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

The Summary: "A Darwinian theory of beauty"

In this lecture, it says that people have different ideas or opinions beauty depending on their values and cultures. But in Denis Dutton's theory, there are universal beauties which belongs to our human psychology; furthermore, there are natural selection and sexual selection in common. These selections are never changed since human beings are living; for example, people like a landscape like Venice even some poeple don't have the scene in their countries. This is the example of natural beauty. In artistic beauty, on the other hand, he says there is no universal beauty. But people also find the beauty in something done well. In conclusion, beauty is not from eyes, but is from "deep in our mind", and it is "a gift from our ancestors".

Personal Reaction : Bill Reid Gallery

Since I came to Vancouver, I have studied a lot about the first nations at the ELI, and been to the Museum of Anthropology for several times. When I go there, I see totem poles, the Raven, and the paints every time, so I have learned what these are for, why the first nations made them, and so on; for example, the totem poles are a symbol of a family. This time, I went to Bill Reid Gallery, which was another place about the first nations. Bill Reid is an artist who made many sculptures and exhibitions about the first nations. Since almost all exhibitions were similar to the exhibitions I saw before, I didn't find a new interesting thing. But I was surprised that Nathan had a lot of knowledge about the first nations and Bill Reid!! He told us that Bill made some of the exhibitions but not all of them. In fact, he asked some non-first nation to make it. The story was funny and interesting for me.

Home Country

This weekend, I spent a lot of time with Japanese. I wrote an essay in Japanese, met Japanese friends,  talked to Japanese friends and family, and Japan won the Women's World Cup!!!!

First of all, my professor in Japan asked me to write an article about my experience in El Salvador because the student group, called The Others, publish a new letter and wanted to put my article. So that I started writing the article in JAPANESE... I thought it was easy to do that since Japanese was my mother tongue; however, once I started writing, I found it was much more difficult than I thought. It was because I haven't written an essay or article in Japanese for at least 11 months, I'm already used to writing in English, so my sentence structure and vocabulary are English, and I'm not good at writing originally. Therefore, it took almost four hours to write one page...

Second, I met and talked to Japanese friends a lot!! I drank with Chieu and another Japanese friend, and we talked about many things for hours. Chieu was almost drunken as usual :P hahahaha And another day, I met a friend who was from the same university. He came to Vancouver just two months ago, so it was very interesting to hear what he felt, experienced new things, and so on because I have been here almost for 11 months and keep forgetting what I thought when I came here. We talked about our university, job hunting, after we go back to university, and so on. I think it is good to have friends who know my school or city in common. Since I have been stressed out about the many projects or homework, it was very refleshing time for me.

And!!!!!!! In the Women's World Cup, Japan won against the U.S.!!!!!!!!!!!! The final game was amazing!!!!! I was glued to the PC and very excited. I could feel how the players were tense during the PK. That reminded me the scene in 2010 FIFA World Cup. Japan lost in PK. However, we won the cup this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was the most exciting time on this weekend!!! :)

LOVE JAPAN!!

My Third Home

It was almost one month ago that I was in El Salvador. I remember there clearly even though I feel that is so long time ago. The strong sunlight, the humid air, the clod shower, the very friendly atmosphere, hugging, the friends, the big but very cheap fruits juice, the food (especially pupusas), friends, kids... I miss everything there, and through this experience in El Salvador, I feel I have been changing.

Since it took almost three years to convince my parents to go there, I was so excited to go to El Salvador and Guarderia. I was expecting that the country was totally different from the countries I had been before, and my expectation was right in both good and bad ways.

First, I took TACA airline from San Francisco to San Salvador which is the capital of El Salvador, and when I arrived there, it was almost one hour delay and took a long time to pass in the country; therefore, I was around two hours late when I met a friend who came to the airport to pick me up. He was very worried about me because the electronic bulletin board, which tells you if the flights arrive on time or not, said that my flight was ON TIME!!! Furthermore, I never knew when I would go or do somewhere/things. Since someone picked me up at home every morning, I had to stay home until someone came, but I didn't know when s/he came. So when the things happened was the time to do or go. I knew that people there didn't value time so much as Canadians and Japanese did and was wondering how it worked. But somehow it worked perfectly, and I didn't feel stressed about it.

