From now on, I will change the purpose of the bulletin. I will modify the theme of the community in order to be used for reflecting on my second language learning experiece.
The reason for this is that I want to save my own narrative to study my own internal process during the course of learning English, thereby looking introspectively and retrospectively at changes of my attitudes and motivation of learning English. Thus, posts will be framed by narratives, in other words, "I" sentences.
I wish I could collect a fair amount of "I" stories, by which I could study my research theme on language learning.
From now on, I will change the purpose of the bulletin. I will modify the theme of the community in order to be used for reflecting on my second language learning experiece.
The reason for this is that I want to save my own narrative to study my own internal process during the course of learning English, thereby looking introspectively and retrospectively at changes of my attitudes and motivation of learning English. Thus, posts will be framed by narratives, in other words, "I" sentences.
I wish I could collect a fair amount of I stories, by which I could study my research theme on language learning.
In my 30’s, I liked to go on vacation in Hawaii. Vacation in Hawaii was a peaceful and joyful experience for me. The hotel I often stayed was one of the top hotels; it was Moana Surfrider Hotel. This classic hotel has an antique feel just like Victorian architecture; its white colored charming building brought me comfort and a little luxury. At the hotel, the white entrance welcomes the guests. After passing through the entrance hall and walking down the hallway, I reach a wide-open outside bar. In the bar, there was a middle-sized comfortable stage, and a classic grand piano stood nobly next to it. At night, local bands perform music on the stage; soft jazz music fills the space with their low slow voice. Outside bar, the blue ocean was spread before us, and we could walk to the beach through the bar. I sat on the beach all day long and saw birds flocking around the beach. Murmuring sound of waves tickles my ears, and chirping birds comfort my eyes. After staying a few days there, I felt like getting over stresses and tiredness brought by busy city life. Indeed, spending vacation in Hawaii is like charging energy to me.
I found an interesting article from CNN video clips. Here are the text of the story.
Year of Dragon brings romance and babies
A business of love is successful in Hong Kong. “This year, the sales are increasing” says the city’s only dating service for women between ages of 30 and 70. The founder of the businesses is expecting the new year to be one of the busiest years as ever. “I think the new year will be very successful. This is because of the power of being auspicious; it brings more setting up a family, finding a spouse. . . “ She says the business is over 3 0% up than the time last year. . . . Largely, this is because of dragon year.”
Hong Kong CNN news 2012/01/27
If you are interested to hear the rest of the news, please go to the CNN website.
In China, dragon year is believed to bring success. The belief pushes people to a range of behaviors, for example forming a new family, finding a partner, or giving a birth. Because of the effect of dragon year belief, Hong Kong is expecting growing businesses especially in marriage related industries.
Responding to the article
Historically, it is believed that increased population of a particular generation brings unique cultural identities to the society. Take baby boomers for an example, they tend to think themselves as a special generation compared to other age groups. Time (1993) reported that baby boomers are less religious than other generations; they are more liberal. Also, baby boomers developed unique political movements in the period of Vietnam War. We see a leading figure （省略されました・・全てを読むにはここを押してください）
It was sudden when the idea popped out of my mind. When my new year started as usual, greeting and having a holiday meal with my family, I thought, "I want to go hiking!” I immediately set myself on planning. The place was fixed to Mt. Takao, and the date was on Jan. 3rd. The accompanying friend is my son. On the day we went hiking, a beautiful blue sky cheered us. First, shortly after we took our way from Takao station, we came across a steep uphill slope, which was a hard task for novice hikers. After a 10-minute walk on a steep hill, I was very hot that I could not help myself from sweating. I sat on a thick wood, which was laid on the side of the path, and I huffed and puffed. The mountain road was a steep zigzag path along the hill, so I took a rest at each turning point. Then, suddenly the road became a gentle slope. I felt that we were closer to the top, because we could view thick green woods downhill. Although I felt tired, my mind was fresh and vivid. Finally, we saw a sign, which told us we were almost near the top. Although it took nearly 2 hours to get there, it felt no more than an hour to me. After a few more minutes’uphill hike, we reached the flat open square where some restaurants were built around. My son asked me, “Are we at the top?” I said cheerfully, “Yes, we did it!”At the top, we stood on the deck where we could view spectacular scenery of snow-capped Mt. Fuji. All our hard work paid off, I thought. The scenery was fantastic. New Year’s hiking made my legs ache, but it was an exciting experience.
Today, I'd like to share a video from CNN news with you.
Here is a short summary of the story.
This girl, Beckie has a tumor in her kidney, which was found to be a progressive cancer. Every Tuesday, she goes to the hospital to get shots. Although she was donated a large sum of money, one thing really haunted her. She says, "I want to raise my hair. . . " Out of Beckie's soul, this movement, "Bold Barbie" campaign began. The mother Rachel, together with Beckie created a charming Bold Barbie on Facebook, and a lot of girls, who are suffering from hair loss by cancer responded. Now, the movement became famous, and it raised some controversy.
Akie
Could you respond to the article by writing your ideas?
I think “Bold Barbie” movement shows girls’ wish to stay charming. Girls who are suffering from cancer make Barbie bold, with which they demonstrate that, although they are bold, the most charming figures look ever beautiful.
Some are against the movement saying that it might damage girls’ dream of making their appearance charming just like Barbie. They say Barbie, which has long gorgeous blond hair is always girls’ideal figure. By creating Barbie bold, however, it may weaken the ideal appearance that girls truly want to become. I agree with this point. Barbie is, after all, girl’s ultimate dream.
