Summer

I'm going to write about “Summer”, but it's not about the season, about movie. Last week, I borrowed “500 days of Summer” How many times do I watch it? and why do I watch many times? Exactly, the main actress Zooey Deschanel is cute and fascinating, but is that the only reason? No, it's not. I'm sure that I'm sympathize with the man who is swayed by Summer. I understand that his feeling. Why women often change their feelings suddenly? When I meet girlfriend, at first, she smiles at me, and we can have a peaceful conversation. However, before I knew it, she turns into a bad mood. Even if I ask her what the caused by, she doesn't answer me. Women are mysterious. What are they thinking? What do they want for men? The reason why I watch it is to hope the boyfriend of Summer. 

[153/6020]

BR1-03: Rain man

“I’ll give you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to have Raymond back now.”

Charlie Babbitt is a man who runs car dealership in Los Angeles, but his business was facing a big problem, and he was agonized over it. When he was in the situation, he heard about the news of his father’s death. He decided to go to a house, in Cincinnati, which he had lived when he was 16 years old, to see his father. He met his father’s lawyer there, and he heard that he will receive antique 1949 Buick Roadmaster and some wonderful roses instead of an inheritance of around 3 million dollars of his father. What’s more, he informed that he had an older brother, and the money is going to go to look after him.

Raymond who is an older brother of Charlie, is autistic. He is a very intelligent person in some ways, however, he can’t have relationships with other people, and also, he can’t feel. Charlie kidnapped him until he gets money for his business. During the long trip from Cincinnati to Los Angeles, Charlie had been irritated Raymond’s unexpected behaviors, but he found his extraordinary skill as well. He was able to count a number of toothpicks on the floor. In addition, he memorized all pages of telephone book.

At first, Charlie intended to get the money by using Raymond as hostage, but throughout the journey, Charlie had changed his mind. He doesn’t need the money, he needs relationship between Raymond. When they reached Los Angeles, Charlie met a doctor who had been taking care of Raymond for many years. Charlie understood himself that he can’t look after Raymond. Raymond wanted not only Charlie, but also facility which he has been lived. The most important thing was to put Raymond happiness first. In the end of the story, Charlie asked the doctor. “Can I visit him?” And the doctor answered “Of course.”

I think that the message of this book is “People can be change”. At first, the doctors said Raymond has no feelings, but he finally showed a kind of feelings to Charlie. And at the beginning, Charlie had been regard Raymond as a negotiating card to acquire the inheritance, but eventually he realized that Raymond is a part of precious thing for himself. If you read the story, you could find the irreplaceable thing than money.

[399/5867]

Fleischer, Leonore. (1999). Rain man. Harlow : Pearson Education.

The best day of my life

Four years ago, I was in Kyoto to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday. At that time, I and she had been dating for four years. Until then, every her birthday, I took her a lot of different places, such as Huis Ten Bosch which is a huge theme park located in Nagasaki to see a beautiful illumination and a gorgeous fireworks carries out in the night, or an aquarium in Kagoshima, and we often go to Aso many times.

There were still a lot of places to visit in Kyushu though, but I thought I wanted to leave from Kyushu in order to refreshing our mind. I asked her to go to Kyoto, she happily accepted my proposal. Her birthday was October 13th, so we decided to go there the day before her birthday. Before leaving Kumamoto airport, we were so excited and had been talking about places where we want to go. Fortunately, it had been cleared up during the trip. On her birth day, we went to a lot of places that we scheduled before.

First, we visited Kinkakuji and Ryuanji, both of them are really famous sightseeing spots, so there were a lot of tourists. Kinkakuji was gorgeous and beautiful. A combination of golden temple and its reflection on the surface of the water was very good. And Ryuanji which is famous for its Stone Garden, exactly it was good, but to tell the truth, it was too hard to see it relaxing because of a full of visitors.

Then we went to Sanzenin which is a place far from Kyoto station. That temple is well known to it is in a beautiful nature, and it lives up to its reputation. There were only a few people, so we were able to spend a very worthwhile time comfortably. It was awesome sight and I want to go there again one day.

After we finished went around some temples and sightseeing spots, I took her to a restaurant that I reserved in advance. We were able to see a night view from there, and I gave a birthday present for her. She seemed happy and satisfied with that whole day. I spend the all money instead of her, so my life had been difficult after a couple of months. However, I'm satisfied with seeing her smile, and spending an enjoyable time with her.

