Thanksgiving

I didn't know well about Thanksgiving Day in November because Japanese like me don't familiar with the event. I have had the third times Thanksgiving Day since I came here. My friends have invited my family to their house each year when Thanksgiving was coming. 

Another friend, Miki, invited my son and me to her dinner this Thanksgiving Day, and her husband, her children and her nephew also welcomed us warmly to their house. When I sit on the couch in the living room, Miki brought apple cider to me first. It was unusual drink for me before. I felt something strange because I had never drunk apple cider like hot apple juice when I drank it the first time. However, I know it well, so I can enjoy drinking the apple cider which is added cinnamon and spice now. 

After talking with each other for a while, I prayed and thanked for having a nice dinner with her family. Then I enjoyed having Thanksgiving dinner with her family. There were arranged a lot of dishes including traditional meals like turkey with cranberry sauce on the rectangle dinning table. All of the meals were delicious, and the vegetarian nut loaf which I haven't ever eaten gave me an impact and became one of my favorites. Of course, I enjoyed eating desserts, such as pumpkin pie, apple pie with whipping cream or ice cream. While I enjoyed having desserts, her nephew played violin for us. I felt so happy and comfortable during the night.

I suggest that Thanksgiving is similar to the event, Oshogatu in January in Japan. We Japanese usually convene at principle house the first of January to celebrate for new year. We enjoy sharing the time and eat Osechi which is a traditional meals for Oshogatu in Japan. So Thanksgiving Day could be heartwarming and comfortable time for family in the U.S. as like Japanese have on Oshogatu.  

At CC Building in Portland Community College

I read the book, "The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency" last winter. The story is that Precious Ramotswe lives in Botswana, and she decides to start a detective agency in the capital city of Gabarone, Botswana — the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency — to help people sort out the little problems in their lives. She has inherited money from her Daddy, who did well after working in the mines in South Africa (although working the mines also gave him the illness that led to his death). Her Daddy used the money he made from the mines to buy cattle, and these cattle grew fat and left his daughter with a nice little nest egg.

Precious decides that she wants to start a business, and the only business that really appeals to her is becoming a detective. From her childhood, she was encouraged to notice little things, to recognize the importance of detail. She maintains this habit, and it comes in quite handy when she turns her hand to detecting.

I'm a lady detective and I'm in CC building in Portland Community 
College now. My young agent who is a student at PCC asked me to figure out the person who has been stalked for a few weeks. I have some the man's photographs whom she has already given to me and look around the cafeteria. At 9:30 am, there are not many people here, so it is a quite calm. 


When I am looking around, I find a person who sit outside despite the rain. I don't want to sit outside in such a bad day: it is rain and a little chilly, but he looks like happy because he is smiling while he is eating some snacks and listening to music with his earphones. He seems to be satisfied with the weather. As I look at him carefully, he wears only T-shits even though I put on winter jacket. 

Now I can understand his situation. I guess that he might feel a quite warm when he was inside, so he feels better now after sitting outside. In contrast, It is noisy in the kitchen behind the wall where I'm sitting. Some workers are taking with each other loudly and are making sounds like the boom of the cooking appliances for preparing foods. I went to buy a cup of coffee there. When I paid for a cup of coffee to a cashier, "Do you know this guy?", I asked the cashier while showing a picture, she said, "No, I haven't seen him."while looking at it carefully. "Thank you", I said. I have still been in the cafeteria for a while because I didn't have some clues to find him. I suggest that it'll take a few time to get some clues following to the solution. 

I have had a imagine if I were a woman detective. I might be work well because I discover that I'm a person who like to observe people such as their attitudes or behaviors for a while. However, I don't have confidence to wait for someone for whom I'm searching for a long time. So my week point is less patient in my mind.   

The Martiane

I watched the movie "The Martiane" last Sunday. The story is that during a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney, who is a main character, is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.

