Tasmania
On February 19, I reached Tasmania and I met my host family. There are two sons in my host family. Pekochan is also in the same family. At first I got nervous and was embarrassed because a lot of new things happened. I didn’t know what I should do.
But now I’m already used to living here. I can go back home on foot from university, I can take a bus from the city. Everything is strange for me! It is so amusing.
In yesterday’s class we went to Bonorong Wildlife Park and Mount Field. There are a lot of Australian animals in the park. I saw wombats, emus, parakeets, koalas, wallabies and so on. The wombat is very cute; it is like a koala, the emu is like an ostrich. The parakeet is also bird, it can say “hello,” which surprised me. I fed wallabies and closed them. I love them.
After that we did a bushwalk in the Mt. Field. We saw an echidna, it’s very sweet. There are nice waterfalls and big trees. I felt comfortable there and although I was too tired I had a good day.
After school we went to the city to window shop and I was just looking.
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My first homestay
Tomorrow, I’m going to go on a homestay visit to Tasmania. From Feb 18 to Mar 18, I will stay with a family in Tasmania and study English both at home and at Tasmania University. I’ve never lived outside my house for such a long time, and I’m a little anxious about it but rather exited. My host family lives in Sorell, perhaps in the east of Hobart, and there are four people, father, mother, twin sisters and two dogs.
I’m looking forward to meeting them on Sunday.
The twins were born on March 3, the Doll’s festival, so I will bring them Hina-dolls (a doll displayed on the Girl’s festival day) as a souvenir. I hope that they will like it.
Now I’m in a hurry preparing for this trip, and I can’t close my carry case yet. The more clothes and things put in my traveling bag, the more hopes and fears fill my heart.
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Spring vacation
What do you usually do on a long vacation? I think every time that I should put the vacation to good account, but I usually just lie around. So this time I’m going to study English and improve my language skills.
Mie University’s spring vacation is about a month and a half. I think it’s enough to study.
I also have some plans for pleasure. I’ll go to Ise with friends to buy tsuitachi-mochi. And I’ll go to Togari-onsen to ski in early March. I like skiing, so I’m looking forward to the trip. And I’ll take a trip with students and maybe some professors of the English Department. This trip will be the last one with the Department’s forth-year students and a professor. This trip will bring many pleasures and sadness. I think good-bye is so sad, but I want to say good-bye with a smile :-)
Because this vacation has just started, I want to spend it deliberately.
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My first year at university
A year has past since I got into Mie University. This year was very fruitful.
First, I got a lot of good friends. The English majors are nice. It is pleasant to talk with them. At the university festival in October, we made and sold okonomiyaki. We achived success through working hard together. The university festival is a pleasant and precious memory.
Second, English became closer to me. When I had the first English class, I was surprised and confused because the professor spoke only English and we had to speak English too. It is still very difficult for me even now, but it seems useful for us. Generally speaking, the teaching of English in Japan tends to set reading above speaking. I think listening and speaking English is more important.
Third, I started to learn how to teach students. I had been taught by teachers until graduating from high school. I felt freshness.
This year flashed by because I had a good time. Two month from now, new freshmen will come in and we will be sophomores. And learning must be more difficult. I’m going to do my best with my classmates. I wish our lives in next year are in good health, happy and fruitful too.
Thank you very much, Ruedi!
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This year
The day before yesterday the spring vacation started. I will be a sophomore in April. Last spring I entered Mie university. I experienced a lot of first things for this year. I had new acquaintances, friends and teachers. I got a driving license in summer. The Kyoto trip was so great, and so on. I have many nice memories.
I think the biggest change is that I started to live alone. I realized long ago that I must live alone after graduating from high school if I go to university. But I didn’t have a specific image about it. So I had much obscure anxiety and little hope when I moved to Tsu.
The first night I couldn’t sleep well because of extreme tension about my new life and the neighbor’s loud snore. Afterwards my bed was displaced. But I am still annoyed by his snore now. Another trouble, there was no refrigerator in house for a week. I experienced life without a fridge for the first time. It was a heavy week and I learned that a fridge is necessary.
I felt lonely because I was always alone in the new house. I always had to eat meals by myself and I had no appetite in those days. I couldn’t get accustomed to be alone. I wanted to have a meal with my family. I had a lot of housework. I appreciated my parents for bringing me up. I knew they always help me. I want to return them the favor little by little. I will go back home in the spring vacation.
Today I’m accustomed to living alone, I eat enough and sleep well. I often oversleep, though, and I can’t wake up early, which is my problem. But I think living alone is so comfortable for me. Try it?
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A Story
I am easily moved to tears. When I watch a documentary or video drama or animation, I am moved immediately. I cannot help thinking that if I was he or she and if I had that accident. I think that I am very weak, human beings are very weak, and then I must cherish my family, friends and people around me.
When I was a high school student, I read an English story that was part of the “center examination,” ie the nationally administered university entrance exam. It was a story about a grandmother’s quilt. Have you ever read this story? Maybe you have.
The story is easy to summarize. A family went bankrupt and they lost their house, a lot of furniture… And at an auction the daughter tries to buy back the grandmother’s quilt that has a lot of memories.
