To Share Room

In Japan, it's not common to share rooms. They usually live by theirselves or with their families. Now I live in an apartment with my roommate. At first, I couldn't imagine to share rooms with other people, but now I'm getting used to it. If you can meet nice roommates, I think it's a very rational and natural way to live. I don't know why it's not popular in Japan, but I prefer to share rooms and to live with NICE other people..

There are some reasons why I prefer it;

1. I never feel lonely ; Sometimes I want to be alone, but It's very easy in my apartment.
2. I can be independent ; Roommates are friends but not family, so we can have a good relationship as adults.
3. I can save my money ; It's supposed be cheaper than living by myself.
4. I can learn other cultures ; If you live with people who come from other countries, you can know different cultures.

And there are some reason why it's unpopular in Japan; (I only guess it)

1. Japanese are very sensitive to other people.
2. And they think they have to serve other people.
3. Construction of Japanese apartment is unsuitable for sharing rooms. (I think it's a chicken-and-egg problem)

I think Japanese have a very polite national character, because they are influenced by 武家 (Samurai) culture very much. I think it (礼儀) is a beautiful and important thing. But to be polite or patient is stressful and unnatural, sometimes. So Japanese would like to avoid gathering other people sometimes. I think that's why Japanese don't prefer to live other people. OK, It's JUST my opinion!!

Anyway, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Now I enjoy life in Montreal with Canadian style. I'm gaining great experience here!! :-)

It's a nice room, isn't it?

Review

Recently I've gotten realizing difficulty of English. English has completely different grammar from Japanese, many idioms and so on.. Now I'm not confident that I'll be able to speak English fluently, I can't imagine..

Anyway, I learned these grammars last week. Let's review them.

*Present Perfect* （現在完了形）

1. Action happened non-specific time in the past.
2. Action repeated in the past. (specific time)
3. Action began in the past but it continues in the present.

*Past Perfect* （過去完了形）

1. Action witch happens before another action in the past.

*Present Continuous* （現在進行形）

1. Moment now
2. Temporary action
3. Future
4. Action happening overtime
5. Always (complaint)

*Rejoinders - Tag ending* (I think it's a little tricky)

*Usually, Normally, Generally*

1. simple present + all the time

*Used to do something*

1. Habitual in past

*To be used to doing*

1. Non-habitual action in past
2. It's used negative expression more than 90%

Now, I'm studying "Vocabulary in use" by myself. I want a younger brain...hmm ;-(

Recently news;
I moved to a new apartment safely.
Finally I've got a simpatico, I can enjoy an Internet freely!

For All of My Acquaintances in Japan

Current conditions in Montreal

Nov. 24, 2005

Temperature : -3℃

Overcast : Light snow

Feels Like : -8℃
Wind : NE 13km/h
Relative Humidity : 86%
Dewpoint : -5℃
Pressure : 98.93kPa
Visibility : 6.4km
Ceiling : 1300ft

Today is 11/24 !! We have already had snow... I can't imagine midwinter....

These pictures are "Beginning of winter"!

Who Is The Real Buddha?

Yesterday, my friend asked me "Is this Buddha, right?" while she's pointing a small statue of Fat Man. I didn't understand at first, "What is she talking about?" According to her, most of Mexican believe he is Buddha.. I thought it's completely wrong! In Japan, we call him "Hotei-Son", I think he is one of the gods of Buddhist (I'm not sure), but he is NOT Buddha! Why do Mexican believe he is Buddha? Does anybody know??

He is 布袋尊 (Hotei-Son) in Japan
But, He is Buddha in Mexico

I found articles about Buddha and Hotei in Wikipedia. Please check it out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotei

I was very surprised and interested when I heard about Buddha in Mexico. Asia is quite far from America, so sometimes the culture come down to with wrong contents. I don't know who is the real Buddha in other Buddhist countries.. But I believe he is Buddha!!

He is Buddha, isn't he?

Intermission

I'm often mistaken for Chinese. I know it's difficult for NON-Asian people to distinguish Japanese and Chinese. But in my case, many Chinese mistake me for Chinese. It's a little funny. I often go to swimming pool in my gym, sometimes there are some Chinese guys. They always ask me in Chinese (they never hesitate :-)), when they find me. I think most of Asian can distinguish their nationality, but I'm often mistaken.. What does that mean? It means that I'm very similar to Chinese, and I may be popular in China! :D

China town in Montreal is very small compared with other cities

Today Nov. 20 is the Revolution Day in Mexico, my Mexican friends taught me. Last Friday, I went to a Mexican club. I love Latin music and dance! Its merry sound and rhythm make me happy and cheerful!! And Mexican girls were very good dancers, I was very impressed. "Amor a la Mexicana!!"

