2008 August 18 Monday and 19 Tuesday.

It's back to school for me an my students today.   

Even though the public schools don't  open until Wednesday, all of my elementary school and junior high school students came to my classroom today and yesterday.   

Some of them don't even live in Kagura or Kamui, so they had to make a special trip to get here.   

Thank you so much.   

On Monday from 13:00 until 14:30 I had a class with the 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会, for the first time in 4 weeks.   

The students had a lot to talk about, and so did I.   

One of the young ladies told us about a trip that she and her husband took to MEXICO.   

She also brought along 3 photo booklets with lots of really nice photos. 

I felt very nostalgic when I heard her story and looked at the photographs, because I myself have also taken this same trip when I was about 16 years old.   

Of course, I was traveling with my parents and my skinny little sister at that time, but I remember that vacation very well. 

The route we took was to fly down to Mexico City and stay there for 2 nights.   

In Mexico City, we got to see the very impressive pyramids built by the Aztec Civilization.   

After that, we went to the Yucatan Peninsula and looked around at the various pyramids of the Maya Civilization at various places.   

I distinctly remember skin diving with a mask and snorkel off of the coast at Merida and other locations.   

I will never forget how clear the sea water was.   

It was like entering a whole new world, as soon as I put my head underwater.   

The young woman and her husband who went to Mexico during this year's summer vacation really enjoyed their time there.   

She told the class how much she loved Mexican Food (me too) and that she loved TEQUILA as well!!!   

She said that she had purchased 3 bottles of tequila and brought them back to Japan with her .   

I have to admit, I used to love tequila also.   

The really good authentic tequila is very delicious, and easy to drink.   

Therein lies the danger.   

Tequila is at least 40% alcohol, and some folks say that it has an extra hypnotic effect as well.   

In other words, it is easy to drink too much, too fast.   

Behavior which can lead to a loss of memory, and odd behavior in public places.   

I haven't drank any tequila in about 10 years, and have no plans to try it again, anytime, ever.     Unless,........

On Tuesday, there were two new persons who came to take a look at my classroom.   

Both of them have a definite goal in mind for their personal lives, when it comes to being able to speak English freely, and accurately.   

MOTIVATION is the KEY word here, because motivation gives birth to ENTHUSIASM  and enthusiasm gives ENERGY to DOING, and doing creates RESULTS.   

In Japanese, they call it SeiSeki  成績.   RESULTS.   

Literally, the "the becoming, piles up upon itself"    

That is how I read these two Kanji when used in this combination.   

Even dust, can pile up to become a mountain, is another way to say it.

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2008 July 14 Monday thru July 18 Friday.

 

I was not as hot this week, as it was last week, and I didn't need to turn on the cooling system.   

About a month ago, my wife received a used digital camera from her younger sister.   

It is a RICHO Caplio R2 5.0 Mega Pixel unit, and you can see it in the photo above/left.  Ikuko almost never uses a camera, so I have developed the custom of taking this camera with me where ever I go.   

It is by far, smaller than any other camera that I have, and it takes very good photos.   

Now, I will never miss another photo opportunity because I didn't have a camera with me.   

Thanks Yuki!    This camera will be well used by me.   

Not only does this camera take still photos, but it also takes motion video as well.   

Plus, it can also be used as a voice recorder for sound only.   

Isn't it amazing what electricity and magnetism can do.   

On Monday, I had my last lesson with an 8 year old girl who has been coming to my classroom for about 5 years.   

She and her family will be moving to Chitose because of her father's job.   

I hope they can find a good English classroom in that city so that she can continue her studies there. 

On Thursday at about 20:30 while I was walking the aisles at the next door supermarket, a beautiful young woman runs up to me saying; "ノーマン先生、ノーマン先生！" 

She came right up to me and we looked at each other face to face.   

I could not remember who she was, until she said; "I am Haruka".   

As soon as I heard that, I knew exactly who she was.   

I haven't seen her in about 3 years, but she and her brother who are fraternal twins  一卵性双生児, used to come to my classroom during their elementary school and junior high school days.   

Now they are both 23 years old and attending universities in California USA.   

How's that for a job well done, by all hands on deck.   

It's a small world after all.   

Be kind to your neighbors.

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2008 July 5 Saturday and July 6 Sunday.

Saturday morning starting at 10:30, was my private lesson with the 8 year old girl, who really tries to speak English at every moment during her lessons.   

What a pleasure this is for her, and me as well.   Today, we used some hand written cards that I made many years ago, to learn words of opposite meaning, ANTONYMS 反意語.   

Words such as HOT and COLD, LONG and SHORT, DEEP and SHALLOW, etc.   Not only did she learn all of the words, but she used her imagination in coming up with short sentences, that use both words in a meaningful way.   

For example, The ocean is DEEP but small rivers are SHALLOW.   

Girls have LONG hair, but boys have SHORT hair (not always). 

Summer is HOT and WINTER is cold in Hokkaido.   

And so on and so forth.   

It was a very interesting lesson for both her and myself, and when her mother came by my classroom at 11:30 to pick her daughter up, the eight years old girl was surprised to see that ONE HOUR had already passed by, like it was just one wrinkle in time.   

The rest of the day I spent watching some interesting BBC documentaries on YOU TUBE, and also playing my black Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar, UNPLUGGED while listening to some of my favorite POP ROCK CDs on the music player.   

It is overcast and rainy today, and not a nice day to be out and around, unless you absolutely have to be.

On Sunday morning, I woke up at about 07:00 and noticed immediately, that it was going to be very hot and humid today.   

Yesterday's rain and today's sunny weather were combining to create that heavy, sticky and hot air, which really takes the fight out of me.   

Time to close off all the windows, and turn on the cooler. 

I have a big job to do today, and you can see what that job was in today's blog photo.   

Yep!  That's right, A3 sized full color laminated presentation cards, designed to go along with that very well known CHILDREN'S SONG; Mary had a Little Lamb.   

What a classic!    And so easy for even 3 year olds to understand.   

Not only do the words of the song appear on the back of each picture card in both English and Japanese, but I also made three A4 sized handouts, which the kindergarten teachers can use to teach the kids the lyrics, in both English and Japanese.   

The entire job took me about 5 hours to complete.   

Well worth the effort as I will be using these cards and my acoustic guitar tomorrow morning at めばえ幼稚園 and many more times after that, at various gigs.   

FUN FOR HIRE!!!   

Have Car and Guitar.   

Will Travel.

