British pub

I went to a British pub in Tenjin with 3 people working in the same lab. One of them has been to UK and some other parts of Europe and knows a lot about European food. They had many kinds of beer and the glass was so big. Drinks were served in a pint glass. In the picture is apple cider in a half pint glass.

We had special Christmas dinner, which included turkey, chicken, duck baked in the oven. Fried potatoes and the salad were also nice. I like thefriendly atmosphere in the pub and it was different from the bar I went to when I was in Seattle.

Christmas!

4 days to go

Only 4 days to go for Christmas! Christmas songs in the street, decorations in the shops and illumination on the trees... all of them make me happy and excited. I already bought some presents and ready to enjoy!

BUT experiments are still waiting for me... Since I ordered a wrong primer, which is used to amplify DNA, I had to start my experiment from the beginning. Luckily it took only 2 days but I still have to conduct restriction enzyme treatment, ligation, and transformation. I am really running out of time...

I will do my best not to end up having no results to present in March. hmm...

Sad realities of "fur"

The other day I saw a stunning video about "fur" on BBC and it made me think a lot.

Clothes with fur are very common and popular among many people, especially the young but we do not know how the fur (not synthetic but real one) is produced and sold.

As you know real fur is the fur of animals such as rabbits, raccoons, and foxes. Before I saw this video, I thought vaguely that these fur are produced by domesticating the animals just like keeping a caw on grasslands or having sheep in a field. The truth is, however, furs are produced mostly in China in an extremely cruel way without any consideration.

Some heartless people catch wild rabbits, raccoons and foxes and kill them by hitting them, stepping on them or just strike them against something hard. Those poor animals barely breathing but still alive have their skin removed violently by the humans. I could not see the fluffy cute animals bleeding from their body helplessly abused. You too surely would want to cover your eyes when you see it.

I am not sure whether all the clothes with fur are being produced like this, but it tells us a sad true story about them. We, consumers, are part of the blame because the business people sell those clothes because they sell well. In this world where capitalism dominates, there are no way to stop the attempt to make profit. In other words, however, customers can control the market by deciding to buy or not to buy the product after they investigate whether it is produced in a proper way.

What we see in a department store, or a clothing shop are part of the animals' body, which may have been robbed off very mercilessly. We have to know this fact first, and then take actions to realize what we think is right.

Going to gain weight??

My experiments are the busiest now, in addition to preparation for the English seminar in which I have to be a presenter this Friday...

I came back at 8.30 and had dinner at 9 pm! Since I was very hungry, I ate a lot. If this kind of lifestyle continues, I am surely going to gain weight... In winter it is easy to gain weight (partly because of the enjoyable events coming soon) for the first place, how much more if you eat quite late and a lot?

I don't worry too much though... Hungriness is the sign that your body needs some energy. What is important is not to overdo it.

Tomato pot

4th-year students had a tomato pot party last night. While "Nabe" is a typical Japanese food which is usually flavored with soy sauce, the tomato pod has tomato flavor. It contained potatoes, carrots, eggplants, cabbage, mushrooms, chicken and pork. It was very similar to Minestrone, one kind of Italian soup and tasted really nice.

7 of us all enjoyed ourselves when we cooked it, ate it and cleaned up the room. Many many jokes made us laugh out loud and it made the dishes even more delicious. We cooked so much (with two pods), and ate too much. The tomato pot perfectly matched with cheese very well and pasta added at last was scrumptious too. I took the leftover home and brought it for lunch to the laboratory today. The party was so enjoyable that we were eating until 12 am and talking until 2 pm. I love our good friendship.

I do not why but I am so energetic these days. I feel good all the time. There was even one time that my friend asked me "Why are you so happy?" and I said "I'm always happy"! I burst out laughing quite easily, conduct experiments without worry and am very enthusiastic to improve my English. I am just wondering why I suddenly became so active. Well my cheerfulness sometimes varies, but I am still kind of filled with energy. I was not able to go sleep because my mind was so active and never stopped thinking on Monday. I went to bed at 4 last night so probably I will be fast asleep tonight, though.

I think I was in the similar kind of status of mind when I was in Seattle. I was just excited every day and everything I encounter stimulated me quite a lot. The feeling is now coming again.

One week passes really fast! Only 14 days to Christmas and winter holidays....

Brilliant day

My PCR finally got a good result. When I changed the buffer and the conditions, it worked well. I appreciate to my senior's advice very much. So now I will start constructing a fusion plasmid carrying Green Fluorescent Protein. At last I have reached the starting point.

One more good thing, today I went to the faculty office to get a document for one of my friends who is going back to India for New-year vacation. In order to go outside Japan, it is necessary for him to fill out the document, get his professor's signature on it and then submit it. I went with him because nobody in the office speaks English and everything on the document was in Japanese. On the way there he told me that "People like you make my life easier" and thanked me. It impressed me quite a lot and I felt like I am worth being here. The idea made me happy that I was able to do something for other people. I really like this kind of job.

Cooking day again

These are dishes I cooked the other day. I hardly ever cook eggs because I do not like it very much (especially half-cooked ones). But my mother left some for me so I tried to make omelet with potatoes, shrimps and tomatoes inside. At first it made something like a scrambled egg, which was quite different from what I had in my mind. I added one more egg and smashed potatoes. Then I got a round and flat omelet! I was very careful not to damage the shape of the omelet when I flipped it over.

The other one contains tofu, scollops and a kind of spinach. Tasty!

Laboratory

So busy with my experiment these days...

I do PCR again and again every day but have yet to get a good result. Doing research is really a long way. I started to like it, though. I somehow got used to the experimental procedure, which takes some time to learn, and I am also accumulating knowledge on the field of my research. Reading articles is not bad once you understand the abstract.

Although I am quite busy with experiments, I love spending a lot of time in the laboratory because all the people are so nice and friendly, willing to teach what they know and to offer help. I really appreciate their attitude and also would be happy to return the favors.

I would like to obtain rudimentary skills required to conduct experiments before I leave the laboratory. I will keep it up so that my learning would never be stagnant.

Incidentally, as you may know, the word "laboratory" is very different from "lavatory". I just mention this because I did not know this and found it funny.

Cooking day

My grandparents sent me some vegetable they harvested. I light fried Chinese cabbage and pork, and taro mixed with spring onions. Scrumpcious!

Easy peasy dishes

Got some new recipe from the famous British TV show, "The naked chef".

Above: Mushroom with fish meat, chicken, and cheese on it. I just mixed up all the ingredients and flavored it with pepper and salt and put it on the mushrooms. Just toast them for 5 min, very easy and extremely nice!

Bottom: Italian soup. Chop up broccoli, onions, tomatoes. mushrooms and chicken, and light fry them with some olive oil. Pour 5 cups of water(variable) and add consommé soup powder in it. It really tastes like Italian food. Olive oil can be used for not only soup but also pasta, salad, etc...

He uses a big oven and bakes various things, which look so delicious! I wish I had a big oven in my small apartment too!

