I'm so excited, cause my super vacation is starting tomorrow!
This is the first time for me to travel so many places in a one period.
12/14~12/16 Los Angeles (California)
12/17~12/20 Seattle (Washington)
12/21~12/26 Las Vegas (Nevada) Grand Canyon (Arizona) Monument Valley (Arizona)
Brice Canyon (Utah) Zion (Utah)
12/27~1/2 New York City (New York), Boston (Massachusetts)
1/3~~~new quarter (spring quarter)
I think this is the last chance that I can travel so many places in one period.
I will definitely have fun.
Wonderful trip, coming soon.
Dec 14, 2010
Dec 13, 2010
Blast
Finally I have finished the final exam.
I think i did well in an exam for linguistics, but final paper for Iraq was really bad.
Horrible. I finally didn't finish reading the book for writing the paper.
So the contents of the paper is really light and uninteresting.
I hope I pass this course. please...
In next quarter,
1. I'll become more professional about bilingual education.
2. I'll brush up my writing skills.
3. I'll make my English more professional. (I want to make it different from other study abroad students' English)
After this winter break, we don't have enough time to travel or play.
Next quarter will be a study hard quarter.
I also start to write my final thesis.
To achieve all the things above, I decided to read books about bilingual education carefully every time, one chapter one day, and write summary about it.
If I find any unknown word, I will look up it each time.
I hope, it'll help..
anyway...
Winter break!
Dec 9, 2010
I can't do it anymore....
I can't write about Iraq anymore, I got so tired.
I don't wanna read the tons of articles anymore.
Finally, I started to write a paper in the middle of reading the book.
If I continue to read the book until finish, I won't be able to write a paper by the due date.
Reading all the book and the materials doesn't necessarily mean that I can write a good paper.
Anyway, I've just started writing.
But soon I found the requirement of this paper by the professor, "Quote specific case from the book." lol
Oh, my, goodness...
I even find any tips I can quote from the book to write this paper..
If the TA found that my paper doesn't have any quotes from the book, I'll fail..
Does it mean, I should finish reading the book?
But still I have more than 300 pages and the due is tomorrow.
Plus I have a final exam of linguistics course.
That is easy one, but I need to study a little bit.
uh,,,,
Why is it so hard without any club activity or so.
While I was in Japan, I did lots of other activity like sports club, part time job,,
But the course works were not so hard as this study abroad life.
Oh, and I live on campus, i don't have to commute to school taking so much time.
I have lots of time to study now.
Why?
Is is only because of the language barrier?
....maybe no.
I think this is because, the UCSD system is quarter system, not semester,
We have three quarters in a year. Automatically one period for each course is shorter than that of semester system.
I've gotta go back to study.
I don't wanna read the tons of articles anymore.
Finally, I started to write a paper in the middle of reading the book.
If I continue to read the book until finish, I won't be able to write a paper by the due date.
Reading all the book and the materials doesn't necessarily mean that I can write a good paper.
Anyway, I've just started writing.
But soon I found the requirement of this paper by the professor, "Quote specific case from the book." lol
Oh, my, goodness...
I even find any tips I can quote from the book to write this paper..
If the TA found that my paper doesn't have any quotes from the book, I'll fail..
Does it mean, I should finish reading the book?
But still I have more than 300 pages and the due is tomorrow.
Plus I have a final exam of linguistics course.
That is easy one, but I need to study a little bit.
uh,,,,
Why is it so hard without any club activity or so.
While I was in Japan, I did lots of other activity like sports club, part time job,,
But the course works were not so hard as this study abroad life.
Oh, and I live on campus, i don't have to commute to school taking so much time.
I have lots of time to study now.
Why?
Is is only because of the language barrier?
....maybe no.
I think this is because, the UCSD system is quarter system, not semester,
We have three quarters in a year. Automatically one period for each course is shorter than that of semester system.
I've gotta go back to study.
undie run
UCSD is crazy. I knew, but I recognized it.
Today we had a crazy event, called "undie run"
This event is that students are running around the campus.
What is special?
yeah, students are running around the campus being naked wearing only underwear!
hahahahaha
Everyone including 'girls' wears only underwear and is running around the campus shouting something at midnight. WTF seriously.
Everyone got crazy because of the final.
I didn't join it, but I wanna try it next time..
I heard we have this event on the each quarter's final week.
Today we had a crazy event, called "undie run"
This event is that students are running around the campus.
What is special?
yeah, students are running around the campus being naked wearing only underwear!
hahahahaha
Everyone including 'girls' wears only underwear and is running around the campus shouting something at midnight. WTF seriously.
Everyone got crazy because of the final.
I didn't join it, but I wanna try it next time..
I heard we have this event on the each quarter's final week.
Dec 8, 2010
Iraq, Iraq, Iraq
I have been reading materials about Iraq refugee caused by Iraq wars for these three days.
I'm gonna die...
I don't think this reading will finish. It seems endless.
The professor sent us the list of the materials about Iraq refugees.
We need to read them and write about what caused Iraq refugee crisis.
Surprisingly, when I opened one of the list of the materials I received, one of them showed another bunch of lists of materials,, and again, I opened one of them, it showed another lists !!!!
materials are increasing endlessly.
One of them is http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/iraqi_refugees/index.html?offset=0&s=newest
This includes 587 articles...WTF!
I don't think I can handle these articles by Friday.
I need to come up with a better strategy to survive this paper.
But I can't cut corners in this final paper, because the mean TA is warning me that he will give me F if I turn in the same quality of paper as the previous one..
Ah,,,,oh my god. I think I need 72 hours fighting with coffee.
I heard that UCSD Extension (English school) has already finished,,,
Extension students don't have finals...!
I hate them! Unbelievable! No Finals? Unthinkable.lol
Anyway, I will do my best..
I'm gonna die...
I don't think this reading will finish. It seems endless.
The professor sent us the list of the materials about Iraq refugees.
We need to read them and write about what caused Iraq refugee crisis.
Surprisingly, when I opened one of the list of the materials I received, one of them showed another bunch of lists of materials,, and again, I opened one of them, it showed another lists !!!!
materials are increasing endlessly.
One of them is http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/iraqi_refugees/index.html?offset=0&s=newest
This includes 587 articles...WTF!
I don't think I can handle these articles by Friday.
I need to come up with a better strategy to survive this paper.
But I can't cut corners in this final paper, because the mean TA is warning me that he will give me F if I turn in the same quality of paper as the previous one..
Ah,,,,oh my god. I think I need 72 hours fighting with coffee.
I heard that UCSD Extension (English school) has already finished,,,
Extension students don't have finals...!
I hate them! Unbelievable! No Finals? Unthinkable.lol
Anyway, I will do my best..
Dec 6, 2010
Final week, but...
This week is the Final week, we don't have class, and we need to study HARD for finals..
But I can't concentrate on study..
because I have so many reading materials to write final paper..
Too much...
All of them about Iraq refugees..
I'm soon to be tired of reading...ah...
today, other roommates and I went to the restaurant, TORPASTA,
for farewell for Leslie, one of our roommates.
He is going back to Australia after this quarter. So sad
I'll definitely miss him...
He is a so kind and nice guy.
I am really lucky to meet such a nice roommate.
someone has a very bad roommate..(lol)
We had TORPASTA at the restaurant,
TORPASTA is the sandwich of pasta.
Sounds weird? lol
It is like pasta in the bread...
Yeah, it was a kind of surprising to see it for the first time,,
The taste was.....hmmmmm not bad, not perfect..
Seeing is believing
this is TORPASTA
James (one of my roomie)
Leslie (one of my roomie)
Nima (one of my roomies)
But I can't concentrate on study..
because I have so many reading materials to write final paper..
Too much...
All of them about Iraq refugees..
I'm soon to be tired of reading...ah...
today, other roommates and I went to the restaurant, TORPASTA,
for farewell for Leslie, one of our roommates.
He is going back to Australia after this quarter. So sad
I'll definitely miss him...
He is a so kind and nice guy.
I am really lucky to meet such a nice roommate.
someone has a very bad roommate..(lol)
We had TORPASTA at the restaurant,
TORPASTA is the sandwich of pasta.
Sounds weird? lol
It is like pasta in the bread...
Yeah, it was a kind of surprising to see it for the first time,,
The taste was.....hmmmmm not bad, not perfect..
Seeing is believing
this is TORPASTA
James (one of my roomie)
Leslie (one of my roomie)
Nima (one of my roomies)
Dec 5, 2010
Damn
The second paper returned. The grade was as bad as the first one.
that was C-
And the TA commented on the paper,
"I was VERY lenient with this grade. DON'T DO THIS ON FINAL PAPER"
Damn! So mean! What a mean TA?
"VERY lenient" ??
Ha! So what !?
maybe if I turn same level paper, I will fail.
But this is so mean! uh,,frustrated...
that was C-
And the TA commented on the paper,
"I was VERY lenient with this grade. DON'T DO THIS ON FINAL PAPER"
Damn! So mean! What a mean TA?
"VERY lenient" ??
Ha! So what !?
maybe if I turn same level paper, I will fail.
But this is so mean! uh,,frustrated...
Dec 4, 2010
All the classes in fall quarter has finished
Today, all the classes in fall quarter finished!
