What should I do during my stay in Liverpool?

I am going to Liverpool during winter vacation with my members. We will stay two months there.
However, a trouble came to me. I heard that I chose some classes that I couldn’t attend at. I was really confused and I felt like not going Britain. They were about education, and almost all of them were canceled. I wanted to study about education in Britain. I was disappointed.
Some of my friends said to me that I was luck because I had a chance to study abroad, and it could help me with brushing up my English skills.
However, I don7t think so, because native speakers not always speak English correctly. I already know that. Some native Japanese speak broken Japanese. And we also spear wrong Japanese without conscious. Young people like to speak Japanese wrongly because it’s trend.
Therefore, I wanted to study about British education.
I have heard that some students are working at a hotel that we’ll stay, so I will make friends with to have a chance to attend at some educational classes. I will also contact to some teachers, too.
I will do my best to make this stay better for me.

Book Review13: Oxford

I read a book about Oxford. It told me not only historical stories of Oxford city but also story of Oxford University.
The university was built by the year 1200. People went to the University of Paris at that time, but now people come to Oxford to stud about religion.
Oxford is not as old as some other English cities. London, York and Cambridge were already built in Roman times.
There is no end to the names of famous students who came from Oxford University. President Clinton of the United States of America and Prince Naruhito of Japan graduated from the university.
Oxford is famous for people by cars and Printings. There are many printing factories and car factories in Oxford. Oxford University Press is one of the most famous presses in the world. We can read its books in our university library.
Oxfam is a charity to help poor people all over the world. It started to work during World War 2. Now, it helps people by sending clothes, foods, other useful things, and helping poor people to work themselves.
I think the most important thing is not to give poor people foods or clothes, but to teach how to live by themselves or let them work by their skills. I strongly believe that a charity as to act to help poor people with their skills to live.
There are many places to visit in Oxford. There are many events like St Giles ‘ Fair or Eights Week, in which the boat Races are held. Oxford has many faces day and night. By day, you can see beautiful gardens and have fun there. On the other hand, you can have too many places to drink in Oxford. People have good times there and talk to other people. However, you have to pay attention to drinking too much and your health, because beers in Oxford are very delicious.
You can sightsee around Oxford. Blenheim Palace, A Cotswold village, Cogges Manor Farm Museum and Stratford are he places to visit.
I went t Stratford Upon Avon this summer. The city was a perfect town for me. Shakespeare was born in the town and I went to the house. It was lovely place. I also went to the house in which Shakespeare’s wife lived. There were many shops, and I enjoyed shopping there with my friends. I bought some souvenirs for my family there.
I thought I should have studied about Oxford because I could not understand how the city had worth to visit.
As I am going to Britain in this winter, I will study much about the cities which I would like to go.

What I learnt from Frankenstein

I think it is very important for children to have love from their parents. I have read Frankenstein and I learnt that from the book.
There are many parents who abuse their children. They kill their children sometimes. It’s unbelievable for me. The mothers have given birth to their children with great pain. Why can they abuse their pretty babies?
I have been alone when I came back from schools for a long time. My parents have worked outside to bring up their children. I wanted one of them to stay in the house because I had felt loneliness. But now, I don’t think so because my parents have loved me and they have done their best for us.
Someone said that Japanese is not good at expressing love. I think so, too. Therefore, parents hurt their kids, and children hurt their family. We have to understand each other. We, Japanese do not have many ways to express love.
What’s the solution of child abuse? How can we show love to our family? I think we have to think more seriously about that.
How do you think?

On Christmas

Christmas is coming soon. How are you going to spend on the day?
I will have fun with my friends on Christmas Eve. The day is close to my friend’s birthday, so we have celebrated it every year. We are going to have dinner together and go to Karaoke. It will be fun!! I cannot wait any more.

About animal abuse

I saw a TV program which about animal abuse. In the city that a reporter visited is not allowed to chain animals outside. People have to take care of their animals very much, and there are special police officers in the city.
If the owners have abused their animals and the officers have found that, the owners are going to be punished by the laws.
I have watched PETA advertisements which about animal abuse in my listening class, but I could not understand why the teacher let us hear that. However, I found the reason. The program was the reason.
I found that the animal abuse is crime. If someone has murdered a person, the criminal will be punished by the laws. I think that animals have to be treated like that.
I have found the reason, and I can listen PETA advertisements seriously from now on.

Book Review 12: Frankenstein

This story was about a creature and its creator. Victor Frankenstein was born in countryside. His mother wanted to have a daughter. However, the first child was a boy, Frankenstein. A poor family lived near he house, and they had a daughter in their family. The mother took the daughter because she wanted to have a girl. Her name was Elizabeth. Frankenstein and Elizabeth loved each other.
The time came that Victor had to go to school. There was a kind boy and they made friends with each other. Henry helped Victor very much and they were good friends.
The day came that Victor had to go to a university. But, Henry could not go with Victor because his family was too poor to let him go to university. So, Victor went to a university alone. At the university, Victor learnt many things from his professor. As Victor was clever, the professor gave him a laboratory for him. Victor studied much about lives. He was interested in making lives. He wanted to put souls into dead bodies. To do that, he had to learn about dead people. One day, he found a secret of lives and he succeeded in making a life. The creature, however, had terrible face.
Victor was frightened because he wanted to make a beautiful creature. He could not accept it. He escaped form it and left it alone.
When he came back to his home, the terrible murders happened. One of Victor was killed in the murder, and he found the creature had killed his brother. In his dream, the creator was talked to the creature. The creature wanted the love and friends. He was always alone, and he was hurt many times. The creature wanted to love human beings, but they tried to kill him. He got angry with human and wanted to hurt his creator. The creature decided to visit to Victor7s house, and killed his brother.
Victor was afraid of the creature because he aimed Elizabeth. The creature said to Victor that he would appear on the marriage night. Victor wanted to protect Elizabeth but he couldn’t. Elizabeth was killed and victor decided to kill his creature by himself.
Victor followed it and always it escaped from him by a hairbreadth.
On the other day, Victor went to the north to find the creature. There was a cold place and he lost in the cold place. There was a ship on the sea. Victor was in the sea by accident. He was saved from the worker in the ship. Victor was died in the ship and the creature appeared. The creature cried in front of the dead body and said to the Captain that he would go to the north to die. The creature wanted love and friends like human. He just wanted happier time with people.

About bully

I think bullying someone is very bad thing. But how do you think I say it can happen anytime, anywhere to you?
I have seen the situation that some of my classmates bullied a boy. The boy was fat.
One day, we changed our clothes to clean up our classroom. Boys and girls had to change their clothes in the same room. A boy said “ I saw that you ate school lunch too much. I think you can eat milk churn!” to the boy.
All of us laughed at what that boy said, not at the fat boy.
However, our homeroom teacher heard that accidentally. He shouted, “Who did say that! Come with me now!!” All of us were surprised because we could not understand why he said such a thing.
He told us that we could not understand what bullies were, and where they were. Therefore, we had to pay attention to our friends, our classmates, and people who were around us. It was us who made bullies, and it was us who eradicate bullies in the world.
I was impressed then. He taught us bullies could happen everywhere.
I have paid attention to bullies and my friends since then. I have warned my juniors not to bully.
I think bully can happen everywhere, and the most important thing is to realize it. If you do not realize it, you need to be aware of it first.

Things that I have learned from Robin Hood

I went to Nottingham this summer. I had not read “Robin Hood” before, so I could not understand how valuable place there were. I thought that I should have read the book before I left Japan.
I also thought that we cannot understand its worth if we do not know about things. I think we have to learn about many things, history, arts, music, and culture because we cannot understand their value. We can talk to other people about them if we know much about them. I believe that helps you with conversation.
I keenly realized it is very useful for me to learn much about things. I would like to study many things from now on.

