ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

I have many friends. Most of my friends are human, but I also have many non-human friends. Dogs, cats, chickens, even a squirrel and a donkey. I'm always happy to help my friends with whatever I can. This picture is of my octopus friend. He couldn't see very well and needed some help. I took him to the octopus optometrist and we found out he needed glasses. Octopuses don't have money, so I was happy to pay for them. Doesn't he just look great?

  

It's no secret that I love karaoke, but did you know that I have a history with Japanese music? It's true!

Last Sunday, we had a really good time at Karaoke. We sang Christmas songs, rock songs, and Japanese songs. I did the theme from Gundam Wing, and it was SO much fun to try! I remembered most of the words from when I was a High School student. I used to learn Japanese and Korean songs as a hobby, even though there wasn't anywhere to show off my skills. We don't really have asian-style karaoke in Michigan.

Both my sister and I HAVE performed Japanese songs though. We sang seperate times in our school Talent Show. My friend and I performed Meaning of Peace by BoA and Koda Kumi. My sister sang Hamazaki Ayumi's Hanabi. On Choir free days, they let us sing in class whatever we liked, and I would show off Korean and Japanese songs. I know that people think I was weird, but I found a few that were interested.

When I was in High School, I formed an Asian Culture club, and would show my classmates music videos from Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. There wasn't very much on the internet yet, so I got my mvs from a special channel on my TV. I learned about Japanese artists from watching Hey Hey Hey Music Champ and watching lots of anime. I still sing these old songs when I go to karaoke.

Learning Japanese and Korean songs might have been a weird hobby, but now it's doing me well! Now I can read hirogana and katakana too. I don't carry a notebook of lyrics in romaji.

Let's SING!   

This past Sunday I went on a little trip with my friend to Kochi. Technically, this was my second time in Kochi; the first time I made a trip with Eric around when I first arrived to pick up a GEM car that was there. I don't remember why it was there, and thinking about it now I find it silly that one of the cars was so far away (and in a prefecture in which we don't have any schools).

Anyway, this time in Kochi, I was able to actually visit some places. Our first stop was Kochi castle. It was pretty cool, particularly being able to climb to the top. The view was spectacular, so long as I looked out in the distance and not straight down (I am not that great with heights). There was also a cool model of the castle inside, along with people living their lives as they did back in the day. The people were a bit too big (it was almost like everyone was a mini giant), but I think it's because if they actually scaled them, they would be too small to see (or possibly it is more time-consuming to put details on smaller models).

Afterwards, we traveled across the street from the castle to the 'nichiyouichi', or Sunday market. There were a lot of stalls along the road, selling all kinds of things. I saw may vendors selling tools for farming, especially things like scythes and knives. So many knives. You would not find such things from street vendors in New York; in fact, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to sell even a pocket knife on the street. Of course, the situations are different. In New York, there is no need to sell equipment for farming in a city with little or no land to work on. Kochi, on the other hand, probably has many places nearby where people work on their own plot of land. Sigh, it sounds nice.

When we were finished at the market, we headed over to Chikurinji, which was absolutely gorgeous, due to the leaves changing colors. There were many vivid colors, such as pale yellows, glowing oranges, and deep reds, plus green from leaves that hadn't changed yet, which provided a nice contrast. My friend said that, in his opinion, Chikurinji was probably one of the top most beautiful temples in Shikoku. Though I have only visited a few, I think I have to agree. I really wish that it wasn't so far away; I would probably visit it more often.