Northern Europe

I've been interested in Northern Europe since I've became friends with a girl living in Finland. And where I really want to go in Northern Europe is Finland influence of her. Of course I want to go to other countries in Northern Europe; Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. According to people who have been there before, all countries of them are really beautiful. I think so too, I have never been there though. But I can imagine with pictures, stories of people, and talk with the girl. I'm planning to go there during the life in America as a trip once. I don't know when, but I'm thinking, winter break or spring break is going to be fine, but for me, winter break is better than spring break because I probably can see aurora there, it's really really really cold though... I have to ask 2 exchange students from TX to figure out about when is winter and spring break. After that, planning is going to easier!

[168 words]

Essay 2-4: My Community Life

Speaking of community, what community do you belong to now? There are many communities in the world. Even though I don't belong to any communities now, I can talk about my past community, which is Basketball club in high school. Actually it is the last choice that I can talk about this time and is the last community that I was in. This is the reason why I chose this community. So I will talk about 3 main points; about the club, things I learned, and friends.

First of all, let me talk about the club. I began to play basketball when I was a junior high school student, and I belonged to a basketball club. But on this essay, basketball club means not junior high's one, but high school one. I belonged to basketball club when I was in high school. The team was small, I mean not many people (about 15-20 people), and was not so strong. We had practice everyday, and the coach's policy was 'Quality is more important than quantity.', so every practice was really hard. Of course, when the coach got angry, we had extra practice menu. Even though we had hard training everyday, our best prize was the top 16 in our prefecture.

When I became a junior, I became a vice captain of the team. Unfortunately, the captain of the team who has a good personality was not so trusted somehow, so I had to do most of things instead of him, which made me strong. For example, I had to discipline people well, to help people when somebody has a problem, and to do almost everything like that. But I learned many things though the experience of it. Besides, I learned many things from the practice, which are importance of responsibility for sure, of not giving up, how to behave as a leader, and so on. Anyways, if I didn't be the vice captain of the club, I'm not the person at the present.

All of team mates are friends for sure, and I keep in touch with them. They are important friends for me because they shared all joys and sorrows with me. In addition, I definitely couldn't work well as a vice captain without them. They often cheered up me when I was in a trouble, and they understood my feeling all the time. Therefore, I always believed myself and team mates, and enjoyed practice and games. By the way, I'm often said crazy and funny. I admit it, but it was them that people made me funny and crazy because they are also funny and crazy.

As a conclusion, belonged to the basketball club was such a nice experience for me. Actually, I hated almost every parctice menu, but I didn't give up because my friends were there. If basketball were a individual sport, I give up easily. Basketball is a team sport, that's why I didn't give up practice and games. Now I don't belong to any clubs and don't play basketball (actually I can play it if I want whenever and wherever), but I got precious thing instead of it, which is frinedship. Those are the true reason why I chose this community as a stuff in order to write this essay. I hope you have a good community life!

[549 words]

NBA!! NBA!!

Finally NBA (National Basketball Association) 2008-2009 season has opened on October 28th!! And almost everyday at least 1 or 2 games a day and times more than 10 games a day are held. Basketball is kinda winter sport I guess because the beginning of the season is the end of October and the season is continued till June.

Now 30 teams belong to NBA and they are divided to conferences, Eastern and Western conference. In each conferences, there are 3 divisions. In the Eastern Conference, there are Atlantic, Central, and Southeast divisions. And in the Western Conference, there are Southwest, Northwest, and Pacific divisions. And there are 5 teams each in each division. They play 82 games in total, and 8 high-ranking teams in each conference go to Playoff. It is a tournament, and every game is going to be crazy! I mean more exciting because each team aims at the champion. On Playoff Final, the top teams of each conference play to be the champion. It's really exciting more than Playoff! When the Final is over, the season is over.

I often go to the official site of NBA to check the result of each game, what's new, and so on. And I watch videos of games. I can find what happened on a day easily, and it's good to improve my listening to skill. Here's the official site of NBA, so check it out!!

http://www.nba.com/ (English)
http://www.nba.com/japan/ (Japanese)

[234 words]

MR 2-1: Mrs. Doubtfire ~Smile and love are perfect~

I watched 'Mrs. Doubtfire' for the first time, which is classified as comedy movie. This movie is not only interesting and funny, but this movie is also touching. I found that humor makes people laugh and love makes people happy, which I was taught by Daniel of this movie once more. In this time, I'm going to write about smile and love. First of all, let me talk about a main character, Daniel, and the story briefly.