Book Review 11: Robin Hood

I read a book called “Robin Hood”. I read this book for the first time, and I found it was very interesting. Robin Hood, whose correct name was Robin Fitzooth. He was a great man because he robbed money or valuable things from greedy people, and he gave them to poor people. He was not greedy, but few people knew that he came from rich family. He was also half-Saxon and half-Norman.
His grandfather had three children. They were two sons and a daughter. Both of the men and their mother were killed by the Norman lord. The lord wanted the lands of Sir George Gamwell, Robin’s grandfather. Sir Gamwell decided to teach how to fight or how to use swords to his daughter. She learned well, and she became strong and beautiful.
One day, she said to her father that she wanted to marry a man. On the other day, the man visited the house, but the father never allowed her to marry him, because he was a Norman! Joanna decided to marry him, and she escaped from her father. Sir lost all of his family.
Next year, Joanna gave a birth to a boy. His name was Robin. This was Robin Fitzooth. His mother brought him to his grandfather. The grandfather was happy because he could have his family again. Robin was taught how to live in the forest.
When he grew up, he had a girlfriend. Her name was Lady Marian. She was very beautiful and other man wanted to marry her. The man was the Sheriff of Nottingham. He was very greedy man. He was connected to church. They had too much money in that time.
Robin decided to help the villagers and he had many plans to do. He escaped his lands and the Sheriff took the lands. Robin was called Robin Hood among the villagers. He stole many things from the Sheriff. Robin kidnapped some people sometimes. He served dinner for them, then he made them to pay for it.
Robin and his men liked to have many adventures. Robin was good at arrows and other weapons. So he cheated he Sheriff and his men in a contest.
The sheriff was eager to take Robin, but he escaped for the Sheriff by a hairbreadth. On the other day, the Sheriff of Nottingham planned how to take Robin, and Robin was injured badly. He was arrested in the tower. One of his men came, but it was too late. Robin could not move from the tower at all. Robin asked to help him with an arrow to the man. They pulled the arrow and it flew a long way into the forest, then he died.
There was a place in the forest near the abbey. There you can find the words “Under this stone is Robin Hood. Remember Robin and his men – No braver man will come again.”

How I look like

This is how look like. The computer interprets faces with some points on the faces. So, I think it is not how I look like. I introduce the site to you. You can play with it.

Speech

I have a speech next week. In my educational class, students are required to have a speech one time each person. It’s my turn next week. I will speak about bully. Recently, students have too many bullies in Japan. They are suffering even when we are laughing daily life. I do not allow the students who bully other students. And the educational congress decided a measure that students who bully other students should be responsible for it. I do not think so, and teachers should not adopt this measure. However, it helps teachers with bullies, because the students won’t do bullies thanks to it.
I want to talk more about this, but I do not have much time for that. I’m so sorry for that.

Bad Condition

I felt sick last night. I feel terrible and have stomach ache every 6 months.
I went to hospital at 3 o’clock in the midnight. A doctor checked my body and he gave me some medicine.
I thought what the most important thing in my life is health at that time.

Book Review 10: Oranges in the Snow

It was a kind of games. You are Mary Durie in the story. You are experimenting a special flower in a laboratory. You heat the flower with a liquid, and you and your assistant drink it. Both of you can see in the dark and you go out of there. You find some strangers out of the laboratory. You are thinking that the flower helps people who cannot see anything.
You can choose some selection from the bottom of the sentences. You can follow the orders and you will see the lasting stories.
I found it is boring story because you have to turn many pages every time you choose orders that the book shows. I was irritated by the book and I did not want to continue to read it any more.
However, the story finishes like below. The thieves who took the flower were arrested by police and you and your assistant captured them because the assistant remembered the faces. He remembers them because they tied him. According to his mind, one of them has bear and smells oranges. You are going to find the thieves at town. You enter a restaurant. There are many customers, and you can find the men. You take seats and watch the men. They are talking about something. One of the men takes a notebook on the table. It is yours!! You find that they are the thieves. You call police and police gives them many questions. Finally, police gives you the flower and your notebook.

Difficult Questions for Me

Sometimes, we can see people from foreign countries in our hometown. And some of them have to ask us some questions. As you know, not all of the Japanese can speak English correctly, and some of them cannot speak it at all. How do you communicate with the foreigners when you cannot speak English? We often have conversation troubles like that.
I learned it is the most important thing to have communication with foreign people is not try to speak English correctly or perfectly. The most important thing is to say something that you want to say in English. It doesn’t matter it is correct or not.
I think this is one of the answers for many conversation troubles, but it cannot be true all the time. If it IS the answer, why have you studied English so long time? Did it go wrong? I don’t think so. The way we have studied English is right and it is the correct English, I think.I want to be an English teacher in the future, and I didn’t want to learn such a way to speak English. I know it is the practical way, but if I said it is the right way to communicate, how can I teach to my students English? Do I have to say “You don’t need to study English correctly. Take it easy. You don’t need to study English because you won’t speak much in the future.”? What is the correct answer? I’m confused recently. And I think no one knows the correct answer for every thing.

Book Review9: Five Children and It

I read a book called “Five children and it”. It was about wishes and the strange creature that five children found in the sand hill.
They moved from London to countryside with their family. The five children were excited to the moving, but the parents did not. They were not rich, and they did not have anything to do because of that. The children run out of the car as soon as they arrived at new house. There was a small garden on the other side of the house, and a sand hill was over there.
One afternoon, the children decided to play at the sand hill. They went to the bottom of it, and they began to play. The oldest daughter shouted suddenly, because she found something strange. It had eyes that were out of its face and it was furry. It was small, and it could speak human language!! It could make the dreams come true. The children asked to it that it made their whishes come true. It granted that, but it did not always work correctly.
One the other day, it made the wises come true but all of those made things terrible. Some thieves stole jewels from another house. One of the children wished that it would belong their mother. IT made come true, but the children knew it would be terrible. They did not want to make it true, but it was too late. Their wish had made true!!
They wanted it to quit the wish and they hurried to the sand hill. It enjoyed the sunlight. As soon as it saw the children, it tried to escape into sand. However, Anthea captured it. They wished that it should make all of the things what it were. It made the wish true and children wished the last one. They wished that it could take a long sleep and they would meet it again some day. It went big, and went small. They left the sand hill and went back to their house. Everything was all right. The mother forgot about the thieves or everything, and the jewels were found in the owner's house.
They children wanted to see it some day and the day could come...

In Teaching Class

We have speech in the class for teaching. The class is offered for the students who want to be teachers, so we can be teachers in the future if we take the class. There are many types of students in the class, and some people want to be teacher very much and others not. I’m the first one. However, the teachers in the class have told us how difficult it is to being teachers. We have learned the difficulties to be teachers. We have to learn about educational problems.
I do not want to learn about the difficulties to be a teacher, but I think I have to because there are no easy works in the world. I recognized that grown up people live in so many hard works, and they live with many fights in daily life. When I think that, energy comes to me and I am encourage. There are no easy works in the world, but we can make them fantastic jobs with our positive.

On Wednesday

I had the first class for studying abroad in Britain yesterday. It took 90 minutes in my university. It was for preparation. We played a card game that we had to answer what it was. There were many varieties of pictures. We had to take one card for each person, and put them on our head. Meanwhile we could not see he cards of our own. Other people said what were they but we cannot say the correct answer. We could say how it look like, or how we use that without its name. It took so long but it was fun for me.
The teacher said that Japanese likely to use difficult words or complicated phrases. However, it does make any sense. We have to use more available words or phrases. I agree with him about that.

Book Review 8: Lost Love

There was a man, and he lived in a town. He wanted to move into countryside because the town was hot in summer. One day, he went to a country and his car was broken in the middle of the country. He had to walk to the nearest town, but it seemed too much time. And then, he saw a girl. She was beautiful and she had flowers in her hands. “What a beautiful girl she is!” he thought. He wanted her to help with his car and wanted to speak to her. She was frightened, but she invited him to her village to help him. At her village, he had good time with her family, but they did not know about cars at all. The time came that he had to go and get some petrol for his car. He wanted to see her again, and he asked about the village to the man at the petrol station. He looked strange sight to him and told him about a strange about the village.
The soldiers of Oliver Cromwell burned the village in the time of the English Civil War, so there were no villages near the station. He could not understand because the War happened for three hundred and fifty years ago. For one day in ten years, the village appeared just for one day. From the story, the visitors who came to the village had to leave the village before morning. If they won’t, they had to stay there forever. That’s why Mary said that he had to leave in the night.
Ten years passed and he could not have forgotten about Mary for nine years. He decided to come back to the village and stay there with her.

