A Fear of Norovirus!!!

When I woke up this morning, I found my father still in bed. He's usually the one who wakes up earliest in the family so it was weird. I asked my mother if there was anything wrong with him and she said he had a stomachach and threw up a few times last night. She took him to the hospital and he was diagnosed as having the notorious norovirus. Norovirus is a highly infectious disease and prevelaent for these years so I was threatened when I heard that. I'm very thankful from the bottom of my heart for the fact that there are two bathrooms in the house. I will never use the one he has been using. He's been locked in his room and asleep all day. Every time he uses the bathroom it should be sterilized. It's not nice to say but I really don't want him in this house right now. It is very scary to be in the same house with him. But it's too cold to be outside so I have to stay here.

The virus appeared to come from the oysters he ate last night. They were raw and he was the only one who ate the. Thank god I didn't eat that oyster yesterday!! Oyster is usually my favorite food but yesterday, I just didn't feel like eating it. I'm so sorry for my father but I don't want to even get close to him right now. And I learned another lesson from this experience: get oysters cooked, before you eat them.

［261 words］

2-19 "Masie and the Dolphine"

This story was very beautiful. The main character is named Maisie and she lives in the Bahamas with her parents who are doctor and grand father. In the story, you can see oceans and beaches at lot. It made me want to go to the Bahamas.

Maisie is thirteen years old. She lives near the beach. One day, she saw a dolphin hit by a boat driven by American. She took the dolphin to her parents and they took care of it. The dolphin recovered at Maisie’s house and she named it Ben.

The American who owns the boat was an acquaintance of Maisie’s father’s. He wanted to build a hotel so was offering Maisie’s father 200,000 dollars for the estate. His hospital was very small so he wanted to think about it. Maisie knew and was unhappy about it.

Ben liked Maisie very much. Ben ate only food Maisie feed him. But now he’s fine, they had to let him go. Maisie was very sad. Maisie and her grandfather went to release him to the ocean. Maisie cried but after they let him go, he came back. He seems to tell Maisie to follow him. She jumped into the water and followed Ben. Ben led Maisie to a little box under the water. She found lots of gold in it.

Using the gold, they modeled the hospital and turned down the American’s offer. Then can always live there because of the gold.

I like oceans and beaches so I liked this story. The Bahamas must be a beautiful place. I wish I could live somewhere like that someday.
This story reminded me of “Shitakiri Suzume”. It’s about an old guy who saved an injured sparrow. The sparrow comes back to the old guy and brings him a lot of money and reward. Dolphin is very smart and friendly animal. I want to swim with one someday.

[317 words]

Eiken

I've aplied to the English test which will be held on Jan. 27 th. The test is called Eiken. The level I'm taking is pre 1 which is the second hardest. I went to a book store to buy a text today. I browsed the book just briefly but it seemed very difficult. I really want to pass this test so I will start strdying today. I've got a month to prepare so I think I will be fine. I need to know as many vocabularies as possible. So I will try to remember all the vocabs I don't know in the text. I am very motivated because I paid for this test by myslef and it wasn't cheap. I don't want to waste my money so I will work hard!!!

I want to go to Europe

I really want to visit Europe someday. Maybe I go there next year. I have a friend in Paris. He's a French guy but speaks Japanese fluently. I think I'm very luckey to be his friend because he says I'm always welcomed to stay at his place and he's gonna me around the city. I don't wanna visit only Paris but also visit other countries in Europe such as Italy, German, and Spain. The only problem is that I don't have money to get the airplane tickets. Why are planes so expensive? They should lower down the price immediately.

2-18 "ESCAPE"

This story is about a guy in prison and tries to escape from it. He insists that he’s innocent and one day, he finally gets action. When a guard brings him lunch, he sticks the ceiling. The guard thought he was gone. While everybody was looking for him, he ran out.

First, he ran but he gets tired. He finds a camping guy in the mountain and he stole his bike. After the night falls, he sneaks into farmer’s house and sleeps besides cows. Next morning, he wants to change his cloths because he wears the prisoner’s cloths. He stole the laundry hung out side. Farmer’s wife found him. She shouted and shot. He ran away. Eventually he arrived at the airport. He gets in one of the container which was about to be loaded into the airplane, but he got found out. Everybody was chasing him. In the end, he is back in prison again.

I think this guy will try to escape again. It doesn’t seem he gave up. He insists that he’s not a thief and innocent but he actually steals things on his journey. I found it a bit ironic and funny. If I was put into prison and was actually innocent, I would try to escape too. That’s one of the worst things which could happen to me.

[188 words]

Cleaning day

I cleaned my room today. It my little dusty and messy before and now it's clean and I feel good. There is a custom to clean throuout the house or work or school before the new year starts in Japan. I cleaned throughout my room. The weather was perfect for cleaning.

First, I had my huton and blankets hang outside so that there was much more rooms in the room. I put away the things on the floor and used the vacuum cleaner. It didn't take so long because my room is pretty small. I like my room clean but it will be a mess soon again.

［107 words］

My favorite socks

When I work outside at night, I'm cold at first. As I move more I got less cold and warmer and warmer. However, my toes are always cold. No matter how much I move, my toes stay cold. I always didn't like that. One day I talked about it to my mother and a few days later she bought me a pair of socks. They are in different shape from what I usually where. They have 5 bags for every single toe. She said they keep it warm. I was suspicious at first. Besides when I wore them, it felt something was stuck between the toes so I didn't really like it. But I was wrong. During I was working today, my toes never got cold the whole time. I was so impressed. These socks are amazing. I have seen some people wear those socks including my mother and I sneered of them because they looked ridiculous and weird. They didn't look stylish to me. But now I realize weather it is stylish doesn't matter. I prefer to keep my toes warm. I thank someone who invented the socks and my mother who bought me them.

［196 words］

X'mas Eve

Today is X'mas eve but it doesn't matter to me. It's a big deal to some people especially couples but I personally don't think it's important. There are lots of decorations and lights everywhere. I think they are beautiful and fun to look at. However, I'm fed up with the X'mas songs played everywhere. They played the same song over and over again so it's annoying. They air special TV programs for X'mas at all channels. Some of them are funny, some of them are boring. I've been watching the good ones at home. In 2 hours I have to go to work as usual. It's chilly outside so I'd rather stay home being lazy. But I want to earn money and buy an i-pod. That's good motivation to me.

［130 words］

MSN is cool

I have a friend studying in Vancoucer, Canada. We're very good friends so we still have contacts by emailing and chatting. He once suggested me to buy a microphone so that we can talk free on the messenger. Messenger is a software you use for chat. I wasn't really interested at first but I eventually bought it today and talked to him for the first time. It was really exciting! I couldn't believer it was free because it's exactly like using a phone. Phone costs some but messenger doesn't. It was amazing. I felt like he was here with me but he is actually very far in Canada. It was kind of odd. Thanks to the technology, I would try to call another friend in Australia tomorrow.

［127 words］

Back from Bangkok

Today I saw my friend I hadn't seen for 6 months. He went to Bangkok to study English and now he's on holidays so he came back temporarily. I was surprised when I saw him because I didn't know he was back. He looked a little different. He looked more Thai to me. He said people sometimes think he is Thai and talk to him in Thai in Bangkok. He also said he lost his weight. Maybe that's why he looks different. He said it's fun to be in Bangkok. He also has traveled some islands. Thailand is one place I always want to visit. Hopefully, I will go there before he finishes school there. I asked him to show me some pictures but he didn't have any on him then. It was very good to see him unexpectedly today.

［140 words］

A hard day

I couldn't sleep much last night because I came back home from work at 4:30 am. I finished working at 3 am and went to a public bath after that. That is why I came home a little later than usual. I started to work part time from 11 pm to 3 am until the end of the year. I will soon be in holidays and have much of free time so I decided to use it to earn money. But I still had 3 classes today.

