6/21/10

I had totally forgotten about blog posts again...

In our class on 15th, we did the group discussion on what we would bring if we had to spend the rest of our life in an uninhabited island. My group had three guys so the list we came up with had AK47 and chainsaw, those that I would not come up with. Then we were divided into different groups and we created the new list. It seemed pretty good but I wonder if we can actually survive just with these materials if we were really sent to the island. I can't think of living in an uninhabited island...
well, this class was fun:P

Then in our last class on 16th, we watched a documentary about after school arms club. I was surprised that these kids really changed the law and that students can get those dangerous stuffs.
I wonder what we can do for the project next semester... I kinda thought of doing something related to eco life because I'm not happy about how Japan is environmentally unfriendly... but I still don't know, I hope I can come up with a great topic!
I hope we will do well, using the google presentation, which we learned in the tutorial period:)
It was really useful and I wonder why I hadn't learned about all these useful materials before in my highschool... My high school life would have been much easier with these stuffs!

I can't believe that we don't have classes anymore! Rab's classes were really stimulating and I'm really pleased that I had Rab as our teacher. I learned a lot of stuffs this semester and it passed so fast! Thanks so much Rab :)

6/11/10

Today was the last time for us to have class in the computer room in ILC.
Rab showed us a lot of videos that made me think a lot.

For the first video, the story of stuff, made me hopeless of living in this world. It seems impossible to change this whole system from producing to disposing because the world is working in this way. I know that it is wrong and it must be changed, but how? For example, this is what I believe but Mr. Hatoyama became a prime minister to change this system of amakudari and kanryo- centered society. However, all the media were controlled by them so they gave the public a bad reputation of him, and as the consequence, he had to quit attacked by the people who support the current system of society and by the citizens who are decieved by them. The system now is too strongly connected to the people who have power so, sadly, I don't know what I can actually do...

For the next four videos, I thought the mouth revolution one was the great idea since it is attractive in the sense of humor, it has a lot of shocking information that would make the watchers go take actions, and what it wants the watchers to do is unusual that they would be interested in doing it.

Meatrix was a great video too, to make people realize our wrong doing. I hope more and more people have a chance to watch this kind of videos, know the problem, and take actions.

Fumika, Naoko, and I learned about google wave from Rab after the class, and it seems really useful! But I thought it would be hard for me to use it because its new to me and its kinda hard to change what I have been using for a long time, like hotmail. :P I'm just too used to it..haha

I will miss this computer class with Rab:(

6/9/10

In yesterday's class, we did a discussion over our essay topics. One by one, we said our thesis statement and the others attacked the ideas. The time ran out and my turn didn't come so I was the side to attack others all the time. I know that it is difficult to defend our thesis but it was also difficult for me to find some weak points of the other people's thesis statements. I gotta practice more to think critically! By doing this discussion, I could make my ideas concrete for my essay.

I worked on my essay so hard today and I'm almost done with it:)
But I got a lot of things to do for my other classes too... the last days before summer are so busy:S

6/7/10

Today's class was about the topic that I am interested in, such as animals.
Rab asked if it is possible for Hemingway to be a conservationist and a hunter at the same time, and the rest of the discussions were all about animals: if we have a right to set the populations of other animals, why don't we stop eating meat if we can feed 9times more people by the food we use for growing cows, etc...
The shocking facts that Rab told us were not new to me because they are the reasons why I decided to be a vegetarian four years ago. Through this class, I hope people understood that there are many good reasons to be a vegetarian. I have been a pescetarian for four years now but I have been eating some meat these days, being told by other people that I should eat meat. But through all the conversation I had with Rab and through today's class, I remembered how strong my decision was and I rethought that I had been doing a right thing. I should be more confident of my own decision!

You guys should watch earthlings and you will know why I care so much about animals:)

6/2/10

It was the first time that we had a class outside!
We all sat down in the shaded grass near bakayama and discussed about Hemingway.
I raised my hand up when Rab asked if we did the 3b's on hemingway, but I realized that it was so not enough to understand the background of the story. I learned that the story, the old man and the sea takes place in Cuba when it was controlled by Batista and the people were poor.
It was interesting to think about how the background information connects to the story. It can be interpreted in many ways and I thought the idea of Santiago as Hemingway himself, fish as his work "the old man and the sea", and sharks as the critics, was a nice interpretation. I wonder what is the true interpretation, I wanna ask Hemingway about it.

We had the picture taking for yearbook at lunch time, it was nice that all of us made it to appear in the picture:) I wanna see how the picture like.

I spoke with my friends from the US, who are a year younger than me, and they told me that they graduated. It is unbelievable that it's been already a year since I graduated! One of my friends probably will come to visit ICU today :D

6/1/10

We got to see our PWT grade and I think I got a pretty good grade thanks to Rab because someone who graded my test gave me a 3 for the last paragraph. I am so pleased that Rab supported my grading rather than the teacher's. But it surprised me that I could get a 3 for that paragraph, it wasn't that bad, I only missed the concluding sentence. Well, I learned that I have to finish the paragraph with a good concluding sentence. We will be having a third PWT test on The Old Man and the Sea and we have to work on the essay too. A lot of stuffs to do... But the old man and the sea seems easier for me to read compared to the Nisbett because it is a story.

5/31/10

We had some group discussions on nationality today.
What decides person's nationality... it's a really difficult question...
But the story Rab told us, one about a man who couldn't go into onsen because he looks foreigner, was shocking. I felt sad that there are still places in Japan that considers foreigners separated from Japanese people and that people who have non- Japanese blood are having such problems. I think if the man says he is Japanese and he has proof, then he should be treated as Japanese.
We also discussed if we would vote if we have a right to do so. For now, I do not think I would because I don't have a party that I strongly support... hmm.. Rab's questions were very difficult that we were all thinking hard and could not speak much.

I want a good essay topic because I would not be able to write well if I chose to write on international marriage as Rab said and 9.11 one is kinda difficult topic...
I want something more interesting...something about culture...
hmm...hmmmm....