The orientation for studying abroad

Today, the orientation will be held. I am going to Britain to study abroad this winter, so I have to take the orientation. Today, we are required to take some picture.
I don’t want them to take my picture!! I’m so sorry for that...

Culture Festival

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

The culture festival was held in my university last week. There were many stores was opened in it and I went to my university with my friend. We met at the university at 11 o’clock and we took a look around the stores. We met many friends of ours there and talked a little bit. We could not speak too much because they were busy. We got some food from the stores and ate them. The festival had held for three days and I studied during the festival.

Book Review 7: The Call of the Wild

This was a story of a dog which name was Buck. He was very big and he lived with a rich family.
One day, he was taken by one of gardeners who had big family. He stole Buck and made money for his big family. Buck had to go to north place to be a sledge-dog. People live there need big, strong dogs to find gold mines. Buck had no choice except to one of them. The first owners had a lot of knowledge about dogs, cold climate, and other things. They traveled so many miles together. Buck also met many other dogs on the way to the destinations. Some were kind to Buck, and others weren’t. Buck had to be strong to be alive. Buck learned fast. For example, wild animals sleep under snow in the cold weather. He saw other dogs did that and he did that, too. The owners thought that Buck was cleaver and he worth more than one hundred dollars.
There was a dog named Spitz which was Buck’s enemy. They did hate each other and Buck wanted to fight with him to be the leader of his sledge-dogs. The owners knew that the fight would not be avoided and they let Buck as he wanted. One night, they stayed at Lake Laberge. Spitz stole a hole that Buck had made in snow. He got angry with him and they started the final fight. It was the first and they knew it would be the last one. However, they found eighty or a hundred of dogs around their sledge. Their fight was interrupted and they had to fight with the dogs. The wild dogs were very strong, so some of the dogs which belonged Buck’s team were killed. The other team dogs had to leave the sledge and ran away from it. They spent an unhappy night without their owners. In the next morning, they returned to the sledge and left the lake to their destination. After the journey, they were very tired and the dogs needed a long rest. The owners knew that, so they sold the dog to the other people.
The next owners were terrible for the dogs. They did not know anything about sledge nor sledge-dogs. They did not allow the dogs to take any rest because they thought the dogs were lazy. Buck needed a long rest, but owners did not allow to, so Buck was always angry with them.
On one spring day, it was wonderful and beautiful day. Buck and other sledge-dog pulled the sledge as usual. The company arrived at beside a river. There was a young man. He stayed by the river because he had been ill. The owners asked the young man whether they could across the river or not. The man answered no, but they decided to go on. The man knew much about journey in north, so he said no. He thought he had to stop them, but he stopped saying words because the owners seemed to refuse him. The moment that the owners tried to move the sledge with whip, he jumped to the owner. The young man loved dogs, and animals. He saw that Buck refused to go on, he took a knife that the owner had and cut a rope that was around Buck’s neck. Buck was free from any other hunger or pain then. The owners start to across the river, and they went slowly into water. They were dead like that.
Buck helped the young man with his many troubles. He loved the young man from bottom of his heart. The young man saved the Buck’s life, and they were good friends. Two friends of the young’s man came back and he joined the team. They wanted to find gold. They traveled many places an at last, they found them!! However, there were Yeehats in the woods and the team wee murdered by them. Buck was alone again, and he met a wolf in the woods. He joined the crowds of wolves and Buck became the leader of the wolves.
There is a tail that is told by some Yeehats. They see a wild dog which leads wolves in moonlight. No one knows where Buck is now.

Snowboarding!!

I love to snowboard very much. I have tried it just one time last year, and I could slide a little bit. I want to try more and more this winter.
I will do it as many times as I can!!!

I like motorbikes

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

I like motorbikes. I have one of them but I cannot put any picture on this blog because I cannot take any of them. I want to dive to the mountain Aso someday by my motorbike.

This is a motorbike that belongs to a friend of mine. I want to have a bike like this!!

Book Review 6: Huckleberry Finn

There is a boy whose name is Huckleberry Finn. He is a friend of Tom Sawyer. Huck likes to sleep in streets or woods, and he can do what he wants and when he wants. He likes free. However, his father is always drunk and one day he comes to Huck’s room and take his all the money. A widow who lives with Huck is worried about Huck and his father, and her sister, Miss Watson is, too.
One other day, Huck’s father comes and takes Huck into the woods. He wants Huck’s all the money for his drinking. Huck deposits them to Judge Thatcher. He is the important man in the town, and he keeps all the money in a bank for Huck. Some time, Huck is locked in the hut and his father leaves Huck. He goes to the town and comes back after too much drink. Huck wants to escape from his father and the sisters. One day, Huck finds a canoe that nobody uses it. He prepares for his plan and fulfills it. He escapes from the woods and goes to the Jackson’s Island. Huck lives on the Island for three days, but he becomes to tale a look around it. When he looks around, he sees a fire. He runs away from there but he cannot forget the fire. He decides to find out who there is. Next day, Huck goes to the place where he saw the fire. There is a friend of Huck’s whose name is Jim. Jim is frightened by Huck because he heard that Huck was dead. Huck explains his plan and Jim agrees to go with Huck. They run away from the island but the other day, Huck strays from Jim. After some days, he can meet Jim again. They continue their travel, and they do what they want. Some days later, Huck sees two men. They are followed by bad men, and they are running from them. The two men say that they are a Duke and a King. However, they are not the Duke and the King. They act badly and they are always trying to rob some money and something from other people. Huck and Jim want to leave them in the town, and the day comes. Huck calls Jim, but there is no one on their raft. Huck tries to find Jim, but he is seen by a old lady. She recognizes Huck as Tom Sawyer. Huck has to pretend to be Tom Sawyer. But it is not difficult for him to pretend because Tom Sawyer is Huck’s best friend. The most important thing is that he has to meet Tom before he arrives at the house. Huck meets Tom and explains what is going on. Tom understands and he says that he would pretend other boy. They also have to help Jim. The old woman keeps a slave who is running away. It is Jim. They help Jim with his escape, but Tom is shot by a man who tries to catch Jim. A bullet hit Tom and he is terribly hurt. They have to back the house because of Tom’s injury. When they back to the house, people do not try to catch Jim because he is kind and gentle. After Tom is recovered, they heard a story that is about Jim. He is not a slave any more because Jim’s owner left a letter. She does not want Jim to be a slave any more. Jim has not been a slave when people try to fetch him. It can be another story but Huck wants to finish this story. It is over now.

Changing

I was shocked very much last night because I heard the news from some friends of mine. I heard that a volunteer club which I belonged once is ruined.
It was like a family for me when I belonged it, so I am sorry to hear that. Meanwhile, I felt that everything will change. There is not a family for me any more. It is just a club. I wish it would be the best place for every member.
I want to be back in someday, but I am not determined because I cannot accept all of the members.

Impression on Little Women

When I read the story of Little Women, I feel my heart becomes warm. The sisters have noticed their own great weaknesses, and they try to make them better. They have many troubles but the family overtakes them. In the end, they realize what the most important thing is. It’s family.
I wander how many people know that. I had not realized that until I read this story. Amy is like me. She thinks more about herself than about other people at first. I may think about myself than about other people. I feel sorry about that. I want to think more and more about other people. I decide not to be selfish but be kind to others. I should cherish my family and friends.
I will do my best. I7m really thank to the story.

Book Review5: Little Women

I read a book called Little Women. The story tells us about a warmhearted family. They are the March. Mr. and Mrs. March have four daughters whose names are Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. They had been selfish until they got a letter from their father. Mr. March is fighting for the civil war. The little girls are not rich so much now because of it. Some years before, the March was rich and the family members were all together. However, everything has changed when the war has started. Father has to go and fight for the war, and Mrs. March has to go out for her job because they become poor. The daughters have to endure what they want and help their family.
At a Christmas, the four girls decide to be good and kind to other people because they receive a letter from their father. He wrote it to cheer up his lovely daughters. He wrote in the end that he loves all his daughters and he thinks about them every day and night, and he wants to see them as soon as possible. The girls are moved by the letter and decide to be good.
The youngest daughter Amy tries to think more about other people and less about herself because she thinks that she is selfish. The oldest girl Meg does not like to work, but she decides to work harder for he family. The most active daughter Jo wants to be more gently and she decides not to be like a boy. The shyest girl Beth says nothing, but she says herself to work hard at a blue glove that she is making. All four daughters decide their goal.
On Christmas day, Mrs. March comes home and tells a story about poor family to her daughters. They are so poor that they do not have anything to eat at the Christmas. The mother has six children and they do not have woods to make a fire. The Marches decide to give away their breakfast to the poor family. That’s the first try that the little daughters do for the other people.
In the year, they have many troubles. Amy falls into a lake that is nearly frozen in winter, their father has a terrible condition, and Beth has a scarlet fever. They have many troubles that year. However, the more troubles come to them, the more they are bound to their family by their love. They learn what is the most important thing for them that year, and they can enjoy the next Christmas all together.