I was imagining that if I are Mark Watney, I will be able to survive alone like him while I was watching. My answer is definitely "No" because I don't have any mathematical knowledge like astronauts. Moreover, I don't have strong mind like just Watney has had. I am attracted his personality. He is a very positive and lively person even though he is alone in entire space: he is singing loudly and talking to a video camera. Also, he has tough mind which can overcome several problems he faces: he has never given up and has been thinking about solutions be alive for more than five hundreds days. It is difficult for me to live alone without taking with somebody, and I can't imagine it totally. I suggest that human beings will not live alone and must need to have someone whom share and talk with. I sometimes have missed my country or my family who live in Japan since I came in the United States; however, I have been staying here for three years because I'm encouraged by my children or friends whom have been sharing fun time. On the other hand, I will face problems which I have to find the solution in the future. I usually tend to rely on my husband's advice when I'm in trouble. Why not? Because he might have experiences more than me. He works on a responsible position every day and absorbs many social information each day. So finding solutions by myself might be necessary for me in the future.       
    

I learned from the movie that I should seek for solutions without giving up whenever I encounter problems. Therefore,  I might usually need to have sense of crisis more and more in my life.  

   
           

Intelligence

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence not imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart says. He is the most famous and celebrated of all child prodigies. I have ever read the article describing Mozart and his father. Mozart had already had musical intelligence and cleared it by the age of four. His father, who was a famous violinist and composer, force him to practice a lot and devoted his energy to enhance Mozart's musical intelligence despite that fact that he had already had great musical talent. Therefore, Mozart ended to write three symphonies by the age of eight and was appointed the concertmaster, his father had desired, by thirteen.

I know a boy who has musical intelligence naturally. He was one of the students in my daughter's piano lesson. The piano who he was playing was surprising to me, because the playing and the melody was great, and I couldn't believe that he was the same as my daughter's age, seven years old. His remarkable ability was a quite famous in my city, and he was noticed by media because he got many prizes on piano contests. A few years later, his mother took him to the Republic of Austria to enhance his musical intelligence. He who has an autism doesn't like the sound of violins. His mother who is a violin teacher says that she tried him to play a violin, but he yelled out as soon as he heard the sound; however, he has been interested in a piano and has usually wanted to sit on her while she is playing piano since he was one or two years old. He has still lived there and kept enhancing his piano techniques for ten years.

There might be many children who have prodigy over the world. Child prodigy is unusual abilities might be very special children. The child might be famous, genius, or remarkable on the unique field, but as one of parents who have children, I suppose that the parents who have a child with a prodigy also might be needed to support to promote their abilities more and more.

On the other hand, according to Harvard professor Howard Gardner, developed a theory of multiple intelligence, there are eight different ways to be intelligent. They are linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, naturalistic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence and logical-mathematics intelligence.

They are classified by people's personalities. It is difficult for me to discover my intelligence; however, it might be useful for people to look for matching job or work environments if people understand about their own personalities throughout them.

   

Gifts

I have lived in Saipan for one year and a half. People who live in the small island are very kind and cheerful for me, and there are great landscape beaches, but the weather is more humid every day than the rainy season in Japan, so I used to be very exhausted for a while until I grew accustomed to the environment. A few months later, I started going to Northern Mariana College to study English. Then I met Dana, who was sitting next to me in my classroom. 

One day I went to a shopping mall with Dana to look for a birthday present for Joel who is a mutual friend. She showed up wearing a casual T-shirt, short pants and a cap. On the other hand, I wore a long-sleeved T-shirt, long pants, sunglasses and a broad-brimmed hat. We tried or sampled several kinds of fragrance on each other’s wrists and finally chose one we both liked. Then we looked for a T-shirt from the abundance of patterns. I hesitated to select only one which would fit him, but Dana chose one quickly. After we decided to buy the presents, we brought it to the cashier.

“Please erase the price before you wrap these as birthday presents,” I said to the cashier when I paid for the cologne and the T-shirt.

“Wait, wait… You don’t need to erase the price!” she corrected confusingly.

“Why?” I didn’t know why she didn’t want to erase the price. “Is it good for you that he knows how much the present cost? I don’t think so,” I said hesitatingly.

              “No, it is OK!” I just obeyed her because she said proudly, “We selected and bought the present for him as a precious thing, didn’t we?”

Now I know that there is a different cultural thing between Korean people and Japanese in giving gifts.

On the other hand, American people put the receipt in a gift box when they buy a gift for somebody, 

so they can easily return or exchange the gift. I was also surprised about it. Therefore, there are 

varieties of habits in general polite behavior in the world.   