Ten weeks has passed really soon. But all the course I took in this quarter were interesting except for Gospel choir. That was okay.
I hope I could pass all the course...lol
The only thing I can be sure is that I can pass the Gospel choir course.
How about other course? ....lol
I never thought writing English (or writing paper) was so hard.
Pretty much hard.
To Japanese people who want to study abroad
Important English skills are not speaking and listening, but reading and writing.
writing...it might be nightmare..
I took a bad grade again on second writing assignment of the course, "Debating multiculturalism" The topic was Vietnamese immigrants to the U.S.
What was wrong??
I need to improve writing skills. To write sophisticated English, I also need to read more books.
Final topics is "Iraq immigration(refugee) from Iraq war"...
I hope I can get better grade next time.
by the way, I've done a final individual project paper assignment of the course "History and Theory of bilingual education"
Having done group project presentation and individual project paper, there is nothing to do about this course! Yeah!
That was nice class. The content was really interesting for me, which makes me feeling whether I change the topic of my final thesis from "critical analysis of English education policy in Japan" to "Bilingual education for minority children related to Japan"
hmmmmmm
But the bilingual education seems more interesting to me now...lol
I have a lot of resources here in California and less people know about minority children in Japan. It's meaningful to introduce this issue to the society by my thesis.
I can get real resources by interview to minority students, which support my thesis convincing.
Also this topic is closely connected to the immigrant policy.
That sounds interesting..
ahhhhhhhhhh.
The only things I can do is
study for final exam of "introduction of linguistics"
and
writing assignment about "Iraq immigrant"
---
appendix
the group member of bilingual education group project.
I love this team. I wanted to do more group project with this members.
Dec 2, 2010
Presentation
I finished the group project of bilingual education course.
I was so happy because through this group project every member was very king and helped me a lot. They checked and edited my poor writing English, they taught me a lot of funny things about the United States and the UCSD. I am a really lucky person who can meet such nice people. Other groups seem not so friendly as us.
Speaking of presentation, I felt a little bit nervous before starting, but I did well.
Our topic of the project was searching for the Canadian bilingual education.
My part was comparative analysis of bilingual education between Canada and the United States.
Summarizing, I can say Canada has official languages: English and French. But the United States doesn't have any official languages. This has a big influence on people's attitude toward bilingual education. Many of Canadian have incentives to learn French. They are very positive, because it is declared that French is also an official language. In contrast, some Anglophone citizens have xenophobia and they don't feel necessity to learn foreign languages. This makes differences in success of bilingual education..
Finally, after doing a presentation. We took a group picture as my memory.
Thank you, Ariel, Nader, Mat, Ariadne, Margaret, Sarah, and Audrey.
By the way,
one of the Japanese students in this study abroad program talked to me about what courses she is going to take.
She said, "I am going to "English Conversation" course opened at UCSD extension.
I asked her, "Why?"
She said, "I don't feel any progress of my English skills though I have been here already for three months. I want to improve my English skills and communicate with native speakers better, that is why I will take conversation course."
Me : ".............."
I said nothing to her anymore at that time...
but that was a totally stupid idea, because...
1. We cannot improve foreign language skills in such a short time period like three months even if we are in a foreign country. Second language acquisition doesn't happen only in one night. We really need to be patient.
2. Even if she takes the "conversation course", she might not be able to communicate with native speakers of English smoothly. That is because there might (must) be a lot of "non-native" speakers (especially lots of Japanese) in the "conversation course". It might be meaningless for her to converse with non-native speakers in the class.
3. "Conversation course" sounds so boring. Think about if we take the course named "Conversation" in our native language. There is no interesting contents in it. First of all, there is nothing we can learn in terms of academic. The only thing she can gain from that course is lots of Japanese friends who doesn't speak English well.
4. Wanting to be able to communicate with native speakers? What for do we live in a dorm!? Everyone (of-course including she and me) lives in a dorm with NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH. They are next to the door. She can talk with them every time. She has already enough opportunity for practice.
5. UCSD extension is not actual UCSD. I was wondering why she doesn't take usual regular courses of UCSD, even if she can take them. What for did she come here? She can take "conversation course" even in NOVA..lol
Oops.
I got a little bit critical...
But I'm pretty sure that I don't think that's good idea.
In terms of second language acquisition, we need to be patient.
Luckily, I feel my English (especially listening skills and speaking skills) improving, though.
good night
I was so happy because through this group project every member was very king and helped me a lot. They checked and edited my poor writing English, they taught me a lot of funny things about the United States and the UCSD. I am a really lucky person who can meet such nice people. Other groups seem not so friendly as us.
Speaking of presentation, I felt a little bit nervous before starting, but I did well.
Our topic of the project was searching for the Canadian bilingual education.
My part was comparative analysis of bilingual education between Canada and the United States.
Summarizing, I can say Canada has official languages: English and French. But the United States doesn't have any official languages. This has a big influence on people's attitude toward bilingual education. Many of Canadian have incentives to learn French. They are very positive, because it is declared that French is also an official language. In contrast, some Anglophone citizens have xenophobia and they don't feel necessity to learn foreign languages. This makes differences in success of bilingual education..
Finally, after doing a presentation. We took a group picture as my memory.
Thank you, Ariel, Nader, Mat, Ariadne, Margaret, Sarah, and Audrey.
By the way,
one of the Japanese students in this study abroad program talked to me about what courses she is going to take.
She said, "I am going to "English Conversation" course opened at UCSD extension.
I asked her, "Why?"
She said, "I don't feel any progress of my English skills though I have been here already for three months. I want to improve my English skills and communicate with native speakers better, that is why I will take conversation course."
Me : ".............."
I said nothing to her anymore at that time...
but that was a totally stupid idea, because...
1. We cannot improve foreign language skills in such a short time period like three months even if we are in a foreign country. Second language acquisition doesn't happen only in one night. We really need to be patient.
2. Even if she takes the "conversation course", she might not be able to communicate with native speakers of English smoothly. That is because there might (must) be a lot of "non-native" speakers (especially lots of Japanese) in the "conversation course". It might be meaningless for her to converse with non-native speakers in the class.
3. "Conversation course" sounds so boring. Think about if we take the course named "Conversation" in our native language. There is no interesting contents in it. First of all, there is nothing we can learn in terms of academic. The only thing she can gain from that course is lots of Japanese friends who doesn't speak English well.
4. Wanting to be able to communicate with native speakers? What for do we live in a dorm!? Everyone (of-course including she and me) lives in a dorm with NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH. They are next to the door. She can talk with them every time. She has already enough opportunity for practice.
5. UCSD extension is not actual UCSD. I was wondering why she doesn't take usual regular courses of UCSD, even if she can take them. What for did she come here? She can take "conversation course" even in NOVA..lol
Oops.
I got a little bit critical...
But I'm pretty sure that I don't think that's good idea.
In terms of second language acquisition, we need to be patient.
Luckily, I feel my English (especially listening skills and speaking skills) improving, though.
good night
Nov 30, 2010
Good job
We've done one course of this quarter. Gospel Choir.
Today was the Gospel choir concert.
Finally I finished this class.
I like singing and chorus, but this course was really boring and frustrating.
That is because, we don't get any lyrics and scores of the songs.
To matters worse, we practice only one and a half hour in a week.
When I was a junior high school, we practiced singing everyday for the chorus competition.
That was hard, but everyone was serious to win.
On the other hand, one practice in a week is certainly not enough for making great performance.
I feel a kind of frustrating for incomplete performance.
We cannot memorize note and lyrics, which cause worse performance.
I wasn't moved so much after concert finished.
Maybe I will not take this course in next quarter.
Today was the Gospel choir concert.
Finally I finished this class.
I like singing and chorus, but this course was really boring and frustrating.
That is because, we don't get any lyrics and scores of the songs.
To matters worse, we practice only one and a half hour in a week.
When I was a junior high school, we practiced singing everyday for the chorus competition.
That was hard, but everyone was serious to win.
On the other hand, one practice in a week is certainly not enough for making great performance.
I feel a kind of frustrating for incomplete performance.
We cannot memorize note and lyrics, which cause worse performance.
I wasn't moved so much after concert finished.
Maybe I will not take this course in next quarter.
Final week
This week is week 10, which means the final week of this fall quarter..
I can't believe time has passed so fast!
After finishing this week, final exam will come...uh...
I am taking three courses, but only one of them has final.
The other two assign us the writing assignment.
One is proposing effective bilingual education program for minority children.
I just decided to specify it for Japanese students living in California.
For them I propose using book effectively to keep their Japanese literacy.
I also mentioned about manga (lol... but seriously) It sounds like funny, but seriously I think manga is effective for minority Japanese students living in California to keep Japanese literacy.
That is because manga is written in contemporary Japanese with "Furigana" in all Kanji appearing in it. This is really helpful. They can keep Kanji literacy having fun of reading manga.
Manga also includes cultural contexts of Japan. If they are living in the U.S., it might be difficult for them to imagine how Japanese society is and how Japanese students, same age of them, spend daily life. But reading manga, they can be supported to imagine the life or society of Japan.