Part-Time Job at My Grandmother's House

I am going to visit my grandmother for my part-time job. She is farmer and she grows some kinds of oranges. She lives with her youngest son, but he is working for his own farm. My father visits her every weekend and helps her. He works for other job except weekend. He cannot earn money from farming because he is a local government worker. In Japan, people who are civil servants, they cannot get money from other jobs.
So my father helps his mother without money. I am going to go her house to help her, but I earn money from it. I need money and I do not have any part-time job. I also want to help my grandmother. I have not seen her long time, so I will go and cheer her up. I want to see her as soon as possible!!

Kumamoto Castle

I found a beautiful blog from other students. I hope you'll like it. I like Kumamoto Castle and I'm also proud of it!!

I'm stressed!!

I’m really stressed because of many works. As you know, I took an interview test for studying abroad and it is also one of the causes of the stress. The result will be disclosed on November 2nd. I cannot endure so long!!! Someone help me please…

Book Review 4: The prisoner of Zenda

I read a book called “The prisoner of Zenda”. It is about a man who is from an old English family. He lives in England, and his family is one of the middle classes. As you know, famous families do not need to earn their bread by their own because they have enough money to live without works. The Rassendylls is one of the famous families. In the family, there are some descendants who have the dark hair and the long straight nose of the loyal family of Ruritania.
Once upon a time, there was Lady America who was a beautiful woman. Price Rudolf of Ruritania fell in love with her. They loved each other, but the woman already had ahusband. America had an affair. After the Prince’s leaving, Lady America gave a birth to a baby. The Rassendylls came from her. Because of a fight with the husband, the Prince was dead in his country. As a result, the Rassendylls decided to live without notify about the baby.
Long time has passed, and man was born in the Rassendylls and he also has the red hair the long nose like other descendants. His name is Rudolf. His sister in law wants him to work outside of the house to manage to live by himself for him. However, Rudolf doesn’t want to do such a thing, and he wants to love without works. One day, she tries to talk to him and she persuades Rudolf into working. He decided to work, but he has an idea to go to Ruritania in secret. In the country, there is a king of Ruritania, and he resembles Rudolf. On the other day, the king is kidnapped and Rudolf has to pretend the king because of his looking like a king. He spends some days, but he decides to rescue the king from the enemy. It is king’s brother. The king has a fiancé, and his brother wants to be a king and also wants to marry her. After long days with many fights, they can rescue the king. However, Rudolf and the fiancé fell in love with each other like the history. Rudolf wants to marry her, but she has to be the Queen. He left the country but they keep in touch with each other.

Love to drink alcohol!!

I have a lot of things to do this week. Also, I will have many drinking party this month.
I already had two of them, and I really enjoyed one of them. It was held on 24th September, two friends of mine attended the party like me and they looked enjoyed drinking alcohol.
After drinking, we played bowling. Two of our parties were poor at bowling, so they played it with tricks. They threw the bowls and they followed them. I could not believe my eyes, but it was true!! As I was drunk, I enjoyed with them and we got a caution from the shop. I think it was the most interesting drinking party that I have ever had. I want to have it one more time with the same member.
I will have another drinking party this weekend, and I will enjoy it from the bottom of my heart!!

English Weekend

I attended to English Weekend that spend the weekend with exchange students. I met many exchange students there. They come from New Zealand, Vietnam, Ireland, America, and Thailand. I made friends with the exchange students through a game or many activities. We went to the beer factory in Kasima city. I wanted to drink beer, but I couldn’t because I had to go back home by my motorbike. I ‘m so sorry about that. I want to spend weekends with the exchange students at Japanese inn someday.

Book Review 3: The adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Tom Sawyer likes adventures. When other people are sleeping in their bed, Tom Sawyer is climbing out of his bedroom window to meet his friends. He and Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn have an exciting life. They look for ghosts, they dig for treasures, and they take a boat down the Mississippi river. But Tom’s adventures can be dangerous, too. One night in the graveyard he and Huck Finn see three men. Who are they? And what are they doing in the graveyard, in the middle of the night? Then the boys see that one of the men is Injuin Joe. Tom and Huck never forget that night. They are afraid of Injuin Joe, and they are right to be afraid. Because Injuin Joe is very quick with a knife. Tom and Huck saw the right scene of murder, and they could not believe their own eyes. Later, they have to be the deponent at the court.

Harry Potter 1

Harry Potter is grown up at his uncle’s house. But hey do not like Harry.
One day, he gets a permission from a school which for witches and wizards at 12 years old. Actually, His parents graduated from the school, and they were murdered by Voldemort. Harry enters the school and be trained to be a wizard without knowing the truth. He makes friends with Ron and Hermione. They are in troubles all the time.
Voldemort tries to kill Harry Potter through someone else. Voldemort was terribly hurt by Harry when he was a baby. After Voldemort kills Harry, he wants to make a revival to control the world. One of the teachers is a Voldemort’s adorer.
Harry Potter and his friends overcome with their courage and the love of Harry’s parents.
I like Harry potter's series these days. I want to see the next one as soon as possible.

To Study Abroad!!

I took an interview test for studying abroad in Britain.
Because I want to be an English teacher, I decided to study abroad. My mother is a music teacher, and I have seen her job since I was a little girl. She is always busy, she does not have much rest, but I yearn her job because I think there are so many meaning to teach. I want to brush up my English and want to see my host family in Leicester city. I miss them. I would achieve my goal for my brilliant future!!

In Leicester

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I went to England this summer. This is the picture that I took in Leicester city, in England.
I went to a pub with my friend and my host family for the first time. I ate fried potato with salt and vinegar. It was impressed and I love to eat fried potato with salt and vinegar now. I cannot eat them without vinegar!!
I miss my host family and my Italian friends who I met in Leicester.

For studying abroad

I handed in the documents to take an interview test to studying abroad today. I was really stressed out. As you know, I went to Leicester in England this summer vacation. I could have the confidence through the experience. I have wanted to study abroad for two years, but I could have the confidence and I felt that foreign country was not close to me. Because of the experience, I could get the confidence and I can go to England to study abroad.
As I want to be an English teacher in the future, I should brush up my English and study more about foreign culture academically. I want to have the chance to study abroad. I am going to have the test next week, and if I can pass the test I will go th England in February and March.

Book Review2; Pocahontas

In 1607 the English come to Virginia, in North America. They want to begin a new life, and to make their home in the New World. They build a town and call it Jamestown, after King James of England. Virginia is a new world for the English, but it is not new for the Indian people of North America. They live there; their fathers and their grandfathers lived there before them. It is their country, their home. And they do not like these white men from across the sea.
One of the Englishmen, John Smith, goes up the river in a boat, but the Indians find him and take him to the great King, Powhatan. The Indians want to kill him, but Powhatan has a daughter – the beautiful Pocahontas. She looks into John’s blue, blue eyes… and so begins a famous story of two countries, two people, and a love without end.
Pocahontas was a daughter of the great King of Indians, and he didn’t like the Englishmen from overseas. They were good friends with each other at first. The King of Indians tried to observe these Englishmen and gave one of the Englishmen, John Smith to his daughter to check them all the time. However, as Pocahontas was a little girl, she was interested in English culture and John. She fell in love with him. One day, Powhatan tried to take some guns from Jamestown and John got angry because he thought that people should be friends without weapons. He tried to explain what he thought to Pocahontas, and she understood. Other day, she went to the town and noticed the difference. There was not John Smith. She asked about John to other Englishmen, and she knew that John had a bad accident and left the Virginia to England. Pocahontas was really disappointed and cried long time in the forest. Some years later, Pocahontas was a young woman. The English people needed their guns that her father took from them. They tried to kidnap the young Indian woman and negotiated with the tribe, but they didn’t accept their opinion. Pocahontas understood her father and she didn’t want to back to her home. She married Englishman, of course not John Smith, and had a baby. After some years in Jamestown, she went to England with her husband and son. There were so many things in England, and English people were interested in Indian woman and wanted to make friend with her. The King of James and his wife met Pocahontas. She heard about John Smith from the Queen and she hesitated very much. Two days later, John came to see her, but she could not see him because of her terrible memories. She loved him in her heart, but she already had a husband and a child. During in her stay in London, Pocahontas got ill and she was dead in England.
She was famous because of her marriage and being good friend to the English when they first went to Virginia.