I can’t write more. Please read this story! When I read this story in class, my eyes were watery :-)
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Winter sports
There are several winter sports like skiing, snowbording, skating. But of all the winter sports, I like snowbording the best. I’m going to talk about snowbording.
Last March, I went snowbording for the first time. I couldn’t slide well at that time, but I wanted to go snowbording. It was the beginning. Winter was already over, so I could go snowbording only two times last season.
This year, I’m more addicted to snowbording. Last December, I bought snowboarding gear. I bought a snowboard, boots, binding (which is the metal part on a snowbord that I step on so that my boot fastens to the board), gloves, goggles and so on. I spent much money on these things. This season, I already went snowboarding five times, and I am going to go five times more. Of course, as I go snowboarding, I think I have gradually become a good snowboarder. For all the progress I have made, however, I still leave many things to be desired, and I want to become better than now.
Next winter, I have a plan to go to Hokkaido to go snowboarding with someone. It will be one year before I go to Hokkaido, but I’m looking forward to the trip.
Do you like skiing or snowbording?
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TV programs
Although I often watch serious programs too, I like entertainment programs on TV. Recently I’ ve been watching many NHK programs.
Have you ever watched the American family drama, Full House (Channel 9, 19:00 to 19:25 hrs on Tuesdays)? Full House was originally produced in 1987 in America, and since I was a kid it has been broadcast many times on NHK. I watched it several times when I was a kid but didn’t particularly like it then. But I’ve been captivated by Full House when I watched the reruns that started in April, 2005.
Full House’s appeal is that various happenings always occur in the Tanner family, the main characters, yet the drama always has a happy ending. Full House may be a TV program for children, but I can still enjoy it, and I can watch it from a different angle from what I had in chilldhood. I think Full House is a family drama which entertains both children and adults.
I also enjoy Shinken-juudai-shaberiba (Channel 9, 23:30 to 24:15 hrs on Fridays). This title means “a place for talking seriously for teenagers”. This is a program where a group of teenage regulars discuss a question that is suggested by one of them. I often watched this program in my high school days, and I still sometimes watch it when a question I am interested in is discussed. Sadly, this program will end in March and instead a new program will start in April.
Finally, Top Runner (Channel 9, 19:00 to 19:44 hrs on Sundays) is usually pretty good. On this program musicians, authors, actors, etc. get invited as guests if they are on the front line and in the spotlight. The guests talk about their history. I watch this program when a guest I like is on. A seasonable guest always appears on this program, so I’m looking forward to it a lot.
I also watch commercial broadcasting. I am interested in various things, so I will continue to watch various TV programs.
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English is my best friend
Japan uses the “6-3-3-4” education system, which is the same as in the United States. This means that there are six years of elementary school, three years of middle school, three years of high school, and four years at a university. This system was set up by the School Education Law in 1947.
Elmentary school and three years of middle school are compulsory. Most children also go to nursery school and kindergarden. About 95% of middle school graduates go on to high school. and about 50% of high school graduates go on to a two-year college, a four-year college or university.
During the nine years of compulsory education, all children learn English. And some students also go on home-stay holidays during the summer to improve their English. Many university students learn English as part of their basic education, and so it is common for Japanese to study English for about eight years Still, most people in Japan feel that they can’t speak English. Why is this?
Generally speaking, most lessons in school are taught by Japanese teachers and students learn mainly reading and grammer. I suppose it’s the reason why most people in Japan have such a feeling.
But recently this has been changing. More and more schools are employing native speakers of English as assistant teachers who work along with the Japanese English teachers to help the students learn to speak natural English.
There are probably many reasons why Japanese have difficulty with English, but perhaps one of the biggest reasons is the worry about making mistakes. But, it is very natural for most Japanese to worry about mistakes because it is the custom in Japan to feel shame when they make mistakes.
Indeed, there are so many difficulties to learn English. But I love English. Throughout my life, I’d like to learn English. English is not only lifelong learning but also a best friend for me.
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I love Australia
In my high school days, I went to Australia on a school trip. In particular Sydney and Keanzu. It was my first travel abroad, but I had more expectation than fear.
When I got on the plane, I had an unfortunate occurrence. Because I had a splitting headache on the plane. I couldn’t think anything. Probably I think it was economy class syndrome. As I had to stay on the plane for a long time, about eight hours, my headache gave me hell. It was really terrible.
We got on with Penris High School in Australia. We sang “Anata no yume wo akiramenaide”. In English it means, “Never give up your dream”. This song was our theme song, and I like it very much. We also made pancakes with them, which were very delicious. A woman who resembled Indu taught me how to wear the apron. In addition We played “drop the handkerchief” with them. It warmed up very much. They called “goose or …”. I forgot it. What’s more, an Asian beauty waved to me, but I didn’t wave wave back. I regret it now.
We went to a zoo. There were many rare butterflies and birds. I asked a worker to take a photograph as I held a koala. He was careless when he took the picture, though, so I looked strange on that photograph. The koala smelled like eucalyptus. Next, I wanted to take a picture with a snake.
It was very good fun and the Australians were very kind. As I have many, many memories, I can’t write everything. There were many things I want to tell them. I thought I’d want to study English more and more, so I belong to the English department now. I study hard and I want to go to Australia again.
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