Lecture

From Monday to Friday, we had a lecture given by Pf. David Cleik from Queensland university. He is very famous for his work of cyclic peptide and its pharmaceutical application. He talked about brief introduction of his study and method of NMR analysis determining the sequence and the structure of peptides.

His AG accent was not so strong as I expected, and he tried to speak slowly so I had little problem understanding what he was saying. I still spotted some characteristics of AG English. One of the most typical and confusing one is that "A" becomes "I" in his speech. He is talking about "AMX", but what I hear is "IMX". Similarly 8 sounds like "ait".

His explanation was clear enough for me to understand the basics. It was fun and I was very excited all the time during the lecture because it was like studying abroad. I do regret not staying in a foreign country for a long time to study. Living away from your home country and going all for something you want to do must broaden your horizon, your limit, and your view of life. Anyway I was very very lucky to be able to take this special chance to attend a lecture by an extremely famous professor in the world.

Job, Future, etc....

タイレストランでした話。

私が本当にやりたいのは通訳と翻訳だって気づいてからこっち、来年から働くのは本当にこの会社でいいのかなという思いが頭をもたげていた。研究がそんなにやりたいわけではなくて、研究成果を英語で発表したり、実験について英語で議論したり、資料をつくっているほうがずっと楽しい。もっともっと勉強したいと思う。だから、会社に入って英語を使う頻度が急低下するのが非常に惜しい。田舎だから、福岡みたいに国際交流とか活発ではないし。

そんな折に相談してみたのが今日あった友達で、彼女もいろんな仕事を経験していて、将来は保育士になるという夢がある。彼女に聞いたのは、どんな仕事も無駄じゃないということ。そして、とりかかるのはいつからでも遅いということはない、ということ。自分が昔やっていた仕事のなかで得たことは、のちのち必ず役に立つんだって。単調作業さえも、ああ、ここにつながるんだ、ということがあるんだ、と。それは本当に何年後かはわからないけど、でも、今やりたいことと直接結びついていなくても、それは無駄ではないって。何年か働いてみて、傍らで専門学校とかで翻訳を学んでもいいと思うって。その人の友達で、薬学部でて薬剤師になったけど、医学部に編入して今実習中という人もいるらしくて、その人が医学部で学ぶことは薬剤師の知識が非常に生かされているんだって。医者は薬の名前を覚えるのが苦手らしいから、その時点でかなりのアドバンテージがある。医者になりたいと思って、努力して、それまでやってきたことの中で生かせるものってたくさんある。そう、経験がほしいと思って、四年で就職の道を選んだんだった、と思い出した。

少し気が楽になった。

内定でてから、働き始めるまでの期間が長すぎると思う…いろいろ悶々とする時間を与えないでいただきたい（苦笑）。

Caregiver

今日、ケアワーカー研究会という団体の主催で、フィリピン映画「Caregiver」を観た。フィリピン人看護師、介護士の受け入れがすすみつつあるから、実にタイムリー。お年寄りの介護は本当に大変で、そして給料がよくない。あまつさえ、ケアワーカーアシスタントという名目で、介護の仕事ではなく掃除とかベッドメイキングなどの仕事をメインでやらせるなどの事例もあるようだ。これは日本ではなくてイギリスが舞台だったけど、聞いた話によると日本語の介護士試験に合格しないと介護士として働けないという実態があるみたいだから、どこもにたようなものなのかもしれない。

介護というきつい仕事でも、本国フィリピンで働くよりは給料がいい。それだけでもあまりいい気分はしないのに、長時間労働でしかも被介護者の財産を狙っているんじゃないかとか陰口をたたかれたりするから、それは想像を絶するつらさだろうと思う。肉体的にも、精神的にも…。

それでも与えられた仕事を真剣にこなして、介護しているおじいさんと仲良くなったサラは、最後おじいさんからこういわれる。

「あなたの仕事は、誰かが人生において失ったものを、とりもどしてくれる。だから、私は今言うよ。――――人生に、あるとき、思いもかけないときに誰かが入ってくることがある。私にとってはあなたがその人だった。あなたは私に、尊厳、希望、喜び、楽しみさえ取り戻してくれた。」

サラは自分のことはそっちのけで、おじいさんの介護をし、同時に夫の面倒を見、助け、近所の男の子が万引きをしているところを見つけてしかり、怪我をしていれば手当てをし、食事をつくってあげた。彼女は本当にgiverだと思う。自分の欲望とか、相手が自分に何をしてくれるかとかを一切考えないで、彼らの喜びが彼女の喜びであるというように行動している。私も、これまでたくさんの人に支えてもらい、お世話になり、育ててもらったから、これからは相手に与えるということをしていきたいと思う。やろうかな、どうしようかな、といつも思ってタイミングを逃してしまわないように…。

自分が今日本でどれほど幸せな生活をしているか、身にしみて感じてしまった。反省、反省…。

Fai-san

うちの研究室に10ヶ月間研究しにきていた、ファイさんという人が、今日タイに帰ってしまいました…。

会ったのは4月で、とても親切でよく話し、明るい人だったことがすごく印象的だった。なんと、私と誕生日が同じ！　だから5月17日にタイシルクでできたストールをもらって、私もプレゼントをあげて、とても仲良くなった。だから今は、とてもさびしくなっている。先週は、ケーキを買ってみんなでお別れパーティをしたり、飲み会を開いたりして…ファイさんの人望の厚さを感じた。

今日も空港で、彼女の所属していた研究グループの人は全員の見送りにきていたし、九大で勉強しているタイ人の友達もたくさん（10人くらい！）ファイさんを見送った。彼らは非常によく話し、活発で、冗談が上手くて面白い。小学生みたいに純粋で、仲良し。東南アジアの人によくみられるような気がする。シンガポールの人も、ブルネイの人も、フィリピンの人もそうである。ファイさんのタイの友達は、彼女がほしがっていたというMP3をプレゼントし、写真をたくさん切り貼りしてシールを貼ってメッセージを書いた特製アルバムまであげていた。ファイさんはとても喜んでいた。何が面白かったかって、思い出のつまったアルバムの一番最後のページに、写真現像のレシートが貼り付けてあったこと！700円くらいだったけど…。「お金ちょうだい」とそのうちの一人が手のひらを差し出しながら言って、一同大爆笑。なんか、いいなぁ。日本人と決定的に何かが違う。感情表現が豊かってうらやましいな、と思う。私たち日本人は彼らの姿を遠巻きに見て、「すごい盛り上がってるね～」「やっぱりファイさんの人望だよね」なんて分析している（笑）。

日本語って、敬語があって上下関係が厳しく、しかもそんなにフレンドリーな付き合い方をしないから、年の違う人やよく知らない人が一緒だとそんなに盛り上がったり騒いだり冗談を言って楽しんだりすることが少ないと思う…。私も、日本語でも英語でも、ユーモアのセンスないなあと思ったりする。とか、自分のユーモアについてネガティブな思考をしている時点でダメなきもするけど…。ジョークをいうって、相手に笑ってほしいと期待しているっていうことだから、相手に好意を示す有効な手段だと思う。同時に、冗談だとわかってくれると相手を信頼しているということにもなる（まともに受け取られたら、まったくジョークにならないものもあるから！）。そういうふうになりたいなぁ。日本人でも、ジョークの上手い人はたくさんいるから、これは練習しかない！　ひそかにほかの人の会話に注意を払い、研究をしよう…。

