In conclusion

I’ve never done such a big presentation in English. Last semester, I had presentation about service. I t was really interesting to me and the style of presentation was more casual, so I didn’t have any nervous.

However, this time is different. We invited many Americans and took a long time to present our culture research. I learned importance of group works and found new Japanese culture.

First of all, I have wonderful partner, Kaori and Rikako. I gave a lot of troubles because I was sick. Actually, I had fever for about 2 weeks before the presentation and I couldn’t feel better and concentrate on classes and presentations. I was surprised at other students’ presentation whose were presented on the first day because they were more fantastic than I expected and then, I was a little bit upset. After the first day, I found my presentation was so long that I changed my slide. Then, I practiced it until 2a.m. and started speaking from 5a.m. The more other students practice their presentation, the more I had anxious but I tried to be confident. Every time our group presented our research in front of teachers, I really unprepared for presenting it but they always encouraged me to do presentation without their anger. Thanks to them, I could succeed in my presentation.

As I listened to others’ presentation, I realized I don’t know Japan very well even though I am Japanese. I feel kind of embarrassed for less knowledge about it. I also found some connection with many Japanese cultures, for example, relationship with New Year’s Day and Shintoism. These presentations helped me to understand well. After I go back to Japan, I try to find anything that is related to Japan.

To tell the truth, I regret not speaking fluently during presentation but I knew the process of making presentation is more important through our presentations. I felt very happy that all Extension students did it. I rejoiced and celebrated not only my success but also other’s successes; at the same time, I realized we respect and support each other. I don’t know how I can express my gratitude. How can I forget the great experience? It’ll be an unforgettable memory.

What Makes You Study Abroad?

I had a great time this Tuesday at Washington State University. Last semester, I visited Gonzaga University but I just waved to international students, so last Tuesday was the first time I had great conversation at another university. There were a lot of international students including students from Japan. As I saw people of all nationalities, I thought why so many students want to study abroad. I search a little bit using the Internet to find answers to my question. In my case, MFWI is the best place to study hard without obsessions so I am here now.

I will focus on internationalization. Recently, many students go abroad to study. It shows globalization advances rapidly around the world. The thinking of globalization spread out not only the schools but also enterprises. Here is an example. At present, some companies which develop global work hire not international students in Japan but foreigners who graduated from foreign universities. Moreover, they don’t have the requisition of Japanese language for hiring people. It means even Japanese companies need global person regardless of nationalities.

According to statistic of Institute of International Education, IIE, Open Doors, students who study abroad have decreased. In 2008, about 66,833 students went abroad to study. It is because the number of children decreases and Japan is going down. In addition, it is so hard for people in Japan to get a job; on the other hand, people in other countries who have studied abroad are treated. In Japan, some might have disadvantages about getting a job by studying abroad. This situation leads to a decline in concern about the world.

One of the major companies in Japan changed their official language to English. The materials of meeting are written in English. They regard the revolution as “the time of growth for a real global enterprise.” They really need the person who is able to consider things from the international point of view.

From some information, an able person who has a global perspective is needed. If there is no obstacle to get a job, I really want to study abroad for a long time. To respond to hard request of company, we should cultivate our mind by working hard despite international students and Japanese who have studied abroad. It is time to think about how life here will be good for me for the future and what I should do next for my success. Anyway, I have to study English and work hard to accomplish my own goal now. That’s why I am here.

The Breathtaking Grand Canyon

I had fabulous south west trip with energetic Extension members. Everywhere I visited fascinated me. I found a lot of favorite place during this trip. One of the favorite places is Grand Canyon. I had just seen and watched pictures on TV or the Internet. I heard some students saw the Grand Canyon and cried from teachers. It makes me if they really cried by only seeing the landscape; however, it is correct. We arrived at a spot to see Grand Canyon. At first, I felt cool breeze and fresh air. As soon as I saw a beautiful landscape, I was going to cry but nobody cried, so I was patient to cry. I understood what teachers said. I don’t know why my tears
came. I think Grand Canyon has spiritual, powerful and natural forces.