Daniel is a voice actor who has a wife working as an interior designer and 3 children. However, he doesn't work hard, and he always wants to play with his children. His wife got angry, and then they divorced. But after divorced, he still wanted to play with his children, so he decided to be a housekeeper to meet his children. It's because the wife needed a housekeeper and he has a wonderful voice skill, though finally his wife found who is Mrs. Doughtfire is...

Because he is a voice actor, he is really good at changing his voice. Besides, he has a He worked hard at ex-his house as a housekeeper. Sometimes he is strict to the children, but he is their father who loves them a lot so he tried to make them smile somehow. I know it's really tough to do that, and I know it's also really hard to do that. But he made an effort to make them smile, even if it's housework, which he is inexperienced. Consequently, the wife and children look happy and were made smile.

If they didn't divorce like that, I mean if he didn't love children a lot, he didn't become that housekeeper. Before divorcing, he treated children with a lot of love, he didn't do any housework though. There are many different kinds of family styles in the world. This family is one of them, and my family is too. All I can say is that most of parents love their children, even if they get divorced. We have been growing up for 20 years with parents' lots of love. Parents are great, and we do have to respect and love them because time is limited and there is no guarantee that you can treat them as your parents did. Therefore, we have to be appreciated everyday and to repay our favor to them. I thought about that once more.

As a conclusion, I just want to say that we have to keep smiling because it's "fortune favors cheerful homes." Smile has a power to invite fortune and to make us happy. And one more thing I just want to say that we should love other people because love has a power to make people happy as well. Here is my one of favorite quotations, "As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." Let go of our negative outlook on life, and always maintain positive attitude! If we do so, we can make people smile.

[498 words]

Anberlin!!

Finally, last week, the new album of Anberlin which is my favorite band was released!! The name of the album is "New Surrender". I don't buy the album yet, but I got it via Internet for free today! Yay!! I just listened to only one song yet, but it was sooo sweet...!! I felt like all songs in this album are sweet. Go to Tower Records, and you can buy it! If it isn't on sale now, wait a few days. I'm sure you are going to be a fan of Anberlin soon!

[93 words]

Cleaning up

My room was really messy. There were a lot of things on the flour of my room. I thought that's not good for me, so I decided to clean up my freaking messy room. Actually, it was yesterday that I cleaned up my room.

First of all, I air my bedding in the sun because it's the biggest thing in my room. I went to Home-wide to buy コロコロ. コロコロ is one of the cleaning goods and is really useful. After that, I tidy up my room. I mean, I collected the things on the flour. Then it's time to vacuum-clean!! I cleaned and cleaned my room with awesome vaccum-cleaner listening to my favorite songs. I need music, especially ROCK, when I do something like this. After he, the vacuum-cleaner, worked well, it's time to コロコロ. He caught a lot of things whcih the vacuum-cleaner couldn't catch. Finally, my room became clean! But it's not the end. I had to use リセッシュ to get rid of something bad smell. リセッシュ brings me good feeling because of the effect. I think リセッシュ is better than ファブリーズ, because リセッシュ can get rid of the smells of air! Anyway, cleaning was end safely. And I feel tired. I thought that I should keep the cleanliness of the room.

[214 words]

Have you thought about...

Yesterday, when I was watching my favorite band's music videos, I found those messages below in the music video. Those messages are not the lyrics of the song. It included in the music video.

"What makes us who we are?
Eyes? Hair? Race? Sex?
Who will you… love? Who will you… trust?
Where is home?
What hardships will you face? What hardships will you overcome?
What makes you happy? What are your passions?
If you could… do it all over again… what would you change?
Relationships? Choices? Direction?
What experience would you relieve?
What will you… achieve? What will you… be remembered for?
Don’t Drop Your Arms"

Have you thought about them? Maybe yes? Maybe no? In my case, I haven't thought about them except a few things. We need think about them in our life at least once because I think it's important what we aim for. I put the music video below, so please check it out.

Anberlin - The Unwinding Cable Car

[152 words]

Festival

Did you guys went to Hinokuni Festival during 8th to 9th? I went to the festival both of days with 2 friends and 3 exchange students. Actually, I didn't know the festival last year because I'm not from Kumamoto and I was in Beppu last year. But I had time to go the festival this year.