タイは35℃あるらしい。気候の違いがまずこたえそうだ…。ファイさんが博士論文を立派に仕上げて、また日本に戻ってくる日を楽しみに待とうと思う。たくさんの人に見送ってもらって、それをタイでまたいろんな人に話すんだろうな。10箱まとめ買いした、福岡銘菓を手土産に…。

で、そんなわけで、お昼は友達とタイ料理を食べた。タイ政府公認のレストランらしく、めちゃくちゃおいしかった！！　お手ごろ価格なのに…サラダにメインにデザートまで。友達はグリーンカレーを食べて、ココナッツの甘みとカレーの辛味がまさに絶妙！日本にはない味だけど、おいしい。タイ米も甘くておいしかった。私は焼きビーフンをいただいたのだけど、えび、もやし、アゲみたいなもの、緑色の野菜、ココナッツなんかが入っていて非常に美味でした！　もう一回食べたい～。ソースがとてもおいしい…タイで本場のも食べてみたいなぁ。

Status and some comments which touched me so much

「キレイなものは遠くにあるからキレイなの。」

「そうか。」

「Erm, yes I agree?」

「それは歌詞ですけど、本当なんですね。」

「恋してるの？」

「本当だけど、綺麗で近いものもあるから、いつも遠く見てはいけないわ＾＾」

そうか…。

そうね。そうかも。

最後の文章が、せつない気持ちを受け入れて、それでもって、鮮やかに飛び越えている。そんな印象を受けました。

Concert

The annual concert was held tonight at across Fukuoka Symphony Hall tonight and I was on the stage!

Many people told me that the Symphony Hall is very special for its quality and so it was. Our voice was totally different from that we had in a small room when we normally practice. It was just like the upper space of the hall absorbs and amplifies the voice to make it last long. That was amazing and great.

I had a great time there especially when I sang the chorus songs such as "Seagulls" and "Daichi-sansho". It was very very nice that I was able to hear my voice mixed with the soprano because I was standing next to a soprano lady. Not only soprano, but also alto, tenor and bass, everybody was great. I really like singing.

I hope the audience enjoyed our performance too... I would like to thank all of my friends for coming and other friends living outside Kyushu for cheering me up!!

幕末？

福岡大名に、寺田屋発見！ 龍馬さんが二階からひょっこり顔を出しそうです。

Totally fine

Sad feeling has now disappeared... remembering that I still have very good friends who accept what I am and support me when I feel hurt. I would like to thank them rather than hate someone who bullies me.

Someone told me "You are too honest and I think it is a stupidity" the other day. It shocked me so much that I cried in the restaurant with the presence of other friends of mine and strangers. It was an insult to me, and I was not able to take it as a joke. He was going to give me some advice or something (I guess), but it was going too far. He does not know how boorish his words always are and how deeply his behavior hurts other people's feelings.

It made me sad and furious especially because I talked with my friend a few days before about our relationship with other people. We reached a conclusion that we might be able to make a good friend who shares the same values with us if we are going be a little bit more active when we mingle with new people. This time the trial failed, but it reminded me of what she told me; "It may be very cruel of me as your friend to encourage you to do something which might hurt you, but remember, you have a lot of good friends who accept what you are and support you when you feel hurt".

Other friends also sympathized with me and cheered me up by telling me that they like my honesty. I thank them so much...

Got connected!

Finally my friend got the Internet access today. It was a bit complicated procedure and so I have a certain feeling of achievement.

The personnel told us that the construction would be at 2:30 but the engineer told them they were coming soon at 12. What if my friend was far away from there at that time? There was a great possibility of postponement of the construction because of them again...

He and his brother was going to share the Internet, which means they need a router to split the signal of the Internet using the Wi-Fi. It was difficult for us to have their laptop connected to the router because it required the UserID and Password in the default, which we did not know. We tried and tried to find them to change the settings of the Wi-Fi and finally it worked!

It was much more difficult than the usual because we did not have the special knowledge on computers or Internet and the OS they were using were English versions. The instruction of the installment was not readable so we had to guess what to do next. It was very difficult for me to explain and translate such techy things in English. That is why I had a good feeing after they got the Internet connection...

They thanked me a lot and it made me feel that I was able to do something for them.

Mistake

I am just wondering why I am so careless??

I did some experiment using a membrane to copy the result of SDS-PAGE gel. However, I used two plastic cards instead of the membrane!! Those cards are slipped in between the membranes to protect them and I thought that card was the membrane and took them (actually I even did not notice that they were two).

It is very silly of me because I have done the same experiment for many times though the last time was in July...

Will I be really ready to work in less than half year in a laboratory...? It makes me worried and depressed very much.

At long last?

Finally my friend and I found that a certain Internet provider already built the line to his apartment and they told us that he would be able to have the Internet connection within a week. That company, called A, was different from the provider B that the real estate agency cooperates.

I am wondering why that real-estate company tied up with B, which has no line in his apartment. If you want to get the Internet connection through B, it takes a lot of time to get the permission of the construction from both the management company and the city hall(!). Using A, on the other hand, it is easy to have the connection because the line is already in the room.

Despite the slightly expensive monthly fee, he made up his mind to get A and cancel the contract with B because A has the faster processing speed and the faster construction. At that time it seemed that A would be perfect, but the problem popped out again...

When I first called that company, the personnel said that an employee who speaks English would call him first and then come to his apartment to have the application form filled out. However, a man called ME and said that he would come to the apartment but he does not speak English. Why do they keep telling us a different thing each time? My friend was already tired of that kind of treatment and so was I. Fortunately, however, the construction will be on Saturday, so it is going to be true that he would be able to get the Internet connection within a week.

I strongly hope that anything will not betray him and his brother anymore...

Long way to be connected to the Internet

Is it a Japanese custom to hand something to others and avoid being responsible?

My friend, who moved in a new apartment on Sep 24th, has yet to have the Internet connection because the personnels of the internet provider keep handing the contract to other people all the time. "I do not know what the person in charge is doing with your contract now... Let me make him call you back." the operator says, and the person in charge says "I do not know much about the technical problems of your apartment. So could you wait for the engineer to call you later?" and finally the engineer told him that "I still do not know whether you can get the internet connection (!) or when the construction will be held."

It seems to take just for ever. I made a phone call for him and they did not seem to think the contract so important. My friend has been waiting for almost a month and is still treated like that without getting any information on the internet connection. The person I talked over the phone sounded polite, but he also kept saying he does not know how the engineer is handling the contract. One of their problems is that their jobs are too independent and not shared with other workers in different sections. I felt so sorry for him and his brother, both of whom are frustrated and angry.