   

A Poem

"Watashi to Kotri to Suzu to", which is a Japanese poem, is one of my favorites. The title is translated  in English "I and a Bird and a Bell". I want to introduce the poem in original language, Japanese, and in English.

"Watashi to Kototi to Suzu to" in Japanese          "I and A Bell and A Bell"

Watashi ga ryoute wo hirogetemo                         Even if I spread my arms
Osora ha chittomo tobenai ga                                 I can't fly in the sky at all.
Toberu kotori ha Wtasi no youni                           But the bird that can fly    
Jibeta wo hayaku ha hashirenai                Can not run on the ground as fast as I. 

Watashi ga karada wo yusuttemo                           Even if shake my body, 
Kireina oto ha denai kedo                                       I can't produce pretty sounds,
Ano narusuzu ha watashi no youni                         But the bell that can ring 
Takusann na uta ha siranaiyo                    Doesn't know as many songs as I.

Suzu to Kotori to sorekara Watashi                        The bell and the bird and I
Minnna chigatte minnna ii                                      All are different and all are good.

When I was the second or third grade at elementary school, I first read this poem in Japanese class. I remember that I used to read the poem repeatedly by my teacher until I could memorize it in the class. The poem has a quite pretty rhythm, doesn't it? I'm sure that I was beating the rhythm while reciting the poem. I just repeated it at the time; however, as growing up, I can have imaged what the writer want to tell or imply to readers. Now I can infer from the poem. I suggest that everything in the world is very precious because there is no one like you. Especially, in the last verse, the writer makes the entire poem shiny and brilliant: "All are different and all are good." might mean everything, such as people, animals or plants is an original and an unique, so no one need to compete or conflict with others all the time.

The Snow

I sometimes wonder why I feel my heart of bouncing when I see the snow come falling in winter. I love to see the pile of the snow on the yard in front of my house. I used to be looking at outside from the window of my room when it was snowing. Of course, my feelings was excited to the snow falling, and I always expected to be covered all, such as grounds, trees and the roofs of buildings by a lot of snow. Then I used to wish that it comes snow in my town on the Christmas Eve's night when I was a little. Is that why I was a little girl? No, because I have still been exited to see the moment that the snow is coming in my town every winter. Snowing in winter seems to me something special. The nature has invisible power and might give people some energy or vitality.  

When I was a child, many events were exiting to me, for example, one summer day, I was excited to enable to ride a bicycle by myself when I was five or six years old. I practiced a lot all a day: my father or mother helped me for practice. I never gave up even though I fell down and hurt my legs and arms. It was a hot day, and I must have felt so tired, the sky which I glanced up might give me some more energy to achieve. The huge thunder-head spread in the sky seemed to encourage my mind whom tented to be overwhelm by my negative feeling. Finally, I could ride a bicycle by myself. Then I remember the orange colored evening sun. I felt so exciting, and my feeling was filled with the satisfaction. Also, I was excited to see the circus when I was seven-year-old: it was the first time to see the real circus. Every entertainments gave me an impulse I hadn't ever had. Especially, a trapeze which is acted in the air impacted to me and made me breathtaking. It seemed to be a fantasy in dream for me. Then I saw the full-moon in that night sky on my way home. It was a brilliant and bigger moon. I have still linked the full-moon to the circus memory since I saw them at the same day. So, I sometimes remember the memory when I look at the full-moon.  


As I am getting older, I might be less times of the feeling that my mind is bouncing than when I was young. Actually, I have exhilarating situations when I have plans to join some events or to attempt new things, such as going concerts, hiking or travelings. However, the nature gives me something impulse in an ordinary life.When I passed about two years after I had moved in Portland from Japan, I felt so exhausted for a few weeks. I couldn't recover my health condition even though I tried to stay at home and to sleep a lot to be relaxed my body. Then my friend took me to water falls to hike to refresh my mind. I didn't agree with her at first, but I felt better during walking inside the woods and to close the falls. I also felt that my mind or head had being revitalized in the nature. There are a lot of trees, river and parks in Oregon. After that, walking in a park which is nearby my house has became one of my customs, and I enjoy having the time with such a nice sky, river and trees.   