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2008 June 14 Saturday and June 15 Sunday.

I had a private lesson with the 9 year old elementary school girl as usual on Saturday morning, but today her mother told me that her daughter has a headache, and also she slightly injured her right leg during some kind of sports activity, so they wanted a 30 minute lesson, instead of the full 50 - 60 minutes, which we have every week.   

The young girl's lack of concentration today was rather obvious, but I tried my best to make her feel better and extend the time to 50 minutes or more.   

I was only able to coax 40 minutes out of her today, but that is much better than nothing.   

Either way, I get paid the same so it's not about money for me, but rather about student SATISFACTION with my job performance.   

I take that more seriously than anything else, in every teaching job that I do.   

I am there FOR THE STUDENT.   The student is NOT there for me.   

In Japanese they have a well known saying that goes like this;  お客様は神様です.   Meaning; The Customer is GOD.   

If you are an entrepreneur who owns and runs a small business, of any kind, you know exactly what I am talking about.   

Even if you live in the Western World, some people STILL GET IT.   

It's about a WIN=WIN situation.   

There need not be any losers, in the game of LIFE.   

Ya see, the IDEAL is total co-operation.   

Helping yourself BY helping each other.   

How simple is that?   

As you all know, I have been an inhabitant of HOKKAIDO for more than 18 years NOW.   

When I first arrived here on March 12, 1990,.....   I immediately had a good feeling about this place.    

So did Charlie Hamel and family, when they first set down, BOOTS ON THE GROUND at the Asahikawa International Airport, on 2008 March 26.   

I have been corresponding with Charlie for more than about 2 years via the internet, but I only just recently, met him and his family, face to face for the first time, on that March afternoon.   

Since that time, Charlie has been publishing a Private Blog for family and friends only, the URL of which I will not make public.   

As I have been reading his blog everyday since it was begun, I have come to realize that Charlie and Me, have a lot of things in common, when it comes to living in JAPAN, especially HOKKAIDO.   

This little old island has a lot to offer.   It is easily visible on a world map.   

In the big city of Sapporo and some districts of small city Asahikawa, land prices are very expensive.   

In other locations around Hokkaido, you can get LAND FOR FREE.   

If you are willing to,...... etc.      

I am not making this up.   There really is FREE LAND IN HOKKAIDO.   

I have even see a big sign by a rest stop that was inviting people to move to the village in exchange for free land.   

I may have even taken a photo of it.   I'll look for it later.   

By the way, the photo in today's blog shows what I did for the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday.   

I made a new series of 105 Conversation Topic Cards, for use with mostly adult students.   

The small stack of black and white cards that you can see at the top of the photo, are the ones that I made about 12 years ago.   

At that time, we only had a simple word-processor, cardboard sheets, glue and wide cellophane tape.   

They have worked well over the years, but it's time to reinvent the wheel, an totally remake and expand this set of teaching/learning materials.   

Now that I have a PC with graphics software, a color ink-jet printer and a laminating machine, I can make much more professional looking flash cards, and so on.   

The entire job took me about 12 hours over several days to complete.   

I will make more later.    Time to go take a walk.

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2008 June 9 Monday.

Happy 12th Anniversary to the only child, that me and my wife have given birth to, together.   

The child's name is; Snowman's American English Family Classroom.   

Has it really been that long?   

Yes, it has.  But, that is not the whole story.   

The idea for having my own Language Learning/Language Teaching Classroom, started more than 30 years ago.   

That is the time, when I first visited Japan as a member of the USCG.   

After one week at Yokota Air Base, I was flown to the tiny island of Iwo Jima 硫黄島, for a 12 month tour of duty.   

It was at that time, and on that island, that I first began to learn the Japanese Language.   

I really liked this new challenge, and I spent every spare moment learning how to speak, read and write this most beautiful of all pentatonic scale spoken languages.   

A pentatonic scale, has only 5 notes in the octave.   

Likewise, Japanese has only 5 vowel sounds あ　い　う　え　お  in the ENTIRE LANGUAGE!   Is this unusual?    

Yes, very.    I can think of only one other modern language, that is spoken by enough people on this planet today, to rank in the TOP TEN INTERNET LANGUAGES, that has 5 or less vowel sounds.   

That language is Spanish.   

Anyway, since that time, I have spent countless hours learning the Japanese Language.   

Now, it is a very useful tool in my daily life.   

Not only that, but I know exactly what it is like for someone else to begin learning a totally new, and completely different foreign language, from the ground up.   

If learning languages is interesting, wouldn't teaching them to other people be just the same, or even more interesting?   

Yes, it would be.   

And it certainly has been.   

And it will continue to BE.   

If you can make your most interesting hobby, into your life's work, you have a job in paradise.   

A paradise that welcomes each and everyone, who is WILLING to put forth the EFFORT required to make it happen.   

ABC is really C B A.   

Conceive, Believe, Achieve.   

How simple is that?    ABC, 123.   

Back to basics, and a lifestyle that makes sense, in all aspects of that lifestyle. 

If you really hate your present job, do yourself a big favor, and ask yourself this simple question.   

"Did I, myself, go to this company and apply for a job, OR did the company come to my house, and force me at gun-point, to work long hours for little pay."   

Which is it?   

I think we all know the answer to that question.

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2008 May 10 Saturday and May 11 Sunday.

Saturday morning started at 10:30, when I had a one hour private lesson with an 8 year old girl, who comes to my classroom every week at this time.   

Last week she didn't come, because she and her family went down to Tokyo and Yokohama during Golden Week, to see some relatives and do some sightseeing.   

During that time, she visited Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea, along with some other amusement parks in Yokohama.   

This week when she came to class, she told me all about her adventures IN ENGLISH!   

She even drew some illustrations of what she had seen and experienced during her trip.   

This very intelligent little lady, is one of the very few children who come to my classroom, who actually tries to use English as her first language, when she is with me.   

We almost never speak Japanese to each other.   Amazing.      

After that lesson was finished, I made some really hot and spicy Korean Ramen for lunch.   

It is my own very simple recipe and I would never think of making it for someone else, but I must admit that I really do love to eat stuff, made with lots of hot red peppers.   

I'm not sure why that is, but it IS.   

I was hoping that I could drive out to ShiBiNai and visit with Charles Hamel and family, but Charlie was busy helping one of his neighbors, set up a new restaurant.   

A very neighborly and noble thing to do.   

Maybe I should have gone out there to help them, but I was more interested in playing the guitar, again today.   

