm today?
The owner's parents will visit him.

What are the seven unexpected uses for bananas?
1.It can be used to wipe shoes and jacket.
2.It can be used to remove dirt of plants.
3.It can be used to wipe wooden furnitures.
4.It can be used to rub on to the mosquito bite.
5.It can erase ink stains.
6.It can be used to wipe of CD's dirt.
7.With using reseable plastic bags, It can make room with no fruit flies.

Why do you think the tall guy knows so muct about bananas?
He is a dietitian or nutritionist and knows so much about the useful ways with using foods.

My part time job

1month and half has past since I started my part time job. I thought that I already got used to working there but I actually wasn't. I noticed about it lately when I had a shift during lunch time. I usually have one for dinner time, but it's always much more crowded when it's lunch time. At that time on last Sunday many customer came to my restaurant at the same time, I was kind of upset and had a really sight.
There is always one staff for each, cook and waitress, I have to do all things  that waitress  has to do by myself. But I wasn't able to notice that they finished eating,so made them wait for the drink after the meal, and I wasn't able to do counts. I didn't write down the additional orders, so I charged the customers less than actual. What is worst was that I accidentally dropped down a wine glass... I felt so sorry and I was so disappointed by what I did that day. But my shop manager wasn't angry at me or didn't do anything that let me down. He just pointed out my mistake instead. I was encouraged by him. I want to keep it up!!

First performance

 Last weekend, I had a  performance of drama club. It was my first time to perform in the club. I really enjoyed acting. I hope the audience had fun too. Thank you, Haruka, Mikako, Azu, Ririka for coming all the way!!
 Our club is going to start our practice for Aogaku-Sai soon. Time flys so fast so we can't waste our time!

Debate competition

Hi! This is Momoko! Last Sunday, I had a debate competition as a event of ESS club. I studied about the death penalty for two weeks. I had all-night meetings for three times ;(
The result was not so bad, but I wanted more time to study. It was a good opportunity to make friends with students of other universities :) The competition was held as Huchinobe campus! I visited there for the first time and I got the impression that it is so beautiful! If you have a time, you should visit there :D

How to use bananas in seven unexpected ways

Who are these guys?
     There were two men. They are friends.
What happened last night?
     There was an big party and the two men fell asleep leaving the room messy.
What will happen at 12:30pm today?
     One of the men's parent is going to visit him.
What are the 7 unexpected uses for bananas?
     1. Rub things made of leather with banana peal and make it shiny.
     2. Get rid of dusts on plants with the peal and make it soft and shiny.
     3. Polish furniture and wipe them with a cloth.
     4. Heal mosquito bites by applying banana peal.
     5. Remove ink stain.
     6. Get rid of scratches on CDs.
     7. Put the peal in a plastic bag and leave it for a while with it open. After a while when you see the bag, you'll see fruit flies caught in the bag. Throw away.
Why do you think the tall guy knows so much about bananas?
     Maybe, his family were cleaning their house with bananas usually.

get up early

Good morning!
Today, I got up at 4:00. This is not only because I forgot to do today's homework, but also because I am so busy and tired these days and I decided to go to bed early and get up early. It is very hard for me to get up early, but I can relax once I get up. Also, I think it is good for my health. I want to continue to go to bed and get up early every day.

Second Book Report

I'd like to talk about the second BookReport this time.
I read I, Robot for BookReport.
This book was written by Isaac Asimov, who is famous for writer of robot science fiction.
I also watched the film in which Will Smith takes the leading part.
The film was very good, and described the world robots play an important role in.

My first Book Report was not good.
MLA style is a basis of English journal.
I almost finished Book Report, but this time I don't have much confidence in accuracy of MLA style.
I will check my reading many times.
I hope my second Book Report is better than the first.

Good night, everyone!

Oh hello July!

I can't believe its already July. These days I've been very busy in doing homework. I guess everyone in class is the same situation like doing book report, presentation, reports etc...

Mikako, I agree with you. Homework makes me want to cry. However honestly I'd rather be busy with no free time than bored. Because whenever I am free, I don't do anything at all. And I feel like I'm so stupid. I don't like that.

Anyway guys! Keep working hard until summer!

Unexpected ways to use bananas

Who are these guys?
They are friends. Shorter man is the owner of the house.

What happened last night?
They had a big part last night and they were drunk.

What will happen at 12:30pm today?
His parents will back home.

What are the seven unexpected used for bananas?
1) they make gloss to rub the materials made of leather.
2) they remove dust on the leaf of house plant.
3) rubbing wooden furniture and then wipe it with cloth.
4) the peer of banana relieve itching on body
5) they erase any ink on body
6) they fix the CD to rubbing the scratched area of it.
7) they smell of bananas collect bugs in the kitchen.

Why do you think the tall guy knows so much about bananas?
He loves  bananas so much that he went to Uganda. The local people taught those unexpected ways to use bananas to him.

Book report

Book reports are coming up! These days I can't fully enjoy hanging out with my friends beacause I'm always thinking "oh, I need to do my homework. Need to do it." Even if we finish our book reports, exams are coming. Wish exams didn't exist. I'm looking forward for my summer vacation so I'll try my best with the exams!

Good night !!