Second, in El Salvador, there were many tropical trees, beautiful beaches, and blue sky, which was just like Vancouver summer. In the city, I saw many poor people who tried to sell stuff on the roads, and when I stopped for the traffic light, they came to the car and asked me to buy flowers, fabrics, and so on or did some performances in front of cars, and other cars were passing just behind them. On the other hand, in the city, I could easily see many shopping malls like Sears, cinemas, and fast food shops. When I was at a shopping mall, I almost forgot where I was.  It was kind of shocking that I could see exactly the opposite aspects.

Third, what was the most impressive was the people there. I spent my time almost with The Others' members, and I have known most of them since 2008 at the conference in Italy. Even though I didn't know some of them, I didn't feel I met them first time. Everyone I met there was very friendly, kind, and funny as well as the children at the Guarderia. It was first time to go to El Salvador, meet people, and spend such a long time with them though, I felt comfortable and my home. They always tried to teach me some useful Spanish (usually romantic words..) and teased me for fun.

I'm really missing the country and the friends, and the children. I was kind of homesick and felt so lonely when I came back to Vancouver. But what I felt the most was how I was happy because I was luckily born in Japan, which was called developed country, and under normal parents whereas the children were born in the slums. They are considered poor in general but wealthy as human beings because they are always thankful what they have and do. They never complain about their situations, but they just spend their time to study, play around, and be with others preciously. They told me that how I can love others and important a once-in-lifetime experience is.

I'll definitely go back to El Salvador in near future since I promised that to the children and the friends. I want to go back there instead of Japan!!!!

Friends made this little Momo and gave me!! :)

TOEIC Day

I finished TOEIC today!!!! yeah!! I was stressed out because of the test. (little bit :P) Since I will start job hunting for after my graduate when I go back to Japan, I want to get more than 900 in TOEIC, which is very profitable in companies in Japan. I hope I can get the score before going back to Japan in order to be less busier after going back there; therefore, I took TOEIC this time. However, it was very difficult to study for TOEIC because I have had many things to do for the ELI... So I wasn't ready to take it today. The most concern was time. There were 300 questions, including listening section and reading section, and I had to do solve them in two hours. I didn't have enough time to do them when I took TOEIC last two times, so I tried to manage the time this time.

Fortunately, I made it!! Since I had almost 15 minutes left, I looked through the questions again, especially grammar questions which I was not sure the answer. I was thinking and thinking... then I changed the answer to another answer. That was a mistake. After the test, I looked up the word in a dictionary, and the original answer was correct!!!! :( I was so sad. I know I should trust my first answer when I'm in doubt. It is too late anyway.

Over all, I think I did better than when I took it last time. I didn't have any difficulties to listen and read English, did all of the questions within the time, and could keep concentrating on the test. I of course don't know if I get the enough score or not, but I will take it next month as well if I don't get the score!!

Although looooots of projects are still waiting for me, I want to rest for a moment.. I will restart studying tomorrow (probably..).

Good night :)

Compare Between Genesis 3 and Prometheus Bound

In both account 3 in Genesis and Prometheus Bound, God or Zeus punished people unreasonably. In the story of Genesis, God punished serpent because the serpent helped Eve to have a fruit and let her see and get knowledge; however, God didn't want to share the knowledge or abilities. So God punished some one who helped other people.

Meanwhile, in the story of Prometheus Bound , Zeus was the person who did things like God did. He punished Prometheus because Prometheus helped people to gain vital knowledge or skills, which Zeus didn't like. I feel Zeus didn't want people to oppose him, so he thought not to share the knowledge with people is the good solution.