But I need to support my arguments by sound citation... It is hard to find supportive resources for the merit of reading manga for keeping Japanese literacy of minority students...
lol
Second assignment is writing about Iraq refugees and immigrants because of the Iraq war.
San Diego has the big community of Iraq people fled from Iraq in the Iraq war...
I am looking forward to winter break...
I am planning to travel to NYC and grand circle drive trip (including Grad Canyon and monument Valley)
Nov 29, 2010
Super Fascinating, Super Fantastic, San Francisco
I'm back from San Francisco trip!
That was really exciting trip! I saw lots of beautiful scenery and interesting place and things.
California is really big. (actually it's bigger than Japan)
San Francisco is far away from San Diego, it took about more than 8 hours by car.
It's like Tokyo-Osaka in Japan.
we rent a car by 5 people.
San Francisco is port town, but there are lots of islands and peninsulas. 8 bridges are crossing in this area. That is why this area called, "Bay area"
In this area, there are lots of type of race. As you know, the United States is really diverse. Especially, California is diverse. And, especially San Francisco is diverse! (So is LA)
Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Korean, Hispanic, Salvadoran, Vietnamese, Japanese, ......
All of these are mixing in this city.
Town is mainly up and down hills. Cable car is used to run this up and down hills.
Not only ethnic, but also sexuality is one of the factors which make SF more diverse.
I mean, there is a big gay community here in SF.
I saw a gay couple for the first time...
Have fun with pictures.
China town
cable car
this is golden gate bridge
city hall
Japan town
SF's night view
crab in Fisherman's wharf
cram chauder
Fisherman's wharf
SF's skyscraper
That was really exciting trip! I saw lots of beautiful scenery and interesting place and things.
California is really big. (actually it's bigger than Japan)
San Francisco is far away from San Diego, it took about more than 8 hours by car.
It's like Tokyo-Osaka in Japan.
we rent a car by 5 people.
San Francisco is port town, but there are lots of islands and peninsulas. 8 bridges are crossing in this area. That is why this area called, "Bay area"
In this area, there are lots of type of race. As you know, the United States is really diverse. Especially, California is diverse. And, especially San Francisco is diverse! (So is LA)
Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Korean, Hispanic, Salvadoran, Vietnamese, Japanese, ......
All of these are mixing in this city.
Town is mainly up and down hills. Cable car is used to run this up and down hills.
Not only ethnic, but also sexuality is one of the factors which make SF more diverse.
I mean, there is a big gay community here in SF.
I saw a gay couple for the first time...
Have fun with pictures.
China town
cable car
this is golden gate bridge
city hall
Japan town
Fisherman's wharf
SF's skyscraper
Nov 24, 2010
Thanksgiving
I've just finished turning in my writing assignment about Vietnam immigrants to the United States caused by the Vietnam War.
I had been working on it until 4am....that was totally crazy.
I recognized that I had power and patient to keep study or work staying up late at night.
Maybe I got used to doing it by way of exams in high school.
I need to do that more well scheduled way...
before turning in it, I just had my room mates check my paper.
He revised lots of my English mistake and sentence structures.
I hope this paper will be better than previous one. I don't want D anymore...lol
Then we are having one of the biggest holiday, Thanksgiving!
I'm going to the Bay Area (San Francisco) to go to my friends house.
i hope I can touch American cultural holiday there.
then see you!
I had been working on it until 4am....that was totally crazy.
I recognized that I had power and patient to keep study or work staying up late at night.
Maybe I got used to doing it by way of exams in high school.
I need to do that more well scheduled way...
before turning in it, I just had my room mates check my paper.
He revised lots of my English mistake and sentence structures.
I hope this paper will be better than previous one. I don't want D anymore...lol
Then we are having one of the biggest holiday, Thanksgiving!
I'm going to the Bay Area (San Francisco) to go to my friends house.
i hope I can touch American cultural holiday there.
then see you!
Nov 23, 2010
lol
To know what is going on in the Sophia Swim team now, I just googled (google became verb! did you know that?) "Sophia Univ Swim Team", and I found another blog one of the study abroad American students made. He was in out team in the last year. He practiced with us together.
That was really funny, cause he is writing about me, menu-maker of the team.
"The crazy evil menu-maker made f*cking hard menu today again. He is really evil."
wwww lol
Maybe I was an evil for beginner of the swimming. But he became very faster in the end, which means perfect! lol
That was really funny, cause he is writing about me, menu-maker of the team.
"The crazy evil menu-maker made f*cking hard menu today again. He is really evil."
wwww lol
Maybe I was an evil for beginner of the swimming. But he became very faster in the end, which means perfect! lol
Nov 22, 2010
Just complaining.
On Sat, I went to the Six Flags with a Japanese girl, I name,B.
There is another boy (Japanese), I name A, who seems to be trying to ask B to become his gf.
There is nothing between me and B.
That boy and the girl look very close friends.
He might got shocked when he heard she would go to the Six Flags with me.
And then, he asked her to talk with him only a few minutes before we leave for the Six Flags on Sat at 6am! (so early,,,he just got up only to talk with her...)
He made me and other guys apart from them two,
They talked about something important...that atmosphere was that he was saying to her, "I love you", "Would you be my gf?" or something.
And after that, she came back to the car, and we left.
On our way home home, he called me, "When are you coming back to the dorm?" that's weird and rare..
Maybe he might really want to see her and was waiting for her reply or something,,
On the way, we dropped off the Korean supermarket, and B and I just found the good potluck food set and we decided to share it. We just planned to eat dinner together on the next day.
After coming back home, A met B,,,,we had dinner at the A's place.
they had some conversation.
And after B left the room, A got so depressed...
Maybe B said to him, "No, I can't be your gf" or something.
Maybe because he got the information of that me and B would eat dinner together on Sun,(just sharing food.there is nothing special)
He suddenly asked me, "Can I join your dinner?" (maybe he got jealous), I said, "Sure"
On the next day (Sunday)
he called me, "the place of eating dinner changed, we will hold it on C(another Japanese guy)'s house. do you wanna join?"
"Do you wanna join?" ?
sounds weird. becausem it was me and B who planned the dinner.
Why did he ask me, "Do you wanna join?"
As i bought the potluck set food by myself, I don't have any option other than go.
Then I went to the C's house.
Soon after we started to eat dinner, i found, they (A,B,C) were very close friends.
They often do surfing very well.
They were talkin only about very private thing only they can understand all the time.
Which means I cannot join the conversation..
I couldn't totally understand what was going on.
Maybe, he wanted to show me how close they (A,B,C) are..
Damn!
I didn't do anything special.
Just trying to have dinner together with B.
Why did he disturb me??
and C was also a crazy man.
He pretend to be cool or wise or he knows everything very well,
but actually, he doesn't have any academic knowledge.
He tried to have a discusstion (or debate) against me
about politics or education policy or many topics.
But his opinion or thinking was tottaly illogic.
He was making his opinion more complicated by hisself.
But he tries to show off how he was smart..(not really)
There is another boy (Japanese), I name A, who seems to be trying to ask B to become his gf.
There is nothing between me and B.
That boy and the girl look very close friends.
He might got shocked when he heard she would go to the Six Flags with me.
And then, he asked her to talk with him only a few minutes before we leave for the Six Flags on Sat at 6am! (so early,,,he just got up only to talk with her...)
He made me and other guys apart from them two,
They talked about something important...that atmosphere was that he was saying to her, "I love you", "Would you be my gf?" or something.
And after that, she came back to the car, and we left.
On our way home home, he called me, "When are you coming back to the dorm?" that's weird and rare..
Maybe he might really want to see her and was waiting for her reply or something,,
On the way, we dropped off the Korean supermarket, and B and I just found the good potluck food set and we decided to share it. We just planned to eat dinner together on the next day.
After coming back home, A met B,,,,we had dinner at the A's place.
they had some conversation.
And after B left the room, A got so depressed...
Maybe B said to him, "No, I can't be your gf" or something.
Maybe because he got the information of that me and B would eat dinner together on Sun,(just sharing food.there is nothing special)
He suddenly asked me, "Can I join your dinner?" (maybe he got jealous), I said, "Sure"
On the next day (Sunday)
he called me, "the place of eating dinner changed, we will hold it on C(another Japanese guy)'s house. do you wanna join?"
"Do you wanna join?" ?
sounds weird. becausem it was me and B who planned the dinner.
Why did he ask me, "Do you wanna join?"
As i bought the potluck set food by myself, I don't have any option other than go.
Then I went to the C's house.
Soon after we started to eat dinner, i found, they (A,B,C) were very close friends.
They often do surfing very well.
They were talkin only about very private thing only they can understand all the time.
Which means I cannot join the conversation..
I couldn't totally understand what was going on.
Maybe, he wanted to show me how close they (A,B,C) are..
Damn!
I didn't do anything special.
Just trying to have dinner together with B.
Why did he disturb me??
and C was also a crazy man.
He pretend to be cool or wise or he knows everything very well,
but actually, he doesn't have any academic knowledge.
He tried to have a discusstion (or debate) against me
about politics or education policy or many topics.
But his opinion or thinking was tottaly illogic.
He was making his opinion more complicated by hisself.
But he tries to show off how he was smart..(not really)
Nov 21, 2010
From thrilling to thrilling all day long
I went to the Six Flags Magic Mountain yesterday.