The first night, I was outside to eat ramen as a dinner with group mates. Under the star-spangled sky, we enjoyed eating and talking. In a moment, we screamed at the same time because we watched a shooting star together. It was the first time I watched a shooting star; moreover, I did it with my dearest friends. How lucky I am! I also saw the Milky Way clearly. When I visited my host family’s house, I saw a ton of stars. Compare to that experience, this time is special. I saw many stars more closely and generally the sky above the Grand Canyon seemed to be approaching to me. It’s interesting, isn’t it? With some music, we looked at innumerable
twinkling stars. Only one night, I watched about ten shooting stars. Can you believe it? While I was doing star gazing, I cried and some my friends also did. It is just beyond description.

Next morning, I woke up earlier than usual to watch sunrise. I could realize changing the sky’s color gradually. When I arrived at the best point, it was dark. I had to use a flash light; however, it passed an hour and the sky was getting bright and sunrise appeared. I saluted “Good morning, sunrise.” The reflection of sunrise made canyon more marvelous scenery. There were only Mukogwa students, so it was sometimes a little bit quiet. I could focus on watching sunrise and breathed deeply without thinking. As I looked canyon, I tend to be inhaling into the canyon.

I am really glad to go there. Thanks to people around me, I could visit there. This is unforgettable memory. I want as many people as to experience these feeling as I did.

Absolutely Marvelous Support!!

Wonderful Co-Presenters!!

"WE DID IT!!!!" This word came up with my mind and feel really relieved when we extension students finished our presentation. On December 7th, there was the biggest event for extension students which is  presentation about Japanese culture finished. The moment the final group finished giving presentation, I feel fulfilled to everything I have ever done about presentation.  Through this presentation, I  realized such a wonderful people I was surrounded. Now, I describe the people who supported me about presentation and the impressive experiences.

 First, I really appreciate a lot of teacher supporting me. My preparation of presentation such as power point and script was really late because I couldn't organize well smoothly. That's why, I was really upset when I finished my power point and script because I had no idea how should I talk in front of such a lot of people. This practice was really more complex than I though. However, one teacher who is very busy in daily life make the time, almost early morning, for me and fix my pronunciation, speed and emphasis. By practicing these many times, I felt like to grab the atmosphere I would give a presentation. I really appreciate him to spend a lot of time for me and useful direction. And, another teacher also cared about me a lot and always spoke to me, "How is going your presentation?","You can come to see me!"and "I am sure your presentation will absolutely success!" These kind words always encourage me to go toward to the goal and made me feel relieved even if I really feel stressful. I am sure that the thinking that I can depend on all teacher allowed me go for it!!!

 Second, My host family is really great and I feel full of affection through them. There are two reasons. First is about the Thanks giving day. Also, my host family came to my presentation without informing me although they live in Idaho where not necessarily near from here. Before the moment they appear I talked with my friend that I feel sorry I was unable to show my presentation to my host family. However, they came!!! I was really surprised and almost crying because their exist removed my strongly nervous to come close my turn. They said, "We planned to come here 2 weeks ago because we wanted to really see your presentation!" Such a wonderful host family I have!! When I realized I have a lot of behalf, I felt "I have no choice but to success my presentation!!! I want them to show my continual efforts so far!!! Also, this thinking removed my big stress.

 Third, surprisingly, I had some trouble on the presentation day. I became upset and felt full of nervous and scared and can't stop to think to fail in. However, thanks to the help a lot of my friends and teachers, our stress were removed little by little. They spend their time to help us and sometimes spoke to us,  "I was sure you absolutely success that's why you don't need to be afraid!" I really trapped in an extreme state mentally, however my friends always stayed with me and cared about. Their big support was really essential for me and push me to go to forward gently. I appreciate them to big support.