I actually got into bed before 5 and had to get up at 9:30 for the first class which starts at 10:40. Even though I was very sleepy and didn't feel rested at all, I immediately got ready and left for the university by motorbike. I didn't eat breakfast. It is extremely cold when you ride a motorbike in winter. I wear a mask to cover my face so that I can avoid the wind and I also wear a knit cap underneath the helmet so that my ears won't hurt as if they fall down.

The first class was International law. This is very interesting and I usually enjoy it but today, I was too tired. I couldn't concentrate on the lecture. It was hard just to be awake and sit. I tried hard. In the break, I went to library and rented some books to write reviews for Writing 4. I wanted to sleep there for minutes but I still had other things to do. I needed to visit a professor for something but she wasn't in her room that time. I needed to go to Maruzen, the book store and pay 6000 yen and apply for the English test. I had no time to sleep or eat lunch during the break. The next class was Education. I couldn't stand anymore and slept for about 20 minutes so I felt better. My friend sat next to me. He said he's going to buy a computer. The last class was TOEFL. We practice TOEFL in this class. We did writing practice today. Writing doesn't make me sleepy so I was fine during this class.

Finally I'm finished all the classes in 2007 and came home.Once I came home I ran to the bed and fell asleep. It is now 9:35 and I just woke up. I feel good. I think I will be awake all night because I already slept a lot today. But I don't have school tomorrow so I guess that’s ok.

［423 words］

Learning with Computers

Computer is a very useful tool for us to do whatever you do. You can do many things with computers. You can write an essay, or you can draw a graph, or you can listen to music, or you can watch a movie and of course, you can learn with computers. Computer is now one of the necessary things to learn with. Lately they teach kids how to use computers in elementary school. It's getting important more and more to be able to use computers mainly for students to learn.

Computers are very useful when I write an essay for class so I use computers a lot for assignments. But you need some skills to write essays with computers. Before I started to learn with computers, I couldn't type as fast as I do today. I had known how to type but I used to type so slowly. Now I use computers almost everyday. It doesn’t take so much for me to write with computers. There is a proper way to write an essay and I didn’t know that before. After I wrote with computers, I didn't check for typos or grammar mistakes. Teacher once gave me back my paper with a lot of red marks and taught me how to check for typos and grammar mistakes. Now I make sure that I don’t have any typos or grammar mistakes on my essay every time after I finish writing them. I just didn’t know that it was very easy to do with computers. Nevertheless to say, editing is also much easier when you write an essay with computers than when you handwrite it. It’s troublesome to use an eraser and rewrite paragraphs with a pen, but with computers, you can do it all by dragging clicking. It takes only a few seconds. That’s what I like the most about writing essays with computers.

I had never written blogs before I took Writing IV. For Writing IV, I had to take write something on my blog almost everyday. I had never done it before. To be honest, I was pretty lazy to write blogs everyday at first. It is just like taking diaries. I thought I couldn’t do it at first. I wasn’t good at keep doing the same thing everyday. I didn’t want to do that even for the credit. But as I tried to keep writing it, I became used to it. Whenever something good or bad or extraordinary happened to me in life, I thought “I’m gonna write about this on the blog”. Blog became a part of my life. As a matter of fact, I now enjoy writing blogs very much. I also enjoy attaching the pictures on the blog. After I write a post of the day, I go on to the internet and look for a picture. Blog can look much better by decorating with pictures. When you keep taking diaries on blog, there will be many posts. To organize them, you should label each post so that the posts will be classified in categories and it’s easy to read or find a post you want to read or edit.

The internet is something helpful for us. If you wanted to know about something, you can search for the information on the internet and mostly you can find what you want. There is an internet site called Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online dictionary where you can find various kinds of information. Besides Wikipedia, you can discover so many things if you use the internet. By using the internet, you can communicate with people all over the world. If you install a messenger into your computer, you can chat with people far away. You can exchange opinions or make friends with people anywhere on the earth. You can know what is happening in other countries by using the internet. It broadens your perspective. I have a messenger installed into my computer and I chat with my friends in Canada one and off. It’s very fun and easy. I feel them very close to me even though they’re across the Pacific Ocean.

I think computers help you learn better. It provides you with a lot of things. You can write essays much easier than you do with your own hand and the typed sentences look better. You can learn many things from the internet. And the internet gives you the opportunity to experience other worlds in your room. You can even talk to the people on the other side of the planet. So I think computers are very important.

［768 words］

Typing Speed Trial "Memorable experience"

One of my memorable experiences in my life is when I went to New York city 2 years ago. It was February and very cold but I still enjoyed it. I went there with my sister. I always wanted to go to New York so I worked hard part time and saved money. I had 2 part time jobs and worked very hard. I chose February because it was the cheapest month in the year. We stayed at Hilton hotel near the times square. We went to the statue of liberty, the Metropolitan museum, and many spots very famous. I like just waling around the city. There were so many different people walking so fast and the city has a lot of energy. I ate the food at the vender and it was very good. Vender is a booth sells food on the street. It was very memorable trip. I would love to go back there again.

[157 words]

My new job

I started a new part time job yesterday. It is temporary which is until the end of December. It is a delivery service company and what I have to do is classifying the packages. Many people send packages in December so they need extra temporary workers. I work from 11 pm to 3 am. It's a little bit had but it's only for this month so it's ok. It was more fun than I thought it would be. There are pretty heavy packages too so it's sort of like a working out. I have to work outside so it's very cold at first but it doesn't take so long to get warm because I move a lot.

[117 words]

2-17 "ESCAPE"

This story is about a guy in prison and tries to escape from it. He insists that he’s innocent and one day, he finally gets action. When a guard brings him lunch, he sticks the ceiling. The guard thought he was gone. While everybody was looking for him, he ran out.
First, he ran but he gets tired. He finds a camping guy in the mountain and he stole his bike. After the night falls, he sneaks into farmer’s house and sleeps besides cows. Next morning, he wants to change his cloths because he wears the prisoner’s cloths. He stole the laundry hung out side. Farmer’s wife found him. She shouted and shot. He ran away. Eventually he arrived at the airport. He gets in one of the container which was about to be loaded into the airplane, but he got found out. Everybody was chasing him. In the end, he is back in prison again.

I think this guy will try to escape again. It doesn’t seem he gave up. He insists that he’s not a thief and innocent but he actually steals things on his journey. I found it a bit ironic and funny. If I was put into prison and was actually innocent, I would try to escape too. That’s one of the worst things which could happen to me.

[223 words]

The Korean restaurant "Saoul"

Yesterday I went out eat with my friends. First we planned to go eat nabe so we searched for a restaurant serves nabe. We found some but they were all full so we couldn't get in to any of them. We walked a lot and it was very cold to be outside. We were starving as unbearable so decided to give up nabe and go wherever we could get in. Then we found this place "Seoul".

It was located on Kaminoura tori. It was a Korean restaurant. We ordered a couple of meet for yakiniku and our drinks first. I liked the homey atmosphere of the restaurant in a bit of Korean mode. While we waited for the drinks and meet, we closely looked at the menu. There were many Korean foods such as bibimbup and kuppa. They all looked good. We decided to order Korean style ramen, cold noodle, and kimchi fried rice besides the yakiniku meet. Once they came out to our table, we started to broil them. They sounded so good. The meet was very juicy and delicious. The quantity of the food on one plate was pretty big. The noodles and the fried rice came. Those three dishes were all spicy but tasted so good. We drank lots of water too.

After we ate, we paid and left the restaurant. They gave us candies when we got out. The candies were scorched rice flavor. It is different and good especially after eating something spicy. We all thought we wanted to come back. It is a very good restaurant. It was good to pass all the restaurants we couldn't enter and eventually found this place.

［271 words］

My Bike

It's been very cold and I'm inside a lot. That means I haven't being doing exercise these days. It is bad for health. I decided to ride a bike more often. I usually ride a motorbike. It's very cold but much faster. But today I went to work by bike and it felt really good. I felt I did something good. My thighs hurt a little but I think I'll be used to it soon.