Any-way, the snow have still made my mind exciting and lively for a long time, and I'm looking forward to seeing the snow falling in my town this winter despite the fact that  I'm not little anymore.

Rock Climbing

I'm a person who has an acrophobia; however, I have liked to ride a roller coaster since I was an elementary student. I wonder why I'm not afraid of riding a roller caster. I suggest that putting on a safety seat belt on the roller coaster might make my mind calm and confident. A person who is an acrophobia probably hates to stay any high places. I also feel so scary when I look down from the rooftop of an apartment building or a suspension bridge over a river. There are nothing ways to hold my body. That's why I feel so scary. 

When I went to the Smith Rock State Park, I looked at a group of people whom are climbing a very high rock mountain. They had great skills or techniques to up and down the rocks like a Ninjya and were challenging to climb higher rocks. It looked so scary for me. I suppose that I will have never had a such terrible experience. However, I had an experience to do rock climbing by my friend's recommend five moths ago. It was indoor rock climbing and seemed to interesting for me. It was climbing high walls like a spider-man. There were several stages for climbers, and they were classified some levels depending on climbing skills or techniques. 


My first challenge was, of course, to climb the wall for beginners. Before I climb, I had to put on a harness and tied it into the rope which my friend helps and saves my body: it was exactly a my lifeline during climbing. Then I started to climb the wall. At the first time, I couldn't only think about climbing by the top of the wall. I could climb smoothly on the top, but I became afraid of my high position when I looked down to tell my friend that I was ready to go down. My hands and legs were getting shaken by a little panic, but I could go down the ground because I could make sure the rope tighten. 


As I was climbing walls several times, I could stay on the pieces of rocks for a few seconds without a panic and think about the efficient way to climb up to the top. Staying and thinking on the high points is something new and a refreshing surprise for me. I find a new experience in my life, and the experience opens new feelings or new categories which I haven't ever had. And that's my pleasure. 

Empathy

Yesterday my son's high school team lost the soccer game on the States, and the players finished the activity on this term.. Junior, sophomore and junior high school students will have been playing soccer on the high school filed; however, my son will have never play on the field because he is a senior high school student. The thought made my mind heat when I saw my son and his senior teammates: some of them were holding their heads or squatting down the ground after loosing the the game. My eyes were swimming with tears in empathy with their feelings. My son has played soccer since he was four years old and has participated in the soccer team as one member of his junior high school and high school activities for six years. I'm proud of my son because he hasn't given up soccer training and practice even if weather condition is so bad, such as a heavy snow day or a strong rainy day: He always put forth unrelenting effort to enhance his soccer techniques. His coaches also must give him a lot of living lessons, and he was sharing them with his teammates. "I feel so empty now, " he said to me after coming to home last night, "I wanted to win the game honestly and continue to the next game on the States." I understand about his feelings. Then he said, "I will been playing soccer; however, I might not have this feeling like strong unity with my high school teammates anymore. That's way I feel so sad." I and my son will have never forgotten the last game conducted in strong wind and heavy rain.
   

The Strange Atmosphere

When I was four or five years old, I felt a strange atmosphere.I lived in a house that my grandfather had bought since he got marriage. It was a quite large, old and traditional Japanese house. It was two stories, and my bed room was on the second floor. I slept with my parents as I was little. There were four sliding big windows in the bed room, and the lace curtain was hanged in front of them. I remember that I like the sweet lace curtains beside my upright piano. The curtains were swaying in the wind. Even if it was in a hot summer night, the windows were opened a little bit,  and .the curtains swayed. One night, when I woke up at midnight, it was quite light because of the full moon. When I turned my eyes naturally to the light, I saw a face or a character, such as a smiling bear, a princess on the race curtains in front of the windows. I was surprised at first, but every time I blinked, I could see different animals or characters on them. I feel so excited to see them and blinked several times. I woke up rarely at midnight, but I had the experience only a few times in the summer. I haven't told someone that happened since I had the experience. I wonder whether it was the happening in my dream or not when I remember that happened. However, the race curtains with strange atmosphere has a forgettable place in my earliest memories.   

