Snowman Japan WEB LOG

www.snowmanjapan.net

for September 2006

NOTE: The OBJECTIVE of this BLOG is to help my students with their study of English.

AND

For all of you, out there, around the world to;

SEE HOKKAIDO

2006 September 30 Saturday.

Another beautiful Indian Summer Day 小春日和. What a treat, and a good day to take a walk in the early afternoon. My destination was the Kamikawa Education Research Center 上川教育研究センター which is not very far from Tokiwa Park. One of the students who comes to my classroom was scheduled to give a speech in English there, along with 12 other junior high school students from various parts of Hokkaido. We have been practicing her speech together once a week for the past 3 or 4 weeks, so I wanted to be there to hear her do it in front of a lot of other people. She made a very good presentation, with no technical mistakes. She also made good use of gestures and body language. Well practiced and well presented. After her speech was finished, I headed back outdoors into the warm sunshine and cool autumn breeze. I had another pleasant walk back to my place. At about 17:00, I will be taking another walk back into the heart of the city, to meet up with a former student who calls herself "Mrs. H" In the Japanese language, the word 　H エッチ comes from the first letter of the word HENTAI 　変態　which literally means "not normal", but which also has the common slang usage as "sex crazed". Mrs. H is 70 something years old. She calls herself Mrs. H because she is still full of the passion of life. However, it is getting a bit harder for her to get around when she has to take a bus, then transfer to another bus, in order to get to my school. That's why she decided to go to several other classrooms that were closer to her house, after having commuted to my classroom for nearly 10 years. When Mrs. H was a little girl, she would spend many hours in movie theaters, watching American movies. That is one reason why she has learned how to speak English so well. Another reason, is that she goes to a conversation school about once a week. This way, she never forgets what she has learned over the past 70 something years. Just before 17:00 when my wife and I were ready to leave our place and take a pleasant walk into town to meet Mrs. H, in front of the Okuno Building, we got a telephone call from the mother of the junior high school girl who you can see in the photo above. She informed us that her daughter had not won the first place prize in this years contest. Another girl who delivered a speech entitled "Jazz is Wonderful" had taken the top place honors. After the mother had informed me of the results of the speech contest, she gave the phone to her oldest daughter and I talked to her for about one minute. I told her, in English, that she had delivered a very good speech, and that she had done the best that she could possibly do at this point in her life. "It is a learning experience. Next time, you will do better, and the next time after that, you will do even better. Always do your best, and never give up. Because the moment you say; "I quit!!! You are defeated. By your own thinking. If your never quit, you can never fail to do want you really want to do. It's that simple." Again, this very intelligent young lady took my words of experience to heart and understood my message. I am behind you all the way. Let's move forward.

2006 September 29 Friday.

My first gig of the day started at 13:30 with the two lovely ladies who come every week at this time. As usual, our discussion was lively and filled with laughter. They have made so much progress during the more than two years that they have been attending my classroom, that I have had to write some brand new pages for some of my existing textbooks, just for them. I don't mid doing this at all. In fact, I LOVE IT! It gives me a chance to write some more dialogues. After that class was finished at 14:30, I had a 30 minute break before I started teaching straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. When that was all said and done, it was time for a walk along the river banks, while looking up at the night sky. When I got back home, I took some time to experiment with making computer graphics CG. One of the graphics I made today, is the one you can see on the above left. It is a visualization of a hydrogen atom 水素. Hydrogen is the simplest and most basic of all elements, and is in fact, the most abundant element in the universe. Another interesting thing about this shape, (without the red ball in the outer ring), is that it also represents what some Japanese call "Su no Kamisama" 素の神様. As far as I understand this concept, Su no Kamisama is the highest god from which all things in the universe come from. Well let's see, if hydrogen is the simplest atom with one proton (green ball) and one electron (red ball), then every other atom starts with this same basic shape, and multiplies itself, into many other combinations. There are 92 different kinds of atoms, called elements that occur in nature. There are several more elements that have been made by man in a laboratory bringing the total to 103 elements. These elements can be studied by looking at the Periodic Table of Elements. Not only are all of these 92 natural elements based upon the configuration of the simple hydrogen atom, but when these basic elements are put together in billions and billions of combinations, they produce compounds that make up the physical world as we know it. The most important of these for life being, 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. H2O, also known as water 水. I don't know about you, but this type of simple basic pattern, being used and expanded into countless other complex patterns, tells me that EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE IS CONNECTED.　　Therefore, if you harm another person, you are in reality, harming yourself as well. Let's forget the fluff and get back to basics.

2006 September 28 Thursday.

It has been raining for the past three days, and it looks like it will rain again today. In a few months, it will be snowing everyday, for a period of about 5 months. I had a full schedule of classes today, including the 18:00 class with a girl who is a 3rd year student in junior high school. On Saturday, September 30, she be one of about 13 or 14 junior high school students who will participate in an all Hokkaido English Speech Contest. The student who takes first place in this contest, will go to Tokyo for the All Japan English Speech Contest 高円宮杯５８回全日本中学校英語弁論大会. My student has been working very hard, practicing her speech for the past 4 or 5 weeks, and she can deliver it quite well. Today, was her last chance to practice it with me, before the main event on Saturday. Today, I helped her to clean up her pronunciation and intonation, as well as give some pointers on body language and the use of pauses, at key points in the speech. She did a very good job at it today. She expressed some doubt in her ability to do better than the other students who go to many other junior high schools here in Hokkaido. I told her to forget about the other students. "Your rival is not any of the other students, your rival is inside of yourself. You are competing with yourself to be the very best that you can be." She looked at me in such a way, that I knew she understood what I was saying to her. She seemed to gain a new resolve to just concentrate on her own speech and deliver it in the best way that she can, at this time in her life. Of course, she very much wants to get the top prize and go to Tokyo for the National Championship, and I also want this to happen for her as well. But whatever the outcome of Saturday's contest, she will have learned many valuable lessons along the way, that will stay with her for the rest of her life, and indeed be of great benefit both now and into the future. Just pull out all of the stops, ignore the "competitors" , and focus on training your own abilities to achieve your goal. These are not just idle words riding on hot air, I live my life this way. I have what is known in Japan as an Ei Kaiwa School 英会話スクール. There are literally thousands and thousands of these type of schools in Japan. Everything from international corporations to little Mom and Pop Stores, like my school which is run entirely by just me and my wife. Although I am aware of the "competition", and I do in fact check their websites from time to time, I am in no way concerned about what they do or how they do it. Because I know that I am doing my personal best, and getting better with every lesson that I teach. In my way, in my style. And it works. How do I know this? Because the same students come back again and again, week after week, year after year. In other words, they are getting something that they want and need by coming to my tiny little classroom on a regular basis. And so am I. It is a WIN WIN SITUATION. There are no losers.