[75 words]

About learning with computers (free writing)

I think learning with computers is very helpful and fun. You can get so much information on the internet. You can exchange opinions with other people, even those who live on the other side of the world by using computers. That means you can know what kind of peole they are, what they are thinking in different worlds. You can understand a lot more about the world.
Computers make it much easier to write an essay. It's easy to edit what you write and typed sentences look good. However I still think writing by your own hand is necessary when you learn kanjis. If you're used to typing with computers too much, you sometimes lose some kanji skills. Kanjis come out by just hitting the keys a few times when you write with computers but it doesn't really help you to remember kanjis. Because there are a lot of Kanjis with the same sound, you should know which is right one for the one you want to use. For that, I think you should practice kanjis by hand writing other it's hard to memorise many kanjis.

［186 words］

Party

Last Saturday my highschool friends got together for a party. I hadn't seen them for a long time so it was very fun. One of our class mate held this get-together and he invited all the class mates but only 10 people out of 38 could make it. I still enjoyed it very much. One of our classmate has been engaged. She looked very happy. The other girl has moved to Osaka and been working there. There were 5 girls and 5 guys. All the girls are working and all the guys are still students. We went to Izakata on shimo-tori and stayed there for 3 hours. We talked a lot. We talked about our highschool lives, nowadays lives, and many other things. We were all drunk and felt happy. I'm looking forward to meeting them next time.

[138 words]

2-16 "Star Reporter"

One day, Steve heard from his friend that there was a new girl in town and he was excited. His father is an editor and always looking for interesting news. He tells his son to find something interesting to write on the newspaper about.
Steve went out. He saw a girl at a supermarket. He wondered who she was. After that, wherever he went, he saw that girl. She has a camera on her all the time and seems to be trying to take some interesting pictures.
Later that day, he heard from his neighbor that Bud Ritchie was back in town. Bud is a writer and used to live in this town. Steve thought about visiting and intervewing him for his father’s newspaper. He went to Bud’s house and asked him questions. When Bud was talking about his experiences, he found a cat on the tree and she couldn’t get off. He climbed the tree and tried to help her but he fell off the tree into the water and got wet. Then, the girl was there taking Steve’s picture. The girl was Bud’s daughter Marietta. Steve and Marietta became friends and the picture of Steve was on the newspaper.

I thought Steve was a nice guy. He works hard for his father. He climbs a tree to help a cat and ends up fall. He doesn’t complain about his embarrassing picture was on the newspaper.

［237 words］

TV

I like watching TV. I spend at least an hour per day for watching TV . I usually watch TV a few hours before I go to bed. Sometimes I watch TV as eating snacks. I have favorite TV programs I don't miss every week.

One of my favorite TV programs is "Ururun Taizaiki". It is a documentary of Japanese actors or TV personalities or models or artists go abroad and spend a week to homestay with local families. They always challenge new things there. It's very interesting because by watching that show, you can learn a lot about other cultures. Sometimes they are sent into the jungle and stay with unknown tribes. They ofcourse don't know the languages. I'm interested in foreign cultures so I enjoy this TV program so much every week.

I'm always looking forward to wathing "Grey's Anatomy" on Saturday nights. Even when I cannot be at home on Saturday night, I record it on the HDD player so I won't miss it. "Grey's Anatomy" is American TV drama about the interns. It's not only about their work at hospital but also about their families, romances, and lives. I like this show because of its unpredictable story and good entertaining performances. I also like the music they play behind the story.

Besides "Ururun Taizaiki" and "Grey's Anatomy", I watch the TV shows on FOX a lot. FOX is a satellite TV station airs many good shows. They are mainly American TV programs and dramas. They air constantly for 24 /7. They often repeat the shows again and againg so if you missed a show you wanted to watch, you will have another chance soon again. My favorite TV shows on FOX are "So You Think You Can Dance" which is American dance competition show, and "24" which is another American TV drama. I think FOX is a very amusing station.

I can say that TV is essential to my life. I enjoy wathing it everyday especailly "Ururun Taizaiki" and "Grey's Anatomy". I even have a favorite TV station. TV is not only an entertainment but also a tool to learn about things through the programs like "Ururun Taizaiki". I like TV. It is an important thing to me.

[372 words]

COLD

Today was very cold and cloudy so it was a little depressing. The bad weather sometimes gets me down. I hope it will be fine tomorrow beause it's Saturday. I'm planning to go to gym in the morning and go to work in the evening. However, if it will be too cold or rainy, I would stay home and watch TV with the gas heater on.

[66 words]

2-15 "Mr. Jealous"

Rob dates with Cathy and he likes her very much. They are both teenagers. One day, she said that Rob is the only one boyfriend she’s seeing. Rob was very happy to hear that.
The other day, Rob asked Cathy about she didn’t answer her phone on Wednesday. She said she was out with Tom. Rob was confused. He didn’t know who Tom was but didn’t ask her because he didn’t want to have Cathy think he’s jealous.
In the weekend, he called Cathy. Cathy was not at home and he heard she was out with Tom again. He didn’t know what to do. He was jealous.
Next day, he asked her who Tom was, if she’s dating with 2 men at the same time. Cathy laughed. She showed him a picture of Tom. Tom was a kid. She takes after him off and on. Rob was relieved and happy again. But Cathy, in her mind, says “Tom has a 18 year old brother and I like him a lot…” in the end of the story.

I thought it was a shocking story. Cathy actually likes other guy but Rob doesn’t know to the end of the story. I thought this story would be funny and cute but, because of the last word she said in her mind, I felt it was even scary. Girls are scary…

［227 words］

Nabe party

It's getting very cold since last a few days. We need something hot, fun, and delicious. I thought.
NABE it is. I called my friends to gather up and have a nabe party.

First, we had to talk what kind of nabe we will have. I wanted to go with "Soy milk nabe" but a few of them didn't like soy milk so it was tuned down. Other suggested "Kimchi nabe". Kimchi's good and I love kimchi nabe but I thought it was too normal. I felt like trying something new. We had done with kimchi so many times before. But everyone except me agreed with him so it's kimchi nabe we're going to have.

We went to buy stuffs. We bought Kimchi, Kimchi soup, pork, Chinese cabbage, 3 kinds of mushrooms, tofu, fried tofu, and beer. We bought everything. We headed back home and started to get ready for nabe. First we fried Kimchi a little bit in a pot and pour the soup into it. Wait until starts to boil and put tofu first so that soup soaes in to them. We put all the stuff into the pot and wait for a while. It's very easy. And it tasted very good and very warming. We finished with some noodles and we were so full. We couldn't eat any more.

Nabe party is very fun. I wanna do it again next week!

[234 words]

Family Get Together

I have been very busy lately because many things happened to my family.
I have two older sisters who live in other cities on their own. One is a nurse in Yokohama and the other works for a fashion company in Fukuoka. They adjusted their schedule to come back in the same week so that the whole family could get together after 5 years of seperation.

Living with my parents and grandparents and being an only child in the house is pretty calm. Their average age is like 60. So it's somewhat quiet family we have been for last 5 years.
Being used to this quiet life, I totally forgot what it was like to be with my sisters under the same roof. So I was looking forward to seeing them again very much.

The first one arrived from Yokohama on Friday. I actually met her this year's summer. I went to visit her on vacation. The next one arrived next day. They were both at home. It was kind of werid to see them at the same time in one place.

At that night, they drank so much. They both like drinking. They usually drink for hours. They expected their father to drink with them but he didn't want to. He's old and wanted to go back to his room and relax. And he did so. They weren't really happy about it. My mother got pissed by the fact her two daughters drink so much more than their father does.

They stayed here for week. They drank almost everyday during they were here. Sometimes I drank with them too. It was a very busy week!