Book Review 1: Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe is bored with his quiet life and he wants to be a sailor. One day, on the way to Guinea in Africa, Turkish pirate attacked the Robinson’s ship. He was arrested and the Turkish captain wanted him to be one of his slaves. For two long years, Robinson was a slave and he always thought about escaping. At last, he caught a good lick and he could escape from the Turkish captain. Robinson and his slave was on a small boat in the huge ocean and a ship saved their lives.
He stayed in Brazil and he became a rich man. However, he wanted to be a sailor again. He followed his desire, but it was his fault. He had a heavy storm and the shipwreck. He was luck on that day, some waves carried him on a beach and he was still alive. However, he had to spend a new life on an island all by himself because all of his friends who were on the ship were dead. He had to stay there for 27 years. He learned how to make tools that he needed, how to grow up the crops, how to live as safe as he can. 27 years later, he could escape from the island and he went back to his home, England by land. He came back to his country but almost all of his family died. Some of his nephews were still alive and he found his family at last. He got married and had some children. After his wife’s death, one of his nephews came to see him and they went to sea again. One day, he will write other stories about his journey.

The Strait of Naruto

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I went to the Strait of Naruto with a friend of mine. We went there by car and it took two hours from Kagawa prefecture one way but it was really fun. I sang many songs all the way there and he looked tired of my singing. I wanted to take a ship but it would much cost. We abandoned the ship and across the bridge that is over the Strait of Naruto. It was fantastic to see. I want to take a ship someday.

Hanabi with my friends

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I did fireworks on September 8th. This is from Print Club. We went to shopping before that , had a dinner, and took this picture. About 8 o’clock, we went to Kasenjiki (under the Kokai Bridge). We bought many packs of fireworks and there were extra fireworks after that. I went to England this summer and I could go to the fireworks display in August. My friends who stayed in my hometown planed to do this party for me and a friend of mine. I was really happy to be able to do that. I appreciate to them

With Italian Friends

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I went to Leicester, in England this summer. I made friends with Italian people because my host family knew them. I was really nervous at first because I couldn’t speak English well. However, my host families were so kind to me that my strain was gone.
This picture was taken in a bar. I went there with my Italian friends. They were very funny and kind. I still keep in touch with them.

Movies

I saw the movie of The pirates of Caribbean, Dead man’s chest. I love the movie. It consists of three stories and the third one is making now. It is about the pirates in Caribbean Sea, and they always aim the treasures that are valuable. I want to watch the third one.

At last!!

At last, I will go to Britain tomorrow. I live with a host family for a month and I link they are so kind. I bought a Fuurinn, a small wallet, and a Hanafuda that was played long time ago in Japan. A student of KGU waited for my email, so I sent an email to him. He is kind enough to answer my questions and he told me an important thing. It was about the weather in Leicester. I will visit Leicester and live there for a month. I heard that it is good weather and it is like an fall in Japan. It will cold in the mornings and the nights. However, it could be hot in the days. According to that, I have to bring many clothes.
I cannot wait tomorrow. I would like to meet my host families as soon as possible!!

Movies

A friend of mine and I went to Cineplex yesterday. We watched Brave Story that is about a poor boy whose parents divorced. He wants to pull together his family. To do so, he goes to another world. He meets many people in the world and he has to be brave and hero. He also has to collect five stones to make his wish to come true. There are many difficulties on the way.

Kakigouri

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I went to Joyfull with Akiko on 14 Jul '06. We ate Kakigouri together.

A Cat

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

This is the cat which an uncle of mine feeds. He will be two years old this summer. He has two brothers. One is a male, and the other is female. They are noisy and they always play outside.

The Plans for this summer vacation

I will go to Britain in this summer vacation. I also have some other plans. Shopping with my friends, watching some movies, preparation for the examinations of the short study abroad.
First of all, I am going to Britain in this summer vacation. I will leave Japan on July 28th. We are going to Fukuoka airport at first after leaving our university on 6:30 a.m. We have to arrive our university by 6 o’clock in the morning. Then we leave there to Fukuoka airport. Next, we will take two airplanes bound for Britain. One is to South Korea, and the other is to Britain. It will take over ten ours to get to Britain, I think. We will go shopping with my friends, have some parties with the student who are in local university in the country. I am sure that I could have wonderful time with them. I’m very happy to have this chance.
Second, I want to go shopping or to go to watch some movies with my friends in Japan. I can’t go shopping with them who live in Japan or Kumamoto city during my stay in Britain. I want to have more time with them. I am sorry for them about that.
Third, I would like to study abroad to brash up my English. It is necessary for me to do that because I want to be an English teacher in the future. Needless to say, I have to study harder for that. I would like to go Britain, but it will not be the same place that I will go this summer. It is Leicester that I will go this summer, and Liverpool is that I want to study abroad. I can study about Education, art, international economics in the university. I want to take the Educational lecture for my future. However, I have to take some examinations for studying abroad. People who go study abroad can get their own scholarship for it, and they also have to take the exams. Long one or short one. I would like to study hard in this summer vacation for the exam. I can study English grammar, conversation skills, writing skills, or listening skills. I can use some facilities of KGU. I want to use all of them to brush up my English. They are my plans for this summer vacation.

Book Review 9: One- Way Ticket

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1. Outlines
There are three short stories. A train is a closed world. Each carriage is like a small room, with windows and doors, but you can’t gat out when the train is moving. The world outside is far away, and you can forget your home, your work, your friends. On a train you sit with strangers. You don’t know anything about them, but you sit next to them for hours, or perhaps days, in the same small room. You can’t get away from them.

As the wheels of the train turn, these stories show us three different people. A beautiful young wife – going on holiday with her husband, through the green hills of England. A carefree young man – traveling across the mountains of Yugoslavia, looking for work. A sensible middle – aged man – traveling north through the forests and lakes of Finland, hoping for a quiet journey.
Three different journeys, three different people – all locked in the closed world of the train… where anything can happen.

2. Stories
There are 7 people in a carriage. A young woman and her husband, a tall dark man, a fat man with a brown hat, and a mother and two children. They are all in packed in the carriage. The husband and a fat man talk all the way to their destinations. The wife is tired of the husband’s talking and their noise, laugh. Her husband likes to talking and he always talking with other people. Even it is interesting or not. The wife, Julie is looking at a tall man who sits in front of her. He is reading his newspaper. He notices Julie, and smiles at her through the newspaper. They perhaps fall in love with each other. No one knows, but Julie gets off the train when her husband and the fat man were in the restaurant in the train. He was very gets angry with that, and there is nothing for him to do. The train already left the platform!! He continues his journey to the favorite place.

Tom is in a small carriage by himself. Some minutes later, there come two girls. They seem that they have the good relationship and actually, they are sisters. Tom is going to Bulgaria, looking for his work. The sisters, Melanie and Carl are going to Sofia in Bulgaria. They decided to meet at a hotel in Sofia, and then they part. Tom continuities his travel to his destination, however, there are some policemen outside of the train on the platform. They seem to have looking for someone. Then, they tapped Tom by his shoulder and ask him to come with them. Tom is confused because he has no reason to be treated like that. They open his bag, and there are American dollars. He cannot understand the situation. He didn’t have the money. Then, he remembers. Tom and one of the sisters, Melanie went to the restaurant in the train. Carl left in the carriage then. He thought it was Carl who put the money into his bags. That’s why the sisters asked him to meet together in two or three days later. Poor Tom is going to enter a jail and he has to spend some years there. He believes everything can be O.K soon.