2006 September 27 Wednesday.

MUSIC Please!!! "Who's the leader of the band that's made for you and me, M I C K E Y M O U S E. Mickey Mouse! (Donald Duck) Mickey Mouse! (Donald Duck) Forever let us hold our banners high!!! Yeah Yeah Yeah!!!" The graphic on the left may somewhat resemble the head and ears of Mickey Mouse, but in reality, it is intended to represent a single water molecule, H2O as seen from the outside of the outermost shells of the three atoms. In yesterday's blog, I attempted to show the same single molecule of H2O from the inside of the same shells. How accurate is it? You be the judge. For me, it is merely a visualization that helps me to better organize my thinking. I can assure you that the images are basically correct and in accordance with modern science on its most basic level. However, at the ultimate basic level of reality, everything is composed of VIBRATIONS, and these vibrations create endless patterns within their endless combinations. Therefore, any suitable pattern that is easy for a person to visualize, is a useful tool for viewing the unseen world of the cosmic web. Things that the naked eye alone, can never see. Vibrations can be felt in other ways also. The most obvious of which is MUSIC. Do you love music? I most certainly do. Can you play a musical instrument? Do you play a musical instrument every day? Once or twice a week? Once or twice a month? Once or twice a year? Almost never? Very seldom? How about you? Endless questions. In my experience, most people love music, to varying degrees. Most of those same people can PRODUCE MUSIC on demand, whether it is singing, playing a musical instrument, or doing both at the same time. The number of people who can do that really well, are even fewer yet. Myself included. If you know the basics of any musical instrument, you can have a very good time, all by yourself, OR with other people, playing something old, or making something new. Either way is OK. It's all about Good VIBES for the soul 心. Peaceful Easy Feeling やすらぎ . Does it make sense to you when someone says; "MUSIC IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE UNIVERSE" ??? I makes PERFECT sense to me. Maybe I should stop writing this blog and pick up the 4 or 6 string guitar for an hour or so. Yeah, I think I will. Talk to ya later.

2006 September 26 Tuesday.

My first gig of the day was a 90 minute class at Asahikawa University starting at 10:40. Today I used an original page from a textbook that I am writing entitled; Word Association. The premise of this textbook is to use the question pattern; "What do you think of, when you hear the word __________ ? Then, insert vocabulary items such as; red, big, hot, spring, January 1st, etc. For example if I asked you the pattern question using the word "red", you might say something like, "tomato" or "blood". If I used the word "big", you might say something like, "Konishiki" or "Akebono" or " a mountain" or "a building" etc. This type of textbook inspires the students to use their imagination, while at the same time, thinking in a foreign language. Well, some of the class time anyway. It was an enjoyable 90 minutes for both me and the kids. Young adults? Yes, they are. After that round of fun and games was finished at about 12:10, I drove back to my classroom to eat lunch and get ready for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. Unfortunately, my 15:00 lesson was canceled, because Mr. T. AKA Slim Jim, had other business on this day. See you next week, Mr. Slim! I used the hour to start making the graphic that you can see on the above left side of this webpage. I was only able to make the main components such as the colored circles before my first lesson started at 16:00 with two young boys. Both good students. At 17:00 I had a lesson with a young lad who is a 6th year student in elementary school. He has a good memory, but still lacks in creativity. Follow, follow, follow, follow, Follow the Yellow Brick Road. My 18:00 class was with a mother and her two very young daughters. All of them have lived in the USA for about 3 years. In Florida, I recollect. So, we can speak American English to each other with much ease and comfort. My 19:00 class today was with two ladies. A long time member, and a brand new member, who just started lessons here, as of today. The long time member and myself are rather up there, in the number of years we have lived here on this planet earth, but the new member is maybe about half of our age. She came to my classroom because she likes to travel outside of Japan, and speaking English fluently, adds so much to that pleasure of traveling abroad. Welcome aboard mate! Finally, when all classes were finished at 20:00, I went for a long walk under a dark and overcast sky. At the beginning of my walk, I couldn't see any stars at all, but towards the end of my 2 hour walk, I was beginning to see only a few of the very brightest stars, through the gray haze hanging above me. After I got back to my Base Of Operations, I finished the CG computer graphic that you can see above. It is my visualization of what a water molecule H2O looks like. In the center is the Oxygen Atom 酸素　with 8 yellow neutrons 中性　and 8 green protons 陽性　inside the blue nucleus　中核. Surrounding the nucleus is an inner ring of 2 red electrons　陰性, which is also surrounded by an outer ring of 6 red electrons, making a total of 8 red electrons for the Oxygen Atom. Attached to the Oxygen Atom are 2 Hydrogen Atoms. Each having 1 green proton in the nucleus, and 1 red electron in their only ring. These two hydrogen electrons attach to the outer ring of of the Oxygen electrons, and form a single molecule of water. How many such molecules of water are there on the face of this earth? It is endless. They just keep on reproducing themselves at hyper warp speed. You can't stop 'em! It's so darn simple, it's amazing! And if you look up at the stars in the sky on a clear night, I'll bet my bottom dollar that you can see the same pattern way up there as well. As above, so below? OR As below, so above? BOTH are true. Heck, I think I have even seen this same pattern in a fireworks display 花火.