On the first day, I watched fireworks show in Kumamoto Castle. The firewoks were impressed and beautiful, but a fireworks show of Beppu is better than this one. If you have time, you should go to Beppu next summer!! You can enjoy the firework show. Okay, so after the fireworks show in the castle, we went to festa to take purikura, but there were freaking many people there, so we gave up taking it. Instead of taking purikura, we played hockey game and shooting game. It was so much fun!

On the second day, I watched 'The Dark Knight' with 3 friends, including 2 exchange students, in Daiei from 9:40am. The movie was a bit long, but it was exciting!You should watch it out!! After watching it, we went to Thai restaurant for lunch. I ate 生春巻き and グリーンカレー. One clerk
asked me like "Was it spicy??". Of course I answered NO. I think, it was a little bit spicy for you, but not spicy for me. Anyway, it was really good and cheap, so try once! After the lunch, we went to festa again. And we played same game as previous day. Then, we went to 交通センター to watch friend's dance!! The dance was awesome and sexy!haha

After that, we went to Starbucks to take a rest. One of them said, "I want to eat yakiniku for dinner." So, we decided to go to 牛角. I've never been to there, so I was kinda excited. Yep, the taste was good, and we could enjoy eating. Finally, it's time to おてもやん!! We enjoyed watching it near the city hall, and we talked about whether join the parade next year because it seemed really fun! Then, we went to Jeff's World Bar. I was driving scooter, so I couldn't drink the night. Again, one of them said, "I want to eat ramen." Therefore, we went to 天外天.

I'm tired of typing today. Okay, let me finish. So, all I can say is that I really enjoyed the 2 days with awesome friends. The memories are going to be unforgettable!!

[395 words]

Yeah!!

Hey, it's been a long time, isn't it? How have you been?? Are you melting because of heat? I'm melting a little. By the way, I'm having hot and fun summer vacation now. But I have sad things. They are that exchange students are leaving Japan. Eight of them already left here. I don't want them to leave...

Let's change the topic. So, what are you doing during this summer vacation? In my case, I'm going to work as usual, to go back home, go to short trip, and to drink alcohol. It's not bad, but not good. Oh, I've finally got my own iPod about 2 weeks ago, so I'm going to listen to my favorite musics everyday!! Yay! And I'm going to a Korean drama which I've been wanted to watch since 6 months ago. I guess, I have lots of things to do including chilling at home and hanging out with friends.

Speaking of my favorite musics, I know a nice band! They are "The Fray". Do you guys know this band? I attached one of their songs, "How To Save A Life".



Have you ever heard this song? I think, you have. The Fray is a Grammy Award-nominated four-piece piano rock band from Denver in the state of Colorado, the US, and is formed in 2002 by schoolmates. Most of fans of The Fray like this song. Anyway, don't miss it! Their songs are sweet!

I have to sleep a lot and chill out tomorrow. :P

[245 words]

How to make 'Kimo-han(きも飯)'

Hey, you guys! Do you guys like eating? What kind of food do you all like? Japanese food? Korean food? Chinese food? French or Italian? Or American? There is a lot of different kind of foods in this world, and you guys want to eat them, don’t you? I’m guessing you’ve wanted to cook them at home. But we can’t make them easily, right? Well, today, I’m going to introduce an American cuisine which everybody can make easily at home. It’s easier than “Q■ 3 minutes cooking”. Are you ready to start??

First of all, you need ingredients. Don’t worry, you only need just 6 different ingredients to make this cuisine. Let’s take a look at them. Rice, milk, banana, raisins, cinnamon, and brown sugar. That’s all. Okay, next, you need to make preparations of the ingredients. Firstly, cook the rice, and cut the banana into round slices.

Okay, let’s take a look at how we do this. First, fill a bowl with the rice. Second, pour some milk on the bowl of rice. And then, add the bananas and raisins. Then sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top. If you want to you can also warm it up or eat it cold.

See? It’s pretty easy, isn’t it? Oh, by the way, it may be a little late, but the name of this cuisine is "きも飯". "きも飯" derives from 2 words in Japanese, "きもい" and "ご飯". In English, these words literally mean “disgusting rice”. The previous exchange students taught me this cuisine when they were here. One of them said, “It’s pretty easy and for Japanese it is きもいー!!!”

