ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

Sometimes it's hard to reconcile the harshness of life, with the mundane routine of day to life. Living always ready for catastrophe, war, tsunami, death, disease of course makes no sense. On the other hand completely ignoring the hard times that do come, as if they weren't real, isn't real very humane. I think of the victims of the tsunami, and the Fukushima mess, and the fact that they are not at all being taken care of, I can't just forget them. They are people like us, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have been us, couldn't it? Yet we must try and be happy, try to enjoy the wonderful things that are also there. I think the only solution is to acquire the capacity to not forget, without letting it become an obsession that doesn't allow you to go ahead. It's a careful balance, between keeping one's optimism, without forgetting the pitfalls that are always there. Let's enjoy, but at the same time not forget those less fortunate. That's not easy, but it's what being human is all about, don't you think?   

I am thinking about getting a new laptop. My current laptop is still going strong after 5 years, but I think soon I will have to upgrade to a newer model. I currently have a macbook pro 13 inch model, that was at the time of purchase, the strongest available from Apple. I feel that it is because I bought the upgraded model that it my computer has lasted this long. So I think I will be doing that again, though this time I will be getting the 15 inch model. More screen to watch movies and play games!  

I think family is very important and that everyone should try to be involved their family. Your family is your life line. Now, when I say family I don't only mean mom and dad, I mean siblings too. This is a photo with my sister, Stephanie. She is a great person and I love her dearly. I know that through thick and thin she is there for me, as i am for her, and I truly appreciate that. I encourage everyone to build your relationship with your family, even if it's a difficult task, and be each other's support.

Thanks for reading.

Leigh   

hello, happy Friday everyone.

Do you like Disney Animated films like the classic, Snow White, The Little Mermaid or Sleeping Beauty?
I know I do. Disney has turned it's classic animated film Sleeping Beauty in to a live action film version, and i must say it was a good film. I know a few people who seen the add for the film and thought it might be a dark scary film but i am here to tell you it is not. It is a great film to take you kids to.


The added a twist tho to the film. This Time it is from the bad guys point of view to show you what really happened in the story and they did a great job on the cast to play the roles of the classic characters in the film .





Well have a great weekend   

California has many ramen shops scattered throughout the state. But after going to Tokyo, I am convinced that Tokyo ramen is the absolute best. During my time for golden week, I had ramen every single day, for 8 days straight! I can't want to go back to Tokyo this summer to have my hands on ramen again.
  

I always like having fun. No matter what I do I can always find a way to make it fun. A friend of mine needed help with some things and while I helped I made sure I got this fun photo. Here I am dressed as a robot. I really like technology, especially robots. Who doesn't love robots? However, here, I wanted to know what you thought of me.

  

So, obviously it's summer time. There are many things to do in the summer, right? But one of the best things to do is go to the beach! "But what can you do at the beach?", you may ask. Well, I'm glad you asked! One thing you can do is play in the sand!
As far as I know, everyone has played in the sand at one time or another. Dig up holes, pile it up into big mounds, even try to build little sand castles! That last one is something that I want to talk about. Sand castles are hard enough, but I have been interested in doing something a bit more. Since I have started going to the beach in Japan, I have been trying to make sand sculptures, basically making art with sand. It is very difficult (at least for me), and can take quite a bit of time. There are many pictures on the internet of people's artwork with sand, and it is amazing! For example, here is a picture of a shark sand sculpture:

Isn't that amazing! The detail in the eyes and the teeth are astounding! Not to mention the size of the shark in the sand. Now, this next picture is my attempt of a shark:

It's...not bad, for someone with no experience, right? But still, it doesn't even compare to the first shark. I don't think I will ever be as good, especially since I only go to the beach maybe once a week, and summer won't last forever. Still, it is definitely something to try while at the beach, and can be quite fun (if a bit frustrating, hahaha).

  

In America we have comics and cartoons and many other things to serve as entertainment. However, many of the youth have always enjoyed watching anime and reading manga! It is so different from what we get to see on television that it is refreshing! Just this past month I was able to see the rebirth of an anime I saw growing up, Sailor Moon! I used to love that show, and now, a totally new generation gets to see it! It is so exciting!

  

In my backyard at home in the United States I can see a lot of animals that I can't usually see here in Japan. At my parents house, there are woods in the backyard, so lots of animals come to visit. Sometimes we see deer (like the one above). Everyday we see birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. Often I see rabbits, raccoons, and groundhogs. There are also frogs in the ponds in front of the house. What kind of animals do you see around your house?  

These hot summer months remind me of California weather! I used to go swimming all year around in California. Southern California hardly has a winter season so anyone can enjoy the beach time in California any time of year.

I miss it so much. I can't wait to go kayaking in Japan! Did you know people kayak in January where I am from? Isn't that exciting?   

These hot summer months remind me of California weather! I used to go swimming all year around in California. Southern California hardly has a winter season so anyone can enjoy the beach time in California any time of year.

I miss it so much. I can't wait to go kayaking in Japan! Did you know people kayak in January where I am from? Isn't that exciting?   