Since about 2 or 3 weeks ago, I have been getting back into an artist from Great Britain, whom I have been listening to since about 1984.   

When I lived in the USA, I had many of his albums on cassette tapes, and I would spend countless hours listening to his music and playing along on both electric and acoustic guitars.   

Again this Saturday, I used You Tube to find the songs I love, and my acoustic guitar to play along with the rhythms and melodies.   

The British Musician to whom I am referring is Al Stewart.   

You can see a You Tube video of him and his band, performing his original song, The Last Days of the Century, by clicking on his name above.   

Later on, I also played around on the Alto Recorder, and just for fun.   

Sunday was Mothers' Day.   

Of which I had completely forgotten about until about 10:30 am on Sunday Morning, when Ikuko reminded me of it.   

My mother and father are both deceased now, and the only bloodline family member whom is still slaving away on prison planet, is my skinny little sister, who lives in Seattle.   

She is not a mother, so I didn't send her a greeting card.   

We were mainly concerned with Ikuko's mother, who is still active and healthy, and living not too far away from us. 

That's why Ikuko remembered that today is Mothers' Day, and I didn't. 

To make up for my forgetfulness, I have thrown together a haphazard digital greeting card, to post in this blog.   

You can see my less than diligent results, above/left.   

Tomorrow, I get to play my guitar at the Young Buds Kindergarten めばえ幼稚園.   

I am well prepared, and looking forward to it. 

I think we will start with the ABC SONG, and work our way UP from there.

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2008 May 5 Monday thru May 9 Friday.

Monday and Tuesday were both National Holidays so I had no classes to teach.   

The weather during this entire five days can be characterized as cold, wet and windy.   

I even saw a few snowflakes from time to time.   

Well, that's the north country for ya.   

Because of the consecutive holidays, I was able to make a new set of Question and Answer Cards, that are designed to be used together with my original textbook for elementary school students.   

After the students have memorized all 12 pages of the textbook, the cards are used to test the learning comprehension of the students, by presenting the entire contents of the textbook, one question at a time, in completely random order.   

This method, really puts the frosting on the cake.   

It took me many hours over several days to finish all of the cards, but now that I have them, I can use them over and over again for many years to come.   

Invest Time in Yourself.   

Turn off the boob tube.   

Watch You Tube instead.   

Starting again Wednesday, it was back to a full schedule of classes throughout each day.   

And it continued to be cold and windy, especially at night.   

That's usually when Ikuko and I go for our walks.   Not this week.   

It will get warmer soon, but my snow tires will stay attached until the third week in May.   

I have seen it snow here before, as late as May 18.   

The  hot times are still a month or so away.   

When that season comes, we can really get down and go for some long drives, with overnight camp outs, and MEGA Star Gazing.   

Bring on the Summer.  Bring on the Night.

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2008 April 2 Wednesday thru April 6 Sunday.

Welcome to The Learning Curve.   

If you are a non-native speaker of the English Language, and you are reading this blog, with a full understanding of what I am talking about, you already KNOW what The Learning Curve is all about.   

The reason I bring this topic up TODAY, is because one of my most enthusiastic students, a middle-aged person who attends my classroom 3 times a week, told me something that was profoundly interesting for me.   

This particular student has only been attending my classroom for one year.   

Before he came to my classroom, he had attended a big name English Conversation School, in the city of Kitami for two years.   

At that time, he wanted to study English as a hobby, because he was living alone, and had quite a bit of free time on his hands.   

After 2 years of living and working in Kitami, he was transferred to Asahikawa, and he immediately starting looking for a new English Conversation School in Asahikawa 旭川英会話スクール.   

It didn't take him long to find this website for my little ole school, right here on the WORLD WIDE WEB.   

AKA the internet.   

He called here and made an appointment for a free trial lesson 無料体験レッスン.   

After that lesson, he immediately decided to sign up as a new member of this classroom, and has been coming here almost every week, and on average about 2 or 3 times a week, for a total of one year now.   

At today's lesson he told me that he is so happy, that he can now speak English in a fluent and accurate manner, and he felt so good about IT, that he couldn't stop talking about IT.   

I then explained to him in English, about the concept of a learning curve.    

Please look at the graphic, above/left.   

When a person, any person, first tries to learn something completely new, they START on the LEARNING CURVE.   

At first, they must study very hard, and they do not make much progress.   

But if they keep on trying for a long enough time, they will reach phase one.   

At this point, they can feel that they have learned something new, but it is still not very useful in their daily lives.   

If the student continues to study, they will make it to phase two and then phase three and up to phase four, where they notice a significant increase of their knowledge about the new study, but IT is still NOT QUITE ENOUGH to become very useful in their daily lives.   

At this point, many people will have spent about 2 or 3 years studying this new knowledge and they all have a decision to make.   

Should they continue their study, or should they quit?   

Unfortunately, a lot of people get frustrated with their own slow progress, and give up at this point.   

However, those students who keep on trying to learn more about their new knowledge, and DO NOT GIVE UP, have a very big surprise waiting for them, just around the corner.   

After phase four, the amount of time spent studying begins to yield much bigger results in total learning achieved.   

This is the point where critical mass has been achieved, and the return to the student for their time spent studying, INCREASES EXPONENTIALLY.   

In other words, their total understanding of the knowledge at hand becomes greater and faster with each step they take towards that knowledge.   

The student finally has enough pieces of the puzzle, to be able to SEE the BIGGER PICTURE of that knowledge base.   

This is true for any type of LEARNING (knowledge acquisition).   

It is a fundamental LAW of the COSMOS.   

IT never changes.   IT just IS.   I KNOW FOR A FACT that this is true, because I have had many personal experiences, in my own 50 something years of humanoid EXISTENCE on this EARTH, that have taught me the true meaning of learning.   

For example, learning how to play the guitar, the piano, the bass guitar, the Japanese Language, the teaching of languages, the learning of new languages, and the list goes on and on.   

Don't be one of those people who give up when the going gets tough 三日坊主.   

Hang in there and tough it out.   

There are millions of sad stories about people who did their best, and then STOPPED ONLY 3 METERS AWAY FROM THE GOLD MINE.    

Do not allow yourself to become one of them.   

ROCK ON!

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2008 March 27 Thursday.

Another milestone in the continuing story of Snowman Bei Kaiwa.   

This young gentleman with me in the photograph above/left, has been coming to my classroom off and on, since he was 8 years old.   

You can see what he looked like at that time in the smaller photo in the lower right corner.   