 Finally, I think because there were my wonderful group members beside me, I could accomplish my presentation!!! Every time I feel stressful, they spoke to me and tried to remove this thoughtfully. In addition, they always think my topic as if she give a presentation my topic by herself. We see our presentation each other every time and tried to get used to standing in front of the people. The member I went out with since in this summer became gradually gather to one and also they got magical power from each other!!!! If I didn't have them, my presentation would not become wonderful things. Also, now, I really appreciate them to support me.

 Fortunately, the things I feared the most didn't happen, which my mind went blank. And also, strangely, the words I have to speak came up with step by step, nevertheless I got lot a lot of words while rehearsal. It is because I got big confidence that I could make everyone understand what I want to say by response of everyone such as nodding. Also, every time I finished saying each one sentence, a lot of friends and teachers was nodding in different meaning. Because I felt everyone stay with me, I could say what I want to say to the end. It was like a magic!!!After finishing my presentation, I felt like that my goal,  "Do My Presentation with Brightness!!! and Smile!!!" was achieved. Also, the moment our presentation finished, I felt fulfill which beyond describing!!!! I am sure that If I haven't had really hard time so far, I wouldn't have felt like this feeling. Through this experience, I learned how many people supported me so far and how happy environment I was standing. I hope this experience will connect to the big confidence!!! "We Did It!!!!"

Powerful Stimulation!!

 I like to hear the career of adult people because I can draw ideal future that I have not yet had this experience, such as job and marriage. Also, sometimes their advices I seek benefit me because of course their life is longer than me. To my pleasure, I could have an opportunity to hear this from host family who accepted my roommate as host daughter last semester. This couple has been married for three years, therefore they are rather like newly married couple. They take us to the incredible restaurant serving delicious breakfast, famous ice cream shop where we can choose our favorite topping from variation such as chocolate, raspberry and custard and shopping mall we really love. All activities made us incredibly happy! However, at the same time, we can have a conversation a lot and this spurred interest in my near and long-term future.

 First, I was really surprised their great bravery because they are going to stay Spain from next week on business. This day is the very approaching!! In addition, more surprisingly, they will stay there at least 5 years or at most 10 years. Their wonderful challenge made me wondering if they feel afraid to go to new world or miss their mother country, USA. When I asked them, they answered quickly ”No, not at all!! ” Their answer made me surprised again. There are two reasons they were really looking forward to staying Spain. First, they already know about their country in detail, so they feel it enough to stay there. Second, they really want to stay another country they never experienced because to stay new country would make their life delightful than to stay they used to. Of course they must miss their family such as parents and sibling, however I was sure their exciting exceed their anxious. Of course, I always say the wish to stay another country in the same way. However, If I stood this situation that I could get opportunity to go foreign country for a long time, which option would I say?? I feel like I would worry about this forever because of anxiety for my future and missing my family and friends. When I hear their determination, I really respected them.

 Second is about their marriage story, which is not adventure but romantic tale. The reason I asked their marriage is that I felt they were rather young than I expected before I met them. Of course, because this kinds of genre is my favorite, too! I feel really jealous them because they look like very happy to talk each other. In addition, my host mother taught us the importance to discuss many times before marriage. When she discussed their future life with him, they feel like a stressful because this topic was not easy. However, after marriage, they always enjoy their life and laugh everyday! I was really surprised because I thought the typical couple is opposite to this pattern. Also, they look like to respect each other because I commend each other every topic. I think this is the very ideal couple! This talking made me look forward to having my happy future!!

 Third, I asked host father about presentation because I was wondering his job take presentation so often. As just I thought, he has experienced to take presentation a lot. Also, surprisingly, my host mother had a lot because there are a lot of opportunities to do in church. I got some advices of presentation techniques from them. First, it is better to speak to like only one person one after another. It means it is better not to leer at audience. This will ease our nervous and be able to calm. Second, the more afraid to make mistakes, the more nervous I would feel. That’s why, I should give up to be intense and if I forgot the phrase I try to introduce, it is important to switch the next introduction without caring mistakes. If I didn’t pretend to make mistakes, audience would not realize my faults. While we were talking about it, my feeling of nervous to presentation were being got rid of. I am sure that their advices will be helpful to my close future, presentation.