I first went to Angkor Wat about 8 years ago. It hadn't yet become such a popular destination, and, though there were some better hotels, the extreme development there with Korean and other foreign investment hadn't yet changed the place as much as it has now. As usual I tried to travel around with locals, meeting their families, having them show me the sights, and it was an excellent idea. Angkor Wat was the first place in Asia, outside of Japan I had been to, though I had been to Luang Prabang in Laos briefly before on this same trip. The temples in these countries are now all Buddhist of course, but were originally built as Hindu temples for the most part, so the architecture and the decoration is mainly Hindu. Anyway, last year I was in Cambodia visiting old friends there, and my friend Khov had just graduated from the university, and had never been to Angkor, so we went together. It's still a great experience, especially going around on our bikes, not following the guided tours, which are hopelessly inane, giving you information you can see for yourself anyway. The overlap of Hindu and Buddhist culture is interesting. As the Europeans have managed to bury old hatchets and achiever some peace, let's hope one day that may become possible for Asia as well.   

I have been searching or a new TV show to watch. I have my favorites that I continue to watch, but I wanted something new. I recently stumbled across a show called Dominion. The plot revolves around the idea that Angels are real and have come to take back Earth from an undeserving humankind. God is gone and has not been heard from. All the Angles sided with the Arkangel Gabriel, except for the Arkangel Micheal who sided with humanity. After watching a few episodes I think I will continue to watch it. It certainly won't win any Emmys, but it is entertaining.  

So, last week when the super typhoon was coming towards Kagawa, I was excited. I enjoy heavy storms, most Texans do. People don't seem to understand why someone would like a storm, any storm at that, well, it's because we don't get many storms throughout the year, and each drop of rain is a gift to us. We cherish storms, even if they are dangerous ones, because if we don't get rain every year many towns don't have water and either have to be abandoned or people must move temporarily. I understand that big storms can be deadly, but they are needed in the world. Storms are a natural distillation process that the world created for us so that fresh water could be gathered. It's an amazing phenomenon. I hope you grow to appreciate the weather as much as I do, and if you are already there great! Enjoy the next storm coming whenever it comes.

Thanks for reading!

Leigh   

Mount Everest is the pinnacle of human endurance, at least when it comes to climbing. Back home I used to do a lot of rock-climbing, of course the majority of my climbing came from in-door rock climbing gyms but I have, on occasion, had the opportunity to climb actual mountains. Of course it wasn't an entire mountain and I only climbed a small fraction of a mountain back home it still proved very difficult to do even when the conditions to climb are at it's safest. When I look at Mount Everest I think of how exhilarating it must be to attempt such a dangerous feat. One day I would love to have the opportunity to climb it but before I can do that I would need to train for such an attempt.

Perhaps one day I will have a chance to climb it. Until then I will continue climbing in gyms.

- James Barbosa  

Battambong is a city in Cambodia where originally my Father is from. Through the very countryside of Cambodia, I was able to capture one of the best moments I had in the city. A circus show that caught the town coming back for more and more, I got to understand this circus show in the picture you see above represents the life of the city of Battambong.  

I mentioned it before but I like to have fun with my kids in class. I've covered their faces before with books but recently a student of mine had a one piece coin case. I asked to let me see it and he gave it to me. He remained still while I took some photos of him. He thought it was funny. I think the photos came out well.

  

After finishing the Nightside series, I started another one by Simon R. Green. This one is called Secret History, a series of eight books (currently ongoing). Secret History is a fantasy/science fiction series. It follows the adventures of Edwin Drood, a member of the Droods, a very old family that watches over the world and protects it from different threats, including supernatural and magical ones. The Droods are able to do this through the use of a golden torc (kind of like a necklace), which allows them to summon "living armor", which gives them near unlimited strength and speed, and protects them from all kinds of attacks.



Once again, the setting of this book series is based in London, though there is travel to places outside of the country, even to other dimensions and parallel worlds. And just like in the Nightside, there are many different interesting and crazy characters that Eddie encounters in his adventures.

A funny and interesting thing about this series is the references and parodies to James Bond. For starters, Eddie Drood's alias in the books is Shaman Bond; and each of the book titles are parodies of James Bond titles: for example, The Man with the Golden Torc is a parody of The Man with the Golden Gun, and the next book, Daemons Are Forever, is a parody of Diamonds Are Forever. That really seems to be it, as far as I am aware.

Anyway, if you enjoyed reading the Nightside series, then I strongly recommend trying out the Secret History series.  

I keep waiting to see High winds or rain from Typhoon Neoguri but it hasn't arrived here in Takamatsu! It's my first ever typhoon so I am a little nervous but also a little excited! I hope it comes here but I hope everyone stays safe too! So far though, it's all calm and quiet and very, very humid. Hopefully we all get to see something cool today!

  

Although the teams that I like are out of the tournament I just wanted to say that the Brazil v Germany game was, what we say in America, a BLOWOUT. Germany scored 7 and Brazil scored 1. How does this even happen in World Cup Soccer or even in the Semi Finals? Wow, Brazil you really dropped the ball on that one. Who do you think will make it to the top of the world?