As we expected, it was raining...
But next week, we have a thanksgiving holiday, and try to go to San Francisco.
There is no time else to go there, and we decided to go..
Soon after we arrived at the park, I saw the crazy roller coasters are working!
Yes! But in Japan, if it's rainy, many of the coasters will stop easily, but here it doesn't seem that they will stop the machine at all lol.
Magic Mountain is known as one of the most thrilling amusement park which has a lot of crazy roller coasters.
That was really crazy. And fun! As you know, i love roller coasters. I tried to ride all the rides in a day, I couldn't, cause there were so many rides!
First, I rode the ride, called X2, a similar ride to "eejanaika" in Fuji-Q high land.
That was really crazy as I thought..lol Exciting. But I just thought eejanaika was more thrilling than this X2. Good Job, Fuji-Q
This park has a lot of unique coasters other than X2, which includes Standing roller coaster, Flying coaster, inverted coaster,,,whatever...
My favorite one was....the Flying coaster, called Tatsu.
In this Machine, the ride is facing the ground all the time.
The ride is hanging the rail.
You'll see. when you check the Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiJzCsn5g98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxSIK_oVzc4&feature=related
That was totally crazy.. beyond the description.
Japan should have this kind of coaster...
Anyway after we enjoyed the park, we got back...
One of my Korean friends took us to the park by his car
The park is located in LA, so it takes about 2 hours from San Diego using Free Way..
The most scare thing was that his driving was very dangerous!
That was another roller coaster..lol
He drives on the very side wedge...causing the car moving and vibrating very badly.
When he changed the lane, we just about to crash another car running over 140km/h..
also his driving was zigzag.....we were about to die...
As we expected, it was raining...
But next week, we have a thanksgiving holiday, and try to go to San Francisco.
There is no time else to go there, and we decided to go..
Soon after we arrived at the park, I saw the crazy roller coasters are working!
Yes! But in Japan, if it's rainy, many of the coasters will stop easily, but here it doesn't seem that they will stop the machine at all lol.
Magic Mountain is known as one of the most thrilling amusement park which has a lot of crazy roller coasters.
That was really crazy. And fun! As you know, i love roller coasters. I tried to ride all the rides in a day, I couldn't, cause there were so many rides!
First, I rode the ride, called X2, a similar ride to "eejanaika" in Fuji-Q high land.
That was really crazy as I thought..lol Exciting. But I just thought eejanaika was more thrilling than this X2. Good Job, Fuji-Q
This park has a lot of unique coasters other than X2, which includes Standing roller coaster, Flying coaster, inverted coaster,,,whatever...
My favorite one was....the Flying coaster, called Tatsu.
In this Machine, the ride is facing the ground all the time.
The ride is hanging the rail.
You'll see. when you check the Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiJzCsn5g98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxSIK_oVzc4&feature=related
That was totally crazy.. beyond the description.
Japan should have this kind of coaster...
Anyway after we enjoyed the park, we got back...
One of my Korean friends took us to the park by his car
The park is located in LA, so it takes about 2 hours from San Diego using Free Way..
The most scare thing was that his driving was very dangerous!
That was another roller coaster..lol
He drives on the very side wedge...causing the car moving and vibrating very badly.
When he changed the lane, we just about to crash another car running over 140km/h..
also his driving was zigzag.....we were about to die...
Nov 20, 2010
please be clear
Next week, we have a big break, Thanksgiving day break. we have holiday 4days in row.
I am going to go to San Francisco in this break. I want to see Golden Gate Bridge or Fisherman's warf of something.
Tomorrow, finally I can take a rest in this busy day. I am going to an amusement park in LA, the Six Flags Magic Mountain. It is like Fuji-Q Highland in Japan. I really love thrilling roller coasters. I am very looking forward to it. But the weather forecast is saying, it's rainy tomorrow in 80%..lol
I hope all the machines are working even though it's raining. If every coaster is stopping, I will die.
Please.
I am going to go to San Francisco in this break. I want to see Golden Gate Bridge or Fisherman's warf of something.
Tomorrow, finally I can take a rest in this busy day. I am going to an amusement park in LA, the Six Flags Magic Mountain. It is like Fuji-Q Highland in Japan. I really love thrilling roller coasters. I am very looking forward to it. But the weather forecast is saying, it's rainy tomorrow in 80%..lol
I hope all the machines are working even though it's raining. If every coaster is stopping, I will die.
Please.
Nov 17, 2010
"Global..." lol
I just saw the news about "Rakuten" the Japanese IT company which now is trying to proceed Anglicization on the CNN student news.
Here.
http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/?iref=allsearch
You can see the news in the latter part of whole the news. ( the news is on Nov. 17th)
That sounds so stupid, I think. Why does it try to force all the workers to use English in Japan.
Very weird strategy. That will definately cause less communication between workers or bosses.
And I found that the president Mikitani doesn't speak English fluently...(like Hatoyama previous prime minister....lol) The scene two businessmen are hugging each other shoutin something in English look so stupid, ridiculous!! Stop it, please! Maybe other companies or other foreign countries' people think this stupid....
Mikitani said, "We, Rakuten become global company in next 10 years. like Google or Yahoo."
CNN reporters got a little bit surprised, which is very natural. ("Ten years!?")
What a stupid company....
Finally, CNN added very sarcastic comments.
"Rakuten means 'optimistic' in Japanese."
This sounds that CNN makes fun of Rakuten. lol
Yeah, exactly Rakuten is optimistic, and they don't understand what is global what they should do.
It seems like "Rokumeikan" in old era in Japan. (Do you guys remember it?)
Such a short term like ten years is not enough for all the workers to speak English fluently and communicate with each other without feeling any barriers. Absolutely not!! Learning foreign languages is not easy as they think. Just enjoying conversation is OK. But using it as an official langauge in the office is so hard, I promise.
I hope that other companies in Japan do not follow this kind of stupid strategy.
Here.
http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/?iref=allsearch
You can see the news in the latter part of whole the news. ( the news is on Nov. 17th)
That sounds so stupid, I think. Why does it try to force all the workers to use English in Japan.
Very weird strategy. That will definately cause less communication between workers or bosses.
And I found that the president Mikitani doesn't speak English fluently...(like Hatoyama previous prime minister....lol) The scene two businessmen are hugging each other shoutin something in English look so stupid, ridiculous!! Stop it, please! Maybe other companies or other foreign countries' people think this stupid....
Mikitani said, "We, Rakuten become global company in next 10 years. like Google or Yahoo."
CNN reporters got a little bit surprised, which is very natural. ("Ten years!?")
What a stupid company....
Finally, CNN added very sarcastic comments.
"Rakuten means 'optimistic' in Japanese."
This sounds that CNN makes fun of Rakuten. lol
Yeah, exactly Rakuten is optimistic, and they don't understand what is global what they should do.
It seems like "Rokumeikan" in old era in Japan. (Do you guys remember it?)
Such a short term like ten years is not enough for all the workers to speak English fluently and communicate with each other without feeling any barriers. Absolutely not!! Learning foreign languages is not easy as they think. Just enjoying conversation is OK. But using it as an official langauge in the office is so hard, I promise.
I hope that other companies in Japan do not follow this kind of stupid strategy.
Nov 16, 2010
Emperor?
One of my Korean friends often asks me, "How's Japanese emperor?"
...."Uh, I don't know. For many of us, He is just a symbol..He doesn't do any political thing."
Which caused me to think, "What is Japanese emperor?"
Strictly, he is not an "emperor", so i should not say he is emperor. But I can't find any other good words other than emperor.
It's kind of interesting, Korean, foreigners care about Japanese "emperor", but we don't.
Actually, he is in the top in the Japanese society, undoubtedly he should be treated the most preciously, respectfully. For foreign perspective, he can be seen pretty much important person in Japan.
Yeah, he is important, but we don't care about him so often, do we?
I very often think about what Japan is, who Japanese are, what Japanese are like since I came here, because every my friends says to me, "You are very Japanese."
What is Japanese?
This interesting question will never end...
I am very attracted to think about that kind of thing, I just decided to take a course about Japan in next quarter. (not "Japanese skill")
Maybe, in next quarter I take
1. 1st and 2nd language acquisition/ childhood to adolescent
2. Language as a cognitive system
3. Change of Japanese culture through 20th century
4. Social problems in the United States
...."Uh, I don't know. For many of us, He is just a symbol..He doesn't do any political thing."
Which caused me to think, "What is Japanese emperor?"
Strictly, he is not an "emperor", so i should not say he is emperor. But I can't find any other good words other than emperor.
It's kind of interesting, Korean, foreigners care about Japanese "emperor", but we don't.
Actually, he is in the top in the Japanese society, undoubtedly he should be treated the most preciously, respectfully. For foreign perspective, he can be seen pretty much important person in Japan.
Yeah, he is important, but we don't care about him so often, do we?
I very often think about what Japan is, who Japanese are, what Japanese are like since I came here, because every my friends says to me, "You are very Japanese."
What is Japanese?
This interesting question will never end...
