It is Over

My final projects are almost done. One more paper and one more presentation. It means this session is almost over. To be honest, I'm looking forward to finishing this session because I'm getting tired of studying English. Since I came to Vancouver and started studying at the ELI last summer, I have been studying only English for a year. I'm glad that I have this chance to study English since I wanted to study abroad for a long time. I also have learned a lot about not only English but also different cultures, histories, and so on. I have been studying much more than when I was in university. this session was especially hard for me because my reading and writing classes are in 600 level.

This 600W class is definitely one of my favorite classes. there are not many students, so I felt so confortable and liked this blog assignment. We usually don't have a chance to read our classmates' writing, but throught their writing, we can learn each other and know them well. I really enjoyed this class! Thank you everyone and Nathan! :)

London Riot and The Destructors

An riot happened in London, England about a week ago as every one knows. A few young people started this riot first, but it spreaded out all the city then and lasted few days. Police arrested more than 200 people, who were mostly young people, after three days rioting in London. At the same time, in the short story, "The Destructors", a young kinds gang planned destroying a house of Mr. Thomas, and they did it. From these two stories, I can tell that how young people are powerful and active. They seem to be weak and not having power in society; however, when they decide to do something, especially against society or powerful groups, they are able to defeat the groups in their ways. An riot is a good example because the young people don't have a power if they are their own, but when they gather each other and take an action, they would be stronger than older people. Therefore, what we can learn from the stories is that people should listen to young people and include them in society.

Time is Coming

This session is almost over. I'm looking forward to finishing it because I need a vacation and want to enjoy Vancouver summer without concerning about studying. At the same time, however, my staying in Canada is also finishing. I have almost one month left here actually but don't feel I'm going back to Japan. Most of my friends talk about going back to their countries soon these days, but I feel I'm sad because they are going back to the countries, not because I'm also going back. I have seen many friends off for a year, so I feel I will be here. (Maybe because most of them are going back before me) I'm looking forward to going back to Japan because I want to see my friends, but I will miss here for sure.

Summary: The Riddle of Experience VS Memory

When people think about happiness, everyone wants to be happy, but it is sometimes difficult. In the lecture, Daniel explains that why it is hard is because of traps. There are three main cognitive traps which are reluctance to admit complexity, a confusion between experience and memory, and the focusing on illusion.

Many people think experience and memory are same but acutually different. The main difference between them is the vision between experiencing self and remembering self. Experiencing self is living in the present, and remembering self is living in the past; for instance, if s/he feels bad in the end of the experience, the whole memory changes to bad memory even though it is a good experience in the beginning. So that, remembering self is moreinportant than experience self.

Interpretation 2001: A Space Odyssey

There are many movies which tell people something deep meaning, and they have difficulty to understand what the director tries to say. The movie, "A Space Odyssey", is one of those movie I have seen before; therefore, it is very difficult to interpret correctly. What I interpret this movie is this.

In this movie, there are three parts: The Dawn of Man, TMA-1, and Jupiter Mission. Monoliths have a important role in each part. A long time ago, there were early humans in the African desert on the earth, and they didn't have any knowledge, tools, and weapons. One day, one monkey touched the monolith and was able to use a bone as a tool and a weapon. That is because he touched the monolith. Monoliths make humans smarter so that they can reach the next step. In the first part, the monkeys get the knowledge about how to use materials as tools and weapons and grow up to be mature enough to get the moon. In the second part, people touch the second monolith and develop themselves to be able to get Jupiter. In my opinion, a monolith is God because in the bible, God can create everything even a human as well as the human get the most important knowledge about how to use a tool from the monolith. Therefore, the story shows us how humans developed supernaturally.

In the third part, there is a conflict between humans and a technology. A computer, called HAL, controls everything in a space ship to Jupiter. The members are depending on HAL. HAL can speak and think just like a human; therefore, everything is going well. However, when one concern comes up, the human members  start wondering if HAL is perfect or not. When HAL realizes that, he tries to kill the members and did except one. Here is the real conflict between a human and a technology. People suppose to invent a machine using technology and control it; yet, if they depend on the technology too much, they will be controlled by the technology. In fact, human cannot live without technology now.

Through this movie, it tells people that how humans have been developing and how people have to deal with technology. If they ignore the gratefulness, they will kill themselves.

2001: A Space Odyssey

A long time ago, monkeys were living. They didn't have any tools; however, one day, one of the monkeys found bones as a tool, so they started to use them as a tool and a weapon. So they fought with other monkeys for water, which was the start of a war. From the beginning of the story, I couldn't expect what was going to happen next. I even don't know the main idea of the story, but I can say this first scene has a deep meaning in this story. It was difficult to understand, but I could follow the story because of Nathan's explanation.

Canadian Experience

I had a busy day on Saturday. In the morning, my host family had a garage sale since they are moving to another place, so I helped the garage sale. They advertised on craiglist, facebook, and streets, but I was wondering if people would come because in Japan, garage sales are not popular, and if I put the advertisement on streets or website, no one is interested in that. However, once we started the sale, people came after another and bought a lot of stuff!! Some one bought a bed, another bought a table, and so on. It was very interesting to see real Canadian culture. People don't hesitate to buy used stuff.

I think a garage sale is a very good and smart idea. People who want to get rid of stuff can sell those personally and get some money, and others who need the stuff can buy cheap. And also people don't waste resources because the things are recycled.

After we finished the garage sale, we started packing the rest of stuff. I was packing books and Swedish stuff (since my host family is from Sweden). There were a lot! And we brought some of the things to a church because the church will have a big garage sale in September, and some of them were to a friend's house.

We were working on for the moving almost all day long, I was so tired but had lots of fun and a good experience. I have to pack my stuff as well though, I will do it later :P