[396/5468]

My self introduction (2034)

(20 years later, in 2034, I will be 47 years old. 47 years old!!!!! Uhhh....I'm starting to feel dizzy. Well, 20 years later, I think I am managing to live. I'm aiming to become an English teacher now, so by the time I am 47 years of age, probably I'll be the teacher.)

Hi, I'm Toru, 47 years old and I'm an English teacher of xxx private high school in xxx ward, Tokyo. I have been living in an apartment near the school for the past 14 years. Before I came here, I lived in Kumamoto, and was teaching English in my old school, Kumamoto Technical High School. I had been teaching there from when I was 29 to when I was 33 years old. Now, in addition to teaching English, I'm a staff advisor to a tennis club. Thanks to the students and their passion for playing tennis, we became the champion team in the prefecture tournament.

I got married 13 years ago, when I was 34. A year later that I came here, in Tokyo. I met her in a volunteer group which helps students who can't go to a school due to family reasons. She was 26 years old and an English teacher too. She was really kind to students, not to mention me. She killed me with her smile. Then when I was 35, she gave birth to a baby boy. So, I became a father. Two years later, we had a baby girl. Now, the eldest son is 12 years old and the eldest daughter is 10 years old. They are in the same elementary school. Both of them are brisk and naughty, so

I'm worried about whether or not they are bothering their teachers in the school. My older sister's house is in Chiba, so I often visit there, and my sister and her husband meet with my children. I'm going to be promoted to assistant principal in the coming year, and if I got a raise, I want to buy a house for ourselves, and I'd like to have a dog. What's more, I want to send our children to an international school. I don't want them to struggle with learning English.

[383/5072]

EIKEN!!!

I failed the exam again. How many times do I have to take it? It was my 4th time taking the test. This time, a passing grade was 68, and I got 65!!! It is so close,  isn't it? To be honest, the result of the test made me really depressed. If I had studied harder before the exam, I might be pass it. Nobody sees this blog anyway, so I will excuse myself. The man who was sitting in diagonally backward left of me was extremely noisy!!! I don't care if he makes noise in writing section, I can read questions over and over. However, please, please don't make any noise in listening section!!!

At that time, I haven't slept in couple of days, so I was about to screaming. Either way, I failed again, so what should I do now? I understand that I'm not good at listening, it is my weak point. How can I enhance my listening skill? Speak to exchange student? No, it's not realistic because I'm a shy man, aren't I? So, the only way to build my listening ability is to solve past exam questions over and over again. In addition, doing shadowing when I stay in my room. The next test will be carried out in this October, so I have about 3 months to study. I'm aiming to get Grade 1 test in this year, so there is no time to waste. Do your best. 

[253/4689]

About blogging

Since started to writing essays, book reviews, and keeping diaries, I think that my writing skill has developed from the beginning. To write essays or something, I have to check the English words and phrases many times, in order to express everything in English from Japanese. In the process, I learned a lot of expression, and paraphrase. To develop, and enhance my writing ability, at any rate, I must continue to writing something short dairy essays.

 The disadvantages of writing is that it takes a lot of time to write something. To be able to write my thoughts down on my blog without using dictionary, I have to memorize more expressions, words and phrases.

[114/4436]

Snacks

I love to eat snacks such as chocolate chip cookies, biscuits, a bar of chocolate, chips and so on. Every time I feel stress, I go to groceries stores, and buy a variety of snacks there. So, especially in the period of final exams, I usually get fat, and after about a half of months, I have to lose my weight. However it is very hard to lose fat which put on around my berry, thighs and hips. I understand that eating between meals makes me chubby, but I can't stop eating.

[93/4322]

My dog

I'm going to write about my dog which name is Henry. He is 9 year-old male dachshund. He has cream hair, cute rounded eyes, weird right ear, and he is a little bit fat. Because of his advancing age, he got a backache recently, so I often take him to an animal hospital. I want him to be in good shape as long as possible. He likes to play with small balls. I throw them, he fetches them many of times.
 I take him for a walk, but since he was a puppy, he doesn't really like to go for a walk. Correctly speaking, I think he isn't interested in going for a walk because his walking speed is as almost same as turtle. Every 1 or 2 meters, he sniffs something. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes to get home only 200 meters. At first, I was so boring to wait for his pace, but now, I used to keep pace with him, and enjoy it.