Mr. Harris. There is no one except him. He is happy because he wants a quiet journey. At midnight, the train stopped at the small station of Otava. Mr. Harris looks out of the window, but he sees nobody. After the train leaves the station, two young people come into his carriage. They are a woman and a man. They start quarrel soon and woman talks about her necklace. The man takes something out of his pocket. It is made of some diamond and they are brightening. It is her necklace. He tells her that necklace belongs to him now, and she can not get back it. She takes a long knife from her pocket and stinks into his body. The bloods come to run out of the body, and he never comes back. Mr. Mr. Harris is afraid and he runs out of the carriage. He calls a conductor but the conductor tells him a story. It is just a story of ghosts, and it is similar to what he saw right now. The happening Mr. Harris saw was happened in eighty years ago. Mr. Harris feels ill and gets of the train. He doesn’t want to in the train any longer. After that, he hates the trains.

Book Review 8: The Coldest Place on Earth

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1. Outlines
In the summer of 1910, a race began. A race to be the first man at the South Pole, in Antarctica. Robert Falcon Scott, an English man, left London in his ship, the Terra Nova, and began the long journey south. Five days later, another ship also began to travel south. And on this ship was Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian.
But Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth, and it is a long, hard journey over the ice to the South Pole. Some of the travelers never returned to their homes again.
This is the story of Scott and Amundsen, and of one of the most famous and dangerous races in history.

2. Details
There were two groups of travelers to the South Pole in Antarctica. They wanted to be the first men to get there. They tried to prepare perfectly for their journey. The Amundsen’s group got 99 dogs from a small island in the south of Norway. Also, they didn’t forget to have the foods. They got plenty of them. While in the Scott’ team, they got Some ponies from China. The captain thought that the ponies were strong and they could work hard even on ice. However, ponies are originally live in the warm place. They need much food, and can’t work hard in the cold place.
Both two groups fought with the team mates in the cold place. The clearest differences between them were that the Amundsen team never forgot to take care of their tools and to make some tents on the way to the South Pole. They helped their lives.
At last, Amundsen’s team won the race. They could win the race because of their cautious preparations and right decision. The members fought, but they never to part from the members. They could come back their homes. However, the Scott’s team was in danger many times and they were all dead. The reason was the wrong judgments and the wrong group consciousness. The members followed the wrong order of the captain and never insist their ideas.

I thought that this book told me the most important thing. It is the right decision, the calm actions, and needless to say, the courage to have their own insistence. We have them every time we are in troubles. We should be more careful about our risk. Old people said, “The preparation is all!!” I think so, too.

A Party With My Friends

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We have the good friendship each other. We often have dinner together. This is a Purinto Clab. You can take some pictures called Purikura with your friends, and the pictures can be put anywhere you want. I love Purikura. I take them whenever I go out with my friends.
I want to go out to drinking with them!!

Takoyaki Party

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We made Takoyaki on Miki’s birthday. It was fun for me to make this around. We enjoyed making and eating them.

Miki's Birthday

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The party was held on Thursday, 30th June. It was the twentieth birthday of Miki, a friend of mine. There were many people to celebrate her birthday and we had the dinner together. She looked so happy and we were happy to see the face. I think it was a wonderful day. After the dinner, we talked and talked about each other. There were full of smiles and we enjoyed the time.
Miki, happy birthday and God bless you!!

A Purikura with My Cousin

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I went to see a movie with my cousin and my brother. We took this picture after the movie. It was Trick that we saw. We have very good relationship.
The phrase tells that.
"What is the most important thing is not the reason why you fell in love with the person but the truth that you love him/her and the feeling you want to be with them..."
I like this phrase because that is true for everybody.

Book Review 7: The Phantom of the Opera

1. Outlines
It is 1880, in the Opera House in Paris. It is the biggest Opera House in the world. Everybody is talking about the Phantom of the Opera, the ghost that lives somewhere under the Opera House. The Phantom is a man in black clothes. He is a body without a head, he is a head without a body. He has a yellow face, he has no nose, he has black holes for eyes. Everybody is afraid of the Phantom-the singers, the dancers, the directors, the stage workers…
But who has actually seen him?
2. Details
The name of the Phantom is Erick. He has an ugly face. There are no eyes and nose on his face. He also lives in the Opera House in Paris. People are afraid of him, because when he gets angry, there are some terrible accidents in the Opera House. One day, two men come to the Opera House as the directors. As soon as they arrive there, a letter is brought. That is from the Phantom of the Opera. Some requirements are written on the letter. First, nobody could see the plays at the box 5. Second, the directors have to pay 20,000 francs to the Phantom of the Opera. For the first time, they don’t answer to these requirements. However, the Phantom gets angry and some audiences are dead because of an accident that chandelier falls down on them. The phantom does that. The directors do as he wants, and his requirements are passed.
The other day, a young singer, Christine Daae is afraid of her music teacher the Phantom of the Opera. As he loves her, he doesn’t allow that some young man approaches to her. It is the Roal the Vicomte de Chagny who approaches to her. He is young, handsome, and rich person. He falls in love with Christine and she does either. They decided to marry and leave the Opera House because he insists on the idea.
The day that they cary out the plan, the accident happens. The Phantom knows that. He takes Christine to his house, that is down down down under the Opera House. Roal follows them with the Persian. They get in a room that is in the house. But it was the wrong room, the Phantom’s torture room. Christine swears that she would be the wife of the Phantom, and gives a kiss to him. The Phantom allows all the people to go away.
At last, Christine and Roal can get merried and live happily. But no one knows the truth.
3.Impression
I thought that the love can make people mad and can help the lives of human beings. I have read some books about love, but I insist this idea.

Book Review 6: Remember Miranda

Cathy Wilson is driving to Norfolk, to begin her new job with the Harvey family. She is going to look after the two young children, Tim and Susan. Cathy meets the children’s father, and their grandmother, and their aunt. She meets Nick, the farmer who lives across the fields. But she doesn’t meet Miranda, the children’s mother, because Miranda is dead.
She died two years ago, and Cathy cannot learn anything about her. Everybody remembers Miranda, but nobody wants to talk about her…
Cathy had no home because her mother and father died a long time ago and she had no brothers or sisters. It is the first her job and she wants to be happy in the house.
She met the children. Tim was five years old and Susan was seven year old, a quiet girl with big brown eyes. She watched Cathy carefully but she didn’t smile. After the dinner, there came Juliet, the sister of Miranda. She was the person who told a story about Miranda to Cathy. When she began to talk about Miranda, the children came and talked about their mother.
Some days later, Cathy met Nick on the beach and he approached her to go out for dinner. That night, she went dinner with Nick, and she talked about that to Juliet About her love with Nick. Cathy fell in love with Nick!! She said nothing about that. After that, Cathy rode on her car and drove to the children’s school. Then, there was a Landrover that came fast to her car. It was Nick’s Landrover. When she recognized the car, the car nearly hit her car. Nick came out of his car and worried about Cathy. However, there was Juliet in his car. Cathy got angry and she left there at once. Some weeks later, Christmas came near. Cathy and the children went out for a Christmas tree, but Tim fell on a tree and cut his head. He had a lot of bloods. Susan was afraid and said, ‘Is Tim going to die like my mother?’ Cathy told Susan that Tim was going to be fine. They went to a hospital and Cathy called their father, Duncan. He came to the hospital soon. He looked afraid of the injury. He was afraid of losing his family again. That night, Juliet came to see Tim and Cathy. She wanted to Cathy but she was also afraid of her with her anger to Juliet. Juliet didn’t tell the reason why Miranda was dead, but told the love with Nick. They loved each other, but Nick wanted to have some friend of women. Juliet wanted Nick to have such friend. Actually, Miranda was dead because of that. Miranda hated her husband and his children. She wanted to leave them on the Beach House to live with Nick. However, Nick didn’t love Miranda, and Duncan was angry with that. Juliet never told her sister about her love with Nick. Juliet and Nick fell in love and Miranda fell in love with Nick, and Duncan never wanted Miranda to leave her family. There was a difficult composition.
It was the grandmother who killed Miranda. She wanted to break Miranda’s leg not to go out for her love. Unfortunately, Miranda was dead. There was no murderous reason to kill Miranda, but she ended her life.
After the affair, Duncan confessed his love to Cathy and Cathy found her house at last

After I read this book, I thought that there was a selfish love in the world. I hate Nick and Miranda. I decided not to be such a person like them.