These inspirations made me really excited and I could draw some my ideal future such as to be braver and to have incredibly wonderful husband! As I described just now, they will leave for Spain next week. Therefore, to my sorrow, it is impossible to meet them for a long time from now on. Even if this encounter is just only one time, I want to treasure every meeting. “Treasure every encounter, for it will never recur.”

Unforgettable Trip

Southwest trip was not only just for fun, but also for studying. To go there was good opportunity for me. I learned many new American cultures. It made me interested in America more. It was helpful for me to feel Native American culture more realistic than before the trip.

First, buildings which were made with adobe style were cute. When I saw them at first, I thought that I was in an amusement park. The buildings were small, short and rounded and the color was brown. There were many buildings which looked like same, but each building wasn’t same and it was interesting for me. I heard people who want to live there had to choose color in list to make their houses. This idea was similar to Kyoto in Japan. I agreed with this idea because I didn’t want to see buildings which were too bright. Also, I could learn how important buildings were to show the atmosphere of cities. I began to like adobe style.

Second, I had a wonderful time in the University of New Mexico. It was a good opportunity for me to talk with students who have learned Japanese. Their Japanese was very well. I asked one of them how to study foreign languages. He said that he has tried to speak Japanese with Japanese who have been in this university. His attitude to learn other languages was really high. He told me that the most important way to acquire second language was speaking as much as I can. I have known this idea and I have challenged it, but I noticed the time that I took to learn English wasn’t enough to speak it more fluently. He made occasions to talk Japanese a lot by himself, but I had a passive attitude, nevertheless I’ve been in America to study English. He reminded me the reason that I came back to America again. It was admirable opportunity to talk with him.

Third, the Pueblo Cultural Center was memorable place though we couldn’t stay long. A man who guided us was very cool. The song which he sang to us was absolutely emotional. I was really impressed it. He also taught us Native American’s language. It was difficult to pronounce, but it was really interesting for me. It helped me to connect Native American’s culture more easily. Also, exhibits which were in this museum showed us their history well. The story he told us was fun and I was interested in Native American’s thought, for example, they thought eagles were important for them because they believed that eagles would go to spiritual world. It was new idea for me, so I was happy to learn that, but I was sorry that I didn’t have enough time to stay there.

Forth, I learned how important Native American was. There were some rules about Native American. For example, we couldn’t take pictures of them because of their idea that if they were taken pictures, their souls must be stolen. I heard attention of it many times during trip, for example, when we went to “sky city”, we needed permission to take cameras there. Also, when I went to capital of New Mexico, a receptionist told us that we shouldn’t ask Native American about the meanings of symbols because the symbols weren’t exhibits for them. They were meaningful for them, so to ask meanings can be impolite. I noticed importance of symbols for Native American. In addition, one interesting rule was that only Native American could sell their stuff in front of the Palace of Governors. This idea showed me that people in New Mexico treated Native American preciously.

Finally, the view of Grand Canyon was unforgettable. It had old history and we could see the history. Each rock had many strata and we could understand the changes thorough differences of color. The Grand Canyon was under the water before and this story was interesting for me. The nature of the Grand Canyon was protected by some people, so there were many animals and many kinds of plants were able to grow up there. I visited Mather Point Visitor Center and I learned the size of it. It was absolutely huge. Also, I learned the fact that the oldest rocks were 1.7 years old. It was surprising. In addition, I could see sunset and sunrise and I was really moved. I thought how people were small and how the nature was great. It was irreplaceable experience.

Southwest trip was important to study different American cultures. It was the best way to feel different country and culture actually to learn new culture. Also, to communicate with people at new place helped me to know valuable idea. It must be unforgettable memory for everyone.

