AT THE WEDDING PARTY	June. 5, 2004
�@I participated in the wedding party of my colleague of the same working department. They are well-matched couple. In this party, I won a piggy bank stuffed with many snacks by playing the game of scissors-paper-rock against a bride. After this party, I continued drinking and eating at the another restaurant with my neighbors.
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ON THE WEEKEND	Apr. 18, 2004
�@On Saturday, I did rollerblading with friends at the municipal skate park. It costed three hundred yen for two hours. Only two hours skating really made me tired. I was soon short of breath. After skating, I cooked grilled chicken dishes for a friend and ate that together. Then I copied much music data from friend's CDs to my computer. At midnight, I saw the movie, Mononoke Hime, which is famous Japanese cartoon film directed by Miyazaki Hayao, with my wife at home. The film tells us how we should live in nature. �@On Sunday, I had my winter clothes dry-cleaned. And I ate a cup of Haagen Dazs ice cream and Chige soup with tofu at Korean restaurant. And I had massage with the machinery chair at the gym. After I was back home, I studied English for TOEIC.
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A CHEERFUL GIRL	Mar. 2, 2001
I went to the theater to see "Hannibal" with Ryuzo and Danie. This movie was an awful one. Someone ate a roasted human brain. A woman investigator of the FBI was fighting against the vilain. After seeing the movie we ate out together. Ryuzo is the person who came on the same bus, and he came from the same city as mine. Danie is Ryuzo's housemate, and she came from Brazil last Saturday. She is always full of vitality. She persists in her own opinion, but she has the ability to make a harmonious atmosphere. She often has us laughing although she sometimes laughs to herself because she thinks of something funny. And she advises us to pronounce English correctly. At any rate, laughing makes us happy.
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OPENING NIGHT FESTIVITIES	Mar. 1, 2001
Today is "Pizza day." We shared some pizza for lunch at school. We can buy a piece of pizza for $1.50. We ate it at the court. Then Japanese friends told me, "the Film Festival starts today. So opening night festivities is held this evening. We can eat barbecues for free." So I went to the Opening night festivities with my friends, and we got popcorn and a mouse pad for free. But barbecues weren't served for free. I guess someone mistook and started a hopefull rumor. We couldn't get free barbecue, but we enjoyed the game, which give a T-shirt to someone who can tip over all three boxes with three small dalls, and getting on the limousine, and live concerts. Finally we ate "Katsu Don" at Japanese restraunt "Azuma."
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SLANG CLASS	Feb. 28, 2001
I took three classes in the mornig. The former one is GW, the middle one is a culture series which taught us "MADD (Mathers Against Drunk Driving)" and the latter one is slang class. I felt that the slang class was the most intrigueing class of all because we had hardly learned slang at school in Japan, and because the class is composed of funny members. Half of the classmates are Brazillian, and they want to know Japanese. Actually they already knew some phrases which I can't write down anyway. It was really fun anyhow. We had to return the text which we used at this class, so I asked, "Where can I buy this text?" and she said, "At Border's Bookstore." Then I went there to buy it. There were some slang books, but I couldn't find the one which was easier to understand. If I had written down the title of the text, I could have asked a clerk. I decided I would go again after the next slang class.
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TAKING CLASSES & AT THE ZELO	Feb. 27, 2001
My classes started today. I took two classes in the afternoon. One of these is a grammar class (GW), another one is a coversation class (CS). At the former one we studied "unreal conditionals", e.g. "If I had more money and time, I would stay here for 6 months." I could understand the contents of this part because I had learned at high school. I puzzled, however, as to grammar terms in English at first because I had always studied in Japanese. And I couldn't understand half of what the teacher said. At the latter one we studied with proverbs, e.g. "More haste less speed.", "Look before you leap." and so on , and fairy tales, e.g. Cinderella, Snow White and so on. I couldn't fully understand what the teacher said. But I decided to go on taking these classes because teachers explain with as plain language as possible when we ask them, and because I thought I was getting used to the classes gradually. After classes I went to "Zelo" nightclub. I made a promiss to meet my friends at EF school at 9 pm. I had waited for them by 9:30, but they didn't appear. I called them before waiting, but the number they have told me was wrong. I was obliged to go alone. If I had told them by phone, I would have joined the welcome dinner starting at 8:30 at Zelo. At the club, everyone enjoyed dancing, drinking and talking. The atmosphere at the club was similar to the one in Japan. But there was a difference in how to dance. I'd never seen foreigner's dancing before. They're truly dancers. They danced lightly and rhythmically. I danced just for a while, but I chiefly looked at them as I drank. The man who lived within two blocks from Zelo spoke to me when I warmed myself by the fireplace. He was enough kind to tell me, "I understand what you say. Don't worry." I was happy to hear that. Then Agnes who borrowed rent-a-car drove me with some friends, and I returned home in safety at 2:30 am. I set the alarm for seven, but I couldn't get up. Linda woke me up at 7:45.