[172/4229]

My Grandma

Last Sunday, my parents and I went to a hospital in which 20 minutes away from my house. My paternal grandmother who has been hospitalized there since last couple of years. Maybe 5 years ago, she was able to walk and speak clearly, every time I see her, she says “Oh, dear ! Come on in ! How are you doing ?”. Then we had a talk about rambling conversation a long time. However, she suddenly turned into bedridden recently, and her physical and mental were getting worse and worse, and now, she couldn't move her body herself except her hands and face.

She sits on wheelchair-like bed, and staring at outside of rooms or empty areas. She sometimes reacts when we speak to her, she gazing at us, and nods many times. Sad to say, I think she doesn't recognize us. I'm extremely sad when I noticed that she couldn't understand my name, and even her son, my father's name. She still alive now, she can breathe, she can feel pain, she can eat, but she doesn't remember anything at all. Is she virtually dead isn't she ? I have been thinking of what is the true meaning of the death.

［206/4057］

About my keitai

I'm going to write about my smart phone which I bought about four years ago. It was HTC's high spec model at that time. At first, it was able to connect Internet, and watch Youtube swiftly, but now it has became useless. Every time I connect Internet, it communication speed is very low. It really annoying me. In addition, my phone bill a month is so high, so now I'm considering revising my price packages, changing new smart phones or “Galapagos” cell phones. I hear that the old-typed cell phones are cheaper than smartphone. Hmmm, how should I do?

[103/3851]

Memorizing

What is the best way to memorize words and phrases? I have been thinking about it recently. So far, I have memorized words and phrases by using them repeatedly in our daily life. For example, there is an apple on the table, and when I see it, I can say “There is an apple on the table”. This word is a very simple, and it is frequently used as an example, so people can remember it easily.

However, if there is a word “Whereas” on the table, most people who are not native English speakers and a person who learned it only once probably don't understand what is the exact meaning of the word. I'm sure that the reason why we can't memorize words and phrases easily is not to use them on a daily basis, so how do we take them into our everyday life concretely? I have some ideas. First, make a pile of English word cards, and bring them everyday, everywhere, and memorize them.

Next, take advantage of a pile of word cards, pick up some useful words which using in my daily life. Then when I'm walking, driving and every situation, describe circumstances by using the words.

[205/3748]

BR1-02: The Lost Key

“Here it is, he said. This is our key” (p22)

This book is a part of Oxford Reading Tree Series. One day, one of the main characters, Kipper who lost a very important magic key for him and his friends in a park. He confessed to his friends that he had lost the key. Everybody started to searching the key, and they found the key had passed into other hands to other hands. Then they were able to find the key, but the key had sold to a shop, so they had to buy it. Finally, they wanted it to get back it's magical power, but the key wouldn't work totally. Would the key give a magical power again?

[111/3543]

Hunt, Roderick. (2003). The Lost Key, Oxford University Press.

Using the computer

Using the computer is necessary for us to live in this highly-developed information society. Past few years, it has been changing the environment surrounding us. To get a job, students are required to use a computer freely, at least, students have to acquire how to use “Microsoft Word and Excel”until graduate the university. What's more, students need to comply with rules of social networking services, such as twitter, facebook, and so on. When you use them, you have to take care not to make a careless remark.

[90/3432]

My favorite movie(s)

My favorite movie is “Devil wears the Prada”. I looooove the movie, it is the best movie I've ever seen so far in my life. There are three reasons why I love this movie.

First, there are so many gorgeous performers appealing in that movie, such as Anne hathaway and Meryl Streep. I love Ann's big beautiful brown eyes, and Meryl's silky silver hair, of course their performance is excellent!

Next, the theme of that movie, is “choice”. In that movie, Anne plays Andrea Sachs as a principal role, she often makes an excuse, “I didn't have a choice”, to everyone and herself. However, she overcame it finally. I like the process of reaching a decision which existing in her mind until in the later part of the story.

Finally, a theme song which using in the movie, “Suddenly I see” sung by KT Tunstall is really good. I often listen to the song.

[158/3342]

Foreign countries

The foreign country where I want to go most is U.S. Exactly, there are a lot of fascinating and interesting countries around the world, such as Germany, England, and other western countries which has a beautiful sight, culture and history. In addition, especially, the countries regarded as developing countries rapidly are so intriguing. However, I want to visit U.S., and see a town full of energy, like New York or Los Angeles. What's more, I want to see a great nature, such as Grand Canyon or Yellow Stone National Park.

[93/3184]