Experience at Portland

I had many chances to experience fun activities. We visited a few schools in 4 days. It was interesting for me that each school had different ideas. I learned both American culture and Japanese culture in Portland. Also, I learned about nature and felt natural beauty.

First, to visit some universities was a good opportunity. I went to Columbia Basin College at first and I talked about my cultural research with a student there. It was the first time to tell about Gambanyoku to a person who didn’t know about my presentation. It was difficult because my partner had no knowledge about Gambanyoku. I had to explain from beginning to end. I hadn’t memorized my presentation yet, so I used a script and explained it, but it was too hard to organize what I wanted to say. I forgot to ask him how much he could understand, but in my opinion he could understand a little. It means I needed to organize my opinions and practice more. Also, I visited other schools. One of them was Reed College. Reed College had a special system which was different from other colleges. It was interesting for me, but we have taken classes which are composed of less than 15 people at MFWI, so it was sometimes similar to our school. For example, we call teachers their first name and it was the same as Reed College. It was usual for us here, so I was surprised that it wasn’t common in other colleges. To my surprise, students in Reed College could take exams anywhere they wanted. It showed us how honest they were. It was new for me to hear this system, and I was impressed. I was also surprised at their tuition. It was about five times as expensive as MWU tuition. I couldn’t believe it. I also went to Portland State University. There were many international students and I had an opportunity to talk with a woman who was Japanese. She told my friends and me how challenging she came to United States and entered the university there. After that, we went to watch a women’s volleyball game. There were three men who cheered to PSU team, but they wore green clothes from top to bottom. They were strange and their attitudes were not good. They were stupid, but sometimes made us laugh and I heard it was common from an international student. However, I thought it wouldn’t happen in Japan. It disobeyed sportsmanship. There were many types of schools and to go there was fun for me.

Second, I felt sad at the Japanese American Memorial. There were two statues which wrote faces of people. Their faces were sad, and showed us how hard Japanese American lived in America at that time. There were also haiku and some words on the rocks. It told me how Japanese Americans felt during the war. I was depressed and shocked. The situation at that time was quite different from now. However, thanks to Weedflower, I had knowledge about their situation or life at that time, so I could understand their feelings easier than without knowledge. I thought they might struggle to make their life better. Also, it was good to visit the place I learned before because it helped me to understand correctly about the atmosphere of the situation. In addition, it was important to know the WWⅡ from many sights. If I were in Japan, I would have never understood and learned about Japanese Americans, so it was really a useful opportunity for me. We also visited the Japanese American Memorial in Washington D.C. last semester. It was helpful for me to compare both of them and think more deeply about war. I've thought war is very sad, so we have to remember this history forever.

Finally, the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center was the good place to learn not only history but also animal. We could learn about Lewis and Clark. We learned about them from Kris at MFWI in American West class, so it was easy to understand. To my surprise, people at that time cut their wrists to take blood out from their bodies. They believed that there was sick in their blood. It was too shocking for me to imagine. Also, their way to pull their teeth up was very different from now and the way was scary for me. Another interesting story was about owls. There was an owl and the guide showed us it. It was first time to see them very close, so it was interesting. The system of owl’s body is very different from human beings, for example, owls can turn their necks to 270 degrees. I couldn’t imagine it, but actually the owl which the guide took could move his neck. They also have special ears and sight. They can hear quickly and they can see other animals from many direction. It makes them easy to catch other animals. The story was really fun, so I enjoyed listening to her story. In addition, I could touch some items there, so it was exciting to study.

I could learn new teaching and learning system of some universities and it was fun. To visit other universities and tell them about my culture research was a good opportunity for me. I could notice what I should do. It was great to learn history and feeling of Japanese Americans was hard, but it was really important. Also, there was an institution which has been prepared a guide or some items for learning deeply. I had a good time there. The Portland tour made me interested.