Before I die....

This presentation was the one I liked the most in which I have watched in this class.Her idea of sharing dreams and hopes is simple but I think it’s very creative. We usually don’t get an opportunity to share our hopes which is something worth sharing. “Thinking about death clarifies your life”. What she said in the talk reminded me of the film “The Bucket List”. I think it’s important to think about death sometimes, so that we can realize what we really want to do before dying. Before I die, I want to see an aurora by the way .

 

Internet

At the first part of his talk, he said that “the kids of Net Generation are different”. They are net natives and not afraid of the internet because it’s like the air. I think this is so true. Sometimes I imagine what my life would be like if I was born in a different generation. When there was no internet and no iPhone. Maybe I had more opportunities to think and do things myself. For example, I would have think which train should I take to get to the destination on time and go to the station to check the timetable; not just typing the departure and destination on google or transportation app on iPhone. Life is easier with those new technologies but I think it is important not to depend on it too much.

Ant mega-colony takes over world

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same inter-related colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

One big family of ants has as much population as humans and they have siblings in almost every country in the world. How scary! Think about if the same thing happens to humans. Most population originates to the same gene and everyone around you would be your sibling. Everyone would look alike and shares a lot in common. Even if there would be no fighting and  no discrimination, the world would be like a huge factory of mass production. The world would be less “alive” and pretty boring for sure. I hope human evolution would not end up like this.

A secret place

I had a special place when I was a child. It was up in the mountain and there was a huge rock shaped like a sea turtle. It used to be a secret place for my best friends and me. We loved it there because there were many trees that we could climb up, and lots of sunshine. We stopped going there because we all got busier as we grow up. But every time I see the picture of us sitting on that turtle rock, I remember how I felt the sun there. I hope we could all go there again some time!

Equality in the Home

One of the Japanese words that I don’t like is 亭主関白(teishukannpaku). The husband has been the boss for ages. The situation is not the same now but I don’t think the paying to wife system of Taiwan still doesn’t work in Japan. Men would go mad and even women wouldn’t agree to it because most wives are devoted to their families. My family is a little out of standard because everyone has to do some housework. Since my parents both work full time, usually I do the cooking and my dad does the washings. My mom does all the other stuff when she is home. And each one does the cleaning when we need to except for my brother. He does nothing but mess up the living room and I hate it. Anyway , I hope my future family could share housework like this.

Japanese Gender Issue

When I was in the primary school, I used to have a green ranndoseru. I was desperate to have green one because I wanted to copy my brother. He was the only one who had a green ranndoseru in his grade and everyone admired at it. They said its cool and I thought so too. I always liked to be different to others and I didn’t want to have a red ranndoseru like all the other girls. On the very first day of school, I found that I was the only girl who has green ranndoseru. I was so confident and happy. But my classmates told me it’s crazy for a girl to have a green ranndoseru instead of saying its cool. They said girls should have red or pink. I didn’t think much about their words at that time but as I think about it now, it might be one of the gender issues. Boys want girls to have something cute. WHO CARES!

Future

 My dream hasn’t changed since I was in the 5th grade of primary school. I want to travel all around the world by a gorgeous cruising ship if possible. To achieve this dream, I need money. There are 2 options. Option no.1: Marry a good-looking millionaire. Option no.2: Work. I guess the second one is more certain. My ideal future job is to create a TV commercial. I love it since I was little. The catchy songs and catchy words always attract me. I also want to be a writer for the traveling magazine. It seems to be the coolest job for me because I can travel and earn some money at the same time. Anyways, I hope I'll be doing something I like in the future.

My neighborhood

   I remember one strange experience that happened while growing up. When I was in junior high, I used to have lunchbox which is called a lunch-jar that keeps warm. I had been using it for more than a year, it finally broke and my mom and I were talking that we should go find a new one. The very next day, we found a box in a shopping bag in front of a door of our house. We thought one of the neighbors has left us some kind of osusowake. When we opened it, there was a lunch-jar that looked like a perfect replacement for the old one. We were so surprised because no one was there when we were talking about the lunch-jar. I asked some neighbors about it afterward, but nobody knows anything about it. And it still remains mystery…

Sosialization

I like the way how my parents raise me. They basically let me do whatever I like and gave me some advises. They never force me to do something. Freedom was always in my hand. However it doesn’t mean that they didn’t have a discipline. Their value was responsibility. They gave me a good scolding when I did something irresponsible. It makes sense to me because they also live freely but they always have responsibilities for us family and their job.