[276 words]

2-14 "Mulan"

Mulan is a heroine who is acclaimed as the bravest girl in China. She lived in China long time ago. She is said the bravest girl in China because she pretended to be a guy and went to the war to protect her family.

Mulan lived with her younger brother and parents. One day, the Emperor ordered people to send one guy from each family to joing the army to fight in the war. Since Mulan's brother was still a kid, her father had to go to the war. However, he was ill and too old to fight. Mulan decided to go to war as a man. She wore armor and acted and talked like a man. Nobody could tell she was a girl. She join the army and fought with men. She did very good in the fighting so the emperor called her and tried to give her some money but Mulan just asked him to allow her go home. Some time later Mulan came back home, her friend Ye Ming visited her. They met at the war and fought together. He was very surprised when he found out that Mulan was actually a girl. Ye Ming stayed at Mulan's house for a while and he wanted to marry her. Mulan was confused at first but she ended up get married to him. That's the end of the story.

I have watched the movie "Mulan". It's a Diney's animation movie. I liked that movie so I liked this story too. I thought Mulan was very brave. China has a lot of great people.

［264 words］

Awsome singer!!

Lately I often hear Christmas songs in stores or on street. Christmas is coming next month. I think it’s too early to play those songs everywhere. They also play Christmas songs at the drugstore I work at so I have to hear it everyday for 4 hours. Sometimes it drives me crazy. But there is one song I can put up with. It’s Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”. I like this song very much. I want to listen to this song again and again. I mean she’s very good at singing. I think she’s a genius. Her voice is very powerful and beautiful. I have her CD called “Emancipation of MIMI” and all the songs in this album are great. Now I don’t listen to it as much as I used to but it’s still my favorite. I’d like to ask all the store managers to play this song only for this Christmas.

［157 words］

My favorite store

I haven’t shopped lately but there is a favorite store I used to go often. Its name is Satisfaction and it’s located in Kengun. It’s a clothes store and has many good products. The most of the products there are imported especially from Europe. I really like their taste. It fits my style. Kengun is kind of far from my house which is about 30 minutes by car but I still used to go there to buy some clothes. However, I’ve been very poor these days so I haven’t only bought clothes but anything.

[94 words]

2-13 "The Elephant Man"

The story is set in 19th centry London. This guy was called Elepahnt Man because he was very ugly. His skin was brown and came down. He looked like an elephant. He was usually locked in a store and people could see him for 2 pences. One day, Dr.Hedrick found teh store and got in to see the elepant man. He was very surprised because the elephant man was very ugly. He diceded to take him to his hospital and examin his body.
He coudln't talk well. Dr. Hedrick could bearly understand what he was saying but he could tell he was a nicehearted man. Dr. Hedrick invited him to live in his hospital so that he wouldn't be tretaed as a thing in the store. The doctore let him read many books and meet many people.
In the end, the elepant man died because he dropped from the bed from head. He broke his neck and died alone.

I thought Elephant man is a poor guy. At begging, he was treated so bad in the store. He always missed his mother who he didn't know where is now. I felt he might have a ugly face and body but his heart is very beautiful. First time he was introduced to a girl by Dr. Hedrick, he cried. Every girls who had ever seen him was scared and screamed but this girl shook his hand and smiled so he was very happy. It is very sad he died in the end of the story but I think he was very happy.

［261 words］

My Summer Memory

5 months ago, I went Malaysia with my friend Dimitri. Dimitri is a French man who lives in Tokyo. One day he invited me to join his journey to Southeast Asia. He lives in Tokyo and I live in Kumamoto, so we decided to meet at the airport Kuala Lumpur. I was very excited because I hadn’t seen him for a while. After we got together at the airport, we headed to Tioman Island. It took about 2 hours from the land by ship. It was a very small beautiful island. Many westerners were there to enjoy their vacations. We sunbathed and swam all day at the beach. The local people were very friendly so we made friends with them. We heard many stories about the island from them. We spent 2 nights there and went back to Kuala Lumpur. In Kuala Lumpur, we went to a temple, aquarium, shopping mall and club. We thoroughly enjoyed the metropolitan entertainments. This trip is one of my most memorable ones in my life. I really want to go back there again, but for Southeast Asian countries, I would also like to visit Thailand and Singapore. There are many places I want to go right now. I wish I were rich.

［208 words］

Community Life

I have been working part time since I was 18 years old. And I can get connected with communities through working. I haven't been working at the same place all the time. I have changed my part-time job for a couple of times. I'm going to introduce what I have done.

First one, I was in highschool and about to graduate. I had been already finished with the entrance examination of the university and had a plenty of free time after school. So I decided to start, very first time in my life, woking. I chose to work at a restaurant in my neighborhood. It was a Korean restaurant. I was a waiter there. I had to talk and communicate with so many people in one day. I always have to be polite and carefle not to offend customers' feelings no matter how busy I was. It was sometimes very difficult because there were so many different kinds of people with different thoughts. Some people may be upset about things I will never be upset about. Some people could be very sensitive and picky while some people could be very friendly and generous. You have to make every customers satisfied by your service. That's what they said. At first I didn't understand this idea. But I eventually I learned that's about being professional. I worked at the restaurant for 3 years.

The next one, I started it when I was 20. I was still working at the first restaurant but I needed more money so I decided to have two part-time jobs. This one was a horse restaurant. It was located on Shimo-tori. Horse meat dish is onen of Kumamoto's specialities so many people from outside Kumamoto came to the restaurant. There were once costomers from Italy. They saw the home page of the restaurant and came Kumamoto to eat horse meat. They came there 2 nights straight. Horse meat is expensive. People came to the restaurant were rich. I had oppotunities to talk with such rich people and foreigners through this job. It was very interesting.

Now I work part time at a drugstore near my house. It is not restaurant so it is different from what I have done before. I have less opportunites to talk to the customers than the two jobs I had before. I sometimes feel it's boring. But I just started it so maybe I should stay and see for a while.

[408 words]

Abercimbie & Fitch

I don't want to tell about this brand to many people but I'm going to write about this today because I can't come up with anything else. Still I have to regularly put up something on my blog.

It is called Abercrombie & Fitch. It is an American brand and its branches are located only in USA. It used to be unavailable in Japan unless you take advantage of the "great" internet, but, unfortunately, it's getting popular more and more these days in Japan too. Many stores started to sell A&F goods. I don't know what kind of roots they're getting the products from but it's obvious that's it much easier for people to get A&F goods than it used to be. I see many men and women wear A&F clothes here in Kumamoto too. And I'm not really happy about it. I don't want many people out there even recognize this brand. When I first knew about this brand, I was 17. It was about 5 years ago and before everyone knew much about A&F. I was in USA for high school then and believed I was the only one Japanese who knew and understood the excellence of this brand. Everybody wears it now. Man, women, young, old... not all of them look good in them and I'm sick of seeing such people.

Why I like A&F is firstly its design. It's simple and cool. I like its rich color variations in T-shirts. I also like the fitness to the bodies. It's pretty comfortable. The second reason would be the quality. They use a very comfortable, strong fabric so they last long. The t-shirts from the other brand generally become limp in a year or so but A&F t-shirts are still stiff even after 3 years of wear. Thirdly, I like its style of advertising. They always use pretty male and female models. I like looking at those beautiful and artistic photographs. And finally why I like this brand is its rareness. It was only available in USA so it wasn't so easy to buy A&F for me after I came back from Texas. I wish there were an A&F store in Kumamoto.

［363 words］

2-12 "King Arthur"

I read "King Arthur" this time. I felt this name was familir to me and he should be a famouse historical person. I wanted to learn about King Arthur.

In 650 in England. There was no king and people were fighting. One day, Merlin the magician made a magic stone and put a sword in it and said "Only the true king can pll out the sword". The person who pulled it out was a very young boy. He was the boy to be King Arthur. Merlin taught him how to be king and after four years, the boy became good, strong king.