2006 September 25 Monday.

A beautiful sunny autumn day. My first gig started at 10:00 at the Chestnut Tree Kindergarten くりの木幼稚園. Today, I had a special treat for the kids. I did the paper theater play 紙芝居 Peach Boy 桃太郎 in English for them. I have previously made big A3 sized laminated full color flash cards for the performance. At this kindergarten, I have to make a presentation to all of the 200 something students at the same time. So, instead of sitting down and reading the lines on the back of each card, I put each card on the ledge of the big white board, and walked around holding a microphone, saying the lines ad-lib and making exaggerated gestures so that the kids could guess the meaning of each word from my body language and tone of voice. I also made special special sound effects with my voice that added meaning to the gestures and words. The kids loved it! Most of them already know the story of Peach Boy, so the older children were able to pick up English words that I have taught them in previous years, and make the connections. In a way, I felt like a stand-up comidian, doing a show just for kids. I had a great time as well. When that was all finished at about 11:00, I drove back to my place, to eat a lunch of brown rice and natto, before going over to the Kagura Citizens' Hall 神楽公民館　for my weekly, 英会話で楽しむ会. Today, there were four prospective new students, all women, who came to take a look at the class for the first time. Two of the women speak English very fluently, and the other two were closer to an intermediate level of spoken English. This class has been going on for more than ten years, and some of the original members are still coming every week. As a result, the long standing members have become very proficient speakers of English, and the topics of conversation are wide ranging. Today, among the many topics of discussion, was the presentation of a book written by Oguri Saori entitled; "Don't blame me because I can't speak English." The sub-title reads; "My darling is a non-Japanese, but I can't speak English!! If you never give up, your English will improve!" When I heard the story of the author being married to a non-Japanese-speaking man, it immediately rang a bell with me. I am in a similar situation. Even though my wife and I have been married for more than 10 years, we speak mostly Japanese to each other. This is a great advantage for me, because I can speak Japanese easily and almost effortlessly, without thinking much about it. It is also good for my wife, because she can rest assured that anything she says to me in her native language will be understood by me. My wife has good listening comprehension of spoken English, because she is with me in the classroom every day, where I am teaching my lessons. Also, when I am talking about world events, and that sort of thing, I speak to her in mostly English, because it is more natural for me. She can understand most of what I am saying. However, because 90% of our conversations are entirely in Japanese, she doesn't get much practice at speaking English. And as we all know, Practice Makes Perfect. 習うより慣れろ. It really is true. So when Mrs. A. was talking about this book by 小栗　佐多里, I made the comment, half jokingly; "I need to buy this book for my wife!" while explaining our situation as described above. At the end of the class, Mrs. A. gave me the book and said; "Here, this is a present for you." Thank you very much Mrs. A!!! My wife and I will be reading this book. I know that it is a big seller, and I am sure to glean some gems of wisdom from its pages. Thank you so much for this gift. After that class was finished at 14:30, I went back to my classroom for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. Then, it was time to go over to the local Seikyo Supermarket and get some food and beverage. As I was walking over to the store, I noticed that my breath was coming out white. Yeah, it really is getting colder and colder day by day. That's autumn in Hokkaido for ya. Short and sweet.

2006 September 24 Sunday.

When I got up this morning and looked at today's Hokkaido Newspaper, the headline caught my eye right away. "Satellite Made in Hokkaido, Launched Successfully." I have known about this project for a while now. In fact they have a website about it that you can access by clicking here. All this impressive stuff was done by a group of people at the Hokkaido Institute of Technology which is located in Sapporo. The rocket that carried it into orbit was launched by JAXA from Kagoshima. The photo on the front cover of the newspaper captured my imagination. What a beautiful thing. It has no weapons attached to it.

2006 September 23 Saturday.

Today is the Autumn Equinox day 秋分の日. It is also a National Holiday in Japan. What a minute, so is the Vernal Equinox day 春分の日! Does this have anything to do with the rising sun on the National Flag? Even though it is a national holiday today, it is very busy at the building next door which is being remodeled by deconstruction workers, and also right here on the 2nd floor of my building. There are a lot of middle-aged men, in business suits gathered here today, to fill out job application forms. The building you can see in the photo on the left, will become a new branch, of an already well established business. Any guesses as to what that business might be? This company has set up a temporary office right here in my building, where they are working overtime to get ready for the big Grand Opening next month. They still have a lot of of work to do on that building as well. Ikuko and I decided to go for a long walk starting at about 16:00. It was a beautiful sunny day, just perfect for a long walk along the riverbanks. A lot of other people had the same idea and were out and about, cycling, playing catch with their children and so on. As soon as the sun set, the air began to cool down rapidly. Yep, it certainly is the first day of autumn.

2006 September 22 Friday.

No morning classes at the DoKan Nursing School today, because the students are all out around the town for practical training 実習 at various hospitals and retirement homes. On the Job Training OJT, is another way to say it. After graduating next year in March, these young men and women will be doing this type of thing, every day for their employment. I've been to the hospital a few times, but I have never thought that I might want to work there some day. For one thing, there is that "hospital smell" that reminds me of needles and injections and knee surgery. Yuuck. Let me out of here as soon as possible! But it is a very very big business here in Asahikawa, and in fact, all around the world for that matter. There is a rather large medical college here in Asahikawa, and as a result, there are a lot of people who go to school there, teach classes there, work there in some capacity, etc. Also, many graduates of this medical college will work at a large hospital for 5, 6, or how many ever years, and then set up their own smaller hospital or clinic. Therefore, for the size of its population of about 360,000 Asahikawa has a lot of medical facilities staffed by many more doctors and nurses. It's a good job if you can get it, but you must want it very bad in order to learn all the information that you must use on the job everyday. I wonder how many of the newly graduating nurses will really and honestly like their new jobs. I can see where it could cause a lot of stress on the hospital workers. Do your best guys.

2006 September 21 Thursday.

Neither my wife nor I had any appointments during the morning hours of today, so we both took advantage of the situation by staying up until very late last night, and then sleeping in, until very late today. How late? Well, to tell you the truth, we suddenly woke up at about 14:40. Oh My God!!! Classes start in 20 minutes!!! Yes, it is possible to have TOO MUCH FUN the night before. There always has to be, The Morning After. Classes started at 15:00 with 4 elementary school girls, who take their lessons very seriously and are a pleasure to teach. After that is was straight lessons until 20:00. One thing that I meant to write about in yesterday's blog was a story that I heard from from the nice young lady who comes every Wednesday at 19:00. This lady went to a junior college in Sapporo, where she majored in English. As a result, her knowledge of English is quite extensive, and she speaks English very well. Yesterday, she told me about a friend of hers whom she has known since junior high school. This friend of hers has a baby boy of about 8 months old. When I asked about when and where her friend had met her husband, this student told me a shocking and very sad story. She told me that her friend met her husband when they both worked at the same company. They dated for several years, and the woman got pregnant. After the baby was born they decided to get married. So far so good. The shocking part was when I heard that after only about 2 months of marriage, they got divorced! Not only that, but the father of the child no longer lives in Asahikawa. He left this woman, by herself, with a very young baby, to take all of the responsibility for raising and caring for the child. My comment to my student was that the father of this baby boy, is very irresponsible. Ikuko and I have been trying to have children since the day we got married more than 10 years ago. Unfortunately, we still don't have any children of our own. Believe me, it is not by our own choice that we do not have children, it is by a twist of fate that we are childless. Many people who get married do so for the specific reason of having children. That is the most important reason to get married, because it gives the children legal protection in case something goes wrong with the parents. On the other hand, there are many people who don't want to have children, who never want to have any children, at all,...... Somehow, these people end up giving birth to babies, and then not knowing what to do next. What a sad situation. DAMN IT!!! If you give birth to a child, you have a MORAL RESPONSIBILITY to take care of that child/children until they reach the age of at least 18 or 20 something years old. You were responsible for THAT CHILD'S BIOLOGICAL CREATION. You and your partner made it happen. Now, you MUST take responsibility for the care and feeding of your new creation. It's only natural.

