ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

This is the moon Europa. It is a moon that orbits Jupiter. The moon Europa is a very interesting moon because it has a thick layer of ice covering its entire surface, and it's suggested that there is liquid water underneath the ice, covering the entire moon! That's so cool - a moon that is potentially covered with water.

Space and Astronomy is really fun to learn and I always keep an eye out for fun information like this.

- James Barbosa  

Happy Halloween everyone!! Halloween is one of my favourite holidays back home in Canada and an I was so happy to be able to share it with my students here at GEM School! The Halloween Party today at Manno Park was so much fun, and I was so happy to see so many smiling faces from the kids! All of the GEM teachers and staff worked so hard to put everything together, and we were so happy everything went so well! I am on my way to Matsuyama right now to have a nice relaxing weekend at Dogo Onsen with my fellow teacher Jillian! It will be the first time to visit a hot spring here in Japan for both of us, and we are very excited! I can't wait to tell you all about it next week!

  

Hello Everyone!

Do you like ice cream? I know that I do. Recently I found a new flavor. Mikan!!!! Here is a picture of it!




I have seen many interesting flavors of ice cream in Japan. Salt, wasabi, and avacado just to name a few. Have you ever tried an interesting flavor of ice cream? I think that mikan is my new favorite.

Let me know what your favorite it!

Thank you for reading,

Kristen  

On Sunday morning, I went to a Halloween party in Michigan!

What? How?

My friends in Michigan were having their annual Halloween party and I messaged them on video through skype! My video came through on an I-Pad and I was passed around from friend to friend. It was really good to see everyone! When I didn't see them, I was accidentally aimed at the ceiling! Haha
There were couple costumes from Bob's Burgers and The Adam's Family. My sister re-lived her Steven Universe Cosplay. Captain America and Elizabeth Swan (from the Pirate movies) were pretty great too.

For many years, I was the one who had the Halloween party. My Mom enjoyed helping me throw it, and my friends REALLY enjoyed my hospitality and the hot-tub! A few years ago, my friends Megan and Joe bought a house, and worked really hard to turn it into a spooky place. Their basement looks like a dungeon!




All of that "rock" is hand painted!

The party got a bit too loud, as parties do, so whoever I was talking to tended to retreat to an empty room or go outside with me. But October in Michigan can get pretty chilly! Everyone kept forgetting what time is was and asked me to have a drink. But Michigan's Saturday night was Japan's Sunday morning! I had some coffee and breakfast.

I talked to people for about 3 hours! The whole thing had been a really good idea. I missed my friends and I felt like I was pretty much at the party. When everyone said goodbye, there were a lot of people telling me they were going to get Skype accounts too and talk to me again. I guess they missed me too!  

Halloween is fast approaching! Everyone is preparing for our big event this Saturday, and of course we are all celebrating with our students throughout the week leading up to it! So far, most of my students did not dress up to class, but I did get a few who joined in, which was wonderful! I have had a little pumpkin in class, a wizard from Harry Potter (he had the Sorting Hat with him! He says he won it in a crane game! Amazing!), a fairy and either Death or Dracula with a scythe, haha. I hope to see more before the end of the week!

As for me, I started off the Halloween week wearing my costume from Summer Tour (Ali Baba/Aladdin-ish costume), but I found it difficult to teach in it, plus it is starting to fall apart (one of the first costumes I made, so it wasn't great quality). I am switching over to my costume from last Halloween, Prince Hans from Frozen. It's a bit more bulky to carry, but a bit more comfortable, especially after I (finally) altered it to fit me better. I'm not sure yet if I will wear it Friday, but I guess we will see how the week goes! I hope to see many people on Saturday wearing amazing costumes!  

It's finally Halloween week!!! I have had a lot of fun dressing up for the kids this week. I have been dressing as a Romani Gypsy. In doing my research on Halloween costumes I stumbled across a news article that had done a survey to see what costumes were the most popular in America and where they were the most popular. Superheroes seemed to be the big thing across the U.S. this year with Super Villains coming in close behind. It's so cool to see the human brain at work. Some people want heroes, some people want villains. I wonder, if we did a series of tests with the people involved in this study, could we find some correlation between people who try to help the world and Super Hero costumes and people who don't care about the world or who try to harm the world and Super Villains. It would be interesting to see!

  

Since we've arrived in Japan (almost a year ago now!!!) we've had the good fortune to meet a number of really kind and excellent people. One thing that I've seen about Shikoku is that people here are truly caring and giving people. It's been a real treat to get to know a lot of both the Japanese people who live here, as well as the visiting and foreign teachers and workers who have come from all over the world.