One morning, asoldier visited Arthur and informed that the lords from the North are coming to fight him. Arthur went to fight them with his men and won. One of the losing lords from the North invited Arthur to his castle and he met Guinevera, a daughter of the lord. They liked each other and decided to get married. Arthur built a new castle for his future queen.

Merlin had to leave Arthur because his magic was gone. He couldn't help Arthur anymore. Merlin gave Arthur a magic sword and told him not to break it.

After they got married, they met Lancelot, the strongest knight in the country. He became a good friends of theirs.

One night, Morgan, Arthur's half sister and her son Mordred visited Arthur. They stayed in Arthur's castle for weeks. They were very friendly to Arthur and Guinevera. But one night Arthur had a dream about Merlin. He was warned that Mordred was a bad man in athe dream. Guinevera said not to worry but the dream was right. Mordred wanted to kill Arthur and be the next king. He fought him. Lancelot fought with Arthur too. They lost a lot of soldiers. They killed Mordred but Arthur was dead too. Arthur asked Lancelot to take care of Guinevera. Arthur was taken by Merlin and story ended.

So many things happened to King Arthur.

[332 words]

One of my small pastime

When I have nothing to do and am bored, I have a thing I always do. It is called othello. I can play othello with my mobile phone. I just bought it 2 weeks ago. It's a great resource. I play it when I wait for my friend, or when I just don't have anything to do at home, or when I get bored in a class, or sometimes when I'm eating. Maybe I'm addicted to it. I at least play it 3 times a day.

My former mobile had tetris in it. I used to play it a lot when I'm free. I could keep playing it for like an hour. I was totally addicted to tetris. I was shocked when I had my former mobile broken because I couldnt play tetris anymore. But now I can play othello instead. It's fun to do so it's alright.

［148 words］

I got the picrures developed

Today I went to pick up my pictures I took in Kamakura and Tokyo. I went there last summer. I went to see many shrines and beaches. One night I went to the party at the beach. There was a music band and people were dancing at the beach. It was really nice. I liked the atmosphere. And the most memorable part was that I saw Takenaka Naoto at the party. He is an actor and often on TV. I didn't get to talk to him but I was excited to see him. I took his picture too. The pictures reminded me many things about the trip.

［108 words］

"Brave One"

I watched a movie yesterday. Its title is "Brave One". I liked it very much but it made me think.The story is about a woman who lost her boyfriend. Her name is Eryka and her boyfriend was rubbed and killed by thugs in a park. Eryka was with him then so she was also assaulted and sent to hospital. She was unconscious for 3 weeks and when she woke up, her boyfriend had passed already. She was shocked. She didn't know what to do.

Some days later, she bought a gun illegally in Chinatown. She had it in her bag all the time. Another day, she was in a store buying a drink. A guy came in there and shot the woman at the cashier. There was no one else except Eryka in a store. She was surprised and scared at first but she used her gun and killed that guy. She ran away. She felt she became someone else after she killed the guy. She needed to become someone else to get over her boyfriend's death. She started to walk around the city at night and kept killing people. But only bad people. She felt alive by killing bad guys in the city.

There was a cop who investigated the homicides Eryka committed. He knew Eryka before he started to work on the cases. He had no idea who did this murders but he became suspicious more about Eryka as the investigation progressed. In the end He was sure that Eryka did kill those guys and Eryka was trying to kill the thugs who killed her boyfriend. The cop didn't stop or arrest her. He let her kill the guys. And the movie finished.

I thought the ending was very controversial. Some people would think it is wrong to let her go. I think so too. But I enjoyed this movie. It is a good movie.

[311 words]

An old friend

Today when I was working at the drugstore, I met my friend from junior high. I haven’t met him for along time so I was very surprised and excited. He’s now working and lives alone. I felt that I was juvenile after I talked to him. He wasn’t like he used to be in junior high anymore.

[57 words]

2-11 "BABE: Pig in the City"

Babe is a clever pig which works as a shepherd. He is very famous in the country. The farm in which Babe and Mr and Mrs Hoggett lives was in danger because they had to pay money for the men from a bank and if they couldn't, they would have to sell the farm. One day, Mr. Hoggett got an offer from someone to show Babe's work at the party. They will pay a lot of money for that. To save the farm, Babe went to the city with Mrs. Hoggett.

Mrs. Hoggett was misunderstood that she was carrying the drung at the airport so she had to stay in the little room with a detective and missed the next plane. She and Babe couldn't get to the city they wanted to go.

They looked for a hotel and found the Flealands Hotel. In that hotel, many animals lived. They were abondoned animals. There were chimpanzees, dogs, cats, and monkeys. Nobody knew that they were there.

I thought it was a funny story. So many different animals and happenings. Baby is very cute.

［145 words］

I've caught a cold

When I woke up today, my throat hurt so bad. I gargled with the medicine but I still don't feel good. My voice sounds different. It's kind of stuffed and deeper. I actually prefer this voice to my usual voice. I cough a bit so I've been wearing a mask today. Mask is very different from what it used to be. I haven't worn it long time and didn't know that. It is much bigger as it can cover the whole part of your chin and more comfortable. You won't suffocate at all. It was a little surprising. I wanted to sleep and rest all day but I had 2 classes in the morning.

The best treatment to cold is to eat well and sleep well. I ate a lot but I haven't slept much. I'm going to have to work in the evening. I hope it won't get worse. Now it's afternoon so I'm going to sleep for a while before work.

［163 words］

2-10 "The Death of Karen Silkwood"

This story is based on a true story. In the beginning of the book, it says "A fictional story has an ending, but a true story does not". I think it's so true. I had never had this idea about a true story and a fictional story.

Karen started to work at the nuclear factory. They take care of fuel rods and uranium at the factory. People are all wearing white gloves. There is a scanner at the factory. The workers have to check their hands in front of the scanner.

One day, when Karen's friend Susan checked her hands in front of the scanner, the alarm went off. Guys white coats came out of a laboratory room and took her to somewhere. Karen followed them. She saw Susan had no clothes on and the men were showering her. Susan was screaming. The shower hit Susan so strongly.

After Karen saw that happened, she began to think it's dangerous to work there. Karen asked Pete, one of the Union leaders for help. He told Susan to collect the evidence. She sneaked into the photography room and stole some negatives. She kept them in her house.

That day, Karen was taking the negatives to Pete. However, she never arrived at the place she was supposed to meet him. Karen's car was found on its side by the bridge. It was crashed into the bridge wall. She was found dead in it. Pete looked for the brown envelop that contains the negatives but it wasn't there. They never found it.

I thought this story was a little scary because it is based on a true story in Oklahoma. I wonder if she was killed by somebody. If so, it is very bad. I also wonder if the factory still exists. The story is made into a movie so I'd like to watch it.

［311 words］

2-09 "The Ransom of Red Chief"

I didn’t know what ransom meant. I looked up my dictionary and now I know what the word means. It means money that is paid to somebody to release a person who is being kept as a hostage. This book is about two men who try to get ransom by kidnapping a son of the richest man in town, Mr. Dorset.
Bill and Sam are in town and have only 200 dollars. They come up with kidnapping the son of Mr. Dorset, the richest man in town. But Mr. Dorset’s son, Johnny is a lot of trouble. When they catch Johnny, he resisted strongly. Johnny likes fighting very much. He says his name is Red Chief, not Johnny. Bill and Sam have a hard time taking care of Johnny because he is very perky and strong. They want to let him go as soon as possible. They write a letter to Mr. Dorset requesting the ransom. But Mr. Dorset turns down their request. Mr. Dorset writes them back requesting Bill and Sam paying 200 dollars to Mr. Dorset so that they can bring Johnny home and escape from him. Bill and Sam don’t want to pay him 200 dollars but they don’t want to be with Johnny even more. So they decide to escape from Johnny paying 200 dollars.
I thought this story was funny. They wanted lots of money but ended up paying some to ransom’s father. They picked wrong one. I hope they will succeed next time.