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NICE FRIENDS	Feb. 26, 2001
We live at the northwest end of SB county. EF school is located in central of SB. Linda drove me to EF school this morning. It took about twenty minutes to get there by car. I got there at 8:20. I heard placement tests are supposed to start at 8:30. I thought I had to go through the entrance formalities of EF school before taking tests. But I wondered where I could finish the procedure. So I asked the men nest to me. Then one of the men said, "Don't worry." I knew the shuttered door behind me was the reception desk. The man having told me had gone to take classes because he isn't a newcomer. His name is Erick. He came from Indonesia. He is a nice guy. And another man whose name is Fabio is a newcomer same as me. He came from Brazil. He is a roommate of Eric. He is a close friend. We went through the formalities, then followed with an EF staff member. We came to the test room about 9 o'clock. We had two placement tests. It was noon when we finished. But EF staff members went on talking about the code of the school, housing, activities and so on although we were hungry. And finally we were free to go at 1:30. So Fabio, Katrin who had come by the same air bus, and I looked around for a restraunt. After a few minutes we went to "State & A." I ate tacos. We found the fellows having taken tests together and the EF staff members when we went outside. They took us to the County Courthouse. It's a very nice building. And the scenery from the roof of this building impressed me. I wanted to take pictures, but I believed that I had left my camera in my host family's house. I didn't know my camera was in my rucksack before I went home tonight. But I asked Fabio, "Shall we go here again to take pictures?" We were supposed to come back to EF school by 3 o'clock, but we were late, and an EF staff member was angry, and said, "Don't be late!" We got the schedule matched with out levels. Katrin got level seven which was most advanced. I think she deserves it. I got level five, but I wonder if I deserve it. I heard we can change levels by 5:00 pm Wednesday if the classes are matched with us. Then I went to Public Library to access to the WWW with Katrin, Eric and Fabio. We are free to use computers for 30 minutes there. Then we got on the bus. Erick taught me how to ask to the bus driver when we want to get off. Thanks to my friends, I could have a nice first day.
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BIG, BIG, BIG	Feb. 25, 2001
Linda drove Lois and me to gus station, EF school, Stearns Wharf, a Chinese restraunt, Mission Santa Barbara and a grocery. The Chinese restraunt has an all-you-can-eat special for $5.95, so we enjoyed lunch. Chopstics at the restraunt are too long for me to use. I ate with a fork. Then I broke a fortune cookie. There was a card on the inside of it. The card said "Love is a thing that sharpens all your wits." and told me Luckey Numbers. Lois and I went to the grocery store. It has things which are bigger than Japanese things. We bought two ice creams and sheets of pie there. Linda taught me the way to school and to home with a map when we returned home. Then she took me to a clothing store because I wanted warm clothes, e.g. sweater or sweat shirt with a high-neck. I thought it was warmer in Santa Barbara than at Nagoya, so I brought only T-shirts and long-sleeve shirts, except for one sweat shirt. I went to two different stores, but I couldn't find what I wanted. Most of those clothes were too big for me.
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MANY HAPPENINGS	Feb. 24, 2001
I left for LA at 19:30 by airplane. This is my first travel abroad. I enjoyed dinner with drinks on board. this airplane's seats were occupied by families, high school students, travelers and business men. I heard that the business man next to me worked for a company related to trade by ship. And he seems to have lived in south LA for 5 years. He talk to me about the Coast. I got to LA at 12:00 AM. And I found an EF staff member on the way out. She brought me to one Japanese and three Taiwanese students. And all five of us were taken to a bus stop. Then she directed me to the wrong shuttle. I didn't notice the way was wrong till' I got to the destination, Northwrich. So I told the circumstances to the EF staff members at the dormitory and returned to the airport. The kind shuttle driver gave me a very very big strawberry and nuts, and brout me to the right air bus stop. I was relieved when I got on. Linda's husband picked me up at the Santa Barbara bus stop after 2.5 hours' ride. But it turned out that my host family, Linda, was another Linda! He and his wife, having a grasp of the situation, gave me soup, some sandwiches and a potato salad. And He drove me to my host family's house. Finally I received warm welcomes from Linda, her mother, Lois and their small dog, benny. I had some difficulties but those things gave me a short trip to Northwrich and unexpectedly the encounters with many warm-hearted people.
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THE MOTIVE FOR STUDY ABROAD	Feb. 21, 2001
It is often said that the sooner one goes abroad to study, the more benefit one gets. However, I was absorbed in present things: competitive entrance examinations, training at an university's ice hockey club and research activities at a laboratory of plant molecular science. So I had forgotten an impulse to do. But the thought stirred me up when I was going to complete my study as a master thesis. I made a request for a host family to understand dissimilar cultures to Japanese one. And I decided to attend one of the EF schools to communicate various people from all over the world.
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