クリスマスパーティ

Sarah’s Blog Post 15: December 17, 2015

 

I really enjoy being part of the International Club because we get to do a lot of different activities. Sometimes we make food or play games or watch movies. This week, we had a Christmas party where we made decorations and ate cake. Last week I said that we don’t have the KFC Christmas meal in the United States. Another tradition that is popular in Japan, but not in the United States, is eating Christmas cake. Sometimes we will have Buche de Noel, which is a French roll cake decorated to look like a tree log. I tried making Buche de Noel once, but I failed and the cake wasn’t soft enough to roll. It crumbled apart and was really messy. I would like to try to make Buche de Noel again, but I am always so busy around the holidays. The holiday season is fun, but I think it is always a very busy time as well. I hope everyone has a great time over the holidays and I am looking forward to third term!

Disney Sea!

 

Last week I went to Disney Sea for the first time and it was great! I’ve been to Disney Land in California and I was curious to see if Disney Sea would be different. I was surprised at how many things were in English, from the announcements on the loud speakers to the signs indicating locations and the dos and don’ts of the park. Even the workers were very skilled English speakers. I guess this makes sense due to the amount of foreigners that must visit the theme park. It was fun to see the shows that required speaking because it was all in Japanese. I really enjoyed the Little Mermaid performance, the stage and setup of the room made it feel as if I were actually under the sea. The Crush act was also fun to watch and I was happy that I knew enough Japanese to understand most of the jokes. I stayed from open to closing and by the end of the day, I was super exhausted but it was worth it.

 

 

- Yaya Campbell

Cookies for Everyone!

 

It’s finals week, which means that everyone is busy with either preparing or studying for exams. Since there are no clubs the week before final exams, the international club teachers wanted to do something nice for the students, so we decided to make Christmas cookies for everyone. It took us a few hours, but we made a ton of cookies, maybe even more than a hundred of them. We had the students come into the kitchen a few at a time to grab a cookie and tried to interact in as much English as we could. The students seemed to like the chocolate chip cookies and were a bit hesitant to try the rice crispy treats, which in my opinion would have been a delicious foreign snack to try. Overall, it was a fun afternoon of baking and talking to students.

 

- Yaya Campbell

冬休み

Sarah’s Blog Post 14: December 11, 2015

 

This winter break, I am going all the way back home for the holidays. I am sad that I will not be able to get a special KFC holiday meal. In the United States we usually eat ham, turkey, or a roast for Christmas dinner, so the KFC holiday meal is unique to Japan.

 

I have been shopping for Christmas gifts and it is very difficult. California has a lot of Japanese influence just like Tokyo has a lot of American influence. Finding presents can be hard because my friends and family have already tasted things like manjuu, mochi, and senbei. One thing that we don’t have much in the United States is yuzu. It is getting popular in big cities, but it is still very difficult to find. I love yuzu, so I want to bring yuzu flavored things back to my family.

 

Speeches and Pronunciation

This week we had a lot of our students doing speeches for the end of the term. I always enjoy going around the classroom and helping students practice their speech. Things like pronunciation and timing are very tricky if English is not your native language, so lots of practice is helpful for them. I genuinely enjoy hearing what they have to say and I want them to have fun with their speeches.

 

- Yaya Campbell

カラオケ

Sarah’s Blog Post 13: December 3, 2015

 

I love to go to karaoke in Japan. It is especially fun because it is more popular in Japan than it is in the United States. You can go with many friends and have your own party in the karaoke room. In the United States, none of the places for karaoke have private rooms. There is one stage at the front of the room and only a few people can go up to the stage at a time. In the United States, everyone hears you sing. Shy people would not enjoy going to karaoke places in the United States.

 

Yaya-sensei and I went to sing karaoke last night. It was so much fun! We are not very good at singing Japanese songs because the words on the screen appear too fast for us. Luckily, most karaoke places in Japan have long lists of English songs. Since American musicians like Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift are popular in Japan, I was not surprised to find their songs. However, I was surprised to find so many other artists that I like. Some of the music I like is old and from the 1990s, but I still found many of those songs. I wish the United States had more karaoke places like Japan does!