End of Semester Game

Tell us about some of the information and opinions you heard from your partners in the game.

What did you find surprising?  What opinions did you agree/ disagree with?  Why?

End of the Year

The end of the year is nearly here already, and we're all starting to think about the winter break. Some of you will be looking forward to a "romantic" Christmas, others will be having fun with friends.
What are your Christmas plans? 

Of course Christmas has nothing to do with romance in Western countries...it's a family time, more like O-shogatsu here.

Let's reflect on 2012.  How was the year for you?  What's your best memory of it?  Do you have a bad memory of it?


At the new year approaches, it's also a traditional custom to think about yourself (especially your weak points).  People make new year's resolutions (things they promise themselves they will change, e.g. some bad habits or weak points of their character).
How about you? What are your weak points?  What would you like to change about yourself for 2012?  How will you do it?

Treasure Hunt

Have you ever done a treasure hunt? If not, now is your chance! It's simple. All you have to do is be the first pair to answer all the questions correctly, and you win some treasure! Of course you can search for the answers on the Internet.

Start now!



1. What kind of sport do members of the Essendon club play?

2. What is the title of the movie in which Dustin Hoffman plays a woman?

3. In 007 movies, what is the name of James Bond's boss?


4. Who met at Yalta in 1945?

5. What was the nationality of the first group of sailors to circumnavigate the world?

6. What is the name of the world's tallest building?

7. What is Superman's one weakness?

8. Who was the drummer for the Beatles before Ringo Star joined them?
9. What is the main ingredient of guacamole?

10. What were the names of theThree Stooges?

11. When did the Great Depression begin?

12. A person who is said to "have a screw loose" might be.........?

13. What are three common colors of the hydrangea?

14. What happened near Kitty Hawk in 1903?

15. Who directed "The Birds"?

16. What is the more common name for the Cosa Nostra?

17. What do "birds of a feather" do?

18. What does "No sweat" mean?

19. What was the sputnik?

20. Finish the expression "Too many cooks ..."

21. What is an English "Bobby"?

22. Who built the Taj Mahal?

23. What are the ingredients of a screwdriver?

24. In what sport might you see a googly?
25. Where did the tango originate?

Election

This Sunday is the latest Japanese national election.  How do you feel about the candidates?  What are their good and bad points, in your opinion? 

What do you hope the next government does?  What policies would you like it to have, and how would you like it to act?  Give some examples please. 

Would you like to be prime minister? What would you do? Would you make any new laws?




Answer these questions in your next post please.

Winter Break

It's nearly time to take a break from classes.  I guess most of you are starting to think about what you'll do.

At this time of year, my wife and I usually like to go to a hot spring somewhere.  This is a photo of us at Kurokawa onsen last year.

When our daughter gets a little bit older, we'll be able to do what we really want to do, which is spend 10-12 days in south-east Asia, probably Vietnam, Thailand, or Cambodia.  She only turned 3 few months ago, so she doesn't like long flights yet.  She gets too restless.  We had a nightmare flight to Guam a couple of years ago.  It nearly killed me.  She screamed during the whole flight.

What are you planning to do?  Try to write in some detail please!  Even if you'll just be staying with your family, tell us what it is usually like in your home at the end of the year.

Inventions

We are living in the most comfortable time in human history, but destroying the planet slowly in the name of comfort and convenience.  How are we going to save ourselves?

It would be nice to think that we will find a way to work together to be less wasteful, less greedy, eat less meat etc, but it's hard to see this happening.


What we really need is a super genius (like you) to make an amazing new invention to help the world in some way.  In your next post, please tell us about your amazing new machine or technology,   what it looks like, what it can do, and how it works.

A Creature I Will Miss

It's well known that many creatures are going to become extinct over the next few decades.  Unless humans become less greedy, selfish, and obsessed about money, large numbers of creatures will disappear.  Which creature will you miss when it's gone?  What do you know about its habits/ behavior?  Please write about it in your next post.

In my case, I'm fond of orangutans (and some other creatures).  Of all the great apes, they are the ones that most enjoy spending a long time in trees. Their hair is reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of chimpanzees and gorillas, and they sometimes look a little bald, like me. Orangutans are the most solitary of the great apes, with social bonds occurring primarily between mothers and their dependent offspring, who stay together for the first two years. Fruit is the most important part of an orangutan's diet, however, they  also eat vegetation, bark, honey, insects and even bird eggs. They can live for over 30 years.

Orangutans are among the most intelligent primates; they use a variety of sophisticated tools and construct elaborate sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage. The apes have been extensively studied for their learning abilities.  I had an interesting meeting with one in an animal sanctuary when I was on holiday in Malaysia .  Maybe it wanted to learn English from me, because it tried to climb up and sit on my knee.  It was too big though, so the staff took it away.