Education System

As a student, I studied from an elementary school to a university in Japan for sixteen years. So I just follwed the Japanese education system; however, I have had an experienece to study in the United States for several months and feel differences in the education system between Japan and the U.S.. In Japan, I must not call teachers by their first or last names. I have to say, "Suzuki-sensei" Suzuki is the last name and sensei is Sir, Miss or Mrs. It shows that students' respectable minds for teachers. It is an ordinary rule for me as a stutdent. On the other hand, every student in the U.S. call the only first or last name instructors. I know, of corse, about calling each other by the first name in th U.S., but I have hesitated to call only his first name my instructor for a while since I went to a college in teh U.S. It seems to be impolite behavior; however, it has been more like to be friendly and openly the space between instruators and students since I took classes in college. My teachers in Japan were very nice and helpful for me, but I remember rarely that I talked friendly with my instructor because I felt the gap like a high wall between I and some of my teachers in Japan when I was a student. When I was a junior high school student, my teacher had given me correct answer after I gave him incorrect answer in the math class. I remember that I wanted him to explain how to solve the question because I didn't know about the answer and know the steps of the solution for the question. Therefore, in many way, Japanese education system leads students to be memorable thinngs. For example, one of them is English. When I was a junior high school, I beguan to study English: students learn about English grammar mostly. They are improving English rammar and getting some vocabularies: theses things are to be memorable, but students are not able to elevate English conversation skills, such as speaking and  listening. I remember that teacher demonstrared English conversation with a textbook, butit is very formal and traditinal. I wanted to use or listen more natural and real conversation what the American are speaking.

 

My children have gone to the both school in Japan and the U.S. for several years. They also have felt the same as mine. My son said, when he was tenth grade in the U.S., "My teacher always waits for me and listens to me even if I have something different opinions," one day, after he came back from school, "I didn't debate or agument with someone, but I'm getting to be able to say  my opinion in my class." I'm glad to hear that and angree with him because there is something good mood which students can debate lively with their opinions in the class.    

Bithdays

Last Sunday, October 5th, it was my son's birthday, and he became eighteen years old. As I see to my each children has the birthday, I have felt happy but also lonly since they didn't need my help necessarily; they became older. Then I'm going to expolre something, such as jobs, which I enable to devote the rest of my life.

I'm going to be forty-five years old on Octoer 11th, 2015. I have been starting the second stage of my life for five ysars; I'm living in the United States and study at college again. I have still had a great experience since over the fouty years old, so I convince that I'm willing to do work in Japan with my skills or knowledge I have gotten in the United States after going back to my country, Japan.

I moved the Unihad States, I was embarrassed some differences in cultural things between the United States and Japan, such as foods, rules or circumstances around people; however, I have adaptted to them step by step. Nevertherless, this country, the United States might brings some more surprizing things to me! I want to enjoy birthdays with piling my ages.

Color

My favorite color is green recently, but I don't remember which one was my first favorite color when I was a little girl. It might be pink because most a little girls are likely to choose pink. I often see a little girl, my neighborhood, wearing pink items, such as T-shirts, skirts or shoes while walking around. The little girl sometimes has a small pink back-pack and puts pink ribbon on her hair.

I have three children, a son and two daughters. I remember that my daughters' favorite color is pink when they were three or four years old; however, their favorite color has been changing as they grow older. Currently, although their favorite color is different; the older daughter is twenty years old and likes red, and the younger daughter is fifteen years old and likes purple, I glad to see they enjoying to choose each favorite color on their feelings and ages.

I also remember the color preferred to take into my younger life when I witness my daughters selecting their favorite colors to their life over time. What is your favorite color?

The Super Moon

     Tonight, outside was pretty warm and comfortable, wasn't it? So I've enjoyed looking at the great super moon for a few minutes at a park which is in front of my house. When I looked up the super moon in the spacious sky, spreading its light around the ground, for a while, I felt calm but also lonely.

It Happened One Night

     I was excited to watch the soccer game of high school teams which my son belongs to in Lake Oswego, Oregon last Thursday. My son's team won 1-0, his friend got the score which my son assisted in last fifteen minutes. It was nice goal. After that, they kept attacking their opposing team and defending their goals, even though there were many nail-biting moments on the field. I'm really proud of my son and his teammates. I'm looking forward to watching games by end of October, 2015. I hope to see my son enjoying playing soccer with his teammates because of the last year in his high school life.