My book reviews

Book review1
Book review2
Book review3
Book review4
Book review5
Book review6
Book review7
Book review8
Book review9

Book Review 5: The Love of a King

All he wanted to do was to marry the woman he loved. But his country said ‘No!’
He was Edward Ⅷ , King of Great Britain, King of India, King of Australia, and King of thirty-nine other countries. And he loved the wrong woman. Mrs. Wallis was beautiful and she loved him- but she was already married to another man, Mr. Wallis. They met in the autumn if 1930, she had a cold then, and Edward worried about that. Mrs. Wallis told him the truth that the Prince of Wales would talk about something more interesting. He had never heard anybody said like that, he was pleased at her honesty. Soon he fell in love with Mrs. Wallis.
One day, The King was dead and Edward had to be the next King. When he knew that, he telephone to Mrs. Wallis and proposed to her. As soon as she heard it, she wrote a letter to her husband to ask him a divorce. They got divorce and she was free at last.
Next morning, Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury was waiting for Edward. He had some newspapers on his arm and told him not to marry Wallis. Lang also told him that the Church would be against their marriage. Edward was a King of Britain, so he was a Christian. Christian people had to keep their marriage and they could not have a divorce. Needless to say, they could not have remarriage. The Church would have a big outcry against Edward and Wallis.
He could not help following his heart, Edward decided to gibe the crown to his brother and he would leave England.
It was a love story that shook the world. The King had to choose: to be King, or to have love… and leave his country, never to return.
They lived in Paris for many years. In 1952, King George and Queen Mary died, and Edward and his wife could back to Britain and met Queen Elizabeth. She was Edward’s niece. After their death, their body was buried in England. ‘It’s a strange thing.’ one newspaper said. ‘When they were alive, the Duke (Edward) and Duchess (his wife) could never live in retain. It was only in death that they could be there together.’


From this story, I found a difficulty about the religion. There are no religious issues in particular, I think, in Japan. I could not understand the conflicts or fights about religion. Could the Japanese people understand and have to comprehend religious issues?? I think no one knows that…

Book Review 4: A Little Princess

Sara Crewe is a very rich little girl. She first comes to England when she is seven, and her father takes her to Miss Minchin’s school in London. Then he goes back to his work in India. Sara is very sad at first, but she soon makes friends at school.
But on her eleventh birthday, something terrible happens, and now Sara has no family, no home, and not a penny in the world… The terrible thing is that her father was dead. When she heard the news, she did not cry. Her father wanted her to be brave. As she understood the father’s wish, she never cries and she tries to be brave and kind to others. She is told to be not a school student but a school servant. She works day and night for the school.
Some years passed and the friend of her father’s moves to London next to the school. He wants to find the only child of his friend’s, and wants to take care of her. Since he cannot find her, he tries to give some presents for the girl next door. The girl always looks tired and hungry. It is Sara Crewe and it is the girl who he have looked for a long time.

My Biggest Injury

I broke my collarbone when I was an elementary school student. It was cold, dim winter day. I played with my friends at the park near my house on that day. We played Oni San Kotira. It is a game that is played among Japanese children. They are mainly elementary school students. I was the Oni ( tagger ) then. I closed my eyes, so I could not see anything. My friends called me and they told me where they were. It is such a game, but it is dangerous for children to play the game in the narrow place or there are some stairs. I stumbled down a step and fell down on the ground. Unfortunately, there was a bench, and I twisted my left arm. Then, I broke my collarbone.

Book Review 3: The Wizard Of Oz

In Kansas, USA, there are no witches or wizards. But there are cyclones, and one day a cyclone blows Dorothy’s house, with Dorothy and her dog Toto in it, to a country called Oz. And in Oz there are four witches, and a famous wizard – the Wizard of Oz.
Dorothy wants to back home to Kansas, but she doesn’t know how to get there. She needs help. ‘Go to the Emerald City,’ the Witch of the North who Dorothy met for the first time in Oz tells her, ’and ask the Wizard of Oz to help you.’
Then Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion, but they need help too. So they all take the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. But what are they going to find there? Who – or what – is the famous Wizard of Oz?
They want something for themselves. Dorothy wants to go home, the Scarecrow wants some brains, the Tin Man wants to have a heart, and the Cowardly Lion wants bravery. They are lacking something each other, so they decided to go to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz together.
The friends get to the Emerald City, they could see the Wizard of Oz fortunately. He is not the regular appearance and the friends see the different looks. But they are not to be given the things that they want. They must kill the Witch of the West before they get the things. They left the city and walk to the Witch’s house.
Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion are carried to the Witch’s house and the Witch told Dorothy to work for her. Dorothy worked the day and night. Addition to that, the Witch wants Dorothy’s red shoes and she tries to pick them up. One day, the Witch could pick the right shoes up at last, but Dorothy got angry and she picked up a bucket of water. Then she threw the water into the Witch’s face!! The Witch of the West was disappeared!! Actually, she was defect in water.

The Wizard of Oz was not the Wizard. He was a man from Kansas, too. He gave a brain to the Scarecrow, a heart to the Tin Man, and the bravery to the Cowardly Lion. However when he would go Kansas with Dorothy, the rope broke and Dorothy could not go home with him. He told Dorothy to ask how to go back to Kansas to the Witch of the East from up, up, up the sky. She quickly called the magic monkeys and told them her wish that she wanted to meet the Witch. Dorothy met the Witch and asked what she should do. Then the Witch said, “ask your red shoes.” Dorothy thanked to the Witch and said good-bye to her and the friends. The shoes brought Dorothy to Kansas as soon as she said “East, west – home’s best!”
I have not read this book in details, but I learn the most important thing from this story. It is that we always want that we already have. We are unconscious that we already have wonderful things like the warmness, the kindness, the ability to think, the bravery, or strictness. The lesson from this story is that we have to be more conscious of our capability.

A Basket

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

I made this basket with my older sister. She is senior to me by 7 years, but we are very friendly each other. It took three hours to make this basket. And we spent time making this with great joy.

My Favorite Movie

I like The Fifth Element the best, because it is a SF mivie and it is so fantastic movie. Addition to that, I love Bruce Willis when I saw the movie for the first time.

Portable Banana!!

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

Do you know that there is a portable banana in the world??
I found it my friend’s house. I cannot help laughing when I saw this banana. Addition to the funny joke, watch out the banana!! What can you see? Could you see the letter FOMA?? She wrote this word because she wanted it to be more interesting.
I heard that she would eat the banana, but I don’t know she ate it or not.

Do you know here??

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

Many people in Japan know that this place was used in a movie called, “Sekatyu( Shout love in the middle of the world)”. I went there last summer and it was wonderful place, I think.

Seto Oohashi

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

This is Seto Oohashi(The Great Seto Bridge). It was taken in Kagawa prefecture in Shikoku. I have been there many times. I love Kagawa because of its nature.

Book Review 2:The Last Sherlock Holmes Story

The second Book Review is about a detective story. Its title is “The Last Sherlock Holmes Story” It is written like Dr. Watson wrote this story. When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his detective stories, he never thought that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson would become so famous. But Holmes and the doctor live on, in story after story- long after their deaths. For when Dr Watson died, he left behind him a lock box, with orders that it must not be opened for fifty years. The box contained a report, written in the doctor’s own handwriting. But why did he want it kept secret for so many years?
To find out, we must go back to the narrow dirty streets of Whitechapel in the London of 1888. Three women have been horribly murdered by Jack the Ripper. Scotland Yard is helpless- unable to stop the murders or catch the killer. So the police turn for help to the great detective, Sherlock Holmes...
Sherlock Holmes is the most intelligent detective in the world. He can solve all of the problems all over the world. The only the problem he cannot solve is his too much intelligence. Because of his intelligence, he has nothing to kill his boring time. He always finds something interesting, and if he cannot find it, he takes drugs.
When I know that, I feel sorry for Holmes. Too much intelligence is not good for people.