2006 September 20 Wednesday.

Another very nice, sunny and warm day with much cooler temperatures in the evening. No classes to teach in the morning, so I spent some more time learning how to read and write Korean. It is starting to make more sense now. In fact, it doesn't look so foreign to me anymore. About 2 years ago, when I first decided to learn the Korean Alphabet, I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at when I saw something written in Korean. Nowadays, I can kind of make out the sounds represented by the written letters. However, a written language such as Arabic, is still a complete mystery to my eyes. I will probably never even try to learn the Arabic Alphabet, because I have absolutely no interest in it, at all. And it is not for the reasons that you may be thinking. It's just that I am very interested in so many other things that Arabic will never come up on my radar screen. Being a Wednesday, I had straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00 as usual. When everything was finished at 20:00, I went out for a walk along the cycling roads of the Biei and Chubetsu Rivers 美瑛川　忠別川. It was slightly cold, and partly cloudy with a clear starry sky showing through from above. The lights of the stars are especially beautiful at this time of the year, and I felt as if I could transport myself up into their worlds of pure light, for brief moments, during my 60 minute walk. Again this evening, I wore sandals with no socks, and began to feel that maybe I should start wearing warm socks again in the very near future. During most of the non-snow season, I don't wear any socks at all. Only sandals on my bare feet. In fact, the pair of sandals that I bought about 2 and one half years ago, are now, so worn out, that the soles of both shoes have completely split in half! I wore them everyday and every night for more than 18 months during the seasons of no snow. I even wore them when I went swimming in the Sea of Japan. They felt extremely comfortable, and they only cost about 2,000 yen so, I guess I got my money's worth on that deal. But that is not the real point. These shoes were so comfortable, for such a very long time, that I really hate to throw them away. But throw them away I must. It is like saying "Good Bye" to an old friend. A good old friend. A good old shoe. But, throw them away I must because, I can't use them anymore. Nowadays, I am wearing an identical pair of these same sandals that I bought at the same store about 2 years ago. I am hoping that they will last just as long as their clones did, before them. Only time will tell.

2006 September 19 Tuesday.

Today was lesson number two, of the fall semester, at Asahikawa University. Continuing from last week, I used one page of my original textbook entitled, 6W1Hの疑問詞を使いこなす。 This textbook is designed to introduce the interrogatives, as the beginning words of common questions and phrases. The students are required to memorize 丸暗記 the lines セリフ of person A: or person B: Today, they all had to learn the A: lines. Most of them were able to do it. That's a good sign. We will work in groups again, next week. After that show was finished at 12:20, I drove back to my classroom to eat lunch and get ready for Mr. T., who comes every week at this time. Today he brought an attractive young lady with him. She was wearing a uniform, and I sort of recognized her from somewhere, before. I was right. She works right here in this building during the daytime. She expressed some interest in coming to my classroom on a weekly basis for speaking American English in a relaxed and enjoyable manner. She has come to the right place. Thank you for bringing her up to my classroom for a personal introduction, Mr. T.!!! Speaking of tea, while I was eating lunch, I was also making some very strong green tea. Rather than tea, I would call it KaTeKin extract liquid. When I poured Mr. T. a hot cup of very dense green tea. He tried it and said; "Maybe I have never drank any green tea this strong before." My reply was; "No, you haven't. Nobody but me makes it this way. I like it better as iced tea. Let's get some ice." So, we did. Ikuko brought us both a big plastic tumbler full of ice, and we poured the steaming sea scum colored liquid into the iced cups. After a few minutes, it was cold enough to enjoy as an iced drink. It tastes a lot better on ice. Green tea. I like Red Tea also. I like tea better than coffee. How about you? Tea is somehow more refreshing and has very little aftertaste. Coffee is heavy and bitter and muddy and has an after taste that I really enjoy drinking, from time to time, but as a daily drink, I like tea the best. BY FAR. Of course, essential to good tea is, clean, fresh water. Hokkaido has plenty of that good stuff so, let's drink it up. One of the things that Mr. T., told me about today, was an NHK TV program that he saw recently. The topic of the 50 minute program was about the proposed introduction of English as a required subject for 5th and 6th year students in all of Japan's elementary schools. Talk about a hot potato OR the third rail, THIS IS THE TOPIC. One of the reasons is because Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. require their primary school students to start learning English from about 9 or 10 years old. It has a very close connection to World Wide Standards for Communication Using the English Language . WWSCUEL. What's Cool. Sound like a good idea? Nobody over here can seem to decide. As for me, I offer lessons in spoken American English to serious students, starting from 4 years old. For some of them, it is too young. For some of them, it is just right. It depends on the person. The point I want to make here is that, everybody who comes to my classroom , does so because they WANT TO. It is not required. If Japan decides to REQUIRE every child to start learning English from the age of elementary school, what will happen to the Japanese Language? Think about that first. Don't ever throw away your own native language, and replace it with another and foreign language. Use and remember both of them. Learn 3 or 4 other new languages if you want to. But never, ever, disregard your native language, because it is the connection to your very earliest moments of life on this planet. Have I forgotten my native American English because I have lived in Japan for more than 16 years??? No phuckin' way! I remember it at all times, by using it on the internet on a daily basis. Plus, I can read Japanese language websites, and hopefully someday, Korean language websites as well. I guess that means that I'm too busy to write any more blog today. Hey hey.

2006 September 18 Monday.

Today is a National Holiday in Japan, known as 敬老の日　Respect for the Aged Day. What a novel concept. Honor the people who made this country what it is today, out of the ashes of WWII. There is no such national holiday in the USA. Over there, you throw old people into a retirement home and forget about them. Young and beautiful is the ideal in American society. Who needs wisdom and wrinkles? Doesn't look good on a magazine cover! Over here in East Asia, it is somewhat different. Anyway, the day was overcast, dark and partly rainy. Not a really good day to go outside and do much. It's a good thing I went for a walk yesterday evening at sunset. I spent a lot of time today learning Korean and also flying around in a virtual airplane. Not much to write about.