I am very attracted to think about that kind of thing, I just decided to take a course about Japan in next quarter. (not "Japanese skill")
Maybe, in next quarter I take
1. 1st and 2nd language acquisition/ childhood to adolescent
2. Language as a cognitive system
3. Change of Japanese culture through 20th century
4. Social problems in the United States
Nov 15, 2010
Super
The super craziest thing happened at TOEIC test on last Saturday.
In the middle of the listening section, the CD player got broken....
I have never taken such a stupid test. It was obvious that test monitor didn't prepare well. In the States, of course, TOEIC is not popular, I should say, rare, so they did prepare easy-ongoing way. But for me that was important test.. I need certain score to apply for teaching job,, anyway, that was lucky that test was not the last chance, though I don't want to take it again..
After that, I went to the scenic place called Point of Roma. That was awesome...beyond description. I stood on the cliff and saw sunset. i felt nostalgic with ballad songs.. I know I like romantic. I found that the earth is round at the place.
From next week, I need to start hard study again. I have crazy writing assignment. This time, the topic is Vietnam war and the immigrants to the States from Vietnam.
Nov 12, 2010
TOEIC
Tomorrow is TOEIC test. I'll take it to take advantage in the test for teaching job.
If I have score more than 860, I don't have to take English exam in teaching job test.
Uh,,,it's been a while since I took English test last time...
I hope my listening will not be broken...
I want to take more than 900....
Please...
If I fail it, I need to take it again before I go back to Japan..
Oh, my god, please give me 860 score...lol
see yah,
I will wake up 5;30 tomorrow.
If I have score more than 860, I don't have to take English exam in teaching job test.
Uh,,,it's been a while since I took English test last time...
I hope my listening will not be broken...
I want to take more than 900....
Please...
If I fail it, I need to take it again before I go back to Japan..
Oh, my god, please give me 860 score...lol
see yah,
I will wake up 5;30 tomorrow.
American perception
Today, Thursday is the day of the meeting of Roosevelt institute. So I joined the meeting to decide what kind of research we will do.
We decided to focus on California, and following three fields.
1. Corporation financing to public school
2. Curriculum change
3. Incentive to retain teachers
I want to research for curriculum change, because I can compare it to that of Japanese.
But every other member are from Californian high school, but of-course I am not, so I need to get background knowledge about Californian school system.
First of all, in California, mandating education is Kindergarten to High school. So long.
That is why everyone calls it "K-12" (Kinder to 12 grades.)
Funniest thing about Californian public school I heard from other members is that some schools set monitor camera at every place in school even in the bathroom!!
And then, teachers care about students doing touchy-filly thing, so they have school rules like "Don't touch anyone. Don't hug."
Wow...This is not only between boys and girls, but also boys and boys, because they sometimes see gay. But this is so excessive...what an American school..
Tonight, I just went to a Japanese girl room to lend my rice cooker. She called me just to use my rice cooker..
Anyway, I found very interesting thing in the room.
She and her roommates make their space well organized, and they made "House rules"
It has 12 rules.
Rule 1. "Don't have party in our suite" (That is good)
Rule 2. "Wash the dishes soon after we use them"
....
...
Rule 6 "Never be raped here. Never call guys to have sex here." (.....yeah, this is also good rules)
Rule 8 "Be nice, kiss"
.....
Rule 12 "When we see our roommates masturbating, we will never stop it."
!!! What a crazy rule 12....
American is crazy, or Japanese is too shy.. I don't know which is right.
Why do they have to make that kind of rule? Does it mean that they do "it" very often in public???
We decided to focus on California, and following three fields.
1. Corporation financing to public school
2. Curriculum change
3. Incentive to retain teachers
I want to research for curriculum change, because I can compare it to that of Japanese.
But every other member are from Californian high school, but of-course I am not, so I need to get background knowledge about Californian school system.
First of all, in California, mandating education is Kindergarten to High school. So long.
That is why everyone calls it "K-12" (Kinder to 12 grades.)
Funniest thing about Californian public school I heard from other members is that some schools set monitor camera at every place in school even in the bathroom!!
And then, teachers care about students doing touchy-filly thing, so they have school rules like "Don't touch anyone. Don't hug."
Wow...This is not only between boys and girls, but also boys and boys, because they sometimes see gay. But this is so excessive...what an American school..
Tonight, I just went to a Japanese girl room to lend my rice cooker. She called me just to use my rice cooker..
Anyway, I found very interesting thing in the room.
She and her roommates make their space well organized, and they made "House rules"
It has 12 rules.
Rule 1. "Don't have party in our suite" (That is good)
Rule 2. "Wash the dishes soon after we use them"
....
...
Rule 6 "Never be raped here. Never call guys to have sex here." (.....yeah, this is also good rules)
Rule 8 "Be nice, kiss"
.....
Rule 12 "When we see our roommates masturbating, we will never stop it."
!!! What a crazy rule 12....
American is crazy, or Japanese is too shy.. I don't know which is right.
Why do they have to make that kind of rule? Does it mean that they do "it" very often in public???
Nov 11, 2010
Veteran's day
Tomorrow is veteran's day, so it's holiday and we don't have any classes! Yap.
But this veteran's day causes bad memory for me.
One of my friends invited me to come to his room and drink together.
It has been a while since I drank last time, so I just replied, "Cool, thank you inviting! I'll come!"
And, after 10pm, i went there...
That was so chaotic. He already got drunk and he didn't talk with me anymore, and all other people are strangers. I was alone, and every others know each other well. They were enjoying talking, but I wasn't.
My friends is rolling on the ground, and one guy started to have s*x with a girl..(That's because they two got drunk so much.)
What the f*ck! So stupid! I have never seen such a stupid party.
Finally, they are so loud that the police came in to the room, and they asked us to show our ID.
Soon, I ran away from there! Why do I have to show my ID to be checked? I did nothing!
Bad memory....
But this veteran's day causes bad memory for me.
One of my friends invited me to come to his room and drink together.
It has been a while since I drank last time, so I just replied, "Cool, thank you inviting! I'll come!"
And, after 10pm, i went there...
That was so chaotic. He already got drunk and he didn't talk with me anymore, and all other people are strangers. I was alone, and every others know each other well. They were enjoying talking, but I wasn't.
My friends is rolling on the ground, and one guy started to have s*x with a girl..(That's because they two got drunk so much.)
What the f*ck! So stupid! I have never seen such a stupid party.
Finally, they are so loud that the police came in to the room, and they asked us to show our ID.
Soon, I ran away from there! Why do I have to show my ID to be checked? I did nothing!
Bad memory....
Nov 10, 2010
Oh my GOD
When I was eating lunch at dinning restaurant, two strangers came up to me
and talked, "Hi! How's it going? Good?"
What? I do not know you two...
I said, "Ah,,yes,, but,,sorry, I don't think I met you before"
they said
"Oh, yeah, by the way, I am Nancy and this is Zak. We were just about to look for the person who wear red shirt."
Exactly I wear red shirt (which has big "HEAD" logo on chest. Someone, do you remember? I wear it especially when i do sport.).
But anyway, that is still strange, why did they try to meet the person who wear red shirt?
I asked, "But,, why..."
"Actually, the God told us to meet and bless the person who wear red shirt this morning. That's why we talked to you."
"The God" ?? Wow. I met really religious people at the first time. I see. "The God" said it.
That is kind of very culture shock things.
Honestly, I said, "What? God?"
They asked me, "Didn't you hear that?"
"No."
"Oh, what kind of religion do you have?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing!!?? Don't you have any religion????"
"Ah,,,well,,,actually, no. More or less, some of Japanese people do not have religion."
"I see. cool..Anyway The God bless you."
Thanks anyway, strangers for pray.
and talked, "Hi! How's it going? Good?"
What? I do not know you two...
I said, "Ah,,yes,, but,,sorry, I don't think I met you before"
they said
"Oh, yeah, by the way, I am Nancy and this is Zak. We were just about to look for the person who wear red shirt."
Exactly I wear red shirt (which has big "HEAD" logo on chest. Someone, do you remember? I wear it especially when i do sport.).
But anyway, that is still strange, why did they try to meet the person who wear red shirt?
I asked, "But,, why..."
"Actually, the God told us to meet and bless the person who wear red shirt this morning. That's why we talked to you."
"The God" ?? Wow. I met really religious people at the first time. I see. "The God" said it.
That is kind of very culture shock things.
Honestly, I said, "What? God?"
They asked me, "Didn't you hear that?"
"No."
"Oh, what kind of religion do you have?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing!!?? Don't you have any religion????"
"Ah,,,well,,,actually, no. More or less, some of Japanese people do not have religion."
"I see. cool..Anyway The God bless you."
Thanks anyway, strangers for pray.
Nov 9, 2010
NABE
I need to take some rest. I read a book all day long today.
That is about bilingual education, I saw tons of words "bilingual"...
I don't wanna see it anymore.
Because of that, one of my friends invited me to an event, which he called "NABE party"
Soon I reacted, "NABE? National Association Bilingual Education?"
He said, "what? no, it's n-a-b-e. Japanese food, it's kind of like shabushabu."
lol
I read Soseki Natsume often now. That sounds sophisticated. That is good. I should have enjoyed Japanese literature before. I found it important to know famous Japanese literature as culture.