［249 words］

2-08 "Give us the Money"

Adam Grey works in a bank. He doesn’t like his job and doesn’t like Mr. Smith, his boss. One morning, Mrs. B tells Adam his horoscope. She says “Do something different today”. So Adam turns right at the corner he usually turns left. Suddenly, he sees something. A girl is being rubbed. He tackles the robber and runs with the girl. But it is actually a movie shooting.
At the same time, at the bank Adam works, real robbery is happening. They take bank’s money and run away. At a corner, they bump into Adam wand the girl. They mistake each other’s bags as theirs and don’t notice it. In Adam’s bag there is a lot of money, and the robber’s bag, there are pieces of news papers for movie shooting.
The robbers get angry and go to chase Adam. Adam and the girl run. The girl is an actress and she calls the movie director for help. The director goes rescue her and Adam with a camera. He shot the car chase of Adam and the robbers.
In the end, Adam and the girl are safe and police get the robbers. One of the robbers is surprisingly Adam’s boss, Mr. Smith. He goes to the bank but gets fired because he is late for work. But he is fine because the director asks him to star in his next movie. He will be a movie star.

[237 words]

"Toy Story"

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“Toy Story” is an animated movie produced by Pixar. It is the first movie with everything is in CG animation. The main characters are toys. Woody is a stuffed cowboy and Buzz is a spaceman figure. And there are many other various kinds of toys appear in the movie which move and talk vividly. Tom Hanks plays Woody’s voice and Buzz is played by Tim Allen. They are both American actors. The director is John A. Lasseter who is also the director of “toy Story 2” and “Cars” which are made afterwards.

Woody has been Andy’s most favorite toys among many toys he has. All of Andy’s toys move and speak only when Andy is out of the room. Woody is also the leader of other toys. They are Mr. Potato Head, Hamm the piggy bank, Bo Peep the ceramic girl doll, Slinky the spring dog, Alex the dinosaur figure and some other. But Andy always plays with Woody.
On Andy’s birthday, he gets the new toy. It is Buzz. Buzz becomes Andy’s new favorite toy instead of Woody, so Woody doesn’t like Buzz. Buzz thinks he’s a space ranger and has a mission to beat his enemy. He is not aware of that he’s a toy. Woody tries to kick Buzz out. One day, the accident happened. Woody and Buzz fell out of the window of Andy’s room. They didn’t die but had to manage themselves to go back Andy’s room because the other toys thought they were dead and couldn’t help.

Next Andy’s house, a boy named Sid lives. Sid also has many toys too. But he enjoys breaking them. Unluckily, Woody and Buzz were found and taken home by Sid. They were taken into Sid’s room and met many creepy broken toys. They were cut apart and converted by Sid. Woody though they he and Buzz would be one of them. But they were actually nice and cooperative to Woody and supported them to escape from Sid’s house.

Andy’s family was moving to a different place. Andy thought he lost Woody and Buzz. He was very sad but Woody and Buzz made it to come back to Andy. They got on the truck leaving from Andy’s house in the end of the movie. All the other toys were there too.

I thought this movie was really fun to watch. I had watched it twice before but still totally enjoyed it. I liked that Buzz misunderstood that he was a real space ranger at first. He is a hilarious character. I think whoever made this movie is such an innovative idea man.

[434 words]

"Hairspray"

I went to movie today. I watched "Hairspray". It's musical. It's fun and energetic and lots of dancing and singing. I really liked it. I felt like I wanna dance after the movie.
I was surprisd to see John Travolta played a mother. He dressed like a woman and he(she) sang and danced in the movie. It was a little creepy for me at first but I became used to it. He was good.

The story about a girl who is passionate about singing and dancing. She dreams about being on the TV show she watches every week. She auditioned for the show and her dream came true. She's fat but she can dance and sing very well.

I think everybody would like this movie. I recommend you watch it too.

［140 words］

Portfolio

Fall Semester Essays

Essays	Short titles [+ links]	Dates yy.mm.dd	¶	W	C	L	P	M	Notes
Mega- essay 07.10.12
Favorite place(-s) 07.10.26
Movie review 07.11.11
Community life 07.11.25
5th essay 07.12.09
6th essay 07.12.21
Totals	---	---							---

Key:

¶: number of paragraphs three or more sentences in length

W: number of words

C: number of comments

L: number of links

P: number of photos or other graphics
M: number of other media included

"Culture" TypingSpeedTrial

What I like about Japanese culture is that it’s deeply related to the seasons. We have different events in each season. In spring, we have cherry blossoms bloom and they are very beautiful. Japanese like to eat and drink under cheery blossom trees. And that is called ohanami. In summer, we have fire works and lots of festivals. We have many stands on the street selling the foods such as takoyaki and apple candy. Summer festivals in Japan are very exciting. Many people, especially women wear yukata which is Japanese traditional cloths to festivals. In fall, at school, we have

[100　words]

Happy Birthday

Yesterday was my friend's birthday so we had a little party tonight. She became 23 and she's one year older than me. She lives on her own so we gathered at her place. We actually wanted to do yesterday but she was busy with work. It was such a small party with 3 people but we three get together on and off and are very good friends.

After class, I went to KFC and bought fried chickens took them to the party. The other one brought cakes. They were really good. We toasted with non-alcohol wine since we had to drive after the party. We also had presents for her. I gave her a harmonica. Once she said she wanted it and I remembered that. She looked happy to receive it. The other friend gave her something interesting. It goes into the bath tub when you take a bath and it melts in the water. The water will be colored and smell good. I don't know what it's called in English but she looked happy to recieve that too.

After we ate, we watched TV together for a while and relax. At 11 pm we left her home. It was a small party but it was very fun. I like hanging out with my friends.

［216 words］

2-07 "Sindbad"

I decided to read "Sindbad" because when I picked up this book in the library, I got interested by that title as I thought I have heard that name before. I knew the name "Sindbad" but I didn't even know if it was a man or woman, or even a person or a thing. However, since there was a picture of a man with turban on its cover, I could guess Sindbad was a man.

Sindbad is a young man who lives in Baghdad. The story starts off with the death of his father. He left lots of money for his son so Sindbad becomes rich. But Sindbad uses it all soon and is in debts to many people. Therefore, he decides to go sail and earn money. He goes sailing to different countries many times in the book. And it's about those adventures searching for money and treasures all over the world.

First, Sindbad arrives in an island. There, he finds lot of jewls. But it was a snare of huge snakes. He was almost eaten by snakes but survived and goes back to his home. He paid all the debts by the jewels. Some time later, he wants to go sailing again. For the second time, he arrived in an island where cannibals live in. He is caught by them and his sailors were eaten by cannibals. But Sindbad could escape from the cage and ran to another country. He met a daughter of the king of the country. He liked her and married her. But she died for illness a year later. In the country, husbands have to be buried with their wives even if they were still alive. So Sindbad was in the grave alive with his dead wife and lots of treasures. He dug a hole and escape from the grave.

[305 words]

Onsen

It was very cold today. I wanted to go to onsen so I went to the public bath. It wasn't a real onsen but still good to be in the big baths. It's only 360 yen so I sometimes go to the bath.

When I go to public bath, I get in sauna bath. I watch TV in there and stayed about 10 minutes each time. It's very hot and you sweat a lot but it feels great after you get out. I repeat getting in and out of sauna at least twice. Right after I get out of the sauna, I jump into the cold water. You have to be a little brave because it's extremely cold. I also like roten buro. Roten buro is a bath outside. I can relax and feel time passes so slowly.

I ofcourse tried both today. And I felt relaxed and great after I got out. I drank a cup of drink and went home.

［162 words］

Piko's talk show

It was the second day of the school festival today. I went to the talk show with my friends. Piko came to KGU to have a talk show. It was all free so I wanted to go.

