Almost done with school
Hello everybody IES is almost really over. it is hard to believe. Today in Darrens class we handed in our final papers. i havent written a paper that long in a while so it felt very long and difficult. i spent a long time on the paper. I wrote about ethnic koreans living in Japan and some examples of discrimination they face. I also wrote about how the myth of homogenity in Japan can lead to racism. japan is not as homogenous as they wish to be. Many Japanese were proud of the homogenous culture. they thought they were gifted on an isolated island because it gave them oppurtunities to understand each other even in silence. It was interesting learning new facts. Also today in peters class we had a little party. We had some snacks and drank tea. it was also peters b-day! I was happy we had a video camera because those videos are soo important when you are older. cant wait to see it when in the coming years and remembering all my class mate friends that i had lots of good times and bad times with. thankyou everybody!
Studying Abroad
Hello everybody. many of are classmates are going to study abroad. 5 people from our class are leaving this month... they are going to Australia and Korea! The other day the people who are going abroad for two years, knew what school they are going to. I realized we are going to be all over the world and it was exciting. The first year i will go to Washington State, USA and the second year I will go to Oxford, England. Yuki is going to the same school as i am the second year. I was really surprised and felt happy that i already have a friend there! My first choice for my second country was really Belgium, so i was a little shocked to know i wasnt going there. but after a while i thought of all the good things about England and of Oxford Brookes University and was really happy about it. I have never taken French before either so i think it would make more sense if i went to England. America and England might seem similar but i am looking forward to seeing the big differences that might not be apparent unless you live there. British English will probably be hard to get used to. There is only a little bit left of IES and it is hard to believe. Good luck on your final Papers everybody!! me too!lol
Men Authors or Women Authors?
Today in Darren s class we wrote a list of the authors we remember that we read in the past. I thought i should read more. a lot of the authors were authors that teachers told me to read. I read more male authors than female authors. not much but about 40 % were men and 60 % were women. I think the reason that more people have read male authors than female authors is because in the past it was easier for men to become famous than women. Therefore, the overall number of famous men writers became more than women. So that is why more people read men than women. But i think in the future it will become more equal as more and more talented female writers become famous. Another factor may be that people think men are smarter. I think this idea is decreasing dramatically but the old idea is still influenced to the present.
Another reason that Kazutaka pointed out is the genre. I think this has to do with it too. In my image men write more action than women and women write more about love.
I never really tried to compare which gender i read more so this was interesting to think about.
Seijinshiki (adult ceremony)
On January 9th i went to the Adulthood Ceremony in Hiroshima. There were many people and it was a beautiful view because every girl had a kimono on. It was really colorful. All the guys had a suit on so they looked really good too! Usually the Adulthood ceremonies are for meeting your Junior Highschool friends because its local, so i couldnt meet my Junior Highschool friends because i was in Hachioji at the time. But i still had fun. I wished i could have gone to Tokyo too, but being in two places at once is impossible so..... oh well. I met some people from highschool and some people from elementary school that i went to for about a month.. most people that i met remembered me so i was happy(^^) Wearing a kimono was really special!! i didnt want to take it off. it was also good for making my back straight! i think i used a lot of muscles that day. It was a good day!! Congradulations everybody!!!!
Winter Vacation
Hi, how is everybodys winter vacation? I am sure the Bs are having fun at least taking a break from studying. i am also sure that some people have met their friends from highschool or junior highschool. Last night i met 1 friend i didnt see for three years and another friend i didnt see for two years. They both live in the states now, but both havent changed much. of course they changed a little but not much. I had a lot of fun and it made me think that highschool is a time when people learn lots of things and that it is a big influence on ones way of thinking. University is also important and has a big influence but i think it is more academi than personal. So what i want to say is by the time people graduate from highschool they usually have their own personality mostly completed. Thats why i think the friends i meet from highschool never reallly change. it makes me happy. and even if it has been like 2,3 years it can still be fun like it used to be. When i met my friends from elementary school in america, a good friend of mine changed! not in a bad way but in a good way. she used to be pretty shy, but now she is very social and bright! she was still the same but a loooot more confident and social and seemed to get her way as she wanted. haha hope i can meet her again. if i go to the mall in michigan she is always there so maybe i can see her next winter. so i guess i am trying to say that friends from highschool tend to be the same so two, three years doesnt make a dramatic difference as it did in junior highschool. so i am beggining to understand why my mom meets friends in years and is always the same. i am sure i will keep in touch with my highschool friends and will meet them even if it is like 4years next time. i am also sure that my College friends will be my friends until i am old too. This may sound corny but real friends really last 4ever!!! tommorow i will meet another friend that i havent seen in 2 years! i am really looking forward to it!! well thats it for today. Lets enjoy our holiday★
Merry Christmas!!