Anyway, making "きも飯" is a three-step process. First, you prepare the 6 ingredients; next, you make the preparations for the ingredients; and finally, you add the ingredients. You can make such a nice dish at home and this recipe can also be enjoyed anytime, anywhere. I’m pretty sure it will be hard for you to finish this on your first try, I mean, it was for me! However, please try it again and again, and you will be able to enjoy the taste and it might perhaps become your favorite food. You can make it, too! If you have forgot how to make it, whenever feel free to ask me anytime. I’ll teach you the way.

Thank you for reading!

[385 words]

Tired, but so much fun!

Yesterday, I went to Aso with 11 exchange students, 7 elder students (How do you say "先輩" in English, by the way?), and 6 friends!! Actually, we were supposed to go to Otachimisaki(御立岬), but, you know, it was raining yesterday. So we did have to change the plan. Some of exchange students said that we reallly want to swim! But it's totally impossible to swim in the sea, right? So we decided going to pool in Aso.

Firstly, we went to Kodaino-sato(古代の里) by using 7 cars in order to enjoy BBQ. Nobody knew where is the place. But 2 drivers had car navigation system, so we followed them, I navigated my friend with a map just in case though because I can read a map. We depart for the BBQ place at about 11:00am, and it took about 2 hours. But it is OK because we could enjoy driving each other.

Right after arriving, we started BBQ! Yaaaaaaaaaay! I love meat, meat, meeeeeaattttt!!!! 肉ーーーーー！！！haha These are the pictures of BBQ.



So nice huh?

After BBQ, we went to a pool for some of us. I didn't swim because I didn't have swimming suit and money to borrow it. Besides, we do have to wear swimming cap when we swim. We didn't know that thought, it SUCKED, but everyone looked like funny. Like this →
And everyone played a water slider. Hey, it's not swimming anymore!
During they were swimming, the rest people took a break because we were tired. We chatted, ate ice cream, and slept like this↓


After that, we went back to dorm, and had a dinner, Gay...oops! Homo-ben（ほも弁）! I ate 비빔밥(Pibimpab - ビビンバ)! It was good though, it took a but long time to eat it up. Then, we celebrated one exchange student's 21st birthday! Yaaaay, Happy Birthdaaay!! You can drink in your country finally! I went to Jeff's world bar after that, but I went back home at 11:15pm.

I was freaking tired, not as much as drivers, though, it was so much fun day! On summer vacation, I really want to go to beach with friends, of course on sunny day, and I want to swim!

[353 words]

TOEFL

Today, I've got TOEFL score. Actually, I was supposed to get the score yesterday, but I couldn't get it somehow. Although all my friends who took TOEFL have got the score yesterday. Oh, the result is not bad because it went up a little bit, but it isn't good enough. Besides, my score of the listening section was not good, I mean, it fell. So, I do have to study for TOEFL a lot.

I heard some of the friends have got bad score. I mean, their score didn't go up. That's too bad, but they still have a chance to go their score up! It is July 6th. We can take TOEFL ITP at SUC*CES English Academy on the day. We have a fair chance, and we can pass the exam for studying abroad.

We always have good news, on the other hand, we always have bad news as well. We can change something bad to something GOOD. So, we can get good score on the next TOEFL for sure. I know it's really tough but don't give up! Go for broke! I can assure you that everything will turn out fine!

[191 words]

Portfolio for Writing III

/////

Student ID: 07145
(last five digits of
your student no.)

Portfolio for Writing III,
Section 1a [or] 1c
(See: Note 1, below)

0.0. Overview

Reviews, Posts, Words, and More

[embed your proto-portfolios here]

(See: Note 2, below.)

1.0. Essays

(See: Note 3, below[.])

1.1. Showcase	Short titles [+ links]	Dates (yy.mm.dd)	¶	W	C	L	P	M
Self-introduction 08.04.20 (250 words)	안녕! You wanna read this post, right?? OK. oh, I'm not Korean yo!	2008.04.09	6	424	2	0	0	0
Movie review 08.05.04 (300 words)	MR 1-01 "Shrek"	2008.05.04	7	572	0	0	1	0
University life 08.05.18	Awesome University Life	2008.05.18	5	498	10	0	0	0
Another review 08.06.01	Writing Essay 1-04: Natural Island, New Zealand	2008.06.01	5	473	3	0	4	0
Language learning history 08.06.15	Writing Essay 1-05: My Language Learning History -and to be continued...-	2008.06.15	6	747	6	0	0	0
5th essay (pending) TBA	Writing essay 1-06: Self-Introduction	2008.07.04
Totals	---	---	29	2714	21	0	5	0

Key:

¶: number of paragraphs three or more sentences in length

W: number of words

C: number of comments

L: number of links

P: number of photos or other graphics
M: number of other media embedded

1.2. Best Essay

Selection and Assessment: Which of those essays do you feel is the best that you've written this semester, and why? Please remember that a complete answer is better than a short answer, and give at least two reasons to support your assessment.