Today was his last lesson at my school.   

On April 1, he will be flying to Australia and start attending an English speaking high school there.   

He is planning to spend 3 years in Australia and graduate from high school there.   

His main goal in life is to become a professional golfer, and I know for sure that he can do it.   

He first started playing golf when he and his family lived in Houston Texas for about 6 months, when he was just 7 years old.   

He is now 15 years old and has been practicing golf every day of his life since he was 7.   

That's what it takes to become a professional, in any field.   

Unswerving dedication and constant practice of the BASICS.   

Look at Tiger Woods or ICHIRO, and you can see what I mean.   

Remember this young man's face, because you will be seeing him on TV in professional golf tournaments, in the not too distant future.   

He will probably be on the same tour with Greg Norman of Australia, some day.   

His real name is Nanase, but I just call him Tiger Yoshida.   

Have a safe flight to the big down under, and come back and see me again during your Christmas Holiday.   

Life can be so sweet, when you have a specific objective in mind.   

Rock on my friend.　

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by
マンション 査定

2008 January 7 Monday thru January 11 Friday.

Back to school for me and most of my students. 

The public schools are still on winter holiday until the middle of next week, so some of my students didn't come to class this week.   

In fact, during my last week of classes just before winter vacation started, I told my students that if they didn't want to come to my classroom during this week, that was OK with me.   

These kids need some free time to relax and learn things on their own, from time to time.   

As a result, I had more free time during this week than I usually do.   

So, I used the time to seriously get into a book, that I first bought about 2 years ago. 

The title of the book is "SAMS Teach Yourself Dreamweaver MX Application Development in 21 days."   

It is a rather large book of 714 pages, each page packed full of useful information.   

This website that you are looking at now, was created using Microsoft FrontPage 2002.   

In order to make it, I had to read another very long book entitled; "FrontPage 2002 Developer's Guide."   

Unfortunately for me, Microsoft has discontinued making FrontPage, and has changed over to making another newer software called "SharePoint".   

This means that web server support for FrontPage websites will gradually become less and less as the years go by. 

So, I am switching over to Macromedia (Now Adobe) Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash and FreeHand, to make a completely new website that will (hopefully) be more professional looking, easier to use, and have much more interactivity with the users, who visit my website.   

I want it to become more of an eLearning oriented website, and have interesting and enjoyable English Lessons available 24/7 for anyone who wants to use my new website for studying English at home.   

This will require that I spend a lot of time learning how to use the new software, and creating a brand new look and feel for the website.   

Wish me luck.   I have to do it ALL by myself.   

I need this new challenge to keep my mind hyper-busy and to have that feeling every morning when I get up, that I have a lot of things that must be done NOW.   

NOT because someone else told me that I must do this, but because I told myself that I WANT to do it.   

I never ever want to lose my curiosity for learning something new.   

That is my most extreme pleasure in life, always learning something new.   

I mean, what else is there?   

Oh!  By the way,....   As you can see from the photo above/left, it has been snowing every day for the past two weeks, and the weather forecast in the Hokkaido Newspaper says, it will continue do so, for the foreseeable future.   

It is absolutely beautiful, and very cold.   

No insects during this time of the year!   

And no, walking along the river banks playing my alto recorder, either.   

It's the season to hunker down inside, take a lot of hot baths, and read read read.   

I still have a WHOLE LOT TO LEARN, and I suspect that you do also. 

If learning is fun, life is a TRUE pleasure.   

If you are spending most of your time CONSUMING mindless entertainment, which stimulates your ephemeral pleasure centers, for just that moment, you will awake each morning with an EMPTY feeling INSIDE, and run back to that source of fantasy pleasure to get more and more of it.   

However, you can never get enough of it, because it does not fill up the hole in your soul.   

The hole that DEMANDS real learning, real knowledge, real wisdom, in order to be totally satisfied and at PEACE with YOURSELF.   

Total Happiness with Peace of Mind. 

To illustrate this point, I have a TRUE STORY to tell you all, that I just heard from one of my students today.   

The student who told me this story, is a 4th year student at Asahikawa Medical College, and has been to America before, traveling around as a back packer for about one month.   

Therefore, he speaks English quite well.   

During our lesson today, he told me that he and his family went to Kyoto during winter vacation, to visit his grandfather and grandmother who live there.   

When I asked him how his grandparents were getting along, he said;  "My grandfather is 93 years old, and he is still alert and cheerful. 

However, my grandmother who is 85 years old is forgetful, and she has sudden and extreme mood swings. 

One moment she is happy, and the next moment she is angry.   

One moment she is eating lunch, and the next moment she can't remember if she eat lunch, or not."   

I asked my student; "Why do you think your grandmother and grandfather have turned out so differently?"   

He said, and very insightfully; "My grandmother worries a lot 心配性."   

He instinctively knew the real reason why his grandmother had become this way.   

SHE SPENT MOST OF HER LIFE WITH NEGATIVE THOUGHTS running through her mind.   

She literally THOUGHT HERSELF into her present senile dementia situation.   

I pray to GOD that this never happens to me.   

Thoughts ARE things.  No joke.   

If you worry a lot, you are NOT doing yourself any favors.   

You are literally killing yourself from within. 

STOP IT!   

If the main source of your worries is the repayment of a loan or loans of whatever type, then you need to STOP IT.   

STOP TAKING LOANS and instead, PAY IT FORWARD.   

IF you have food, clothing, shelter and NO LOANS,.....    

What do you have to worry about?   

Have you ever been HOMELESS and not by your own choice?    

I have.    It sucks.      

AND it will never happen again.   

That, I KNOW FOR CERTAIN.   

Because I have promised myself, never to LOOK BACK AGAIN.   

Always Forward.   Pay IT Forward.   

The big bonus to DOING LIFE this way, is that you get AT LEAST 10 times MORE COMING BACK to you, than you gave previously with your own, time and effort, by paying IT forward.   

Do you see what I am talking about, NOW?   

Here!  This, is another big secret.   

Giving is FREE, and Receiving is ABUNDANT.   

LOVE is positive.   GREED is negative.   

You don't need a PhD to see the writing on the wall, do you.

********************************

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2007 December 21 Friday.

Here is another beautiful photograph from the excellent website, Rambling on My Hokkaido.   

This photo really captures the feeling of mid-winter in Hokkaido. 

Tomorrow is the start of my two week winter vacation. 

During this entire last week, leading up to tomorrow, I had a small Xmas Party during each and every class for all of my students. 