I found my favorite shop in Montreal! Lush, Lush, Lush!! Ah.. I can enjoy wonderful and sweet scents after now... I miss a bathtub!!

Have a nice smell! :-)

My First Course Is Finished

Today, my first conversation course was finished. Thank you teacher, classmates! It's a very great experience for me!! After the class, we went to a cafe and had kindly conversations.

At first, I couldn't believe that I can follow the class, because I learned with upper class students. Of course they have a large vocabulary and know grammer well. And my teacher has given a little difficult subject to me. In the middle of class, I asked him "I'm not sure if I can follow your class.. What do you think about me? Can I do it??". He said "You're not bad, Just trying is important. You can do it. And I think the other students have same problems too, about their vocabulary". I must thank him very much for cheering me up! I think he is the one of the best teacher in my school, I like him!

Our teacher, What happend to him??
I requested him to make a mysterious face! :D

The best 3 sbujects in my class; I was very interested in

1. Handwriting; Do you think that a person's handwriting can tell you anything about their personality?
In this class, we wrote "Graphology in the study of handwriting" by hand and we guessed our classmate's personality. My personality is "very confident"....I don't think so, but do you think so?

2. What will you do if you get lost in the desert; You can chose five items in the list.
In this class, we made up a small team and we discussed what we should do. Of course we had different opinions so I had to argue with my teammates. I could really enjoy talking!!

3. Law and order; You are JUDGE JUDY (as seen on TV)
In this class, I told with my partner about minor offenses, reached a verdict and passed sentence. It's very interesting subject for me, because I could learn many words unfamilier with me.

Anyway, I can enjoy my conversation class and I can get nice friends. See you again!

See you again! My classmates!!

Japanese Personality

Today in my class, I found a very interesitng fact. Do you know this article?

"Some doctors believe there are two main types of personalities: "Type A" and "Type B". Type A people are ambitious, aggressive, hardworking, and compertitive; they are sometimes impatient and often in a hurry. Type B people are more relaxed and don't get bothered easily. Doctors say that because they are so hard driving, Type A personalities often suffer from stress and high blood pressure."

There are 4 Japanese women in my class and ALL of them were "Type B". Contrastively, ALL of NON Japanese were "Type A"!! What did it mean? I guess Japanese women are still quiet, reserved and patient..;-) Please try the following tests!

a) Are you always in a hurry to finish things? Y/N
b) Are you ambitious and always looking for new challenges?
c) Are you often impatient with other people?
d) Do you get upset when people are late for appointments?
e) Do you often do two things at once, such as watching TV while eating?
f) Do you get upset easily when things go wrong?
g) Do you sometimes stop listening when people are talking to you?
h) Do you expect to be the best at everything you do?
i) Do you often interrupt poeple while they are speaking?
j) Do you think the best way to get a job done is to do it yourself?
--> Six or more Yes answers = Type A
--> Six or more No answers = Type B

If you are a Japanese woman, you might be a type B! :-))

This Weekend

The Santa Claus' Parade was hold on saturday, Nov. 12. So, my friends and I went to downtown to see the parade. There were lots of children and families, the parade was very cute and nice. We had a great time. (expect it's so cold.. My friend's hand was almost frozen!) Someone who was in the parde worn very toraditional costumes, someone worn fascinating clothes and the others worn funny clothes and made up their face very funny!!

Many santas and dancing girls

Traditional costumes and asking children

Biscuits and grapes

Angels and stars and moon

Finally, Santa claus's comming!!

I've heard it's the one of famous parades in Montreal, and literally there were many people. BUT I thought "If here is Japan, it's supposed to be 10 times or more crowded..". I know Japanese like to line and wait for something special.. When I think of a large population of Asia, I always realize the greatness of rice. Because it supports about 3.5 billion people!! It's amazing, isn't it?

And then, we went to the Olympic park. That's built in 1976 for summer olympic. We bought a ticket included a guide tour. But all of us were not good at English, so we hardly understood his English..;-( It seems a little sad.. but therefore, we have to study English more. Becacuse we want to understand English more!!