One of my friends told that it was a bad custom of Japanese. I am not sure if it really is... It differs company to company I guess. One thing is sure, though; the workers in that company should communicate more so that they do not have to pass the business to another personnel, or they may end up losing a lot of customers.

Very very basic, isn't it??

Laptop

Recently I bought a new laptop, HP, with intel core 2 duo 2.0 GHz, 320GB of HDD and 4GB of memory. It is super faster than my old computer which has only 0.8 GHz and 60 GB of HDD. When choosing a new computer, I learned a lot about technical words and how the processer works. Although I use my laptop almost every day, I knew little about it. I now feel embarassed that I chose my old computer just because of its color.

My laptop has an English OS (in other words, it is not intended to be sold in Japan)! I wanted to improve my English more, so I ordered an English version from a shop in Akihabara, where is very famous for abundant computer goods. After I looked at all the websites carefully, I finally made my mind to buy a HP notebook pavillion dv4-1280. It is much faster than I expected, so I am very satisfied with it.

I had a problem, though... Although I ordered silver one, what I received was a bronze! It is strange because I called that shop beforehand and made it sure that they had silver ones. However, the shopstaff told me that they did not have any silver but only bronze ones when I called them again just after I received the laptop. I was a bit disappointed, but told them OK anyway. It is funny that I still care about its colors... Besides, I found the bronze color rare, and cool. I try to take things in a good way.

Here are some tips to have your laptop work faster and to extend the life of your computer;

1. Desktop; Try not to put too many icons on the desktop. It makes the processor work unnecessarily harder.

2. Organize files; Put files in right folders. Music files should be kept in the music folder, documents should be in the document folder, and videos in the video folder in your laptop. It makes it easier for the computer to process.

3. External HDD; If you have a lot of heavy programs and bulky files, it would be a good idea to buy an external hard disc drive. Store those files in that HDD, and your laptop will be free from the burden.

4. Cooler; The processor is sensitive to heat, therefore it has a fan inside. Still, it would be better to place your computer under a laptop cooler because the built-in fan is sometimes not enough to prevent the temperature from rising. The cooler has several fans inside and gives off wind in order to cool the processor of the computer.

5. Keyboard cover; The keyboard cover enables you to keep the keyboard clean and new, but it makes it difficult for the laptop to release the heat. With a laptop cooler, you can place a cover on the keyboard, but do not lock it. Leaving a little space to radiate heat helps your computer a lot.

台湾家庭料理

Just had a chance to eat Taiwanese home dish. It reminded me of my Taiwanese friends...

The final presentation

We gave a presentation on the last day of the class. Yurie, my partner, and I spent whole day preparing the presentation yesterday and still we had something to do at night. It was surely the biggest assignment of this course. Yurie is such a nice lady as she became interested in religion and arranged the interview to her friend's host family for me. She never says "Oh, it is such a hassle, I don't feel like doing that." She prepared both oral and visual ones very well.

Presentations of other students were also very interesting. They talked about Holidays in the US, Gender roles, Baseball, Marriage and divorce, Health care, Environmental issues, and Economic crisis. What they found on each topic was so deep that made me think a lot. Surprisingly, divorce rate in the US is 50%, the world highest. My classmates' interviewees think that it is because American people get married too early, and they do not hesitate to do what they think is right.

Michell, our teacher, gave us an important advice; When you are very nervous at the presentation, tell them "I am so nervous." It makes people laugh and helps you to relax.
Yurie and I were nervous before we start, so I tried saying that "We are very nervous." It did make our classmates laugh and I felt easier. Yurie talked about Hindu and Christianity, then I told them about Islam and Judaism. The contents were; the building they pray, the holy book, how they pray, important rituals or holidays etc. The other day, one of my classmates told me that he didn't know anything about Hindu or Judaism, so he was looking forward to learn something from our presentation. I guess our presentation met his expectition.

What was difficult is that we had a Muslim classmate from Saudi Arabia, the "Mecca" of Islam. When I was explaining what I heard from my former-Muslim interviewee to the class, he sometimes frowned. I had to make sure that that was not a general information of Islam but what I heard from the interviewee who is from Bangradish. Anyway, we finished our work and it was a meaningful activity.

Thanks Yurie.

Maple leef stamp on my passport

It was raining in the morning. I heard someone saying that summer is already over. So soon?

My second day in Victoria started with oatmeal with brown sugar and milk. Oatmeal is kind of okayu made of wheat instead of rice. It is said to be healthy, so I tried one for the first time. The oatmeal tasted good at first but it was different from what I imagined. After I added some brown sugar to it, it got sweeter and less delicious. I sometimes tried to eat it with milk, but I didn't like it very much. Hmmm...

Then I visited the British Columbia Parliament buildings. That buildings were very old and looks like European with green lawn and various kinds of flowers. I joined a free guided tour and they took us inside the Parliament. A man dressed in suits and hat with a stick in his hands, acted as the architect who designed the building and explained the detail. He spoke British English. I wish I could understand what he said thoroughly.

Royal British Columbia Museum was great. They had a special exhibition of world history at that time, so I was excited to see everything. The museum was also huge, and it took 3 hours to go through all of them. I saw many kinds of treasure from all over the world; mummy, jewelry made of gold, native Americans' crafts, so many things. Because their explainations were written in simple English, it was easy to know when and what happened to the treasure at that time. When I was sitting on the couch, an elderly man talked to me. He told me that he lived in Alberta province, which is contiguous to British Columbia. We talked about this museum and history for a while and had a good time. Then I dropped in at the Museum cafe and ate Italian panini and mashroom soup for lunch. They were both hot and delicious! They helped me to keep warm.

On the way back to Seattle, a girl from South Korea sat next to me. She told me that she had just finished working in Vancouver for 3 months and was visiting Seattle. She was working as a volunteer in a special care house and they provided accomodation and meals. Her English was very good, and we talked about a lot of things in the ferry. One problem was that she had not reserved any hostel yet. It was middle in the 3-day off, so all the hostels in Seattle were fully booked. She had to call them again to ask whether they had any cancellation fot that night. I was very worried because it was almost 8 pm and she was going to sleep in a park if she could not find any vacancy, which is of course dangerous. I gave her some quaters so that she would be able to make a phone call immediately after arrival as she had no American currency. I felt happy to do so because I did the same thing with the lady who gave me some American coins on the airplane coming to Seattle. The kindness is being passed on. I hope she found somewhere to stay at and is enjoying her visit in Seattle.

This trip to Victoria made me more confident about my English as I reserved the ferry and the hotel on the phone and explored Victoria all by myself. I will not hesitate to ask questions or make reservations any more. It was such a wonderful, unforgettable experience.

Victoria, Canada

It was raining in the morning in Seattle. Bad day for going on a trip, but anyway I took a ferry heading for Victoria, Canada. Victoria is located in southern part of Vancouver island. It is a very beautiful, pretty city with lots of flowers and old well-preserved buildings. Though it takes only 3 hours by ferry, the atmosphere is totally different from that in Seattle, where is pretty modern.