I provided lots of good stuff for them to eat and drink, and we all enjoyed a less formal environment than usual. 

This is one way that I use to express my heartfelt thanks and deep gratitude to each and every one of the students who come to my classroom, every week, for many years. 

If it wasn't for them, I couldn't be doing what I do for a living.   

I am a professional English teacher, and I love my life's work.   

However, if I didn't have any students, I couldn't live my life the way I want to. 

I would be forced to do something else. 

Like I had to do in the past when I lived in the USA.   

During that time, my major goal in life was to teach the Japanese Language at a college or university, become a tenured professor, and then retire on a modest pension and spend my remaining days traveling between Japan and the USA.   

The only problem with that, was my parents refusal to help me in any way financially, so that I could move on through the Masters Degree Program and the PhD program at the University of Washington, in Seattle.   

A university education can be very expensive, and I refused to take out a student loan in order to pay for it all.   

I don't do loans, for reasons which I wrote about in my blog of 2007 October 21 Sunday.   

Therefore, I worked at various jobs of many different kinds, in an attempt to save up enough money to go back to school and get the qualifications I needed to become a tenured professor of Japanese Language and Culture.   

I lived this way for about 6 years, all the while continuing to study the Japanese Language on my own, and talking with native speakers of the language at every chance I could get.   

Finally, in March of 1990, I was able to get an English teaching job at an American University in Japan. 

This, at last, opened the door to the world I had been waiting for, for such a long time. 

I made my decision to come to Asahikawa for that job, in about one nanosecond.   

After only two and one half years, the Japanese branch of this American university went bankrupt, and I lost my job.   

I had to come back to the USA for about 4 months to take care of some ugly business, but when that was all cleaned up, I came back to Asahikawa in February of 1993.   

I had no place to live in Asahikawa, until the very last minute before my departure from the USA.   

I had no job in Asahikawa, until the very last minute in April of 1993.   

My previous work visa was due to expire in May of 1993, so if I had not gotten that job at Asahikawa Eikaiwa when I did, I would have had no other choice but to leave Japan for Korea, and get another 3 month tourist visa.   

After working at Asahikawa Eikaiwa for three years, until March of 1996, I quit my job and started my own classroom.   

The classroom which is the love of my life nowadays. 

That is why I feel so much love and gratitude towards my students, and my wife Ikuko, who make it all possible.   

Even though I risked my very life in February of 1993 and came back to this frozen city on a LEAP OF FAITH, I know now, without any doubt, that I made the right decision.   

I am living my dream, and it just keeps on getting better and better every moment of every new day. 

Thank you so much everyone. 

Have a wonderful winter vacation.　

********************************

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9月５日より秋の午前のレッスンスタートです

旭川市は、すっかり夜が涼しくなりました。

窓を全開にしていると寒いくらいです。
暑さに弱く北海道仕様の体になっているので、夏も晩夏
涼しくなった今の季節が一番好きです。

これから、紅葉の時期を迎えると、寒くなりますが
食べ物も美味しくなるし、温泉にも最適のシーズンです。

涼しくなってくると、物事に集中することも出来ますので
何か始めるにも最適のシーズンです。

スノーマン先生は、新しいチャレンジをすることになったんですよ！
それは、検定を受けること。
その名も「北海道観光マスター検定」

2007 August 31 Friday.　（←この日の日記に書いてます）

スノーマン先生は、日本語も漢字の読み書きも問題なく出来るのですが、テキストも試験問題も、全て日本語なので、日本人より当然読むスピード、読解するのに時間がかかります。

しかし、そこがチャレンジです！

スノーマン先生は、少しずつテキストを開いて勉強を始めました。
普段、新聞など読んでいて、よほど読みにくい漢字や人名じゃない限り、読み方を聞いてこないので、読むのには困ってはいないようですが、北海道はどうしてこう読む？って地名がイッパイあります。

むしろ私なんかより、変わった読み方の地名をスノーマン先生は知っているのですが、試験はそういう問題もでるのでしょうか？

私が受ければいいんですが、郷土を愛する気持ちが少ないのでしょうか？
テキストをパラパラ眺めただけで、覚えることが沢山あって、私観光は見る人！を決め込むことにしました(；￣ー￣

スノーマン先生も忙しいので、どこまで試験前に習得できるか、わかりませんが、１１月の試験に挑戦するようです。

１回目は、どういう問題の傾向だとか、体験と予備知識を得るにも、受験するのは、大切だと思います。

私も習い事をしていて、ちょっ早いかな？って
時期に先生に検定をよく勧められました。

一度目は、試験慣れするためと、試験の傾向を知るのに、受けるといいんだよ！と言われ素直に受けていました。

実際、その通りで２回目の実質本番では力を発揮できたと思います。

運よく１度目のまだ早いかな？って時期に合格して
ラッキー♪って時もありました。

何事も挑戦する気持ちは大切です！
ところで、家庭教室のスノーマン米会話も９月５日より
午前中の秋のレッスンがスタートします。

詳細は、こちらをご覧下さい。
⇒秋の午前中のレッスンスタート

私も学びの秋で、何に集中しようか迷っています。
やっぱり英語なんですが、色々やりたいことが
ありすぎて時間が足りません( ノω-、）

皆さんは、秋　何を始めますか?

********************************

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2007 August 20 Monday.

Back to school.   

First class doesn't start until 13:00 at the 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会.   

I haven't seen this group of people in about 3 weeks, so I knew that there would be a lot to talk about, from everyone, myself included.   

One of the things that I made sure to do, was to bring along my second copy of all the City Town Village signs Magnet Sheets to show everyone.   

I am not the only collector in this group. 

There is another young lady; who, like me, has a very good starter-collection of these colorful decorations. 

As of today, I have about 4 times more of them than she does, but she told me while looking at my collection, that she and her husband will be taking the exact same Southern Hokkaido Coastline Route, sometime during the first half of next month.   

I know for a fact that she will carefully map out their route, being sure to stop at every 道の駅 along the way.   

Have a great time, and BE SURE to drive slowly and defensively.   

Even here in Beautiful Hokkaido Japan, there are some NUT CASES out there  on the road that might put you and your passengers in danger. 

Let them pass and go around you.   

Slow down even more, and make it SAFER for them, and everybody else on the road, while they are speeding off, towards the PATH to nowhere.   