              I remember one thing that my teacher told me when I was in the elementary school. He scolded my friends and me when we opened one of the classmates’ drawing books without asking her. We laughed at pictures that she made because we found some funny ones. And the teacher told us that it’s very mean thing to do. On reflection, it seemed to me that I was very rude. It was like suddenly breaking into someone’s room with shoes on. Since then, I always care about how they would feel before doing something.

              I think I was lucky enough to have some adults who taught me many important things. I’m sure there are more that I have to learn from them.

The House on the Mango Street

  

I don’t share much in common with Esperanza. If I were a writer of a same kind of story, I guess it would be much happy one. She is very ironic and it seems to me that she doesn’t really like to “like” something. Maybe she wouldn’t give many “like” s to her friends on facebook as well. Her family is not rich and has many kids. That would be one of the reasons why she is not an obedient child just like her hair never obeys bands. She has more chances to compare herself with her brothers and more chances to try to get her mom’s attention. It’s like every day is a competition. I only have one big brother and we grew up in peace. That’s why I don’t understand the people who always make a complaint…

fukushima

I think Japan should not have any more nuclear power plants because Japan is a small country and has lots of active faults. 3.11 Fukushima Genpatsu explosion has been a terrible disaster and I am scared what would happen if same kind of disaster happens again. Making more power plants means that increasing the risk of those disasters. Therefore I believe japan should not have any more nuclear plants.

summer vacation!

Summer! Summer! Summer! I’m planning lots of thing to do this summer vacation! I’m going to the concert of one of my favorite bands takes place in Tokyo, going to visit my friend in Oita with my besties of high school and I’m planning to visit India!!!!! I haven’t booked plane ticket or anything but my friend and I are desperate to go there. And I am sure that I’m going to have a lot of fun with you guuuuuyyyyss!!!!! You can’t miss me this summer ok? ;)

Differences of Opinion

I have lots of different opinions and attitudes of my brother that I cannot understand!
As my parents both work part time, I'm the cook of my family. I've been cooking dinner for 6 years or so. And I have to do the house chores too.I like cooking and it is not a big problem for me but sometimes I get too tired of doing all my shool works, part-time job and house chores.
 I hate when my brother, who doesn't go to school, does never help me doing any of those house chores. And even worse, he messes up the living room and never cleans the room. He often takes his friends to his room and chat with them that keeps me awake because they are loud.
My brother and I are good friends but he is so annoying in that way.

these days???

These days I am being a mess! I am often late for the classes and I’m skipping classes quite a lot. Yesterday I had 3^rd period and 4^th period classes. It takes about an hour and 10 minute for me to come to school and I usually leave home at around 12 on Wednesdays. But yesterday, I was still home at 13:27. And when I finally put on my shoes and opened the door, I found a pretty butterfly. I wanted to take a picture of it. It took me long time so I decided to skip the 3^rd period and attend 4^th period.

When I finally reached the classroom, nobody was there. I had no idea and asked the assistant-professor if the classroom had been changed. She told me that the class had just finished. OMG it was 5^th period. I was supposed to come at 3 but I was there at 16:40.

I really need to fix myself. I feel like I am trying hard but the level of my “trying hard” is far below everyone’s. And now I realized that being a mess is not “these days” problem; I am always like this!!!! Somebody help me to be a better human being!!!!!!!!

Kobe

I live in Kobe.
Those are the pictures I took in Harbour Land.
Lots of people visit there, especially young couples.
In summer, the big fireworks festival takes place there.

Little Miss Sunshine

I really like watching movies. I prefer Western movies rather than Japanese ones because I can see the world completely different from my own world in the screen and that is fantastic.

One of my favorite films is called Little Miss Sunshine. “Little Miss Sunshine” is a big beauty contest for girls held in California. Hoover’s family is family of six and they have full of problems. The story tells how they change and repair their family ties through going to California to take little Olive to the contest in a yellow VW bus.