Formally called Port of Camosack, Victoria was first chosen as a trading post and fort and then later named Fort Victoria. It became the outfitting center of miners and adventurers. In 1868, Queen Victoria named it the Capital city of the Crown colony of British Columbia. Victoria has emerged from its frontier roots and royal heritage, to a city with rich architecture, lush gardens and West coast Hospitality.

The area where the vessel arrived is called Inner Harbour. I saw many shops with the flags of all nations, the Empress Hotel, and British Columbia Parliament Buildings. The Empress Hotel was huge, very old, and dignified. It is flanked by a rose garden and has inviting expanse of lawn in front. The various colors of national flags and flowers make the city vibrant.

I went to Starbucks in downtown out of curiosity and had a wrap of tuna salad. Starbucks was almost the same to those in Seattle or Japan, but they had less kind of food. Things in Victoria were not as expensive as Seattle, but still not that cheap. What is interesting is that everything is written in both English and French. In Inner Harbour, was a music festival. A lot of people were sitting on benches or lawn and listening to it. It was cloudy and sometimes sunny, when it became warm.

The craigdarroch Castle was a little bit from the city center, about 30 minute-walking, but it was worth visiting. It was completed in 1890 for Robert Dunsmuir, a Scottish immigrant who made his fortune from Vancouver island coal. Unfortunately he passed away just before construction of the Castle was completed, so his widow lived there for approximately 20 years. Inside of the castle was so gorgeous and luxury with a billiard room, dance hall (orchestras were hired!), library, number of bedrooms... Even the residents might have got lost in their own "house".

There was an art gallery near the castle, and I had a look at it. They had exhibitions of Asian arts, photographs of Rockey Mountains, which was very beautiful, drawings of Emily Carr, one of Canada's greatest and most loved artists.

I was surprised the hotel I stayed at is 3rd oldest in Victoria! It was 3 blocks away from downtown, neat and tidy, and welcoming. The room was very clean with large bathrooms and a queen-sized bed. I like the hotel very much.

Sports day on a rainy day

Today we were supporsed to play some sports in Denny field. It was showering when we arrived there, but we started playing valleyball. I took a lot of picture of my classmates playing. It began raining very soon, so we stopped and wait for the rain to stop.

The rain did not stop, so we went home. A Pretty bad day for sports. It was my first time to see such heavy rain in Seattle. I went to Suzzalo library and saw what is called "Harry Potter's room", which is a big hall with all shelves filled with books. It looked like an old, beautiful church.

In the class we chose the topic of the presentations we will give next week. We are going to interview some Americans, and learn what we want to know. I chose religion since I am very interested in that topic. I hope I would be able to get an idea of how religions influence on the people's lives and find out their opinions about their religion.

Ballard Locks

We visited the Ballard Locks today. Ballard is the name of that area, and the locks connects Puget sound and Lake Union. The locks are kind of elevator which let vessels go through the canal from the lake to the sea, or from the sea to the lake.

In the past, they needed to carry lumbers by ship from lake Washington to Puget sound via Lake Union. The problem was; the water level of the lake was higher than that of the sea. If we connect the lake and the sea directly without the locks, the freshwater in the lake will flow into the sea, and it will dry up. We need locks because we do not want to empty the lake.

This is the step-by-step explanation how the lock works;
When the ship is going to go into the sea from the lake, the gate opens and the ship goes in the lock, and then it is closed. The water in the lock will be drained until the level become equal to that of seawater, and the other gate is opened, which connects the lock and the sea. The ship gets out of the lock. Because freshwater is lighter than saltwater, the freshwater in the lake generally will not mix with the seawater. Besides, At the bottom of the lake are some barriers which prevents seawater to go into the freshwater, something like bumps.

Salmons, their precious resorce of the Pacific ocean, come back to the lake, where they were born, from the sea in this time of year. Salmons spawn only in the lake, so people had to let the salmons return to the lake. They invented what is called "Fish ladder", which is similar to stairway, so that the salmons can go back and lay eggs.

I did not know what is the locks like, and how it works, so it was good for me to know. The Panama canal and other canals were built with the same idea.

I went to waterfront park again, and took many pictures of buildings in the city center. Seattle library is famous for its look, which is fully constructed with glass. It was beautiful but unfortunately it was closed due to the maintenance. Skyscrepers were very tall in that area and traditional hotels were also good.

"Shall we dance?"

This was simply marvelous!!

"Shall we dance?" is one of the best movie I have ever seen. It was romantic, heartwarming, and enjoyable.

I guess many working people just start getting bored their lives with work at the age of John. They are tired with the same days and same things they do, so they need something that gives them a little change, but it puts a quite important meaning to their lives. In John's case, it was dance.

I really like the scene where his wife told the detective she hired that she trusted her husband. This line;

"Because we need a witness in our lives. There's a billion people on the planet , what does anyone's life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good thing, bad things, terrible things... everything. All of it, all the time, every day. You're saying your life is not gonna be unnoticed because I'll notice it. Your life is not gonna be unwitnessed because I would be your witness."

I was so impressed and really felt good after watching this. It was so romantic, moving, and unforgettable.

Fremont Sunday market

Today I went to Green Lake, which is within walking distance from my house, and then Fremont Sunday market. Though I did not buy anything, it was so much fun just to look around.

Green Lake is small compared to other famous lakes in Seattle, like Lake Washington or Lake Union, but it is still very big, about 7 km in length. I was to meet up my friends at 9:30, but they did not appear even at 10:15. So I just sat at the lakeside and wondered where to go alone. At 10:30, one of my friends found me! It was a complete coincidence that they walked around there. They had just arrived at the lake when they found me. It is very inconvenient that I do not have a mobile phone in here.

Anyway, four of us lent a boat and went into the water. We cycled to move the boat forward, and also control the direction with a handle. It was fun that the boat did not go where we want to go because of the flow of water. It was such a nice day, and the surface of the water was shining brightly. The scenary from the boat was wonderful.

We went to Fremont Sunday market where people have a second-hand store on their own. There were also many food stalls there, giving off very good smell. We found a Thai food restaurant near the market, and I ate fried rice there. It contained chicken, tomatos, beans, celery and cucumbers. It was very very nice, the sauce is my favorite. It was so delicious that I asked them to wrap half of it for dinner. It is very common to take served food home because it is usually too much, while we seldom do that in Japan. Japanese chefs are afraid of food poisoning and it may be ruin the reputation of the restaurant.

We saw the statue of Lenin in Fremont, the first Premier of the Soviet Union. But why is he in Fremont, the US?

Hanging around with friends

It was again a very very long day. It is a typical Friday, for the young and pretty enjoyable. In the class we took turns in telling an anecdote, and knew some basic history of Seattle. And then I went to Fremont area with my classmates, where there were a lot of cute and artistic buildings. Then we took a water taxi heading to Alki beach, from where we were able to see the beautiful scenery of downtown Seattle. At night one of my roommate came back from Peru, so we went to a bar together.