I have many true stories about ridiculous drivers, that do absolutely unbelievably stupid things, when viewed from the standpoint of, the basic laws of physics.  So much so,  that I could write a 5 minute stand up comedy routine about it.   

But,....    

That will have to wait, for another day.   

As for now, I am in the SLOW LANE.   

Even though, this day, is always TODAY.

********************************

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2007 July 6 Friday.

The beautiful young lady whom you can see in the photo above/left, will be going for a two week Intensive English Language Study and Home Stay Program in Canada, starting at the end of this month.
(編集注：美人さんなのでお顔をお見せしたいところですが差し控えさせていただきました）

She will also be graduating from the university in March of next year. 

Her current goal in life is to become a cabin attendant for some major International Airlines company, in the not too distant future.   

What do you think?   

Does she have any chance of making her dream come true?   

I know she does, but IF and only IF she can become a FLUENT ENGLISH SPEAKER in the meantime. 

THAT is the key to her future success, at this moment in time.   

I am here to help in anyway that I can.   

By the way, the gold medal which you can see dangling from her neck, is for a recent All Hokkaido University Volleyball Tournament, which was held just recently.   

Her university won first prize as you can plainly see.   

See you again next Monday, Miss S!!!   

We have about 5 more English Conversation Practice Sessions remaining, before you take your very first trip outside of Japan.   

You will see a whole new world, that will both amaze and confuse you, at first.   

You need this experience to put you on the right path towards your future.   

A future that only you can decide for yourself. 

I can only guide you along the way, IF and only IF you want me to.      

This lovely young lady has been a top ranked volleyball player, ever since she was a junior high school student.   

This means that she already knows personal discipline, and how to set and achieve, certain goals. 

Very important knowledge for dealing with the REAL WORLD.   

I KNOW she will do just fine.

********************************

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2007 July 5 Thursday.

My first class of the day started off at 10:00, here in my own classroom, with the mother of one of my younger students.   

Her husband is a doctor at the National Medical College here in Asahikawa, and the three of them have just come back to Japan this April, after spending nearly 4 years in Vancouver Canada.   

Naturally, the whole family can speak English very well.   

This family is not from Hokkaido, they are from Honshu, so when they found out that they would be coming to Asahikawa for the next 3 or 4 years, they got onto the internet to see what kind of English Conversation Schools there are in this city.   

They found a link to this website on the top page of their search engine, and promptly came by to take a look.   

Shortly thereafter, they enrolled for weekly lessons.   

Her young son who just turned 7 years old, can speak English better than Japanese, and is having some difficultly learning how to read and write the Japanese language. 

The most complicated written language in the world today.   

He his making rapid progress however, and should be in full swing by this time next year.   

After that class was finished at 11:00, Ikuko and I drove over to her mother's house for a short visit, and then we went on over to the AEON Shopping Center to take a look around.   

Then, it was back to our classroom for straight lessons from 15:00 until 20:00.   

The photograph you can see above/left, is of the 4 lovely elementary school girls who come to my classroom every week at this time.   

They are quick learners and a pleasure to teach. 

Today, one of the girls was gazing at a photograph of a young boy, so I said to her in English; "Who is that?"   

She replied in Japanese; "Take a closer look.  I think you know this boy."    I took a closer look and sure enough, I did recognize the boy.

He used to come to my classroom, and he also attends the same elementary school as these 4 young ladies.   

One of the other girls said;  "She is in love with this boy."    

How sweet it is!    Puppy Love.   First Love.   

Oh! What a feeling!   

It is moments like this, that keep me young at heart.  Grow Old?!?!?    Body yes, Mind no.   

Life is what is happening now.  Everyday is today.

********************************

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2007 June 26 Tuesday.

The photo you can see above/left is of a handmade  徳利　which was given to me today, by one of my long time students.   

She has also been taking pottery classes since about two or three years ago, and she has made many various things. 

She made this one especially for me and my classroom. 

When I picked it up for the first time, I could feel the LOVE that she had put into making it,  over many, many hours.   

This will be a treasure for me, during all of the quests to come.    

When I say that I can feel the love which was put into making this pottery, I mean it in the REAL sense of the word. 

Not just the feelings of smoothness and roughness that our sense of touch imparts to the brain, but also the INTENTIONS of the creator, during the creation PROCESS of this piece of ceramics. 

Her thoughts and feelings and expectations and everything else during that time, are forever imprinted at the core 核 of this creation we call, HARD REALITY.   

HOW HARD is it, REALLY?   

At every moment, her hands were shaping and molding the wet clay into her INTENDED shapes.   

The painting and glazing of the shapes and colors.   

All of these physical senses that we take for granted every day, combine into many complex patterns of wavelengths that allow a person to really SEE what it is, that the INTENTIONS of the creator have manifested into, by observing its physical equivalent. 

The one that you can observe in the photo above/left.   

The physical manifestations are what we can OBSERVE. 

The intentions of the Creators ARE what we can SEE.   

There is a difference.   

A very BIG difference, indeed.　

********************************

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2007 June 13 Wednesday.

Still hot and sunny. 

Getting into the uncomfortable zone for us polar bears.   

Today I have a rather bizarre tale to tell, which is entirely true.   

In the photo on the left, you can see a stack of white plastic chairs.   

When I first started my classroom 11 years ago, I went to NITORI and bought 24 of these very useful and comfortable chairs.   

Over the years, three of them have become broken and unusable for various reasons.   

Last Wednesday, we made arrangements and paid a small fee of about 700 yen to have the three broken chairs carried away as Large Sized Garbage　壮大ゴミ.   

When a person in Asahikawa wants to throw away a big piece of junk such as an old sofa or table or some such thing, they must first call the garbage collection agency and make a reservation to do so.   

When they do so, they must also buy a sticker that proves they have paid the hauling fee, and paste it onto the garbage to be carried away.   

In my neighborhood of Kagura, the Large Sized Garbage day is on Wednesdays.   

So, before last Wednesday, we made all of the necessary arrangements, pasted the sticker onto the chair on top of the small stack of three chairs, and carried them out to the garbage collection station on Tuesday night, to await pick up the next morning.   

Ikuko and I both have morning jobs outside of our classroom on Wednesdays, and when we got back home in the early afternoon on that day, we were surprised to see a notice pasted on our door that said; "We came to pick up the 3 plastic chairs, but we could not find them. 

They were not at the garbage collection station, and they were not outside of your classroom door."   

SAY WHAT???    

We both looked outside at the garbage collection station, and sure enough, all three chairs were gone.   