2006 September 17 Sunday.

I awoke very early this morning. At about 04:45 to be exact. I felt good and decided to drink some iced green tea 前茶, made from the leaf by myself, and then click onto the tube, to see what's being broadcast on SkyPerfect TV. I surfed on over to the ESPN channel and was lucky enough to see a rebroadcast of one of The Little League Baseball, World Series Games that was played on Tuesday, August 22, 2006: between Japan and Curacao. Or, more accurately, Asia and the Caribbean. The Japanese team, which was representing Asia, is from Kawaguchi City, and they beat the team from Curacao Venezuela by the score of 7 to 2. The Japanese team was awesome. Very well organized and highly disciplined. They made very few mistakes. They even got a Grand Slam Home Run, hit by the pitcher, Go Matsumoto, who is also the Ace Pitcher. What a team! This little guy Matsumoto is only about 12 years old, but he can throw a fastball at almost 90 mph, already! What future in baseball awaits him? One can only guess, but it looks very bright for him as of this moment. In a word, the Japanese team outclassed the opposing team from Venezuela, but the Caribbean team put up a good fight, punctuated by several very unlucky breaks. The truth, that really showed through, from this sports contest, for me was the sheer determination of the players on both sides. They play baseball because they love to play the game and be involved in baseball. The people who view this event as strictly being a business, are all adults. This Little League World Series of Baseball is a very pure form of baseball, and it should be continued and preserved as such through many more generations. After all, this is what baseball was meant to be. From the beginning. As IT was meant to BE. LET IT BE >>>

2006 September 16 Saturday.

A very cloudy day. Not really the best light for a drive and photos.

I think the road trip will be made another day. Today, along with learning more Korean, I got out an old friend whom I haven't played with for a while. Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2, WWII The Pacific Theater. I bought this stuff about 4 or more years ago, but I haven't played it at all in more than one year. Today is the perfect day to take wings and fly. This video game is easy to get addicted to. Imagine if you will, being able to fly around at will, looking out of the windows in all directions, and having the option of either confronting other flyers head on, or climbing above the action and cruising far inland, or far out to sea, when you get weary of all the noise and commotion. This is just such a video game. I have my choice of flying either Japanese or American airplanes. I like 'em both. Above, you can see my view sitting at the controls of a Hellcat, American fighter plane. This is the beginning scene from a game option called Quick Combat. Choose your airplane type, and your number of escort planes, and do the same for your computer opponent. In my case, the PC itself. And then let the fireworks begin. I spent a lot of time getting shot down. I am not top gun. If I survive the first round, I climb up to about 1000 feet in altitude, and then barrel roll back around to turn and face my opponents. When we get close, it's time for the dog fight action to begin. I have lasted as long as 20 something minutes in such a situation. Really good players could keep it up for hours. The software as a lot of options for viewing the scene, even from the outside of your own aircraft. Just like a Foo Fighter! I mean, when my plane got hit, and I knew it was going down, I switched to what the program calls Spot Viewing Mode and watched the outside of the airplane get hit with even more bullets, and shoot out bigger and bigger flames. For me this is all just a curious fantasy, but for hundreds of thousands of other guys, much younger guys, this was the real thing. They didn't get a second or third chance to push the REPLAY button and try it again. It was GAME OVER for them, and in a very big way. Isn't war wonderful?

2006 September 15 Friday.

Another busy day with three hours at DoKan Nursing school, then after lunch it was 14:30 until 20:00 at my place. Because Monday the 18th will be a National Holiday, I may be going for a drive tomorrow if the weather is nice. My planned route would be to AiBetsu, through YuuBari and on to Chitose. I drove this same route in reverse during the last day of my 5 day 4 night, summer drive on July 28. It is a long and winding road, but the scenery is excellent. It is still too early for the autumn leaves, so maybe I won't go until some weeks later, but I do want to travel this road again from time to time. A very nice driving course. After mapping out my route, I played the telecaster unplugged while listening to The Eagles Greatest Hits on MD. Good band, good music. Easily one of my all time favorite American bands. I can play along on the rhythm guitar, but I can't keep up with the leads. Don't really have that much time to pick and grin anymore, but it is a pleasurable hobby to surf the vibes from time to time.

2006 September 14 Thursday.

More sunshine on a cool autumn day. At 18:00, I had a lesson with a 3rd year junior high school student who is getting ready to give a speech in English, on September 30. During summer vacation, she wrote her speech in her native language, and I translated it into English. Many weeks later, and with a few revisions by another English teacher, this young lady is doing her best to memorize, and deliver the speech with good pronunciation and natural intonation. She is doing a good job. I even recorded a couple of CDs, using a microphone and this PC, so that she could easily practice it at home. She is making progress. However, the speech does contain a few, confusing and hard to pronounce phrases. For example, 'Embracing these uncertainties, I left Asahikawa.' and ',... but when I tried to speak English, I felt embarrassed and uneasy.' These two words are easy for me to pronounce correctly, but for her is was a bit of a problem until I told her to remember the Japanese word 無礼 when saying the word "embracing". That solved the problem. After the lesson, she went back home to practice some more on her own. When all of my classes were finished at 20:00, I got back into the hardcore study mode, and put my head to the book for learning how to read and write Korean. If I can manage to do this at least 4 or 5 days a week, I should be reasonably proficient in less than two years. Let's just call it a temporary objective. A good excuse to learn something new and totally different.