HI everybody! how was ur christmas? hope you had a nice one. in japan christmas is usually for couples.... but in most other countries it is about family and other people that are important in your life. so my family still celebrates christmas the american way and today we had a looot to eat. one of my favorite parts is the dessert. Christmas sugar cookies with icing, ice cream and pumpkin pie. on the 23 there was another little christmas party so we had cake and gingerbread cookies. we made little yummy houses out of the cookies. i am eating too much.... but i cant help it.. we also had lots of presents under the little tree. i am gettin i-pod and am so happy. i got my brother, dad and grandma clothes and they looked like they liked it. i felt i used a lot of money but it felt good seeing them happy when i gave it to them. Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays! i liked christmas better than my birthday because everybody gets presents and there is lots to eat and we can just relax(^8^) Where ever i live in the future i would like to celebrate christmas the way i always did and give and recieve many presents. spending christmas with ur b-friend or girl-friend is nice too but there are lots of other people to celebrate with!! dont forget that single boys and girls!!(^^)
Communism- Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution
December 20th was the day that peters paper on animal farm was due. I had a hard time writing this paper... but i am glad i finished it on time and hope it is good... i have heard of communism before but never understood it or tried to understand it before reading Animal Farm. I researched about Karl Marx's theory and thought the theory itself is really good. and the thought of socialism and communism seem to be good. everybody sharing the wealth of a society seems fair. However the sad truth is that it doesnt work that easily. The truth is that equality doesn t work. In the case of Animal farm there were 7 commandments that gradually changed. the smartest animal of the farm took over and became dictators. when the commandments gradually changed propaganda was used to give excuses and to manipulate all of the other animals. The laws are broken so problems arise. Being equal means there are no rights for indivisualism and people are brainwashed. Communism has proven to be an unsucessful way of government. Hopefully Communism will not be repeated in countries that follow other governments. Countries such as China and North Korea will hopefully realize that Communism does not work before it is too late.. it might be too late already....
Communism- Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution
December 20th was the day that peters paper on animal farm was due. I had a hard time writing this paper... but i am glad i finished it on time and hope it is good... i have heard of communism before but never understood it or tried to understand it before reading Animal Farm. I researched about Karl Marx's theory and thought the theory itself is really good. and the thought of socialism and communism seem to be good. everybody sharing the wealth of a society seems fair. However the sad truth is that it doesnt work that easily. The truth is that equality doesn t work. In the case of Animal farm there were 7 commandments that gradually changed. the smartest animal of the farm took over and became dictators. when the commandments gradually changed propaganda was used to give excuses and to manipulate all of the other animals. The laws are broken so problems arise. Being equal means there are no rights for indivisualism and people are brainwashed. Communism has proven to be an unsucessful way of government. Hopefully Communism will not be repeated in countries that follow other governments. Countries such as China and North Korea will hopefully realize that Communism does not work before it is too late.. it might be too late already....
Genocides.. what would you do?
Hello, today i read the article that kazutaka sent us about the Genocides in Rwanda. i once wrote a letter to the government last year for mr.bergers class. it is so sad that people kill each other just like that. a persons life is so complicated and precious that is is not something that can be taken away in an instant. One instant, one bullet destroys everything at once. The very complicated person is gone because of a bullet. it is so sad. We live in a very peaceful country so for us it is easy to say i will never kill anybody but what if we were in the situation of the Nazis and the Hutus what would happen?? maybe we would think differently. You either have to kill somebody or you are killed very crulely... which would you choose!?
i don t even want to imagine myself in such situation but it is the reality in some countries. I can not imagine what i would do.. i dont want to take anybodys life away.. but it would be so scary if i knew i would be killed if i didnt! what would i do.....? i never think about these things unless i read articles that give me the sad truth of this world that i usully run away from . something to think about..