Personally, I don't think it was good idea that God and Zeus punished them because knowledge should be shared among people. If people share their knowledge or skills, they can create better things in the society. Although both serpent and Prometheus dis obeyed God and Zeus, I believe they did right decision.

Canada Day

Happy birthday to Canada! On July 1st, it was Canada Day. I spent my time with my host family and a friend, and it was very busy day!!

In the morning, I went to the beach for a low tide walk with my host father and friends. Because this day was one of the lowest tide in a year, you can walk far. We started at Spanish bank and walked to west. It was very excited since my host father has done this walking several times this year, but I couldn't go with him because of the classes. So this time was the first time for me to do a low tide walk, and it was very interesting :) I walked the seashore where it was usually just ocean. I saw shellfish and crabs which were still alive! Even though it was cold and cloudy, I had so much fun with them and saw interesting things and beautiful view.

After the walking, I went to see a celebration at Granville Island with a friend. We put tattoo seal on our cheek and had a Canada frag. There were some performances, events, and so many people. People were wearing Canada T-shirts and celebrating the birthday of Canada. It was very different from the celebration in Japan. In Japan, February 11th is National Foundation Day, and it is a holiday; however, we don't celebrate it as much as Canadians do. The day is just a holiday, so I have never been to a celebrate events. In Canada, on the other hand, there are many events, parades, and fireworks. It is much more fun than Japanese National Foundation Day.

I had a lot of fun on Canada Day and enjoyed the sunshine!! These days, it is very hard to study because weather is getting warmer and more sunshine. I have noticed how a nice weather day is important in Vancouver since I came here. I feel I have to go out if the weather is good. I hope summer is coming!!! :D

The Differences Between the Accounts

In Bible, there are some stories about how the earth was made. In the chapter of Genesis, there are two accounts; one is six days of creation, and the other is one day of creation. These two are different.

In the first story, it took six days to create the earth and the heaven. The process was step by step and careful. God put lights on the first day, a dome on the second day, and so on. God had consideration for humankind and was thoughtful about what would happen next. In this account, every humankind was equal.

 In the second story, on the other hand, it took only one day to create the earth and the heaven. God created a man, water, trees, and food in one day; therefore, God took action rapidly. It seemed that God knew everything and whought men are the most important humankind. God created women to support men.

Break

This weekend was the first weekend I could spend calmly and relaxedly since this session started because I was away almost half of this session and while I was here, I had to catch up with classes. However, on this mid-term break, I enjoyed sunshine Vancouver.

One day, I went to a beach with my host family in the evening, and my host mother was swimming in the ocean and I was taking pictures. It was very peaceful time. After her swimming, we had dinner at the beach, and some neighbors came over. I really like beaches in Vancouver since there are so close to houses.

At the beach, I met a lifeguard who spoke Japanese. His story why he studied Japanese was silly. He had a Japanese girl friend, and spending time with her in Vancouver for two years, they decided to move to Japan. They were planning to get married; however, two months after they went to Japan, they broke up. So, there was no reason for him to stay in Japan, but he didn't want to go back to Vancouver so soon; therefore, he stayed in Japan for eight months. This was his story.

Because he still wanted to study Japanese, he asked me to teach some Japanese, and he could teach me English in turn. It is good oppotunity for me to talk to a native speaker, so everytime I go to the beach, we decided to Japanese and English lessons :)

Guarderia

The school we help is called Guarderia [although it means nursery school in English, it is a little bit different from the actual meaning], and as I mentioned before, I went to Guarderia every afternoon from Monday to Friday. The children are around from three years old to 15 years old, so we divide into two classes: one is for younger kids, and the other is for older kids. Because some of the older kids go to elementary/junior high schools, they bring their homework; otherwise we prepare something to study. We do different things each day; for instance, Mondays are Math, Tuesdays are English, Wednesdays are Art, and so on, and we play around every day after the study.