Piko is a fashion critic. She apears on TV very often. She's so funny when she's on variety shows. I like seeing famous people. We had to wait for about an hour till the hall was opened. It was chilly outside. Then we entered the place and waited for another 30 minutes inside. After 30 minutes, she finally showed up. She looked exactly same as on TV. I thought she was cool.

Although I thought she would talk about fashion since she's a fashion critic, she mainly talked about her life. She lost her sight of her right eye long time ago because of this difficult ill. It changed her. Her friends were very supportive for her and she thought she had to do something for others too after she recovered. She also said the important thing is not what you wear. She said the clothes are just decoration.

Her story was very interesting. I totally agreed with her. I think I want to do something to help other people. And no matter how beautiful clothes you wear, if you didn't have a good personality, it's not beautiful. And it's important to pick what you're good in.

［234 words］

New Phone

I bought a new mobile today. The one I was using was pretty old. I was using it for more than three years. It finally broke last week so I decided to buy new one.

I went to the Docomo shop near my house. There were many kinds. I didn't know much about mobile phones so I wasn't sure which one to buy. It seemed each phone had different extra functions but I went with the design. I just picked the one I thought looked the best.

What I bought is P704. It is very thin. Its color is gold and I think i like it. It wasn't cheap so I want to use it as long as possible.

［119 words］

"Notes on a Scandal"

Today is “Movie Day” so you can watch movie only by 1000 yen. So I went to watch “Notes on a Scandal”. The movie is about a lonely frustrated lunatic old female teacher who has no friends. It might sound not interesting you but it is actually a very good movie. It’s a bit scary though. I recommend you watch it too!

[62 words]

My grandmother's in the hospital

My grandmother got into the hospital today. She will stay there for a while. It isn't the first time　for her to stay in the hospital. She was in the hospital last year too. And after she came back she still went there regularly. She has had a problem with her bones. Lately she got really bad. Her bones are very weak so that she should be taken care in the hospital. She often complained of pains in her back and hip. I helped my mother to take her things to the hospital. I think it is better for her to be in the hospital than home because they have a good environment for cure. I hope she will get better soon.

［122 words］

"La Vie En Rose"

I watched the movie "La Vie En Rose". It is a French movie about a French singer, Edith Piaf. "La Vie En Rose" is English title and its original title is "La Môme".I didn't know anything about Edith Piaf until I decided to watch this movie. According to wekipedia, Edith is one of the greatest singers in France. She was born in 1915 and died at age of 47. She died of lever cancer.
The movie is about her whole life from birth to death. I thought her life was absolutely unbelievable. So many drama happened in her life. Very early in the movie, she was abandoned by her own mother and raised by prostitutes until she was about 4. And then her father is back from war and comes to pick her up. She didn't want to leave the prostitutes but her father took her away. She started to spend her life with the circus her father belongs to. But her father had a quarrel with other circus members and left the circus with Edith. He still kept performing on the street and Edith sang to helped her father. Audience liked her song and that's when she started to sing. She grew up and became a professinal singer, but she wasn't happry all the time. She once fell in love with a married guy and lost him by airplane accident. She was drug addict and on rehabilitation so many times.

I thought she was a very interesting person. And the performance of the actress was amazing. It was very powerful and touching. Her name is Marion Contillard. She’s a French actress. She is actually young. She looks like she's in her 20s but she looked very old in the movie. I thought the movie was really good. I recommend other people watch this too.

［305 words］

Exciting Yatai Night

On Friday, I was bored at home watching TV after school. My friend, Akihiro called me and said "Let's go to Fukuoka to drink!" I asked "Why don't we just drink at some izakaya in Kumamoto?" He said "I wanna drink at a yatai!" I loved the idea so I decided to go all of a sudden to Fukuoka that night.
Yatai is a kind of booths mainly serve beers and other alcohols and some food like Japanese oden or ramen. It's usually a tiny space so you can get very close to other customers. So you can make friends with others in yatais very easily. There is no yatais in Kumamoto but in Fukuoka, there are many. I had been to yatai once so I knew what it was like, and I love drinking at yatai.
He came to pick me up at around 7 o'clock and we headed to Fukuoka on the freeway. It took about 1 and a half hour to get there. We arrived in Hakata and saw many yatais on the street. We parked the car near the area that yatais gathered. When I got off the car, I felt it was a bit cold. When we started to walk, I felt even colder. As we were walking, we were selecting which yatai we were getting in. And we decided to get into one to have gyoza. We ordered 2 beers and 1 plate of gyoza as sson as we got inside. It was delicious, perfect match with beer. And I loved the atmosphere in the yatai. We spent like an hour in the yatai and moved to another one to eat oden. This time we ordered shochu. It was also delicious and perfect match with shochu. It was cold outside, but it was always warm inside yatais.
After we ate and drank enough, we went to karaoke and slept there. We came back to Kumamoto Sunday afternoon. It was very exciting Friday night.

［303 words］

2-06 Sally's Phone

Sally is a young woman who lives with her family. One morning, she was woken up by her boyfriend’s phone call. It was only six. Her boyfriend’s name is Andrew and he said her to come to the dinner with his new job that night. He also told her to wear a blue skirt she had and hung up. Sally didn’t want to wear the blue skirt but Andrew didn’t listen to her. He always doesn’t listen to Sally.
That day, at work, she talked about it to her coworkers. They thought it was absurd. They told Sally to buy a new skirt whatever color she likes. At lunch break, they went to shopping together and Sally bought a red skirt. On the way back to office, she bought called at a coffee shop and bought a coffee. When she bought a coffee, she bumped into a guy. He was nice. He picked up her bag and apologized.
Later that day, her phone rang. She picked up and said “Hello” and they said “Is this Paul?” Sally said “No” and hung up. Now she has Paul’s phone and Paul has Sally’s phone. They mistakenly picked up the wrong ones when they bumped into each others. They called and decided to meet up and return their phones to each other.
Paul thought Sally was beautiful and Sally thought Paul was nice. After they exchanged their phones, they went to have drinks. Sally didn’t want to meet Andrew anymore so she didn’t go to the dinner. It was Paul’s sister’s birthday that day so they went to the party together.

I like the way Sally ditched Andrew. It was immediate and no hesitation or sorriness at all. At the beginning of the story, she was concerned about her relationship because Andrew always tells her to do whatever he likes her to. He didn’t care Sally’s feeling at all. She wasn’t happy. So I thought it was very good for her to meet Paul. Paul is very nice and respects her feelings and taste.

［341 words］

"My favorite places"

I like traveling very much. I like visiting somewhere I’ve never been to before. And I have been to many places inside and outside Japan. Among those places, I’m going to introduce the three of my favorite places. Two of them are in Japan, Kamakura and Okinawa, and the other is in US which is San Antonio, Texas.

I visited Kamakura for the first time this summer. My sister just moved to Kamakura from Yokohama so she invited me to her new house during the summer vacation. Both Kamakura and Yokohama are in Kanagawa prefecture which is close to Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Kamakura is a very old city with a long history and you can see that as you walk around the city of Kamakura. It has many temples and shrines all over so I went to see some of them. It also has small modern cafes, shops and bars stands along the streets. It has a mixture of history and modern culture in the city and I love the unique atmosphere. It’s quiet, relaxing, quaint and fashionable. Kamakura is the city which contains good elements of both the old tradition and the new fashion at the same time.

Okiniwa is another favorite place to visit. I went there for the first time when I was in junior high as a school trip. But it was November and it had already been getting colder. And the
weather wasn't really good the whole time I was in Okinawa so I couldn't experience the best of Okinawa that time. I really found how amazing Okinawa was last summer. I went there with my friends and stayed for a few days in summer vacation. The weather was fantastic everyday during I was in Okinawa. The oceasn was incredibly beautiful. I spent all day hanging out at the beach so I got tanned no like before. The food is another reason why I like Okinawa. Soki-soba is Okinawan noodles and it's really good and my favorite. Once you arrived in Okinawa, you would feel like you're in somewhere outside Japan. You will feel very happy and welcomed by the island. You can escape from life in reality and forget your stress. Okinawa is such an attractive place.