2006 September 13 Wednesday.

Today was another beautiful warm and sunny day, with much cooler temperatures at night. I had straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00 and I enjoyed every minute of it. In today's Hokkaido Newspaper, I saw an advertisement for a magazine called the Weekly Post. This is a very well known magazine, and a lot of people read it. I haven't read it for a very long time, but one thing in the advertisement caught my eye. The big headline said in Japanese; "So, it really was an INSIDE JOB, after all!" "9・11 Terrorist Attacks, The True Story on the 5th Anniversary." Let's look at these 10 points of New Evidence.!" NEW PROOF??? What could it possibly be? I began to wonder as to what may have been written in this new magazine article. My wife was also very curious. So, after all of my classes were finished for the day, I went to the local supermarket and bought a copy of this magazine, along with some food and drink. When I got home, I sat down to read the 6 page article which was written by a Canadian Guy known as, Benjamin S. Fulford. You can read his brief biography by clicking here. Also, he has a very sparse website that you can access by clicking here. I did not see any credits for a translator, so I am assuming that this Canadian Guy, wrote the article in Japanese by himself, and then had a native speaker of Japanese, proofread his article before publication. A very common strategy for writing in a foreign language. I also do that same thing myself, from time to time. Anyway, the six page article was well written and easy to understand. However, the so called 10 new pieces of evidence, were not new at all. I have been aware of these facts since more than 4 and one half years ago. It is all over the internet. But, a Japanese language version of those events, is not so common. Therefore, this news may be a big shock to the majority of the general public here in Japan. My only comment at this point is, read 'em and weep. You have no idea as to what really happened on that day, September 11, 2001. You just don't know. And neither do I, except to say that the official government story makes absolutely no sense at all. It is a complete fabrication. This can be proven using mathematics and the laws of physics. It never could have happened that way. It's bullshit. Clear and simple. If you haven't thought much about the events of September 11, 2001, maybe you should start doing so now. This magazine article is a very good introduction to the enormous doubts that surround the official story of what really happened on that day, more than five years ago. Use your head. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security by the big lies being told by the mass media. What ever happened to common sense? Do yourself a favor and, do a Google Search on Thomas Paine to find out.

2006 September 12 Tuesday.

I didn't write about it in yesterday's blog, but my first gig of that day was at the Young Buds Kindergarten めばえ幼稚園. Yesterday's lesson was a presentation of a Paper Theater 紙芝居　called Peach Boy 桃太郎. I did the entire thing in English. Three times. One time for each of the three groups that were divided up by age 年少、年中、年長. I used very large A3 sized laminated pictures, one of which you can see on the left, to visualize the play for the children. Where did I get these very large pictures from? I made them myself from a much smaller set of B5 sized illustrations that I bought at a book store. I wish I could draw that well, but I can't. Hopefully someday, I will be able to make great animations on the PC, but that is another story. However, transforming these B5 sized pictures into A3 sized laminated sheets was made possible by my scanner and PC. First, I scanned all 16 pictures into my PC. Then I enlarged them to the A3 size. Then, I printed them out onto high quality glossed paper, and finally laminated them all together, with the English translation of the scene, on the back side of each card. I did all of this work about one year ago, and I must say that it took more than 8 hours to get it all put together. But now that it has been done, I can use the fruits of my labor, over and over and over again. It was well worth the effort. Certainly NOT a waste of time. Like I said, I made these laminated cards about one year ago, and I gave my first presentation to the kids, one year ago also. Yesterday, was the second anniversary of what will become a yearly tradition. You may be thinking to yourself right now; "If the reading of the play was done entirely in English, how could the little kids understand anything?" Good question. Simple answer. Almost every child in Japan is very familiar with this very old folktale. Therefore, they already know the story. When they see each scene of the paper theater, they will remember what the story is, at that point. While I am reading an English translation of the scene, the kids will recognize a few words and phrases, here and there. This will re-enforce their memory of the play, and also the meaning of the English words that they have previously learned, and are now hearing again for the umpteenth time. Of course, the older the child, the better they will be able to understand the English version of this very famous and very traditional Japanese Paper Theater. Not only is it interesting and beneficial for the kids, it is also the same for me as well. A win/win situation. It doesn't get any better than this. I will be making an internet version of this Kami ShiBai in the very near future, and I will put it in the Snow TV section of this website. Stay tuned. More later.

2006 September 11 Monday.

The photo that you can see on the left is of a building that is part of the condominium complex where I live. It began its life as a Public Sauna Bath, for both men and women. They are called SenTou 　銭湯. Pay money, get Hot Water. I used to go there all the time during the season of snow. Then, about 5 years ago, they started having trouble with the furnace. It even caught fire a few times. So, they abandoned the sauna concept, and turned the building into a restaurant. The restaurant lasted about 2 and one half years, before the building was again transformed. This time into a Rotating Sushi Counter Restaurant. It was really delicious. I used to go there about 2 or 3 times a week. After about only 7 months, it closed down too. Damn! There goes my sushi! After that tragedy, the building sat vacant. Until recently. Something's Cooking. What will this old building become next? Most people who live in Asahikawa already know, but for those of you out there in other lands, what is your guess? This mystery will be solved within a few weeks. Stay tuned for details.................

2006 September 10 Sunday.

Day Two of my Back to Basics, Read and Write Korean, Intensive Seminar. The textbook I am using for this is called; しっかり身につく韓国語会話 ISBN4-939076-71-7 It comes with an essential audio CD. I highly recommend this textbook. The only problem, the size of the book is only B5. It's getting harder to see letters that small after a few hours of reading it. Hey! I know, I'll enlarge them 141% on my copy machine, then put them back to back, and laminate the whole mess into indestructible plastic sheets. So that's what I did with pages 33 to 46. A Ha, now I can easily read them in comfort. I can even look at them while taking a long hot bath and listening to the voices on the CD through a waterproof speaker. It's amazing what can happen when you get serious about it. After about 8 hours during two days of getting back to basics, I'm feeling the progress. I need to do this as much as possible from now on. A portable MD player is ideal for listening to a language while taking a walk. Don't forget to keep those batteries charged.

2006 September 9 Saturday.

No classes today. Time to do something I have not been doing seriously for a while. Learning how to read and write Korean. After about 2 years of on and off study, I realize that I need to get back to the "ABCs". In Korean they say something like; Ah, Ya, Oh, Yo, uO, Yuo, uOou, YuOo, Iuoo, Eee. I say something like that, because the distinction is not yet crystal clear. I'm working on it. While the basic alphabet letters of HanGul are very simple shapes that were derived from the shape of the mouth and vocal organs, the rules for reading them when combined into words and phrases, is quite complex. You just have to learn the basics, and then practice it as much as possible. I am not planning to go to Korea any time soon, but I do want to become able to read Korean Language internet sites. Why not? Let's open another door and see what that parallel universe looks like.