• I feel the 4th review is the best essay this semester for me. The first reason why I feel like that is that I could introduce and share with people my experience in NZ. I had no chance to introduce and share till I wrote this essay. The second reason is that I could write having fun. Other essays were difficult to write, and I don't wanted to do that. But I could write what I wanted to tell. Therefore, the 4th essay is the best essay.
  

2.0. Comments

Showcase	Titles of posts with links	Dates of comments (yy.mm.dd)	Numbers of words in comments	Qualities of comments**
2.1. Your first comment on your instructor's blog*	Best Reviews 1.1 (2008): Best [Post] Title	2008.06.04	23	Quite normal
2.2. Your best comment on a classmate's blog*	Funny Dance! "EGU-SPLOSION"	2008.07.04	14	Friendly
2.3. Best comment by a classmate on your blog*	That's what you get when you let your heart win!	2008.06.08	57	Friendly
2.4. Most comments on:	Awesome University Life	2008.05.21	213	Friendly
2.4.1. Any one of your essays*	Awesome University Life	2008.05.21	213	Friendly
2.4.1.1. When did you respond to those comments?	---	2008.05.21/22	---	---
2.4.1.2. How did you respond to those comments?	---	---	195	Quickly and in detail
2.4.2. Any of your other posts*	Finally...	2008.07.03	71	Friendly and funny
2.4.2.1. When did you respond to those comments?	---	2008.06.25/2008.07.13	---	---
2.4.2.2. How did you respond to those comments?	---	---	22	Friendly and encouragingly

----------
* Current semester comments on essays and other posts
** Please list the most important qualities of comments on each type of blog post. That is, explain what makes them good comments.

2.5. Recent comments display

Does your blog display recent comments from blog visitors in a prominent location, for example in a sidebar, header, or footer widget? Where or why not?

• My blog displays recent comments at the top of the sidebar because recent comments are renewed most frequently, I guess. If they are on the top of the blog, it is easy to look at them.

2.6. Additional reflections on comments

• Commenting is good for me because if my classmates put a comment on my blog, it becomes my encouragement and we can share our opinions!
  

3.0. Book Reviews

3.1. Showcase	Short titles with links	Dates (yyyy.mm.dd)	Words	Comments
Example:	Vampire Killer	2007.05.16	39	1
1-01	BR 1-01: Frog and Toad All Year	2008.05.01	383	0
1-02	BR 1-02: Grasshopper On The Road	2008.05.18	442	1
1-03	BR 1-03: Days with Frog and Toad	2008.06.16	264	0
1-04	BR 1-04: Mouse Soup	2008.06.16	245	0
1-05	BR 1-05: Mouse Tales	2008.06.16	176	0
1-06	BR 1-06: How Mountains Are Made	2008.07.04	278	0
1-07	BR 1-07: The Bookstore Valentine	2008.07.09	251	0
1-08	BR 1-08: Nate The Great and the Stolen Base	2008.07.09	181	0
1-09	BR 1-09: Stories of Dragons	2008.07.13	152	0
1-10	BR 1-10: Starfish	2008.07.13	107	0
1-11	BR 1-11: Frog and Toad Are Friends	2008.07.13	126	0
1-12	BR 1-12: Feel the Wind	2008.07.13	207	0
---	---	TOTALS:	282	1

Note: Please calculate book review words and comments totals without the example (above).

3.2. Best Book Review

Selection and Assessment: Which of those book reviews do you feel is the best that you've written this semester, and why? Please remember that a complete answer is better than a short answer, and give at least two reasons to support your assessment.

• My best book review is BR 1-06: How Mountains Are Made. It's because that I also could tell how mountains are made. And I could write some interesting things.
  