Book Review 1: A Christmas Carol

I read a book titled “A Christmas Carol” and it was written by Charles Dickens.
It was about an old man whose name was Ebenezer Scrooge. I tell you the content. Ebenezer Scrooge is a cross, miserable, mean old man. When his nephew visits him on Christmas Eve to wish him a merry Christmas, Scrooge is not at all pleased. ‘Bah! Humbug!’ he says. ‘Christmas is humbug! Everyone who goes around saying “Merry Christmas” should have his tongue cut out. Yes, he should!
Oh, yes, Scrooge is a hard, mean man. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, gets only fifteen shillings a week, and has to work in a cold little office, with a fire too small to warm even his toes.
But that Christmas Eve Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his long-dead partner, Jacob Marley. And after him come three more ghostly visitors… It is a long night, and a frightening night, and when Christmas Day finally arrives, Scrooge is a very different man indeed.

When I read this book, I felt like crying because the ghosts tell Scrooge the most important things for his life. And I was so happy to know that He has changed. He was a cross, miserable, mean old man before he experienced the night. He lived for money and his works. Because of his hard work, many people have troubles. The spirits have their own names, and they are Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future. They show Scrooge some scenes and tell him the most important thing for his life. They tell him the kindness. And he knew the true meaning of “Merry Christmas”.
It was the most fantastic book that I have ever read. I was impressed by this book and I decided to be kind to others. Everyone, Merry Christmas!!

Monokuro Boo

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

I love this kind of cushion. They are so cute and I display on my bed. There are two colors and they are soft. Needless to say, they are lovely!!

Azisai Road

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

There is Azisai (Hydrangea) Road in Minamata. My father took me there last week. There were hundreds of hydrangea, and i felt rainy season had come around us.

Big Cake!!

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

I ate this big cake with Akiko who is posted before. I was so happy when I ate this cake!!

My junior high school

I studied English for the first time at this junior high school. There was an English teacher who had changed my life. He taught English with his great joy. It was so impressive for me that he taught us English gently. I decided to be an English teacher when I was taught English from him.It's here.

I had my hair cut

I had my hair cut yesterday. I have long hair and as my forelock had grown under my under jaw, I could not see well. I decided to have my hair cut because of that.

Quit My Club

I quit my volunteer club on June 7th. I was so happy when I did volunteer, and I love volunteer because there are so much happiness. Every time I do volunteer, there are full of smiles. I decided to belong to my volunteer club because of that.
Nevertheless, there were much selfish people in the club. I felt sad. I wanted to help as many as people I can, but I couldn’t. What was the cause? No one knows. I decided to quit my club to be more independent and strong. I don’t want to accuse others, I think...

Panic!!

I was panic on June 8th. I had something to do with a computer that day. After finishing the work, I tried to save the work on a computer. I had believed that I could save it, however, I couldn’t. Then, I was panic! To be worse, there were no time to hand in the work. I quickly print out it, went to another computer room, wrote it down on a computer again, and hand in it. Needless to say, I could not hand in it in time. I was so disappointed that.
I have to start more earlier next time.

Dinner with Akiko

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

I went to Joyful in Toroku with a friend of mine. Her name is Akiko. She is very cute girl and she loves to eat sweets.
This night, she ate sweet after the dinner. I ate, either!
This pictuer shows that this cake seems so big, doesn't it?
We talked and talked this time, and we enjoyed taking dinner.

My favorite animals

My favorite animals are cats and dogs, and I like cats more than dogs.
I like cats because they are so cute, and I like dogs less than cats because they tend to bark. I hate to be barked.
An uncle of mine feeds some cats, and he loves them so much.
One day, he picked up two cats. One was black, beautiful, and she had much wariness. The other was fat, and he had brown hair. My uncle cuddled up them. Some months later, the black cat gave birth to three cats. Two cats were males and one was female. One of male is very alike his father, the other is similar to both father and mother. Female cat is so similar to her mother. She has black hair, has much wariness.
Recently, the black cat gave birth to some cats, I heard. My uncle e-mailed me and I was very glad to hear news. I cannot wait the day that I can see the cats.

I would like to explain the reasons why I like dogs in the next blog!

Flower of Orange

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

This is a picture of orange flower.
My grandmother raises a kind of oranges (Dekopon) in Minamata. She had raised them with my grandfather by 6 years ago. However, because of his death, she has raised them by herself now.
Spring has come, there are many flowers are blooming and they let us know how wonderful their perfume is. I love their smell.

Lovely Desserts

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

I went to a Izakaya with my friends on 3rd, May. We went there to drink alcoholic drink. We decided to go to praise ourselves of our effort.
This is one of desserts we ate then. It was made in green tea. There are some spoonfuls of caramel sauce over the ice cream. It was so delicious that I was impressed from it.

Modou Harbor

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

This is the harbor that was the origin of Minamata deseases. This harbor is called Modou ( Modo) Harbor in Minamata.
There is a an anecdote of this harbor. One day, a cat was drawn in this harbor because the cat went mad. However, the true reason was Nitrogen.

Ami's recommend

Ami recommended this Awaodori. She had ever lived in Tokushima prefecture, in Shikoku.

Sweets

This is Yumi's blog. I love sweets!!

test

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Originally uploaded by syokomatsuda.

I saw a beautiful rainbow after violent thunder. I hate thunder, but I was so impressed this time.

My favorite musitians

I have some favorite things in my room. First of all, I like Kishidan, and they are musician who are famous of their costumes. They wear Gakulan, and I love to go their concert. I also like Busted who were British musician, but they have broken their group.

May 8th, My birthday

I was born on May 8th 21 years ago, so I became 21 years old this year.
I was cerebrated my birthday by my friends this year. I received many birthday presents. Two mirrors, some letters, and a photo flame.
I was very happy when I received them.

Golden Week

There is the GoldenWeek in Japan and I went to Minamata in Kumamoto.
My grandmother lives in Minamata as she makes her living from the soil. She has 5 children. Shigeki(my father), Ryuji, Hideshi, Mikiko, Kazuya. They are already grown up and they make their own living by themselves. As she has many children, I have so many cousins.
Minamata is famous for Minamata desease. I would like to tell you about it in next blog.
I worked there for agriculture for my grandmother. She has lived alone for over 5 years and as she is already elder woman, it is hard for her to make her living from agriculture by her self.Therefore, I have gone to Minamata since I was little child to help her with farming.
It was long vacation this year, I did many things. So, I enjoyed this Golden week!!

3rd Post

This is the 3rd blog. We have to post 3 blogs a week in my writing class. It is a little hard for me to write 3 blogs, but I will do my best to clear this exercise.
I want to put a photograph on my blog next time.

Today's Class

Today, I am going to tell you about what I did today.
First of all, I woke up at 10 a.m. this morning. As I didn’t have any class, I woke up at such time.
I ate lunch with my friend as soon as I arrived at my university. Because the lunch was sold out, I bought breads and ate them.
After that, I took my classes. I had 3 classes in this afternoon. 1st class was about education. I take some classes that are for the students who want to be teachers. Today’s class was about English Education. As I want to be an English teacher, I took this course. 2nd class was about International and Japan. In this class, we learn the relationship between Japan and the world. Today, I studied about a treaty made by Japan and America. Last class was for the students who want to study abroad this summer vacation. We will go Britain or America then. I will go Britain this summer. Every student who goes to Britain or America, they have to bring a topic. When we go abroad, we have to some reasons for that. We need not to go abroad if we don’t have the reasons. Many people go abroad because they have some reasons, I think. Therefore, I would like to study there. I decided the topic. I want to study or to compare about Buses. There are many comparable things to study, I think.

First post

Hello! My name is Syoko Matsuda. I made this blog as one of class activities.
First of all, let me introduce myself. As you know, my name is Syoko Matsuda. I am going to be 21 years old next month.
My name has a meaning. First name has the meaning of “ Respectable Child (girl)”, and family name has the meaning of “Fields that have a pine tree in”. Therefore, the meaning of my name is “ A respectable girl who lives in fields that have a pine tree”. Accordingly, I want to be a wonderful girl like my name. Historically, Japanese people have a first name and family name that has a meaning itself. I have heard that European people do not have a meaning in their family name. So, I’m very proud of my name.
I live in Kumamoto prefecture that is located on the middle of Kyusyu. We have a beautiful castle called Kumamoto Castle.
As I want you to know good points of my hometown, I would like to tell you about them in details from now on. Please enjoy looking at this blog!!