We really spoke English a lot today, which was surprising for me. For us Japanese, who are majority of our class, it is rather inconvenient and strange to talk to Japanese in English. I know how it feels and think it is natural. However, now I am in America in order to improve my language skill. I wished I were a minority like students from Korea, Taiwan or Saudi Arabia so that I speak English all the time to communicate with Japanese. Fortunately, some Japanese students were keen to learn English, so we are good friends never letting ourselves rely on Japanese.

One of my friend, Kahori, is very energetic to brush up her English. She stayed in Canada for 3 months last year, but she spent most of the time speaking in Japanese since her roommate was Japanese, too. She regretted it so much that she decided not to speak Japanese when she is in Seattle. I have never heard her speak Japanese yet, which I found honorable. Her English is actually very good, especially in the vocabulary, so I wonder why she is in the 2nd highest class.

The first US settlers found Seattle in 1851, which is quite late in comparison with other cities like New York found in 1624. Seattle is still a young city. The first industry was fishing and logging as Seattle faces the seashore and have a plenty of big trees, mainly cedar. There was a gold rush in San Francisco, and many people went there trying to be rich. They need houses so there were high demand for wood. It developed forestry in Seattle and the engineering to build a canal to carry the logs or lumbers. It is interesting to know how the city developed.

Fremont was awesome; I definitely go over there again. My roommate told me the best sandwich shops in there, so I will go and eat the sandwich next time. The look and the atmosphere of that area were sophisticated.

Water taxi was awesome. The fare is quite cheap, so it is definitely an indispensable public transportation for the locals. From Alki beach, we could see the beautiful view of downtown Seattle. It would have been better if we could see the sunset but unfortunately it was cloudy. We had a lot of fun.

Next weekend I am planning to go to Victoria, Canada. I wonder why I cannot use my credit card online, so I cannot make a reservation for anything on the Internet. It is very inconvenient for me but I had to make a phone call to book the boat and the hotel. The operator was so kind that he spoke slowly for me and tried to understand well my English. I successfully booked it at last, and it made me more confident. I had a feeling of achievement. The more you practice, the better you get.

I tried Fish and chips for the first time in this evening. It is a very famous seafood in Seattle. Fish and chips are usually made from cod fish. The smallest serving was yet too big for me, so I shared one with my friend. It was tasty.

Then I went to waterfront area, walking straight up to north from downtown, to pay the ferry fare I just booked. The staff there was so nice and kind. He printed out my itinerary for the trip. I just wanted to check the spelling of my name since the staff in custom would see my passport in Canada. The staff said, however, they would check my passport, but not my ticket. So my name could be John Smith on the ticket He was so funny. I really like his sense of humor.

On the way to home, it drizzled when I was on a bus. A man sitting in front of me talked to me looking outside the window. "If it rains on evening, it will be sunny in the following day", said he. I told him that I did not know that and then he told me about himself. He is from Italy working at the Sea-Tac airport, and studies business online at night. He wakes up at 2 in the morning and catches the first bus at 3 to Tacoma, and starts working at 4. He must be very hardworking. It made me happy that I had a short conversation for a while with someone who lives in the same city. People are truly very friendly here.

One of my roommate who just came back from Peru, took me to a bar with her friends. The bar was full of people talking , drinking and laughing. Fortunately, smoking was prohibited in the bar! In Washington state, smoking inside is illegal. I wish nobody would smoke in Japanese bars too. The bar was nice. I drank soda and it was free. They sometimes do that, to a designated drivers or newcomers.

Mariners

It was such a long day! In the morning we had a class as usual where we did some listening, and we went canueing in the afternoon at Lake Washington and then I went to watch a baseball game at night.

At the lunch time we went to HUB, the cafeteria, and bought some food there. There are a lot of shops, but all of them were closed except the pizza shop maybe because it is a holiday season now. The pizza was so big. The diameter of one pizza is about 50 cm long, and it was about one sixth. It is surely too big. Everything is so big in here. Food, drinks, clothes... even the smallest sizes are. I want to say "Could you give me a half of it and a 50% discount?"

I bought and ate Makizushi in the cafeteria because I missed rice so much. I want to eat rice at least once a day, but recently I do not eat rice so often. Makizushi was about 30 cm long, and inside were tuna and carrots savoured with soy sauce. Actually it was blown rice so it was not sticky at all and was totally different from what we have in Japan. It was still OK for me, though.

It was too hot a day for canoeing. Lake Washington was walking distance from the University. The university owns a water activity center near there where we can go canoeing, sailing, and kayaking. Every 3 people got on a canoe. At first I thought the canoe might flip and we might fall into water, but it was pretty stable. If you try not to lean on one side and to keep the balance, it never turns over. All we have to do was paddling. It was difficult to turn right or left, and to control its speed. So our canoe hit others, and was hit by others. It was so hot during the day with no clouds in the sky. When I looked myself in the mirror at night, my face was slightly red.

My friend picked me up in front of my house and we went down to Sefeco Field, Mariner's home stadium. There were a lot of people around the gate, but they were not fully occupying the seats. Our seats were located on the 3rd floor, and we were able to see directly down the home base. What was unlucky was that I cannot bring water, or anything to drink, into the stadium so I had to throw away what I just bought. I do not why but I think it is for food stalls. If you have something to drink or eat, you do not want to buy anything at the stalls, where foods are rather expensive. I bought a Caesar salad with small pieces of bread on the top. The size was amazing; it was in a bowl 20 cm in diameter. It seemed like they used a whole lettuce to make one plate of Caesar salad. It was good, though.

It was too bad that Ichiro did not play at that night. My friend told me that he hurt himself a few days ago and is now checking his condition. I saw Jojima, the other Japanese player in that team, hit and catch balls. I did not know that he was playing in Softbank in Fukuoka before he came here. What was interesting is the screen displayed a lot of funny videos and games during the break time.

On the way home, there was a big crossing and it was closed at that time. It was very crowded around there with people who came out of the stadium. I saw a very very long train pass the crossing. I am sure that it was the longest train I have ever seen. It went rather slowly and took a long time to finish, about 15 minutes. When the crossing finally opened, shouts of joy arose and people crapped hands.

I like that moment in that we shared the same feeling with so many people.

Long journey to Tacoma

The class went alright; we talked a lot with a different conversation partner. There are so many students from one university, so we should make sure that the partners are from different universities.

In the afternoon, I wanted to go to downtown, but I took a wrong bus. Actually it was an express bus heading to downtown Tacoma, a city in southern part of Washington. I arrived at another downtown after 1-hour journey on the bus. I went back to downtown Seattle right away but I wasted 2 hours, and I missed lunch too. It was so funny.

There was a good thing, though. The woman who sat next to me was very kind and she told me which bus stop is convenient for me. She was going to the art museum. I had lunch at a french cafe, where the menu was written in French. It was about 3:30 pm and quite late for lunch. The salad was delicious. Tres bien.