Olympic park and American football stadium

After a tour, we rode on a tram (Funiculaire), climbed up the Montrel tower. It's a great view!! There're beautiful liver, bridges, parks, houses and so on.. I love high places like high buildings or towers, I want to go to Toront and climb up the CN Tower(553M)! It's about 100M higher than Empire State Building in NYC!! I think it's supposed to be spectacular!!!

Compare Montreal with New York! (I think NY is more awesome..:-p)

Anyway I spent a great time with my friends. I remember one speech in the movie; do you know "fried green tomatos"? End of the movie, old lady says that "The most important thing of life is to have good friends". Thanks all my firends, you're awesome!!

Thank you my friends!

Big Plants

I like shopping, especially I like food shopping. Sometimes market or supermarket is the most fascinating place in the world, because I can find very interesting vegetables and fruits I have never seen.

Today in my class, accidentally the subject was changed, we told about Banana. There're 5 South American in my class, they're fimiliar with tropical fruits and taught me about banana in South America. They said that there're many kind of bananas in South America and Mexican usually eat plantains; a fruit like a large banana. I wanted to see a plantain, so I went to a supermarket and found it!

My hand, banana and plantain
My dictionary says "plantain is cooked and eaten as a vegetable"

Duaring Halloween, we can see big pumpkins. I don't know they are eaten or not.. but I'm wondering about the inside of big pumpkins and how farmers harvest them and carry them.

Why are you so big??

Market is the wonder land. If you visit a foreign country, you should go to a market and find out something interesting!!

Remembrance Day

They make motifs of poppy

Do you know Poppy? It is a kind of flowers. In Canada, especially in November, the flower has a very important meaning.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/remembranceday/

My friend wears a poppy motif

According to Canadian people, they dedicate 2 minuites of silence to remembrance of war at Nov. 11th.. I think it's a respectable custom and it's similar to The day of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan (Aug. 6th, 9th). We should never forget about the War and never do agin.

http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/pd/pd2005e.html

Lastly, I feel very sorry for WW2 victims as one Japanese...

Jean-Talon Market

In Montreal, people have a unique culture influenced by France. I've heard that there are many gourmets in France and French culture is a food culture. To the letter, there are lots of cuisines and restaurants in Montreal, and so, people love to eat!

People enjoy shopping

Today I went to a very famous market in Montreal called "Jean-Talon". There are many cute shops which sell many kinds of fruits, vegetables, flowers, cheeses, meats, fishes... All people can enjoy shopping and eating there.

Look! a pie of berries!!

I think this leek is 3 times the size of Japanese "Negi"

In this market, I found interesting things. Do you know "shii-take"? It is a kind of mushrooms, I think its origin is Japan.. People in Montreal call it "shitakee", they use Japanese name! I felt very happy when I saw it. :-) and "Kaki". It is a kind of fruits that has orange skin and soft flesh, and we can eat it in fall. These two foods are used Japanese name here!! Can you see them?

I think "shitakee" is French-Japanese

"Kaki" is Japanese also!

Halloween Party

His name is "François"

A week ago, we took place a Halloween Party in our student residence. Some of us prepared Halloween decorations at living room, some of us were disguised in Halloween costumes and all of us gathered at living room, we ate pizza, sushi, and something.. we drank beer, beer, beer... and we danced ALL NIGHT!! :-) (I know, it's a little crazy..)

He is she?!

This party was included our friend's birthday party too, so we celebrated his birthday and of course ate a cake!!:-)) Someone said "A cake of foreign country is too sweet and tasteless", but I think a cake of here (Montreal) is very delicious, but it surely contains lots of suger... because I feel rough surface with suger on my toungue when I eat it!! It sounds terrible for Japanese girls, doesn't it? They think they MUST diet always!!

Happy Birthday!!

Anyway, I spent a great weekend with my friends. I don't speak English fluently now, but someday I will speak English with natives.. I hope it, No, I believe it!!

About My Name

In my class, there are a few Korean guys. They said "Chie(my name) is a very popular name in Korea, so I thought you was a Korean at first". I think it's a quite interesitng finding. My name is very friendly for Korean people! They can easily remember my name if I go to Korea. Thanks my parents for giving my name. I'm really happy now.

Today, I went to a cafe with my friends. We had kindly conversations and spent a great time. I hung out with 2 frineds and both of them were the youngest siblings (I'm the oldest one). I think the youngest siblings are very cute, friendly and they have a special ability to make new friends. Sometimes, I long for their character. I'd like to be a more pretty person. :-)

Oh, I forgot to write about Halloween.. but now is midnight, so I will up it next time.....