If the garbage collection people didn't pick them up, WHO DID?   

Moreover, who in the world would want three broken and unusable plastic chairs???   

If you think this story is strange now, read on. 

It gets even stranger.   

Today again, being Wednesday, Ikuko and I both went to our outside jobs in the morning. 

When I got up at about 6:00 this morning, I looked out of my classroom window towards the garbage collection station, and what did I see???   

THE SAME THREE PLASTIC CHAIRS had been returned to the exact same location at which we had put them, exactly one week ago!!!   

What in the heck is going on here?   

Did someone steal the chairs, only to discover later that they are in fact broken and unusable, and then bring them back to the exact same location from which they had been stolen???   

I can't think of any other explanation, unless a UFO pulled them up along a beam of light, examined them, and then lowered them back down to where they had been beamed up from. 

WEIRD!!!   

Anyway, we called the Large Sized Garbage Collection Agency again today, and told them this bizarre story.   

Finally, they came by again, and took the chairs away.   

WOW!   I couldn't have written a better fictional story even if I had used the full extent of my imagination. 

This is a TRUE STORY.

********************************

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新生活に思うこと

旭川市の学校も春休みに入りました。

皆さん、一年間頑張りましたね。

卒業して、新しいスタートをはじめる
学生さん、社会人は、期待に胸をふくらませている時期ですね。

教室は、春休みがなく続きますが
英語は継続が大事なので頑張っていきましょうね♪

スノーマン先生が、受験勉強で大変だったね！と
春休み中は、スペシャルメニューで楽しいレッスンを
予定しているようです。

スノーマン米会話に通ってきてくれる生徒さんからも
嬉しい合格のお知らせが届いています。

合格のお知らせを聞くのは、嬉しいですね！

この時期、合格、不合格と結果によって
進む道は、変わってきますが
皆さんの、人生はこれからです！

結果がどちらであったとしても
それぞれ進む道で、勉強だけでなく
部活や学生生活の中で
沢山の人と出会い
友達を作ったり、恋をしたり
色々な体験して欲しいと思います。

毎日を大切に学生生活を
エンジョイして下さい！

先は、まだまだ長いので
いくらでも、未来は変えていけますよ。

４月は、新生活スタートです。

スノーマン先生とナツキも
気持ちを新たに皆さんと一緒に
心機一転、スタートする気持ちでいきたいと思います。

これからも、よろしくお願いいたしますm(__)m

********************************

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2007 March 23 Friday.

Today, just before the start of my 15:00 lesson, a young girl who will be starting high school in April, came by my classroom to tell me that she had gotten into her first choice of schools, North High School 北高等学校.   

This fine young lady started coming to my classroom more than 4 years ago when she was a 6th year student at Kagura Elementary School.   

She worked very hard during each and every lesson and her progress in English proceeded rapidly.   

Finally, last year in September, she participated in the All Hokkaido English Speech Contest in which she won second prize.   

Unfortunately, only the first place winner was able to go to Tokyo and compete in the All Japan English Speech Contest. 

None the less, her practice for and participation in this speech contest, was a valuable learning experience for her and will serve her well throughout her life.   

Today, she gave me a great big hug and said; "Thank you for all your help in teaching me how to speak read and write English. 

It was a big factor in my getting accepted to North High School."   

You're welcome!  I'm just doing my job ma'am.   

Asahikawa North High School is well known as the school to go to if a student is interested in becoming more "internationalized".   

They have exchange programs with schools in New Zealand, and also special courses in English Language and Cultural Studies.   

I know she will be very busy starting in April and will not be coming to my classroom very often, from now on.   

However, her younger sister who is still in elementary school, will continue to come every week for several more years.   

She wants to become able to speak English well, just like her elder sister. 

I know that she can do it too, and I'll be there to help her along every step of her journey towards English Language Proficiency.   

The big smiles on all of our faces gives a real time testament to, a job well done.

********************************

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のびすく学ぼう♪

徐々に雪どけが始まっている旭川です。

今道路は、ほとんど地面が出てきて
運転しやすくなってきていますが
時々、雪が降りだして冬に逆戻りしてしまいます。

日当たりの良い道路など、雪が無くて
ようやく歩きやすくなっていますが
突然雪が降ると、最後まで雪が残る
日陰の道路などは、スケートリンク状態になって
午前中の仕事の日は何度も滑って転びそうになり
遅刻しそうでヒヤヒヤしました^_^;

春、桜の季節
本当に待ち遠しいです♪

今日は、スノーマン先生が非常勤講師として
お世話になっている、看護学校の卒業式がありました。

卒業生の皆様
ご卒業、おめでとうございますｏ(*'▽'*)/☆゜'・:*☆

さて、今日も15：00からスノーマン米会話では
レッスンがスタートしました。

今年から1年生になるRちゃんが、「Hello！」と
元気よく入ってきたのですが、挨拶して
机にスーッと真っすぐ向かって行きました。

そのまま机に背を向けたまま
こちらに来る気配はありません。

一生懸命何かをしているのようですが
私の方からは、後姿しか見えません。

ずっと無言です。

普段なら、キーボードで遊んだり
お友達がまだ来ていない時なら
私の座っている机にきて
机周りにある、ディズニーの人形など
飾っている人形や小物たち、事務用品の
スタンプなどに興味を示して話を
するのですが、今日は黙々と何かをやっていて
いつものRちゃんとは違う感じです。

後ろを振り向いたので
「Rちゃん、何やっているの～？」と聞くと
沈黙の笑みを浮かべています(*^_^*)