In Seattle, people are generally very friendly and easy to talk to. I see shop staff and customer greet each other and ask how they are doing almost everywhere. They usually answer "Yeah good." with smile and it seems the reason why Americans are always in a good mood. If you keep saying "Good", you are good all day. It is such a wonderful habit they have. In Japan, we do not usually ask how we are. Japanese are trained not to talk and bother people, while many Americans are keen to know the feeling of their friends.

The bus from downtown to my house was very crowded, but I was lucky to have a seat. I talked to the man sitting next to me and he said that he was going to pick up his car parked near UW. I told a bit about my self and so did he. To my surprise, he has been to Japan 6 times! He is working in YWCA, and they have some exchange program between Japan. He has been to Kyushu many times, like Fukuoka, Kagoshima, and Miyazaki.

There are some people here who have been to Tokyo or Kyoto, but I think it is rare that he went to Kyushu. My classmates from Taiwan and people I met on the airplane did not even know where Kyushu is.

I did my laundry today. We have a huge washing machine downstairs (about 1 cubic meter), and next to it is a drier as big as the washing machine. It is convenient that you do not have to hang the laundry out and to wait for them to dry up. I like the scent of the detergent, and my clothes now give a nice fragrance too. I like the scent of my hair now because the shampoos sold in America also have a good smell. I wonder where in Fukuoka I can buy the same detergent or shampoo.

After lunch I took a monorail to go to Seattle center, and walked around (or I should say wandered). It took me hours to find the SeattleOpera, which was at one corner of the square. It was such a nice day to take a walk. The Spaceneedle, the tall tower standing there, was cool. It is considered to be the landmark of Seattle and sure it is.

1st day in the class

On the 1st day in the class, we had a conversation partner and asked some questions about him/her. We also watched movie "Sleepless in Seattle", which I like so much. Grammer was a little bit difficult but gave me a clear understanding of the tenses.

It was so nice of my teacher to say "No Japanese during the class, please!" I spoke as much as possible, and it was surely a good practice.

I went to a Thai restaurant for lunch with my classmates, who are from Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. The Thai food was very tasty! I loved the smell, the taste, and the rice, which was not what we eat in Japan. It was a long type of rice and they were not so sticky.

In the afternoon, we went to University village, where there are a lot of shops and restaurants. A lot of people were shopping despite the fact that it was a weekday. I bought some cut-and-sawn and slippers in a GAP shop. Things are not so cheap in America, so I decided not to buy clothes any more. It costs too much!

One of my roommate came back, and we talked a lot. It was fun.

Placement test

I missed the listening test, but was able to take the speaking test because I overslept on the 1st day of school!! It is my fault that the alarm clock did not work as I set it 12 hours late. The clock of my cell phone still shows Japan time, so I have to calculate what time to get up in America. It is so confusing that I missed the test.

What was surprising is there are many many Japanese people there! Some people came as a group and they are already friends each other. I did not expect that. The volunteer students told me that there are usually more diversities in nationalities of the students, but this time there is not. If there are a lot of people from one country, they end up speaking in their native language all the time. I never want it to happen!

I was placed to an A class and the majority were Japanese, and many of them are from the same university, but there are some students from Taiwan, Korea, and Saudi Arabia. I strongly hope they speak English in order for us to practice! I know, at the same time, it is kind of uneasy and embarrassing to speak other languages, but we need to do it. That is why we are here. Anyway, my classmates are pretty good at English.

After lunch, we took a quick tour to the campus. The campus is beautiful. The grass was green, and I even saw a squirrel in the bush. Brick buildings are also excellent; they are all new and maintained well.

What was funny is that we wandered for almost two hours to get a U-pass, which enables students to get a free unlimited bus ride. We went to one office to get one, and were told it was a wrong place and how to get to the "right" office. And then we walk all the way through the campus and were told that it was a wrong place again. It continued 3 times!! At the time we purchased the U-pass, we were so tired and went home directly.

I am ready for the class, starting from tomorrow.

Leaving on a jet plane

I lend a suitcase for a trip to Seattle. An orange and cute suitcase was delivered and I packed my stuff in it. Though only half of the space was occupied, it was as much as 17 kg in total. It means I have room for only 6kg of souvenirs.

The flight was actually terrible in that it was shaking all the time. I could sleep only for 2 hours during the night flight and the day just started again when we arrived at Seattle. It was OK for me, though maybe because I used to staying up late.

15-year-old boy was sitting next to me. He was returning to Seattle from a short exchange programme held in Tokyo. He knew some Japanese and he read Japanese comic "Bleach". He was reading a book about "Otaku" too and he even took some notes. oh... The girl who was sitting the opposite side was 17 years old and she was returning to Seattle too. She said he had an ankle and a cousin in Tokyo and she visited them for a week. We talked about the difference between Seattle and Tokyo. For example, people in Tokyo walk very fast, likes shopping, and a lot of women wear high-heels, which American women usually do not wear. She told me a lot of things about Seattle, too and she even gave me some coins to make a phone call at the payphone. I was so surprised to her kindness and I really liked that attitude.

A friend of the person who lends me her room picked me up at the airport and took me to the house. She gave a quick tour of whole house, like how to use the kitchen, how to do the laundry, and how to get to the university. One of funny things is that I got on her car on the left side, which has a driver's seat. I knew that everything is opposite when it comes to cars, but I still did it. It also takes some time to get used to the fact that cars go on the right side of the road. Anyway, she was very nice. She even took me to a bookstore where we can get free Wi-Fi just to make sure the bus route. Without her, my 1st day in Seattle would have been so difficult. I thank her very much for her time!

There are a lot of nice cafes and restaurants around my house. As you might know, Seattle is famous for coffee shops like Starbucks, Tully's, and Seattle's best coffee. There are many other kinds of cafes along the street and you frequently see people with paper cups of coffee everywhere.

I went to downtown in the evening by bus. Bus drivers are also very friendly; they ask every passenger how they are doing. There are so many shops in downtown. The roads are all in gridlike fashion, so it is rather easy to find what we want to see. The town and the road seemed to be built artificially. In other words, it was designed to be convenient for human. It is how this City, or this country, developed.

The market had a lively atmosphere. In "Pike Place Fish", they sell fish with a loud voice and they throw the fish to their customer! The store was always crowded. The flower shops were also nice. They sell rather cheap bunches of flower.

So many things to write on the 1st day. It is because of the time difference. I left Japan on 23rd, took a night flight, and 23rd started again just after I arrived. I know it is weird to say that "day" had 48 hours, but it actually did.

Dazaifu and party

One of my Singaporean friends, who is now studying in Osaka, visited Fukuoka the other day. She is going to take an entrance examination of several Japanese universities, so she is now preparing for it. Her Japanese has greatly improved and it made me think that living abroad is surely a good way to acquire the language.

We met up and went to Dazaifu shrine together in order to pray for good luck. She also bought a lucky charm for the exam. I am sure she will make it without it!

At night, she and her boyfriend, who graduated from Kyushu university 2 years ago, had a party at his former laboratory. A lot of friends of him came together with delicious meals they cooked. There were people from all over the world; Dominica, Brunei, Myanmar, and Korea.