4.0. Blog Layout, Labeling, Linking, & Media

Showcase	Yes	No
4.1. Does your blog have an archive?	○
4.1.1. Does the archive display the titles of posts?	○
4.1.2. Is the archive organized by month?	○
4.1.3. Is the archive at or near the top of the sidebar?		○
4.2. Does your blog have labels displayed in sidebar?	○
5.2.1. Do your labels include these required labels (typed accurately):	---	---
"books" (plural) AND "reviews" (plural)	○
"essays" (plural) AND "portfolios" (plural, without "proto-")	○
"quickposts" (plural, with no space between quick and posts)	○
"links" (plural) AND "media" (plural)		○
"movies" (plural) AND "photos" (plural)	○
4.2.2. Does your sidebar display other labels?	○
How many other labels have you attached to three (3) or more posts? _39_ other labels attached to three or more posts	---	---
Which labels, and to how many posts each? Please list those labels instead of www, xxx, yyy..., and list numbers of posts instead of n, m, o... (in parentheses), below. 100th (1) Accident (1) Anberlin (1) Bands (11) BBQ (2) Books (12) Camps (2) Cooking (2) Diary (25) Dorm (4) Dynamite Hack (1) Eagles (1) English Lounge (2) Essays (7) Events (4) Foods (1) GW (1) Holidays (1) Human Beat Box (3) Important things (7) Incubus (1) International (9) Jobs (6) Maroon 5 (1) Movies (2) Musics (14) NBA (1) Paramore (2) Party (5) PowerPoints (1) PV (11) Quickposts (4) Reviews (16) Something bad (4) Sports (1) The Hush Sound (1) The Killers (1) TOEFL (5) Travels (2) Twista (1) UIW (1) Writing (3) YouTube (14) Zebrahead (1)	---	---
4.3. Links & media	---	---
4.3.1. Does your blog include pictures or other graphics?	○
Does your blog profile include a picture or graphic representation?	○
How many of your blog posts this semester include pictures or other graphics? _15_ posts including pictures or other graphics	---	---
4.3.2. Does your blog include posts with multiple links?	○
How many of your posts this semester include three (3) or more links?* _0_ posts including three or more links (including this portfolio!)	---	---
4.3.3. Does your blog include other media?	○
How many of your blog posts this semester include other media? _14_ posts including other media	---	---
What kind(-s) of media have you included in posts this semester? Please list them here: ...YouTube ...Slideshow ...	---	---

4.4. Overall presentation

What have you done to enhance the overall presentation of your blog? List and explain the three most important content, formatting, layout, or other presentation changes or enhancements that you have made on your blog this semester.

1. ... I changed the template which is bigger one than previous one.
2. ... I put many videos and photos to share the things I like.
   
3. ... I tried to post almost everyday, I couldn't do that though... But I tried to post a lot.
   

5.0. Additional reflections on your blog writing

• ... I like posting, but I don't like review, especially movie review. Therefore, I didn't write movie review at all except assignment (Shrek). Blogging is not hard for me because I could enjoy posting this semester, and I could post the thing I like such as bands and music.
  

6.0. Suggestions for your peers and successors

• ... Well, the important things are trying to post almost everyday and starting book reviews early. You have no good topic? No, you do have good topic. Remember what happened the day, and enjoy everyday.
  

____________________
Notes:

1. This portfolio template derives from the templates for Writing IIIc and Writing IVc portfolios (2007-08).
2. Please use the same code in section 0.0 that you used to embed your proto-portfolios in the footer of your blog.
   
3. The essays section (1.0. Essays, above) derives from Proto-Portfolio 2-02 (2008)
   

/////

Finally...

I had Japanese interview test for exchange program today. It sucked because it was completely different what I expected. Usually, the interviewer ask us some questions, and then we answer the questions. But this time, they didn't ask any question to us. They said like, "We already read your document, so please explain about how do you connect this studying abroad to your future in 5 minutes each person." When I heard this, I thought like "What the f!!?? Are you kidding me!? They sucks!"

I think people who took this exam were disappointed. We prepared to answer all questions, but they didn't do that. They just asked like "What are you doing to get English skills, and how much score of TOEFL do you have right now?" They were NOT interested in us. They were just wondering how much score of TOEFL do we have.

...

Anyway, I have essay test tomorrow, so I do have to do my best on the test!

[161 words]

Writing Essay 1-05: My Language Learning History -and to be continued...-

Today, I will introduce my language learning history. To me, learning other languages is really fun, even though it never easy. It is because that every language contains its own rule like grammar, words, and so on. However, learning other language brings me exciting things in my life. I will talk about languages which I am learning now and have learned.