そこで、スノーマン先生がやってきました。
すると、Rちゃんは早口の英語でご挨拶した後
スノーマン先生にそれを見せて一生懸命
話をしています。

大人の私には、内緒だけど
スノーマン先生は、別のようです。

時々、子供達を見ていて思うのが
私には、お友達のお母さんや知り合いの大人に
対するような感じで接してきます。

スノーマン先生だと
英語を教えてくれる先生なので
子供達には、親しい存在でありますが
先生、大人、であるはずです。

でも子供達のスノーマン先生に対する
話の内容や接し方は、大人なんだけど
先生なんだけど、友達だ！という風な
印象を受けるんですよね。

だから、レッスン風景を見ても
友達のような先生と
とても自由にのびのびと会話し
英語を楽しんでいるように見えます。

楽しそうな声なので、遊んでいる？と
一瞬、耳をダンボにして聞いてみると
ちゃんと英語のレッスンになっています。

楽しいから、覚えられるのか
いつの間にか、子供は力をつけていっています。

受験勉強となると、一に頑張り、二に根性！
そんな感じで、理解していく喜びや自信も身につけて
いくのでしょうが、時には我慢も必要ですね。

出来れば、自由にのびのびと学ぶ時があり
その中で生まれていく自信や学ぶ喜びを
感じてもらいたいと思います。

私もそういう雰囲気で、英語を学んでいきたいなと
今でも願っています。

Rちゃんは、私には教えてもらえなかった
秘密をスノーマン先生には、話したようです。

子供の生徒さんは、友達であり
英語の先生でもあるスノーマン先生の
レッスンを楽しみに通ってくれています。

「え～、もうお終い？」
「まだ、やりた～い！もっとやろうよ！」
「楽しみに来たよ！」

実際、生徒さんの口から聞くこともありますし
お母さん達から、「子供が英語のレッスンを
すごく楽しみにしているんですよ」
「自分から英語の復習してました」という言葉を
聞いたりすることがあります。

側で見ていて、そういう自由な中で
英語を吸収していく姿を見ていると
私もすご～く嬉しくなります。

少し英語学習がおざなりになっていた
ここ最近の私ですが、生徒さんの熱心な姿に
触発される毎日です。

そんな、教室での様子をまた日記で
書いてみようなか？と思っています。

継続は力なり！
そう思って、毎日少しでも生徒さんと一緒に
コツコツと英語をやっていきたいと思います。

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ふわもこは癒しの究極です

パンダ育児日記 販売元：二見書房 Amazon.co.jpで詳細を確認する

私は、パンダとクマが大好きです。

あのもっこりとした姿、パンダやクマの姿を

見ると可愛らしさにクラクラきます(笑)

とは、いってもまだ、実物のパンダは見たことがないんです。

いつか、本物のパンダを見てみたいと思っています。

最近、二見書房から「パンダ育児日記」なるものが

販売されたようで、今一番欲しい1冊なのです！

クマはわが町自慢の旭山動物園で、ホッキョクグマ館があるので

その愛らしい姿をじっくりと見ることができます。

そして、うちには大きな白いクマのぬいぐるみがいます♪

去年の夏に温泉ホテルのビンゴゲームで、当てたクマです。

ゲームの商品の液晶テレビやDVDレコーダーに惹かれて

ゲームに参加しました。

たくさんある、景品の中にいた大きな白クマを見て

一目ぼれしました♪

まさか…あの子も景品？

でも、きっとすぐ誰かが持っていくなぁ…

置く場所がないって、ダメだって言われるなぁ…など考えていました。

私のビンゴ運は、まぁまぁで一昨年は、無料で配布された

ビンゴカードでDVDプレーヤーを当てたことがありました。

だから、今回もきっと何か当たるぞぉ～との期待のもと

ビンゴカードを購入しました。

「もしあの子もらえたら連れて帰っていい？」と聞くと

OKというじゃなですか～。すっかりやる気満々でした。

いざゲームが始まると、次々とビンゴになる人が出て

今回は、パッとしないなぁ～なんて思っていました。

なぜか皆、そこのホテル（温泉）の菓子折りばかり

持っていきます。

そして、ようやく私もビンゴに…

誰もクマを持っていかないので、なんだ飾りなのか～と

思いながらも、念のため商品引渡しのおねーさんに

「この白クマは景品じゃないんですよね？」と聞くと

「いいえ、景品ですよ。」というじゃないですか！

思わずガッツポーズをしてしまいそうな気持ちを抑え

涼しい顔でクマを受取った、その時

子供の声で、「あ～あぁ」と聞こえてきました。

やっぱり、子供は狙っていたんですね。

はははっ…ナツキおばしゃんは、立派な大人だけどクマが

大～好きなんだよ！:*:・(￣∀￣)・:*:

その日から、子供のいない私には

白いクマがわが子になりました♪

パンダで、もしこの子のようにもっこりとした

姿を持つぬいぐるみがいたら…

もしかすると買ってしまうかもしれません。

ちなみに、この白クマ

名前を考えていると…

スノーマン先生が「BINGO」がいいと言うのです。

ビンゴゲームで当たったからBINGO…

かなり単純で浅はかな名前のような気がしましたが

BINGOになりました^_^;

最初、子供さんが可愛がってくれそうなので

教室にいつも座らせておこうと思っていましたが

白いので、すぐに汚れてしまうと思い直し

お披露目はしていません。

クマといい、パンダといい

あのもっこりとしたぽわぽわ～んとしたシルエットは

癒しの究極だと思っています。

実際は、見た目の可愛らしさとは違う獰猛な面も

あるようですが、いつも眺めていたい可愛らしさは最高です！

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３ヶ月ぶりの日記です☆

こんにちは～。年も明けて2007年になりました。
結局、約３ヶ月お休みしていました。

その間、スノーマン先生がず～っと
ブログを続けてくれました。

スノーマン先生　ありがとうですd(>_・ )グッ!

年末年始はひどい風邪にやられて寝込んでしまい
咳がひどくて結局１ヶ月くらい治りませんでした。

最近、確定申告の準備で忙しくなってきましたが
ずっとそればかりやっていると、うんざり～です。

お休みの最大の理由だった試験は、無事合格できました♪
去年一年は、ずっと試験を意識してきたので本当に
嬉しかったです。

夏の終わりにミニテストがあって、進まなくて
キャンプに行っても、暗記しようか…なんて思っていたくらいで
しばらく試験はいい！って感じです。

そろそろ転勤や入学、卒業シーズンですね。

私はスノーマン米会話での仕事と
（先生として英語は教えていません）
昼まで小売業の職場で接客や事務職を
かけもちしているのですが、そろそろそういう話を
聞くようになってきました。

教室では、進学で札幌や東京などに行ってしまう
高校生やお父さんの転勤で引越ししていく
何人かの生徒さんとのお別れがあります。

入学前のこのシーズンは、新しく来てくださる生徒さんとの
嬉しい出会いもあるのですが、成長を身近で見ていた
生徒さんとのお別れは、いつの年も寂しいです。

職場でも、転勤が決まって２人の方が入れ替わります。
中堅の社員さんで、仕事でわからないことを聞いたり
頼りにしていたので、寂しい気持ちになりました。

出会いと別れを繰り返していくのが人の常ですが
色々な良き出会いが訪れるといいなぁと思います。

のんびりペースで日記は、更新していくと思いますので
これからも、どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。

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