The movie is funny but also very heart warming and I really like Olive’s pure strength. It makes everybody strong!

Summery: Asahi-newspaper sent out a questionnaire asking “What is your favorite meal in the lunch box?” 4035 people responded to it and the ranking went like this;

People who recommended Tamagoyaki had some same reasons saying that the taste of your mother’s Tamagoyaki is something special and it is certainly necessary in a lunch box, or it stays delicious after it gets cold etc. Fried chicken was in the 2^nd place and a grilled fish was in the 3^rd place.

Comment: I think that Japanese “obento” is something you can be very proud of Japan because none of other countries have that beautiful art in such a small lunchbox. It looks pretty and of course the taste is nice even it’s cold. What is your favorite meal in the lunch box? I like fried chicken the best! ;)



GW



             My GW was boring. I had to come to school, and the rest of the holidays, I worked part-time. As you know, I work at the movie theater in Mint Kobe. It was so crowded during the GW which made me so tired. Instead of writing about my boring GW, I would write about my favorite GW in the past.

              When I was in the 3^rd grade of junior high school, I visited Bali Island in Indonesia with my mom, her best friend Keiko, Keiko’s daughter Megumi and me. Megumi is my best friend too. We stayed in a beautiful villa for about a week. The villa originally belongs to some rich people in Europe but they are renting their holiday houses when they don’t need them. It was soooooooo nice and gorgeous.

              We enjoyed seeing the traditional Bali dancing and a world heritage temple, shopping in the town, riding on an elephant, taking pictures in the ethnic costumes of Bali, having traditional facial massage in a spa, and we also visited the local junior high school there to see how it’s different from Japanese ones. All those experiences were awsome! I would post some pictures of this trip someday ! hopefully...  ;)

My Childhood

              During my childhood, I was often involved in some unusual happenings and all those happenings were unhappy.

              When I was at the age of six month, I fell down the stairs all the way up from the second floor to the first floor of my house. Actually I was too young and I don’t remember. My mother told me that she took me to an emergency hospital right away. What she was told by the doctor was like this. “Your baby is in a critical condition. You have to keep touching her stomach all night long and check if it’s soft or hard. If it’s hard, she is going to vomit and that is a very bad sign.” After she took me home, my grandma and she kept awake all night long and took care of me, wishing for my life. In spite of their wish, I vomited. It made them terrified, they said. They called the doctor and asked him what to do. I have no idea what he told them and what they have done for me but thanks for everything, I could survive.

              Another unhappy thing happened to me when I was six, which is a car accident. A huge truck drove over me at an intersection. I was on my bicycle, and the truck swallowed both me and my bike. So, there was me at the bottom, lying on the road, my bike on my back, and the truck on top. I still remember how heavy it was. This time, I was taken to the hospital by an ambulance. Some of my fingers had no nails and I could see the flesh of my lower waist. At the hospital, I had to have a lot of medical checks. Fortunately I didn’t break my bone or anything. The doctor told me to be safe for at least three weeks, and try hard on the rehabilitation. It made me sick to stay home all day practicing walking but after a month or so, I could return to my kindergarten. I’ll never forget how wonderful it is to be healthy…

              Today’s blog is a bit too long. I’ll write another unhappy story on my essay.

 See you!

About Meeeeeee!

            Mizuki Funo
            English I W (2)
           John
           April 20th,2011

About Meeeee!

          My name is Mizuki Funo. I was born in Kobe, and I've been living in Kobe since then. I have one big

brother.  All of my family loves animals so there are lots of pets in my house. Two sausage dogs, one turtle

and 4 salamanders. I sometimes go for a walk with my dogs and that's one of my hobbies. The other hobbies

are to cook, listen to the music and watching movies. I like Western rock music and my favourite band is an  

American band called All Time Low.  I also like to watch movies especially foreign films. It's hard to decide

my favourite film. Maybe "My Little Sunshine"? By the way, I work part-time at the movie theater in Kobe.

If you want to watch a movie, please come to Mint Kobe so that you'll see me! I hope to learn a lot in the

class!