That is about bilingual education, I saw tons of words "bilingual"...
I don't wanna see it anymore.
Because of that, one of my friends invited me to an event, which he called "NABE party"
Soon I reacted, "NABE? National Association Bilingual Education?"
He said, "what? no, it's n-a-b-e. Japanese food, it's kind of like shabushabu."
lol
I read Soseki Natsume often now. That sounds sophisticated. That is good. I should have enjoyed Japanese literature before. I found it important to know famous Japanese literature as culture.
Nov 8, 2010
The end of the summer time
Here, we have summer time in the States unlike Japan.
So from today, we got out from summer time.
I gained one hour today. It feels weird and interesting. Today is 25 hours.
Wow. The time lag between the U.S. and Japan became 17 hours from 16 hours.
Today, I worked on looking for good resources for our group work in the course, bilingual education. Group work is hard for me, because I have some responsibility for working. Every other people can do the same work easier than I. (like searching for resources) If it were an individual work, I can do it by my own pace. But I need to follow everyone's process.
OMG,,, I can't find good resources for bilingual education in Canada. Due is tomorrow.
I hope every other members also cannot find good resources.
So from today, we got out from summer time.
I gained one hour today. It feels weird and interesting. Today is 25 hours.
Wow. The time lag between the U.S. and Japan became 17 hours from 16 hours.
Today, I worked on looking for good resources for our group work in the course, bilingual education. Group work is hard for me, because I have some responsibility for working. Every other people can do the same work easier than I. (like searching for resources) If it were an individual work, I can do it by my own pace. But I need to follow everyone's process.
OMG,,, I can't find good resources for bilingual education in Canada. Due is tomorrow.
I hope every other members also cannot find good resources.
Nov 6, 2010
Funny experiment
I co-operated a funny experiment.
That experiment was psychological experiment. The researchers are study about how the attractiveness change by race.
I participated in the experiment as an Asian.
The process was that I keep on seeing lots of girl pictures, and I put some ratio of her attractiveness judging by only seeing their face.
The ratio was 1 to 7. If you are really attracted by her, you can say 7. If you felt her ugly, you can say 1.
I checked more than 100 girls' faces. lol
Maybe I tend to have a preference of Asian girls....
That was funny experiment.
From next week, I need to start dealing with crazy writing assignment again.
Last one was about El Salvador,
Next one is Vietnam....especially Vietnam war...
I didn't eat dinner at first in my life today. All the restaurants on campus are closed on Saturday.
I am hungry. But I will stand.
That experiment was psychological experiment. The researchers are study about how the attractiveness change by race.
I participated in the experiment as an Asian.
The process was that I keep on seeing lots of girl pictures, and I put some ratio of her attractiveness judging by only seeing their face.
The ratio was 1 to 7. If you are really attracted by her, you can say 7. If you felt her ugly, you can say 1.
I checked more than 100 girls' faces. lol
Maybe I tend to have a preference of Asian girls....
That was funny experiment.
From next week, I need to start dealing with crazy writing assignment again.
Last one was about El Salvador,
Next one is Vietnam....especially Vietnam war...
I didn't eat dinner at first in my life today. All the restaurants on campus are closed on Saturday.
I am hungry. But I will stand.
difficulty
I got feedback about my writing assignment from the professor.
She commented, "Your paper is complicated and confusing structure. You should learn how to write more simply and formally. In some part, your sentences are so casual."
.......damn,
I got shocked. That is the barrier between native speaker and non-native speaker.
I need to tighten up my writing skills.
This week I could concentrate on study, which satisfied me.
Next week I will concentrate on study more. I have TOEIC test on next Saturday. I need a certain score.
By the way on our campus, one girl was murdered by someone, which makes me so scary...
I can't believe that it does happen really, seriously/
She commented, "Your paper is complicated and confusing structure. You should learn how to write more simply and formally. In some part, your sentences are so casual."
.......damn,
I got shocked. That is the barrier between native speaker and non-native speaker.
I need to tighten up my writing skills.
This week I could concentrate on study, which satisfied me.
Next week I will concentrate on study more. I have TOEIC test on next Saturday. I need a certain score.
By the way on our campus, one girl was murdered by someone, which makes me so scary...
I can't believe that it does happen really, seriously/
Nov 3, 2010
Challenge
I decided to try to join a think tank.
The think tank is called Roosevelt Institute.
It aims at changing the society of the U.S. and international world.
It makes students research and think about policy or reform critically
and publish journal for suggestion or implementing new policy.
Sounds cool. Plus it has a Education section! Cool. I can put what I studied into practice. I wanna join it. But I am worried whether I can catch up the activity because of the lack of the English skills.
But maybe I will join Educational policy research section, so I can use my knowledge about bilingual education or language acquisition. I think that is gonna be nicer than very spontaneous daily conversation.
I need to study more to discuss policies on Education with other American students equally or publish journal.
This is challenge. But that kind of challenge makes me strong, I hope.
The think tank is called Roosevelt Institute.
It aims at changing the society of the U.S. and international world.
It makes students research and think about policy or reform critically
and publish journal for suggestion or implementing new policy.
Sounds cool. Plus it has a Education section! Cool. I can put what I studied into practice. I wanna join it. But I am worried whether I can catch up the activity because of the lack of the English skills.
But maybe I will join Educational policy research section, so I can use my knowledge about bilingual education or language acquisition. I think that is gonna be nicer than very spontaneous daily conversation.
I need to study more to discuss policies on Education with other American students equally or publish journal.
This is challenge. But that kind of challenge makes me strong, I hope.
Midterm
My midterm was over. Actually I didn't do so well. I should have studied more ... but I don't like that kind of technical or theoretical problem including phonetics, morphology...(they are sub-field of linguistics, boring)
Finally I can study what I want. It is very nice and amazing that I can check our the books from the library up to 100! In Sophia, I can check out only 10. There are already more than 30 books in my room.
And midterm election of the States was also over.
In California, Democrat won.
Talking about California, Proposition 19 didn't pass.
What is Proposition 19?
That is what legalize using Marijuana(Drug). I don't know about the detail information of this proposition. But some of my Californian friends seem disappointed lol.
I have once experienced Marijuana smell. I just sniffed INCIDENTALLY. (I'm serious. I do not smoke even cigarette) I was surprised that there is really people who smoke Marijuana on campus. Crazy. But that was bad smell, non-attractive...
By the way, the process of passing proposition in California is very directly.
Citizens in California vote pro/con to each proposition.
Wow! So directly. In Japan, we don't have any power to vote to proposition or act directly.
I think this system has both sides: good side and bad side.
Good side is, by this process, propositions are judged exactly by (most of) all citizens.
Bad side is that some people who don't have enough knowledge about politics or society can be controlled by other factor including advertisement, evil politician or agitators.
I hope that every citizens in California understand the importance of bilingual education and become con of the Proposition 227.
Finally I can study what I want. It is very nice and amazing that I can check our the books from the library up to 100! In Sophia, I can check out only 10. There are already more than 30 books in my room.
And midterm election of the States was also over.
In California, Democrat won.
Talking about California, Proposition 19 didn't pass.
What is Proposition 19?
That is what legalize using Marijuana(Drug). I don't know about the detail information of this proposition. But some of my Californian friends seem disappointed lol.
I have once experienced Marijuana smell. I just sniffed INCIDENTALLY. (I'm serious. I do not smoke even cigarette) I was surprised that there is really people who smoke Marijuana on campus. Crazy. But that was bad smell, non-attractive...
By the way, the process of passing proposition in California is very directly.
Citizens in California vote pro/con to each proposition.
Wow! So directly. In Japan, we don't have any power to vote to proposition or act directly.
I think this system has both sides: good side and bad side.
Good side is, by this process, propositions are judged exactly by (most of) all citizens.
Bad side is that some people who don't have enough knowledge about politics or society can be controlled by other factor including advertisement, evil politician or agitators.
I hope that every citizens in California understand the importance of bilingual education and become con of the Proposition 227.
Nov 1, 2010
problem
Nowadays, I am a little bit nervous. Maybe because of the stress from the lack of chance to talk as much as I want.
As you know, when I am talking in Japanese, I talk more or less emotionally. Especially when I am excited in talking, I use tons of words and motion. I also use rhetorical things including metaphor, emphasis, and sarcasm.
But in English, I cannot do that. I can have very usual simple conversation with my friends. I can communicate with them having that kind of "Tasteless conversation". That is not enough for me!
uh,,I am frustrated...every time I speak with friends, I can say less than 30% of what I want to say.
I have said this many times, but I want to say this again, that daily conversation is quite more difficult than usual class language skills including discussion or listening lectures. Maybe it is the level non-native speaker cannot achieve in short terms.
Now I feel (I don't know what the real thing is, but anyway), non-native speaker cannot talk with native speaker with the same competence or the same amount of expression, even if they take tons of time like ten years or more....
Now I have learned English for about 8 years. I can read, listen, write, and speak English well in a certain level. But every time I feel what I speak in English is not exactly what I want to say, that is "different" something. What is this feeling? Maybe I have grown up in using Japanese more than 20 years. That makes all my cognitive parts in my body fitted into Japanese. Every cognitive perception is Japanese on me.