We talked and talked, about their cultural background, their future visions, their boyfriends and girlfriends... I felt it very comfortable to be there, to be one of them and to be a friend of them. Thank you all for that wonderful, warm party.

From left to right;

"Chili salad" Myanmarese cuisine with super spicy chilies. Tastes a bit sour, but nice. The green chili is so spicy that you cannot even put it on your tongue!

"Kueh lapis" The colourful, layered cakes are called so. It is common in the Southeast Asia and so delicious when fresh from a refrigerator.

"Dazaifu" Fukuoka's main sightseeing spot. It is said that you can pray for good luck when you have an exam to sit for, or you want to get better result of what you study.

"Twilight"

The title best matches the atmosphere of this movie.

Bella moved to Washington and goes to a new high school. Then she falls in love with Edward, who was said to be difficult to make friends with. Bella later knows his secret but she says she will love him regardless of the fact.

The plot is like a fantasy, but what really touches is the pure, sincere love of them, which may be typical of teenagers. I wish I could fully understand why Bella likes him so much (because they speak so fast and not clearly at all!). Hmm, there still seems a long way to go.

"Goal! 2"

The newcomer of the team has now become a superstar in the professional succor world. In this movie, Santi is a rich, popular and famous player living with his girlfriend in a mansion. Everything seemed alright, however...

The problem is; the more popular he becomes, the more women he attracts. Although he loves his girlfriend sincerely, it is now much easier to have an "affair", which many gossip magazines are waiting for.

One of the common problems among couples is the distance. If you are far away from someone and cannot touch or even make an eye contact with him/her, it is sometimes difficult to keep close relationship. In this case, his fame makes things worse. Can he make up for it?

In this story are many many famous succor players as guests; Beckham, Zidane, Gonzalez... All great players makes this "Goal! 2" much more attractive.

こまごまカラフル

It was my senior's birthday last Monday. A lot of friends of her gave her presents and birthday cakes.

Cakes in a box attracted me a lot. They are all tiny and cute, and each of them are made from different ingredients. I like this sort of colorful small things arranged in a lovely place.

Day off at the beach

I took a day off and went to Tunoshima island with my seniors today. They are visiting there for a preliminary of the field trip which is on August 30th and I was lucKily able to join them.

We drove to Yamaguchi prefecture and had a glance at an aquarium. Then we drove down to the island, which is connected to the main island by a long bridge. The beach was very beautiful with the blue sky and white sand. The condition of the sea was a little bit rough but it was still a good day for swimming.

After that we went to a lighthouse which was very big and eye-catching.

Time flies when I am having so much fun!

"Raising Helen"

What if you become a mother of 3 children all of sudden? One is a teenager girl who wants to be an adult, second one is a boy in an elementary school who still misses his mother, and the third is a little girl in a kindergarten.

Helen was astonished but works really hard to get along with the 3 children of her late sister. Beside her own job, she has to take care of them, so her life seemed very busy and tough. This is what working mothers do.

Raising is not easy at all but it is sure a precious experience because you would know how you were brought up, and how hard it was. Educating children is very difficult and delicate since it has a big influence on their personality.

"Goal!"

A rainy weekend is perfect for watching movie at home.

Today's film is "Goal!", about football in Newcastle, the UK. The young guy got a chance to have a trial of Newcastle team. His dream to become a football player in the UK has just started. Getting over the obstacles coming one after another, he finally wins a goal in a very important match!

The plot was wonderful, and it encouraged me to take chances, go straight to it, and never give it up.

"Knowing"

I saw "Knowing" with my friends the other day. The theater was full of people, so we had to sit just in front of the screen. It was too close.

It was a story of man who notices that the world would come to an end soon. He struggles to find a way to avoid it, but accidents and disasters happens just as the prediction written 50 years ago...

I felt the plot was very frightening. It did not seem that he would save the world. I do not like such stories very much. If I had not been with my friends, I would have gone out in the midst of the movie. I almost cried in the end and it kept me up until 3 am.

I wonder how other people there think of this movie.

Solar eclipse

On July 22nd, Solar eclipse occurred and could be seen in Japan and northern part of Asia.

It was my first time to see solar eclipse, which was amazing and fantastic. Though it was not a total eclipse, the Sun looked crescent, just like the Moon.

Many people in the lab went up to the roof, so it was fun meeting friends and seeing the rare phenomenon.

Heavy Rain

It rained very heavily last Friday. Along the road were 15 cm-deep streams at around 7 pm. I walked 30 minutes to go home, with my ankles under the water, and got totally soaked. Even though I was holding my umbrella, my jeans and parka were dripping wet.

Landslide has been reported in Northern Kyushu area due to this heavy rain. It is estimated that it rained twice as much as average precipitation in July for the last 3 days.

I have never experienced a heavy rain like this. It seems strange that it rains quite often this month, when usually it is very hot and sunny.

Single Reflex Debut!

At last I bought a single reflex digital camera. I have been considering buying one for almost 1 month, and finally made up my mind to purchase Lumix G1, Panasonic.

This is quite different from a compact digital camera! Single reflex can have a wider field of vision, and so recognize objects even if there is smaller amount of light.

I want to take a lot of beautiful pictures with this new camera .

Maid cafe

My friend was curious about maid cafe, so we screwed up our courage. It was my first time to go to Maid cafe!

When we opened the door, two girls dressing in maid-clothes said "Welcome home, my Ladies." Yes, according to them, the cafe is our home and they waited for us to come back. We couldn't take picture of them without paying additional 500 yen.

We had to order something over 500 yen, so we had a cheese cake, and milk crape. Cakes were fine. We sat on a table, but there were some VIP seat just in front of the counter, where the maids working around. With extra 2000 yen, you can be a VIP and sit on that seat. What an easy business!

Anyway, it was a good experience seeing one of Japanese culture on my own.

芸術作品

こういうの、すごく良いなと思います！ 右脳が刺激されるというか…。

Concert♪

高橋真梨子さんのコンサートに行ってきた！！ 初めて実物を見て、生声を聴いたので感動。

もう60歳くらいなのに、声も衰えず歌が非常に素敵。スタイルもよくて、ドレスが似合っていた。バックバンドの方々もかっこよかった。お客さんは、真理子さんと同じくらいの年代の方が多いよう。でも、立ち上がって手拍子して、ノリノリでした！ いい声、いい曲、いい音楽。大満足のコンサートでした☆

Mariko-san has been a famous singer for no less than 36 years, and she still has a clear, beautiful voice. Many of the audience seemed 40-60 years old, but they often claped their hands, stood up, and even danced! I wondered what I world say if I were to meet my professors. It would not be absolutely impossible, but luckily or unluckily, I saw nobody.

My mother, one of the big fan of her, and I enjoyed the concert so much.

Watermelon

My grandmother sent me watermelons and some vegetables she grew.

They taste clearly different from what I buy in a supermarket. It is kind of thick and really good.