This past weekend was another opportunity for that. I had the opportunity to travel to Saijo, in Ehime prefecture to participate in a game night being hosted by one of the ALT teachers living in the area. This is a very close knit and familiar group, so I was kind of nervous about it all. I've met and chatted with all of them before in some capacity, but never in such close quarters. I was pretty nervous at first, but was able to meet some very nice and likeminded people that I could have a conversation with. We played some games, had some laughs, and I had a really pleasant evening. It was a great night, and I hope I get to have more of them someday!  

Our big Halloween Event is coming up. I am super excited for it, despite being frustrated with the preparations I still have to make, this frustration being mainly my fault. I basically suffer from procrastination, something I will have to overcome once I reenter academia this January for my PhD in Comparative Literature. I am still in the process of making my costume, which will involve extensive work craftiwork on a massive and fantastic hat. I can’t say anymore as to the nature of this hat and the rest of the costume that will support it, but know that it will be a pretty funky and outrageous costume. I recently went to a recycle shop and found some pretty nifty clothes, such as the cape pictured below. It is a lot of fun to wear this cape around and give some people something to talk about. And yes, it is super comfortable. I especially like the huge folds around the neck that I can transform to whatever condition that needs to be suited to. I did not manage to grab everything that I needed for my costume this shopping bout around, so I will have to make more time for some more shopping. The questions always stands for deciding: Should I buy new shoes or not? I just recently saw online that the traditional squarish Japanese school bag is now being stylized and sold as part of Western fashion, so maybe I should save my cash for that? But then again, I should keep an eye out for some crazy shoes to bring back with me to the States, yes, yes? Or maybe I should just go out and get myself a jinbei...

  

I'm thinking of getting a hair cut soon, and I don't know what to do!

If you know me, you might have seen that my hair is VERY long. I really love having long hair, it's fun to play with and I always feel very feminine when my hair is long. But on the other hand it's very inconvenient and I usually end up just putting it in a bun to get it out of the way. So I don't know how much hair I should cut off!

When I have long hair I can play with it! I love historical fashion, so when I have long hair I can recreate lots of historical hairstyles. I did this one last year:




It's from the regency era, I really love Jane Austin. :)

But, when my hair's a little shorter I can wear it in 40's and 50's styles, which I also love to do. It's a really hard choice!

I really think that hair is one of the funnest ways to express your personality, and I love finding fun new styles to try. I know whichever hair length I pick I'll be able to have lots of fun testing my skills and recreating styles from the past.  

I recently celebrated my first year wedding anniversary! We had an amazing lunch at an excellent Italian restaurant in Toyohama called Volte. The weather was beautiful that day too, so we went for a bike ride to enjoy it. October is my favorite color!!


  

I spent some time out on Oshima island a while back. It was absolutely gorgeous - like a dream.



There were so many tiny towns and villages clinging to the cliffs around the island. Most of them had to be fishing or aquaculture villages. I also visited the famous shrine there which houses 75% of Japan's national military treasures. This included lots of armor and bows, and of course swords. Many of the items there wer significantly older than America, and some even predated the European discovery of the continent of North America!

It was an interesting day.   

Hello, all!

This Friday I got a (very brief) chance to check out the festival in Shikokuchūō. It was fantastic! I didn't have much time that day, but I saw all the taikodai and mikoshi leaving Mishima Shrine.

Not only that, I was most honored to be invited to help carry my neighborhood's, Mishima-Miyagawa's, mikoshi! It was very sudden: I found someone I knew at the festival—he asked me if I wanted to help carry a mikoshi—I said, "Yes! Of course!"—someone kindly lent me a happi—and off we went, that very second. I was giddy with delight.

Unfortunately, with no practice, I had no idea how to carry the mikoshi properly. I stepped on people's feet, couldn't find a good spot, and didn't know how much force to use or where to apply it. Other people kept on switching spots around me and I wound up in a very awkward carrying position. "These gaijin have no power!" one of my teammates scoffed at me. I don't think it was a matter of strength, though—just my total festal incompetence.

On the other hand, the experience itself was great! I'd love to try it again with proper practice. Apart from the angry man in my team, everyone felt proud of carrying the mikoshi without dropping it, and I was happy to do something with my neighbors. There were smiles all around! I even decided to look stupid enough to wear my GoPro


Click on the images to download full-size versions!

and I got a great video of the whole experience! I'll share it when it's finished uploading to YouTube in... um... "126 hours 42 minutes."

I hope that you all enjoy your local festivals, too!

—Matthew  

How can I even explain what a great Halloween I've been having!

First, on Sunday I went to Kobe to see Hyde and other bands at a Halloween Concert! It was like a gothic cosplay event, there were so many girls and guys in cool costumes! Fake blood and black clothing EVERYWHERE. I bought a ghost purse and some other concert goods, took lots of pictures, and forgot to eat! The bands were amazing and fun, with VAMPS dressing up as characters from my favorite manga called Kuroshitsuji. I was in awe to see Hyde again, he has such a powerful presence.