I was usually with younger kids. I was nervous at the beginning because I didn't know Spanish enough to communicate, and they kept asking questions to me; however, what I noticed was that they didn't care if I spoke Spanish or not: they just wanted to be with me and have fun. They called my name again and again, "Momoko! Mokoko! Momomoko!". They liked the sounds. hahaha I usually helped their study and played with them. They were never tired and enjoying anything they did. One kid said that he was very happy because he could study and play everyday. They were very pleased that they could study, play, and be with friends.

One day, I taught origami to the children, and they loved it. They made houses and painted them. Their houses were colorful and filled with happiness. We displayed those houses after painting, and it was very nice.

Through this experience in Guarderia, I learned how I'm happy. I can do what I want to; for example, I can study abroad, travel, go anywhere I want, buy anything, and so on. I didn't consider it was thankful: it is normal for me to do whatever I want. I sometimes need effort a bit, but I can do them anyway. There are many people who cannot do whatever they want; however, they inspired me to do everything with gratefulness.

Mid-term Exams

Mid-term exams are coming soon. This one will be third time for me since this session is my third session. I usually study hard before exams in my university because I have to memorize many things, and If I do so, I can get a high score in the exams. In the case of the ELI exams, however, it is different from these exams in my university. I think I have nothing special to study or memorize since English skills don't improve in a short time; yet, I learned several things what I should do before the exams through last two sessions: review and relaxation.

First of all, I review textbook and what I did in the class; for example, I review different kinds of essay structures, models, and signal words. Since I don't study new things, this review is very helpful to put the ideas in order. I sometimes do this review with my friends, so we can talk what kind of sentence structures we can use, and we can come up with new ideas.

Second, I don't study so much. I have many assignments about one or two weeks before the exams, so I'm always stressed out and tired before the exams; therefore, I don't study hard on the weekend before the exams. I just take it easy or hang out with friends, but that helps me to do well in the exams. I try not to feel pressure and nervous.

In conclusion, I do study at the very least before the exams. If I try to learn new things, I will be confused and I can't do well in the exams. Don't feel guilty to hang out with friends. To be healthy and get up early are the most important on the exam days since the exams start at 8:30. Bring my clear and lively brain is the only one I can do to get good score :)

The Others

"The Others" is the student group of the organizations which I'm involved. The Others is in El Salvador, Honduras, Italy, France, and Japan. During my staying there, I was working with the members. We do many things; for example, we organize a lecture about peace, cultures, wars, etc, visit a hospital, hold a bazaar for funds for the children in the slum, have a conversation with university students about world topics, and go to the school for the children in the slum. One of the main purposes to go to El Salvador was going the school, and I did it in weekdays. I will talk more about this activity later.

One day, I did a lecture about Japanese culture in an university. I taught origami to the students. When I got the university, no one was there; however, more than ten people came to the lecture about 30 minutes later, and it was very fun! I think that lecture was successful. At the same time, I found many people in El Salvador are interested in Japan; in fact, I met some Salvadorians who spoke Japanese fluently and students who study Japanese. I was surprised because I didn't expect that people were interested in Japanese.

I'm Home!

First of all, I'm back to Vancouver! I'm sorry I didn't write blogs because the Internet was very slow and didn't work well.. So I gave up to do it :P But now, I'm going to report my trip.

I'll put some pictures before the reports! :)

A pupusa:

This is a traditional Salvadorian food, called pupusa. This is kind of pancake which is made of corn flour. You can choose ingredients; red beans, ground beef, cheese, or mix and eat with salsa sauce. Pupusas were my favorite food in El Salvador.

Salvadorian home-cooked meal:

This is a typical Salvadorian food. I had this plate almost everyday as a lunch. You can choose dishes, and my favorite was rice, beef, tortillas, and marinated salad. Flavor was similar to Japanese food.

San Salvador:

This is a shopping street which is located near an university. There are restaurants, joice shops, Internet stores, and so on. In the daytime, this area is alive with lots of students, but in the nigh, it's just quiet.