San Antonio is the third favorite place to introduce. When I was 16 and 17, I was an exchange student in San Antonio, Texas. I went to school called St. Anthony Catholic High School for one year. I have so many memories about San Antonio. In San Antonio, you will hear many Spanish everywhere in the city as well as English. San Antonio faces the border between US and Mexico, so there are many Mexican people live in San Antonio. They have Spanish radio station, Spanish TV program, and delicious Mexican food. At my school, at least 50 % of the students were Mexican or Mexican American. They sometimes talk to each other in Spanish. The school had Spanish class and many students were taking it. I used to hangout with friends from the dormitory where I stayed the whole time during I was in San Antonio. We often went to movies and a shopping mall together in the weekend, and played pool and watched TV at the dorm. San Antonio has a tourist attraction called “River Walk” in its downtown. It’s an artificial small river and has many restaurants and bars and souvenir shops along the river. It’s a very beautiful place with colorful booths, music from bars and many people from all over the world.

I have introduced my three favorite places. First, Kamakura, I like its atmosphere. Second, Okinawa, I like it because it makes me feel as if I’m in a totally different world. And lastly, San Antonio, I have many special memories of spending my 16 and 17 of life there. They’re all my favorite places. I would like to visit there once again or even more. I would also like to visit more places and find more to be my favorites.

［641 words］

Friend TST04

My best friend Ayumi is in Canada now. She saved money all by herself and went to Vancouver to study English. She left Kumamoto in May and she will come back in March. Ayumi and I met at KGU when we were in the first grade. At that time Ayumi was not coming to school very much. She came to school like once a week because she was very busy with the part time job. But she still wanted to study and become an English teacher at a kindergarten. She decided to go Canada because her private English teacher was a Canadian. She said he was very nice and taught her a lot about Canada so she got interested in going to Canada. Now I chat with her sometimes and she seems really enjoying her life in Canada. I’m looking forward to meeting her again.

[145 words]

2-05 "Julia Roberts"

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is mainly about Julia’s career as an actress. In the beginning, it says a little bit of her childhood too. I like movies so I like reading about actors and actresses.

I have seen many movies which Julia Roberts is in. My favorite is “Erin Brockovitch”. This movie is based on the true story. The movies based on true stories can often be boring but this one is absolutely not. She acts one of the coolest women in it.

I knew that she has been in many great movies but didn’t know that she has also been in some bad movies which didn’t make much money. Her career wasn’t always good. She once stopped movies for a while. Maybe she was in a slump.

She has dated with many many guys before. The most of them are actors. It is no wonder because she’s beautiful but I was a bit surprised as reading the history. Now she’s married to some guy and has twin kids.

[172 words]

Kumamoto-Koshi-Kikuchi

Yesterday, me and the two of my friends went to Country Park in Koshi. We met at noon and headed to Koshi by car. On the way we bought lunch and snacks and drinks. It took over an hour to get there, even though it usually takes only about a quarter an hour, because we were lost our way. We asked the way to Country Park at a convenience store and could finally got there. After we arrived, we ate first. The weather was so fine as we din't see any clouds in the sky so it was great to be outside and eat. After we ate, we spent time playing badminton, seeing flowers and even just laying down on the ground until 5 o'clock. We felt very tired and sweaty after playing outside all day like as if we turned back kids so we decided to go to onsen in Kikuchi. It was about 1 hour drive from there. We went to Sasanoya, the hotel with onsens. It had one big bath and one outside(roten buro). I felt very refreshing.
We came back to Kumamoto around 9. It was a very fun and satisfying Sunday.

[196 words]

2-04 "New York Cafe"

When I saw the cover of this book, I though this was about NewYork. I like New York so I decided to read this book. Actually, this book was about computers. It was kind of scary and surprising at the ending.

It's 2030 and you can do anything with computers. S.Fuller takes 5 million dollars with the computer. Next day, at Fuller's, Mr. Fuller finds lots of money in their account. Mr. Fuller is confused, but his son, Sam says to Mr.Fuller to be happy about it. Fuller family is consisted of Mr.Fuller, Mrs.Fuller, Sam, and Sam's little sister Sheila.

I thought S.Fuller was Sam. Everybody would think it is Sam, but actually it is Sheila, his little sister. She 's very good at computers and took money from the bank. The fact turns out in very end of the story. It was so unpredictable and surprising.

[147 words]

Proto-Portfolio 2-01

Proto-Portfolio 2-01: Reviews, Posts and Words

Months	08	09	10	11	12	01	Totals	fn	Indices
Book reviews		00	03
Blog posts		05	13
Words
Sub-totals								---

Appetite TST 10/17

I love eating so I have a lot of appetites. I like 2 friends I often go eat something with in particular. I like going to eat yakiniku with them usually all-you-can-eat. They eat as much as I eat which usually people don’t so it is fun to eat with them. Last time I went to Aso with them, we ate a lot. We ate BBQ chicken, hotdog, ice cream, on the way.
Besides yakiniku, I like eating 100 yen sushi, pizza, ramen, and ice cream. In fall, we have many good foods such as sanma, fruits, and matsutake. I don’t really like fruits very much but I like Japanese pear. We will have many good pears in fall so I’m looking forward to it. I also like chestnuts.

[129 words]

My Monday

I had a very busy day yesterday so that I couldn't add a text to my blog before the date changed. On Mondays I take 4 classes which is the most in a week. The first one started at 10:40 and I consecutively have three more classes after that. I have German, Current Event, Japanese Writing and the most interesting is Nihonjijo Tokko which is tha last of the day. It is basically for foreign students but is still open to some Japanese weirdos like me. English was spoken the whole time in the class so being in the class makes me feel like I'm studying abroad. I took this class because I was curious what kind of things foreign students study at my university and how our culture is introduced to them. Yesterday we had Tomei sensei present Japanese martial arts. I thought I would know everything he would say or show in the class but there were actually many many things I didn't know so it was very interesting.
After school, I had to go work. I usually have dayoff on Mondays because I have the most class on Mondays but yesterday, because they didn't have enough people, they asked to me come and help. I didn't say no because I want to make as much money as posssible. I went straoght to work from university and I worked for 6:30 to 9:00.
I was exsausted when I got home so I had dinner and took shower and went to bed quickly.

[254 words]

The web is very useful these days

I found a big spider's web right outside of the window this morning.
It was a huge web and a huge spider on the middle of it.
I was surprised and didn't know what to do so left it alone.
Since I was a child I knew spiders are harmful or scary because my parents and grand parents taught me that spiders are genius of houses.
I usually go smash bugs annoyingly flying or crawling around me but spiders.

Tonight, I left my windowns open for hours and realized there were no any bugs in my room.
Usually, when I have my windowns open for a while there are at least a few little annoying bugs flying around in my room but tonight there is none.
I guess the web is catching all the bugs trying get into my room.
How innovative! She's a keeper.

[145 words]

2-03 "Marley"

This book is about a couple and their dog named Marley.

Jon and Jenny had been married for a few years and were considering about having a child.

But Jenny was unsure if she could grow a child because she coudln't even graw the plant which Jon had given her as a present. She watered the plant too much and killed it. She wasn't confident that she won't kill a baby too so they decided to strat with a dog.

The dog was named Marley because they both liked Bob Marley.

Marley is a Labrodor retriever, male, very perky.

I think this book is very funny even thought it's very long and I haven't even finished it.

I have never read any English book this long but it's not as hard as I thought it would be.

I think it's because the contents is very interesting and easy to understand.

There are many vocabularies i don't know in the book so I can learn a lot by reading this.

I read some pages as I mark the vocabs I don't know and stop and look up my dictionary and find out their meanings and read the same pages once again.

Marley is very cute and adorable.

As I read the book, I can picture this dog whimper, run, sleep, bark. It very fun to read this book.

[227 words]