Of course I know we cannot make learning language as fluent as our mother-tongue.
But this is so frustrating. Only one month or so is ok. There was no problem. That is because we just got to know each other, and introduced ourselves. We meet new people every day. At first I know we are different people, so just communicating was enough. But one month later, I come to need more high level conversation. If I were a very silent person, no problem would not happen. But in Japanese, I am very talkative.(I should say, I found I am talkative in Japanese since I came here.) To be talkative in English in usual conversation is hard....far away....
To solve this problem, what should I do?
Anyway, THERE WAS NO GOOD MEMORY IN HALLOWEEN.
As you know, when I am talking in Japanese, I talk more or less emotionally. Especially when I am excited in talking, I use tons of words and motion. I also use rhetorical things including metaphor, emphasis, and sarcasm.
But in English, I cannot do that. I can have very usual simple conversation with my friends. I can communicate with them having that kind of "Tasteless conversation". That is not enough for me!
uh,,I am frustrated...every time I speak with friends, I can say less than 30% of what I want to say.
I have said this many times, but I want to say this again, that daily conversation is quite more difficult than usual class language skills including discussion or listening lectures. Maybe it is the level non-native speaker cannot achieve in short terms.
Now I feel (I don't know what the real thing is, but anyway), non-native speaker cannot talk with native speaker with the same competence or the same amount of expression, even if they take tons of time like ten years or more....
Now I have learned English for about 8 years. I can read, listen, write, and speak English well in a certain level. But every time I feel what I speak in English is not exactly what I want to say, that is "different" something. What is this feeling? Maybe I have grown up in using Japanese more than 20 years. That makes all my cognitive parts in my body fitted into Japanese. Every cognitive perception is Japanese on me.
Of course I know we cannot make learning language as fluent as our mother-tongue.
But this is so frustrating. Only one month or so is ok. There was no problem. That is because we just got to know each other, and introduced ourselves. We meet new people every day. At first I know we are different people, so just communicating was enough. But one month later, I come to need more high level conversation. If I were a very silent person, no problem would not happen. But in Japanese, I am very talkative.(I should say, I found I am talkative in Japanese since I came here.) To be talkative in English in usual conversation is hard....far away....
To solve this problem, what should I do?
Anyway, THERE WAS NO GOOD MEMORY IN HALLOWEEN.
Oct 31, 2010
Contradiction
As one of my arguments about lots of topics, I really oppose being eager only to getting English skills. That is kind of misunderstanding and misplacing the priority. Even if people can speak English, they necessary cannot be the smart, cool and full of academic people.
Using English (or any other foreign language) as a tool to do something including communication with your friends, study or whatever is important. We should not make effort to study "English skills"
But, actually, I need to study "English skills"... that is so contradictory...I don't wanna and shouldn't study "English skills", but I need that kind of knowledge or skills to teach someone English in the future.
For example, I don't like to study a detailed grammar. I don't like to care about tiny things about the rule of writing or grammar.. But I need to do it....
So far, I always passed or ignore the word I don't know when I am reading the textbook or reading materials. That is the good way to read a book in English easily. Now I am thinking I should look up to each word I don't know to increase my vocabulary. Oh my gosh, that is gonna be hard work.. I need to learn the correct how to write a paper in English..
Does every English teacher in Japan know that kind of "English knowledge or rule, grammar" well enough??
Good night.
I saw the shooting star at first tonight....
Using English (or any other foreign language) as a tool to do something including communication with your friends, study or whatever is important. We should not make effort to study "English skills"
But, actually, I need to study "English skills"... that is so contradictory...I don't wanna and shouldn't study "English skills", but I need that kind of knowledge or skills to teach someone English in the future.
For example, I don't like to study a detailed grammar. I don't like to care about tiny things about the rule of writing or grammar.. But I need to do it....
So far, I always passed or ignore the word I don't know when I am reading the textbook or reading materials. That is the good way to read a book in English easily. Now I am thinking I should look up to each word I don't know to increase my vocabulary. Oh my gosh, that is gonna be hard work.. I need to learn the correct how to write a paper in English..
Does every English teacher in Japan know that kind of "English knowledge or rule, grammar" well enough??
Good night.
I saw the shooting star at first tonight....
Oct 29, 2010
DONE
DONE!
Finally I have finished the crazy writing assignment before due, safely.
I was gonna be crazy, because I have read about El Salvador more than 10 hours in a day for a week. American University assigns us reading and writing a lot, as I heard. I want to do something happy for me as a reward.
Tomorrow, it is gonna be Halloween. But for me, a Japanese, that is not understandable what is special in Halloween. Everyone says, "I can't wait!" or "I am so looking forward to Halloween!"
Is it so fun? I have no idea. One of my room mate is going to Santa Barbara for Halloween party. He says, there is famous crazy party in Santa Barbara. Everyone is coming to SB from anywhere else. He invited me, but I refused...sorry. That is because I can't imagine, what is so fun just to go to the UCSB and drink, and have a party? There seems nothing special. We can have a party here, San Diego. But he is going to stay two nights at Santa Barbara......uh...
Anyway, I like drinking, but I don't like crazy.
I like drunk, but I don't like crazy.
good night
Finally I have finished the crazy writing assignment before due, safely.
I was gonna be crazy, because I have read about El Salvador more than 10 hours in a day for a week. American University assigns us reading and writing a lot, as I heard. I want to do something happy for me as a reward.
Tomorrow, it is gonna be Halloween. But for me, a Japanese, that is not understandable what is special in Halloween. Everyone says, "I can't wait!" or "I am so looking forward to Halloween!"
Is it so fun? I have no idea. One of my room mate is going to Santa Barbara for Halloween party. He says, there is famous crazy party in Santa Barbara. Everyone is coming to SB from anywhere else. He invited me, but I refused...sorry. That is because I can't imagine, what is so fun just to go to the UCSB and drink, and have a party? There seems nothing special. We can have a party here, San Diego. But he is going to stay two nights at Santa Barbara......uh...
Anyway, I like drinking, but I don't like crazy.
I like drunk, but I don't like crazy.
good night
Oct 28, 2010
Library
Nowadays I use library very often. Using or staying library, I can concentrate on study. I can also study in my room, but in our suite, there is a kind room mate who always invite me to go out somewhere. I know he is kind. But at the same time I found I should not follow his invitation every time. Last Saturday, I went to the club, as I mentioned before, with him, which delays my study or doing assignments. I am spending very hard time on study because of that now. I want to avoid his invitation and concentrate on my study.
So, I decided to go to the library every day to study. I have to use the facility of university and chance of living on campus to concentrate on study. Libraries are open from 7:30am till midnight in Mon to Thu. On Mon to Thu, I will not come back to my room in a day once I left. Friday night I can enjoy party or socializing with my friends. But I need to work hard at library till midnight at least on Mon to Thu. Maybe I can have a fun in Saturday, too. Anyway, let's follow the time schedule of the library.lol
The reason why I need to study hard is that every other people here only have to study for courses of the UCSD, but I also have to prepare for the test of job hunting to become a teacher as well as usual study for UCSD. I found that I need to study more even after I finished assignments of courses. I need to study more than other friends here. OMG.....this is so bad. But it is necessary. I don't wanna fail to the test. I want to pass it in one time.
By the way, finally I decided to become an English teacher in public high school or junior high school in Chiba prefecture. One of the reasons is that I want to change Language (English) education in Japan theoretically, practically, and directly. University professors or researchers also can be involved in language education "theoretically". But they cannot do it in "practical" or "direct" way. I don't think that I can be satisfied with only observing and thinking about problems. I want to be active and do something directly. I think public school teachers also can publish or state something as well as university professors or researchers. Plus, it takes a lot of time and money to become university professors. Since I came here, I found that being independent is very important and exciting! I need to be apart from my family soon. To do that, I need to earn MONEY. Becoming a teacher maybe makes me independent from my family. If I go to the grad school, I still need to depend on my family. That makes me feel very bad and far away from marriage and my future babies (I'm just kidding. lol)
Someone (including my family) say to me, "If you become a ordinary public school teacher, you might not be able to use your academic skills, English competence, or ability as much as you want." Yes. It might happen. For example, if I go to the very bad school where its students do not study at all, maybe I cannot use my skills or abilities as well as I want to.
Actually, I want to apply for these following programs of Ministry of Education in Japan as a teacher. These program is to send a public school teacher to foreign countries. These teachers help the Japanese students who are in foreign countries because of the father's job or something like that. Or they teach Japanese to foreign students who want to learn Japanese in the school.
In this way, I can use my academic skills or abilities and these programs are in the fields of my interests, which are "minority education", "bilingual education", and "language acquisition".
The references of the programs are
http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/clarinet/002/004/002.htm
http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/rex/main.htm
http://rexnet.loops.jp/index.html
Oops! I've gotta get back to my assignments.
See you.
So, I decided to go to the library every day to study. I have to use the facility of university and chance of living on campus to concentrate on study. Libraries are open from 7:30am till midnight in Mon to Thu. On Mon to Thu, I will not come back to my room in a day once I left. Friday night I can enjoy party or socializing with my friends. But I need to work hard at library till midnight at least on Mon to Thu. Maybe I can have a fun in Saturday, too. Anyway, let's follow the time schedule of the library.lol
The reason why I need to study hard is that every other people here only have to study for courses of the UCSD, but I also have to prepare for the test of job hunting to become a teacher as well as usual study for UCSD. I found that I need to study more even after I finished assignments of courses. I need to study more than other friends here. OMG.....this is so bad. But it is necessary. I don't wanna fail to the test. I want to pass it in one time.