My mother tongue is of course Japanese as you know. And at KGU, I'm learning 2 foreign languages now; English and Korean. And when I was a freshman at KGU, I was taking Spanish instead of Korean. Firstly, I'm going to tell about my Japanese. I've been using Japanese since I was a kid, so it is really important for me. I think Japanese people must be able to use it perfectly because we are Japanese people and we have been using it since we were born. However, people who can use Japanese language correctly are getting decreasing I guess. I'm one of them I guess. Therefore, I'm taking Japanese linguistics class now, and I'm trying to understand correct Japanese. But I noticed that I can't know that in the class, so I will try to read a newspaper everyday. And I'm forgetting Kanji little by little, so reading new paper is good for me.

Secondly, let's talk about English. Most of people started learning English for 6 years from Junior high school, but most of them can't speak English well...no, they don't use and like it. But I'm not like them. I love English so much now, I can't understand it perfectly though. I also started learning it from junior high school, and I hated it till the beginning of junior at high school. Yes, I changed. I found a basketball DVD, and then I felt like "I want to be like them! I want to speak like them!" It was my origin to start learning English. Fortunately, I could go to New Zealand as a school trip. I couldn't speak English well, but after the trip, I studied English hard. That's why I'm here, KGU. Now, to improve my English skills, I'm trying many things. I often watch NBA and listen to music for listening, mail with 2 pen pals for writing and reading, and often talk with friends in English whenever and wherever we can for speaking. And I think English is really good tool to communicate with people around the world, because English is spoken as first common language in the world.

Thirdly, let's talk about Korean. Korean is interesting language. The letter looks like cipher. I think, we can't read it without study. Hey, can you read this?? "안녕" This means "Hello/Good morning/Good evening/Good bye", and the pronunciation is "an nyong". It's interesting, isn't it? I began to study Korean last summer, and I decide to take Korean class this year. Why? Because I like Korea and Korean drama, and some of exchange students are also interested in Korean. I don't think that Korean is not so important language in the world, but I'm sure it will help me somewhere or sometime.

Fourthly, let's talk about Spanish! Do you know that Spanish is spoken as second common language in the world? Yes, it's true. Many people speak Spanish. This is one of the reasons why I took Spanish last year. I can't take Spanish class this year because of required subject, Reading. But I'm want to take the class next year if I can. Spanish is difficult language for me because it has male and female noun, verbs change the style to correspond each the person and number. But I didn't give up last year because I tried to understand it again and again, and then I could understand Spanish a little. I don't study it right now, but I will study it during coming summer vacation on my own.

Those above are my language histories. I've studied 4 languages, and I'll continue studying them. It is because I like learning other languages. Actually, I'm interested in Finnish because I have one Finnish pen pal. And she is interested in Japanese. This means we can teach and learn Japanese and Finnish each other. Anyway, what I want to say is that I'm really glad to enter this university and department, and I want you to be interested in any languages even if the language is going to be useless, because I think the challenge is important and it will bring you something good in the future.

[747 words]

qawsedrftgyhujikolp;@:[]

I'm kind pf nervous right now, because I have big and important test tomorrow. It is interview test in English for study abroad, and I think I'm the one of the first poeple among those who are going to take the test tomorrow.

During going home, I was thinking about the test. I was like "I hope I can speak well.", "Oh my gosh, I'm freaking nervous right now, it's less than last year though...", or "I'm hungry right now, so I do have to eat something!" like this. But suddenly, I thought like "Oh, thank you all for helping me. I'll do my best, and I'm going to pass the exam this year! I'm really really grateful for you all. Thanks!" Do you remember the power of the words? It is "Thank you". Yeah, I suddenly remember that. Then, I felt like good, and I got a confidence.

Thanks for helping me! I'm ready for the test now, and I'll do my best!

[174 words]

고마워요

Yesterday, I was taught a power of a word by a friend. I don't want to tell about that but I have to say that, so I'm going to say that in Korean. The word is "고마워요". Can you read that? Maybe most of people can't read and pronounce it. And I'm sorry I'm kind of stingy guy so I don't tell the meaning of it right now, but I want you to figure out the meaning that you should ask about this to the friend via me by yourself. I think you guys can guess the meaning!! komawoyo

고마워요 has really important power. I do have to say that to everything. If I say that everyday at least once, the life is going to change to good direction. If I don't use this a lot, my life is going to be really bad. It is definitely true because she is experiencing this now! I want my life to be better than now, so I decided to use it a lot. Using it a lot sounds like kinda religion, but it isn't! Right?

Anyway, we should use that whenever we can!

[197 words]