the Blank for a month...(><)

I'm so sorry... I didn't write this blog almost for a month.

After I wrote the last my blog, I left Japan and visited Korea for ten days. It was for teaching practice. My major is English but I'm also taking the class of teaching Japanese for foreign people.

Actually this course was one of my biggest reasons I decided to enter my university. I wanted to study not only English but also teaching Japanese. That's why I'm here.

In Korea, I did my plan twice, the same one but to the other students. It was hard! difficult! But I think I did my best and it became a good experience to me.

Through ten days, I had a lot of chances to enjoy Korean beer! It's very cheap to drink in Korea. I went to drink five nights after all. Every time I met new friends and it was fun to talk with them.

I came back to Japan last Monday. The next morning when I woke up, I found my throat was strange. I caught a cold!! I don't know why.... Anyway my teaching practice is over.

My cold stayed for a week but now it's gone. I'm fine!
Now I have to write something about a book!!!!! I haven't done it yet.... During this week!

volunteer

I'm done another busy weekend. From last Thursday night to Sunday I couldn't sleep enough. The Thursday night was my fault. I didn't get ready to do a presentation till just a night ago. I was planning in my mind but didn't write it out or finish it in advance. That's me. That's not new, no surprise to me. As a result I did it good at the presentation so it's okey.

From Friday night to Sunday I joined camping program as I told you here before. I helped kids to make bamboo planters, to visit a nursing home and so on. I stayed there for two nights and I noticed one thing. It is, after kids got slept in, we volunteer had a lot of things to do! Every kid had a notebook which they wrote about each day. We had to write something for each kid. There was another paper to put anything we noticed about kids. It took us so long to finish for every kid. Also at Saturday night each of us got a square paper to get messages from everyone there. We didn't have enough time to finish it so we did it after kids went to bed. Then on Sunday only kids messages they need to collect.

Like this I don't know this volunteer sounds like hard or not, it was so fun to me. Next camping is in next February! I can't wait for it.

Fun Fun Sign Language

I had a sign language lesson tonight. We call it a lesson but almost all the time we just talk about something new with of course a sign language. We've done this lesson since June of 2003 when we were in the first year of the university. I love this lesson! To communicate with using a new tool is so fun! Our teacher is a woman who can't hear or speak. When we just started this lesson we used gesture and writing on a white board. By the way, she is so cute! She also looks so young. To express her feelings she uses muscles of her face very well. We think that's why she doesn't have much wrinkles!

Last year I couldn't join them because I wasn't in Japan. Even in Canada I looked for a sign language club or something like that but there was no chance to use it.

Just before I left Japan, I passed the third grade of the sign language exam. It required more difficult words and reading skill so I studied hard. Now, after an year without any studying, my sign language skill got bad... Although, I still like it and think I want to get better so first, I want to get my skills back! I'm always looking forward to coming Thursdays!

Volunteer Day

This after school I went to the library to get some books for making a teaching plan. In two weeks I'm going to Korea to do some teaching Japanese trainings. Before that I have to show the plan to the class. It is this Friday! I'm still thinking about the plan. It is very difficult! I'm sure I won't be able to sleep till Friday...

Another thing I did today was a kind of volunteer. I helped some kids. There is a sort of camping(?) program for kids. They stay at a big house(?) for four nights to learn some social skills with the other kids. They cook own meals and do everything by themselves. Tonight is the first night. I tried to remember thier names and helped to make their own team name&flag. It was my first time to help them so I didn't know what I should do. But I tried to speak to them and finally they finished their task so it was good. Just before I left there, when I told some girls I was leaving to go home tonight, a girl told me not to go home and to stay over night. I was very happy to hear that. I won't go there tomorrow but will go on Friday after the class. Now I'm very looking forward to meeting them again!

Busy Day

It was a busy day today. I worked at my university for Teaching Japanese Society(this English name could be wrong). This meeting was held yesterday and today but I only worked today. My job was to record the presentations with cassette tapes and to keep the time for each presenters and let them know how long they still have left.

It's very difficult to use a machine which I've never touched before! And... I did wrong.... I didn't know once the tape was over then it started to go backward! That was okey, I understood it recording on the other side.(Is this right??) But!! When the next person started and I put another tape and pushed "play & record" at the same time as I was taught, the tape went backward again! and again and again............. I tried to find out what was going on but I couldn't find why it kept going backward!

Finally a lady who was a chair found a button witten "reverse direction". Right after that I could start to record but I missed first five minutes. That was a sweat.

Full Moon Viewing

Good morning! How are you today??

Last night, the moon was full and it was so beautiful. The sky was clear and no clouds so we could see it very well. My mom made supper and ate at the park near my house with people living around there. Supper was very good and the full moon was perfect! It was a very nice night.

If you didn't see the moon last night, you should do that tonight! That's pretty cool!

One Notice from My Friend

Hello! I'm Hiroko. This is my first blog in my life. First time is in English!! Isn't it so exciting!?? I didn't know about this class, I mean I didn't know we use a blog for this class so I'm very happy.

This morning I phoned my Canadian friend and noticed one thing. It is... I'm getting forgetting English!! Already!! I came back to Japan just three weeks ago. In Canada, I didn't notice how fast she spoke. But!! This is a good notice to me. I have to keep up my English even in Japan. This blog will help me, I'm sure.

I'll write about my daily life and of course about books I'll read.
Okey, see you later!