By the way, finally I decided to become an English teacher in public high school or junior high school in Chiba prefecture. One of the reasons is that I want to change Language (English) education in Japan theoretically, practically, and directly. University professors or researchers also can be involved in language education "theoretically". But they cannot do it in "practical" or "direct" way. I don't think that I can be satisfied with only observing and thinking about problems. I want to be active and do something directly. I think public school teachers also can publish or state something as well as university professors or researchers. Plus, it takes a lot of time and money to become university professors. Since I came here, I found that being independent is very important and exciting! I need to be apart from my family soon. To do that, I need to earn MONEY. Becoming a teacher maybe makes me independent from my family. If I go to the grad school, I still need to depend on my family. That makes me feel very bad and far away from marriage and my future babies (I'm just kidding. lol)
Someone (including my family) say to me, "If you become a ordinary public school teacher, you might not be able to use your academic skills, English competence, or ability as much as you want." Yes. It might happen. For example, if I go to the very bad school where its students do not study at all, maybe I cannot use my skills or abilities as well as I want to.
Actually, I want to apply for these following programs of Ministry of Education in Japan as a teacher. These program is to send a public school teacher to foreign countries. These teachers help the Japanese students who are in foreign countries because of the father's job or something like that. Or they teach Japanese to foreign students who want to learn Japanese in the school.
In this way, I can use my academic skills or abilities and these programs are in the fields of my interests, which are "minority education", "bilingual education", and "language acquisition".
The references of the programs are
http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/clarinet/002/004/002.htm
http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/rex/main.htm
http://rexnet.loops.jp/index.html
Oops! I've gotta get back to my assignments.
See you.
Oct 26, 2010
why did I...
Today, I just invited a Japanese girl who went to the Boston career forum which is the job hunting event for Japanese students who are bilingual. I was interested in that. But I don't think i will do job hunting, and I didn't go there. Plus, Boston is far away from California. I just wanted to talk with her about how was the Boston career forum or something.
I prepared for rice and salmon (Japanese one) for her. (I said to her, "Why don't we have dinner?")
But soon after she came, my roommates appeared and they talked a lot while I was cooking.
Actually I had a class in 30 minutes when we ate dinner. While we were eating dinner, she and my roommates continued to enjoy talking. Finally I had to leave the room to go to the class.
I didn't have enough time to talk with her. What did I do? I just served dinner for her.
Why did I do such a thing? I got depressed. I just wasted my food.
I prepared for rice and salmon (Japanese one) for her. (I said to her, "Why don't we have dinner?")
But soon after she came, my roommates appeared and they talked a lot while I was cooking.
Actually I had a class in 30 minutes when we ate dinner. While we were eating dinner, she and my roommates continued to enjoy talking. Finally I had to leave the room to go to the class.
I didn't have enough time to talk with her. What did I do? I just served dinner for her.
Why did I do such a thing? I got depressed. I just wasted my food.
ooo
I ate breakfast with reading.
I ate lunch with reading.
I went to the class and read.
I went to the library and read.
I ate dinner with reading.
But, I cannot finish my assigned reading. I should not have been to the club on Sat and Sun.
I am still reading.
All of the readings are about bilingual education programs for minority students and El Salvador.
Why do I read about El Salvador so much?
That's it.
I ate lunch with reading.
I went to the class and read.
I went to the library and read.
I ate dinner with reading.
But, I cannot finish my assigned reading. I should not have been to the club on Sat and Sun.
I am still reading.
All of the readings are about bilingual education programs for minority students and El Salvador.
Why do I read about El Salvador so much?
That's it.
Oct 24, 2010
crab and club
Last night I went to the crab hut, the restaurant which serves sea-food. That was nice because I have wanted to have good and lots of sea-food since I came here. But the restaurant was so wild. I have never seen such a wild restaurant. I mean, everyone sets gloves (like gloves for surgery operation lol not kidding) and table cross and there is no plate. We eat sea-food on the table by hands with gloves. Wow. I have been to the crab restaurant a few times in Japan, but that was more clean and neat...not this wild.
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But the taste was good! That is OK.
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After that, I went to the club.
That was the first time for me to go to such a place. (Did you guys go to Roppongi or something? I never..)
In short, that was not fun for me who do not have a partner. lol
Club is the place, as you can imagine, drink alcohols and dance with disco music all-night. That was fun, nor boring. But All of the couples (boys and girls) looked pretty much having fun than us. They danced together and the boys drove girls sexually..
I got so tired, because I got out the club at 2am.
Maybe I will never go to the club without a (future) girl friend...lol
Oct 22, 2010
NBA! but...
I went watching the NBA games LA lakers vs warriors. That was so exciting ! That was the first time for me to see the basket ball game. Cool. Kobe didn't appear, but that was fun. I want to see a game again while I am in the States. NBA is nice. Naturally, all of the players are so tall. Compared to them, all the cheer girl look so short. It was like they were elementary school children, but they are adult. lol
Anyway, I enjoyed the game,,, but,,,,
One of my Japanese friend and her boy-friend drove me to the arena by his car. They are so kind that I don't have any room to complain about them.
But, they are so annoying and uncomfortable!! I mean, they touched their body or shake their hands each other all the time. They are so touchy-feely! (in Japanese, "Icha-Icha") I got shocked a little bit, because Japanese girls are not being so touchy-feely in public situation. Moreover, it has been only a month since she (a Japanese friend) came here. Maybe she met her boyfriend only one or two weeks ago. How is possible? I can't understand, boys and girls who met only two weeks ago each other became boy-friend and girlfriend and being touchy-feely. I don't think there is a real love between them. Crazy. Why can't they do such a annoying behavior in public. Don't they feel any shame? For example, if it had been three or six months since they got to know each other, there is no problem in being touchy-feely. But why can she be touchy-feely only in two weeks to a strange foreign guy? Japanese girls here are too loose to guys. Maybe they cannot do such a touchy-feely behavior in Japan, so they use this opportunity study abroad EFFECTIVELY to be touchy-feely.
They shook their hands even in driving. I don't wanna see it anymore. So annoying!
And, they said before driving to the arena, "Why don't we go to the restaurant to eat something?"
Of-course the only thing I can do is following them, because they KINDLY took me to the arena by their car. I had no choice. I followed them.
"sure"
But the time was 6:30. The game would start 7pm
We arrived at the restaurant at 6:45. They were keeping enjoying love conversations in the restaurant. They were not trying to hurry to the arena.
Finally we arrived at the arena at 8:15. Half of the game was finished. That was the break time.
Damn! I really wanted to see the game from the beginning!!!
I saw only latter half of the game. I was so irritated and frustrated.
But super Alley-oop made me a little bit happy in the end of the game.
I couldn't imagine that I was able to see the super play, Alley-oop, on my own eyes in real.
On the way back home, they were touchy-feely. I should not have asked them to drive me to the arena. I should have asked another friend.
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Anyway, I enjoyed the game,,, but,,,,
One of my Japanese friend and her boy-friend drove me to the arena by his car. They are so kind that I don't have any room to complain about them.
But, they are so annoying and uncomfortable!! I mean, they touched their body or shake their hands each other all the time. They are so touchy-feely! (in Japanese, "Icha-Icha") I got shocked a little bit, because Japanese girls are not being so touchy-feely in public situation. Moreover, it has been only a month since she (a Japanese friend) came here. Maybe she met her boyfriend only one or two weeks ago. How is possible? I can't understand, boys and girls who met only two weeks ago each other became boy-friend and girlfriend and being touchy-feely. I don't think there is a real love between them. Crazy. Why can't they do such a annoying behavior in public. Don't they feel any shame? For example, if it had been three or six months since they got to know each other, there is no problem in being touchy-feely. But why can she be touchy-feely only in two weeks to a strange foreign guy? Japanese girls here are too loose to guys. Maybe they cannot do such a touchy-feely behavior in Japan, so they use this opportunity study abroad EFFECTIVELY to be touchy-feely.
They shook their hands even in driving. I don't wanna see it anymore. So annoying!
And, they said before driving to the arena, "Why don't we go to the restaurant to eat something?"
Of-course the only thing I can do is following them, because they KINDLY took me to the arena by their car. I had no choice. I followed them.
"sure"
But the time was 6:30. The game would start 7pm
We arrived at the restaurant at 6:45. They were keeping enjoying love conversations in the restaurant. They were not trying to hurry to the arena.
Finally we arrived at the arena at 8:15. Half of the game was finished. That was the break time.
Damn! I really wanted to see the game from the beginning!!!
I saw only latter half of the game. I was so irritated and frustrated.
But super Alley-oop made me a little bit happy in the end of the game.
I couldn't imagine that I was able to see the super play, Alley-oop, on my own eyes in real.
On the way back home, they were touchy-feely. I should not have asked them to drive me to the arena. I should have asked another friend.
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