Recently I went to a Halloween party held by my friend in Mitoyo. She organized some fun games like donut on a string (but they wouldn't take it out of the package! what?!) a candy counting game, a costume contest, and a scary haunted house! I snuck away to scare people in the haunted house. I was smacking the window with my hands whenever someone tried to take candy. It was REALLY fun! The only thing that is a little problem is that you have to wait a bit for each group to go by. I never did anything like that before so it was a great experience. After the house scaring, I won a catagory in the costume contest!

There is still a week of costuming at school before our big Gem School Halloween event. My dress is nearly finished for that so I'm ready for more fun!  

I have loved books since before I could even read. My mother and father would always read me stories before bed, and once I learned to read myself, they always were up to taking me to the library to borrow books! There was a time in my life where I would check out between 15 and 25 books every three weeks from the library, and all I would do is read! I would read so much that I wouldn't sleep, I would sneak a flashlight under my covers and stay up until 1:00 am sometimes! MY mother had to impose a limit on how many books I was allowed to take out at a time (12 books during the school year, and 15 during school vacations). SO when I came here to Japan, I KNEW I wouldn't be able to bring my large books collection with me, but I also knew I would need to be able to read English books or I would go crazy! SO my solution was to do something I had always said I would NEVER do; I bought a Kobo e-reader. I have to say, it isn't an awful reading experience. I am a fast reader, and sometimes I read a little to fast and the Kobo reboots my books, but always re-opens to the page I was on. I really miss being able to hold a real book in my hands. The Kobo does the job well enough for now though.   

  

When the weather changes and it starts to feel cold and dark early in the evening it is hard to want to be outside. I think it is a great time to find a new indoor hobby!




This time I learned how to make my own bow hairbands! I started by getting a few small pieces of fabric that I liked. It was really fun and easy. What types of hobbies would you like to try this fall? Let me know!

Thank you for reading,

Kristen  

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are having a great month. Just wanted to share a short update. This month is going very quickly for me! I have been busy preparing for Halloween and visiting with some of my friends.

Recently I took a walk and found a very small orange butterfly. The weather has been so nice. I am excited that Autumn is here. Do you like taking walks? What things do you find when you go out?

Let me know!

Thank you for reading,

Kristen
  

When I was in Lisbon I went to the Oceanario De Lisboa, which is the Lisbon Aquarium. I've been to many aquariums but this one had something I've never seen before. It had an art exhibit from the late Japanese photographer/artist named Takashi Amano. His exhibit was something called "freshwater aquascaping" Which basically means he created beautiful aquarium ecosystems.

Here are some pictures of his art form.




What you may not be able to see is that it's not just an ecosystem of marine plant life but their are also fish.







This last picture is of a haiku which is written in both English and Portuguese. If it's hard to read it says: "Stop and Listen. Nature is a great teacher. Live Simply."




These pictures don't give the exhibit enough credit and it was a really beautiful experience. The music was fantastic and the messages that he was trying to convey were loud and clear. I'm not sure how famous he is in Japan but I will definitely look out for more of his artwork.




Signing off.

- James Barbosa







  

It's almost time for Jumping Jack O Lanterns, Gasping Ghouls, and Wigged Out Witches to frolic about on Halloween night! I can't wait to see all of the children in their costumes!!! In America children use the night to stock up on their candy reserves, try to scare their friends, and to generally try to be someone they dream to be. The traditions and events of Halloween have been ever changing in the U.S. Originally it was celebrated as a day to mock Death, then it was mixed with the Harvest celebrations, then it turned into trick or treating, and even today it is changing. Children don't go aimlessly around to strangers houses looking for confections, it is now a more organized thing out of necessity. Altogether it is still an amazingly fun and freaky night and I can't wait to see your costume!

  

Hello!

Today, I'd like to talk just a little about something very exciting and important that has happened recently in Canada!

On the 19th of October, Canada held a federal election to decide its new prime minister! For the last decade, Canada has been governed by the Conservative Party of Canada, a group of people that have been very resistant to any kind of social or money-related changes in Canada for many years. They were replaced this election by the Liberal Party, which is the oldest party in Canada, and the only original party remaining from when Canada became a country in 1867. Of course, their views and beliefs are very different from then, and are very different from the old party that was just voted out.

The leader of the Liberals is the son of a former Prime Minister of Canada who was extremely popular and famous for many years. It's going to be very difficult to bring the changes that they have promised Canadians, but I think it's a good thing that they were the group elected, and I'm very excited to see how the next few years will turn out for Canada! Politics is one thing that I'm very interested in, and something new and different is always good!

Alex