2006 September 8 Friday.

I went to bed at 02:00 this morning, but I didn't fall asleep until 04:45. When the loud alarm clock rang at 06:35, I thought I was going to peeyouk. Not because I drank a lot of beer last night, I didn't drink any. It was because of the 4 or 5 hours of comedy routines that I listened to last night on the internet. I couldn't stop my mind from thinking about them, and also adding to them. I had some awesome ideas. I didn't have time to write any of them down, because I had to get up and take a shower, before I started a 12 hour teaching day. I'm not complaining, I LOVE IT! But, I knew that I was going to be eating a big lunch, and going to bed very early tonight. That's exactly what I did. Starting off the teaching day was 3 straight hours at the DoKan Nursing School in Nishi Kagura. It was a fun filled time of joy and laughter. 95% in English. After that, it was straight classes from 14:30 until 20:00. I had 90 minutes for lunch today, and I stuffed my face big time. When 21:00 rolled around, I was bushed. Lights out at 21:20.

2006 September 7 Thursday.

No morning classes, but a full lesson schedule from 15:00 to 20:00. After that, I became a vegetable, and watched some vintage COMEDY videos on Google Video and U-TUBE. Today I watched classic routines by; Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison, Rodney Dangerfield, and Howard Stern. I laughed my ass off. For non-native speakers of American English, this stuff might be a bit hard to grasp onto. But for me, this stuff is a weird treasure. On the surface of it all, it sounds like they are talking nonsense. But if you really think about what they are saying, and how it all ties into world events, it makes so much sense, that it makes you laugh at the absurdity of it all. You really need to listen to these messages. Online, all the time.

2006 September 6 Wednesday.

Again today, as with every week, the little guy and his mother, who lived in Houston Texas USA for about 3 years, came to my classroom a bit late, at about 15:20. They have to go out of their way to attend my classroom, but they have done so for more than 3 years, and I am glad that they have. Today I gave the little guy, who has just turned 8 years old, page 10 of my original textbook 小学生で学ぶ米会話. This page introduces the future tense 未来形 using simple expressions with the verb forms WILL and WILL NOT. In other words, asking about plans or intentions for the future. He picked up on the lesson plan very quickly, and was able to memorize about half of the page in only 40 minutes. Good job, little guy. See ya again next week. The rest of my teaching day was as usual for Wednesdays. Then, it was time to get back on the 6 string electric guitar, unplugged while play some C&W music to an MD of Terry Clark. FEARLESS. One of my all time favorite county albums. An album that I borrowed from a former student who is a A HUGE COUNTRY MUSIC FAN. When I say huge, I mean it. He lives here in Asahikawa and has traveled to the USA on at least 4 occasions, maybe more, for the specific purpose of seeing concerts live. Especially, the DIXIE CHICKS. You know who I am talking about. Thanks Kuni!!! I will be coming to your shop in the near future for some maintenance work on my G-SHOCK. See ya soon. By the way, how are the fiddle lessons coming along? If Ya Wanna Play in TEXAS, ya gotta have a FIDDLE in the band!

2006 September 5 Tuesday.

Tuesdays with Mr. T., the retired high school English teacher who comes to my classroom every Tuesday at 15:00 for conversation and tea. As I mentioned last week, Mr. T. has lost a lot of weight by going for long walks, almost every day. He is looking so good, that I have given him a new name, Slim Jim. Our conversations cover a wide variety of topics, even including politics and religion, which I almost never discuss with anybody else. Today we talked about some philosophical issues such as re-incarnation and the true nature of the universe. That may give you some clue as to his high level of English conversational ability. Another thing we talked about was Korea. I had mentioned in a previous blog, that my wife's younger sister, who lives in Tokyo, had visited Korea for about 4 days and 3 nights, a few weeks ago. Mr. T., said that he too would like to visit Korea again some day and suggested that we all go together. Sounds good to me too, but when can I go? I don't know yet. Before I go, I want to vastly improve my almost non-existent knowledge of the Korean Language. I have been dabbling with it for almost 3 years now, but I don't spend nearly enough time doing it, to make any significant progress. I am busy with so many other things as well. Speaking of Korean, the mother of one of my students, a girl in her 3rd year of junior high-school, came by my classroom this evening at about 21:30, to give me a gift of some authentic Korean kimchi キムチ that she had made herself. I say authentic, because this student's mother was born and raised in Korea. See the photo above for details. When I learn more of the language, I wanna try and talk with her in her native language. Anyway, her daughter has been coming to my classroom since she was an elementary school student. In the beginning, she came twice a week, but since about 2 years ago, she only comes about once every 2 months. It is not a matter of money, because a benevolent sponsor, a very talented artist who lives in New York City, has already pre-paid for about 350 lesson hours for this young girl. The problem seems to be the young girl's apparent lack of enthusiasm in recent years. In fact, her mother told me this evening that her daughter's grades at school are not so good. The worst is mathematics, and the best is English. But even her English scores are not that good. No big surprise there. The big problem is that her daughter will be graduating from junior high school in March of 2007. That is not too far from now. The big concern is whether or not her daughter will be able to go on to high school. This family cannot afford a private high school and therefore must send their daughter to a public high school. Even among the public high schools, her daughter's grades are only good enough to get into about two of them. One of the things that her daughter has expressed interest in is nail art. This is the business of decorating a person's fingernails and/or toenails, for a fee. The daughter herself told me about her dream of becoming a nail artist when I saw her about 3 months ago. I tried to encourage her to learn more English and also to become more computer literate. Why? Well, because there are a lot more jobs available for people like that. I mentioned a benevolent sponsor in the text above. The reason this person paid for this young girls lessons in advance, is because he did not want her to end up pregnant, and with no important job skills. To our mutual dismay, she is at that critical crossroads right now, a time which will determine her future. I told the mother to make sure that her daughter comes to my classroom every week, from now on. I can teach her both English and useful computer skills. I will help this young girl as much as I can, but if she does not come to my classroom, there is nothing I can do for her. It's her choice. Please make the right choice, young lady. It is your life. My life has already been decided, by me. And, it's wonderful life.

2006 September 4 Monday.

My first gig of the day was at the Kagura Citizens' Hall 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会. Most of the members were in attendance today. One lady told us that she and her friend will be going to visit Italy for about one week, starting on Saturday. It will be her first trip to Europe. I have been to Europe before, but I have never been to Italy. Several of the other members of the English Circle have been there before, and they gave some advice as to what is interesting to see and do there. Sounds like an interesting place, well worth visiting. Other people talked about various things included the story of a Japanese medical doctor who is currently living in the USA and doing research into the dairy industry. He has come to the conclusion that drinking cows' milk is not good for human beings. I have read about this topic before, and I must admit that there are some bad things in cow's milk that most people don't know about. However, compared to smoking tobacco, it is still pretty safe, in my opinion. One thing that I will say is that humans are the only animals which continue to drink milk, after they have grown up and become older children or adults. That in itself is a bit unnatural in my opinion. I used to drink a lot of milk when I lived in the USA, and in fact they sell it in great big plastic one gallon jugs. I've never seen it sold that way here in Japan. Nowadays, I very seldom drink milk, but I do eat cheese from time to time. As you may know, one pound of cheese is made from about 10 or 11 pounds of milk. That is a lot of milk.

