We discussed marriage in conversation class. I was a discussion leader so I researched marriage. I was surprised that it is only Japan, Korea, and Taiwan to have a family registry system. Family registry is an official paper on which our name and family relationships are written. I think a family registry is like a box of a family. When a man and a woman get married to each other, their names are taken from each family’s registry and put on a new family registry. When they have a baby, the baby is put in the family registry. I think it shows Japanese value. Japanese think that group is important. Family is a group and a family registry shows they belong to the same group. We are in the same box. If children marry, they get out of their parents’ box and make new boxes. I had a interest in common-law marriage. Common-law marriage is not legal marriage so common-law couples have problems. I wondered why they don’t get married legally and I also thought that why people get marriage. If we just want to live together with a partner whom we love, we can live together freely. I think it is better to marry because being married is to be considered to be a couple legally. We can get some support from a government or law because we are a legal couple. On the other hand, common-law couples have a reason they chose not to get married or they have a reason they can’t marry each other. Being married is not always the best for us. Common-law marriage is one of the choices to be happy. Through this topic I felt we can see Japanese culture or value in family registry system. Also, I thought marriage is a big event in our whole lives and may change our lives completely. My dream is having my family with my husband in the future, but I noticed there are many choices to be happy.
I had a good time visiting the Southwest USA with Extension students from 15 to 21, October. It was an education trip and I experienced new things and there was a lot of nature which is comfortable for me. I was looking forward to going on the Southwest trip for a long time. I have image that the Southwest is very hot but this place was cold than Spokane. It was interesting that the temperature was totally different in the same place. There were three emotions that I experienced on this trip. First, I was moved by the beautiful landscape of the Grand Canyon. It is absolutely enormous. When I look down the cliff, I remembered the teacher's caution for us that there are lots of people who die and I scared. I and my roommate wanted to see the sunrise so we tried to got up at 4:00 a.m. and then we could see the sunrise which was really fabulous. After that, we decided to rent a bicycle but we changed our mind and because we had lots of time. Surprisingly, we walked 10 miles aro...