2006 September 3 Sunday.

Wow!!! Yesterday turned out to be a real party pleaser. I mentioned in yesterday's blog, that my wife and I, arrived at the OKagura Festival Grounds at about 18:00. We got there, just as the 5 blasts of white-ball fireworks were shot up into the sky, from the cycling road along the Chubetsu River. Good timing folks! That signals the beginning of the MAIN EVENT. While the evening light was still good, I took a lot of photos of the local folks dancing around in a circle. When it got really dark at about 20:00, there was a very brief but equally beautiful, medium altitude fireworks display, which was launched from the cycling road along the Chubetsu River. The fireworks display lasted for only about one minute. It is expensive, you know. While the fireworks were exploding in the air, my wife pointed to the sky on the right of the fireworks and said; "Look at that." What we saw was a single bright white light, about the size of Jupiter, flying low and moving slowly towards the south. Also, coming from the south, and moving in the opposite direction towards the north, were two much smaller, and much dimmer orange lights. We watched the lights for about 3 or 4 minutes until they disappeared into the haze. We have seen this type of thing many many times before. It is not uncommon. What it is, I don't know, but I do know that it is not an airplane or a helicopter. It is something else. While we were still sitting there on the bench, a family that we have known for several years, came by and we sat together with them on the benches drinking beer and chatting. When the festival was finished at about 10:00, they invited us to come to their house, which is not too far away, to eat and drink some more. We stayed there at their house until 2:00 in the morning! It was a very enjoyable party.

2006 September 2 Saturday.

A very nice sunny and partly cloudy day, which is a good thing, because today is the main event of the Okagura Festival お神楽まつり which is held every year on September 1, 2 and 3. This year, September 2 just happens to fall on a Saturday, so I will be able to attend the event, starting at about 18:00. The real start of today's activities, occurred at 12:00 noon, when the children carried two portable shrines, Omikoshi 御神輿 around the main streets of Kagura. I was able to take some photos of them, as they passed by, in front of my classroom. You can see one of the photos on the left. The Omikoshi looks very similar to what the ancient Hebrew People who lived in Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs called The Ark of the Covenant. Is there any connection between these two? I really have no idea, but they do look rather similar. Also, the concept as to the significance of these items, bears a striking resemblance to each other. I have often thought to myself, that there are a lot of connecting threads that link the ancient Egyptians to the ancient Japanese. For one thing, they both believed that the most powerful god which has influence over the earth, is the SUN GOD. The ancient Egyptians called it RA. The Japanese call it AmaTerasuOoMikami 天照大神, and they still do so to this day, among those people who are adherents of the Shinto Belief System 神道. In my opinion, THE SUN is the most important influence upon the EARTH, bar none. If there was no sun, the earth would not even exist in the first place. I think that is pretty obvious. Or, if the earth did exist as a rock floating around in the cosmos, it would be totally frozen, and life as we know it could not exist. Does anybody disagree with me on this point? The sun can be seen by anyone who is not blind, and even blind people can feel the heat of the sun. It does exist, no question about it. Can you say the same thing about any of the other main figureheads of any other world religion? I think the question answers itself. Wake up and see the light.

2006 September 1 Friday.

Ah! September. My favorite month of the year in Hokkaido. Why? It's still warm enough to walk around wearing sandals and no socks, but it's cool enough to enjoy a hot bath at night. Plus, the harvest season is either here now, or getting very close, depending upon the crops in question. If you like corn on the cob, as I do, Hokkaido has some of the sweetest, most delicious corn I have ever eaten anywhere. With the farmers burning off the chaff from their harvests, the smoky smell in the air is also a very pleasant experience. Not only is the smell of the fires woody and earthy, it also gives the evening sky a very nice vermilion color, a wonderful blend of pink and orange, with the hues of white/gray clouds thrown in for texture. Another sure sign of autumn, is the prominence of the Japanese Pampas Grass ススキ that grows everywhere along the rivers. Have you ever observed pampas grass at night, with a full moon in the background? I have. I highly recommend it. It is a standard image in Japan. A deep part of the traditional culture. I'm living it here and now, along with a lot of other people that I know and love. It is Exeeeeeeeeeeeexcellent! Stop by, and give it a try. Twenty dollars a night, will get you in the door. But there is more. Anyway, I'm getting off track, and flying to the moon. Every Friday, at 19:00 a 30 year old girl, along with her mother and father come to my classroom. I say GIRL, because this lovely young lady has Down's Syndrome. As you may already know, this is a congenital rarity, that happens to only a small percentage of the human population. How does it happen? There just happens to be an extra something or other, gene, that sits on a what cha may call it, chromosome. That's all. What are the results of that extra gene which you can barely see, even with an electron microscope? A massive learning disability. That's all. That's all??? That is LIFE CHANGING. No question about it. Remember back to when you had your own children. They grew up healthy and happy, and learned new things every day. And, as they progress into their teens and early twenties, they keep learning new words and new songs and new ways to play the piano, or guitar, living and learning. What could be better? Nothing. What would be a massive struggle???? Having to try and do the same thing that everyone else seems to be doing, but at a much, much slower rate of progress. Can you imagine the FRUSTRATION of putting up with this day after day after day for the rest of your phuckin' LIFE??? THAT IS COURAGE. To keep on living, and trying day after day, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE. You can never give up, unless you want to,.............. But then again, so will every body and every thing on this EARTH. To be more specific, this lovely young lady, her name is 愛, has been coming to my classroom every week, for more than 3 years. How is she doing in her study of spoken American English? She is DOING HER BEST, and making very little progress. How am I doing as her English teacher? I'm doing just fine, thank you very much. After working with this lovely young lady, I have helped her become able to write the ABC......Zs. But no matter how many times I show her how to write the letters N and S, she still can't do it on her own. For example, if she was taking a quiz or a test, she would never pass it. She cannot transfer her short term memory, into her long term memory. The circuitry is just not there. And that is a genetic limitation. Only GOD can do something about that. Meanwhile, we both do our best when we are together, here at Snowman's American English Classroom. Every Friday. Keep Trying.