待ちに待ったサンクスギビング。
今セメ初の連休！
しかも４連休！！
（これまで自主休講しないかぎり、２連休すらなかった）

ぐるぢぃ〜いJapanese Cultureのエッセイもやっつけて（ほんと、やっつけだった）、どっかーんと４日間もお休みですよ！
おまけに連休中にはエッセイの課題なし♪

……とまぁ、こんなカンジで、ワクワクと始まった４連休でしたが、本日最終日。


↑押すと文字が変わるエンピツ投票ボタン


ぶぁかモノめっ！　
喝！＞自分


えーと、アメリカで迎えるサンクスギビングも４回目ともなると、全然ヤル気ないです。
第一、うちは家族全員ターキーがきらいだし。
どこかへ出かけても渋滞してるし。
ピルグリムの感謝の心って、やっぱ他人事なんだよなぁ。
悪いけど。
（っていうか、ネイティブ・アメリカン＝インディアンに同情しちゃうんだな）

そんな私がこの４日間何をしていたかというと、

１：眠りたいだけ眠る
２：ジオの移行手続きとHP＆ブログの掃除（レスできなくてごめんなさい）
３：教科書以外の読書（簡単なレベルの多読）
４：子供と料理（餃子やピザやクッキー）
５：掃除＆洗濯

で、しめくくりとして今日は、子供と一緒に映画を見てきました。
CGアニメが話題の『Polar Express』ですねん。

ストーリーはありがちなクリスマステール、お子ちゃん向けです。
でも単純に、映像の美しさには一見の価値あり。
ぜひぜひでっかいスクリーンで！
TV画面、ましてやダウンロードものでは、「全然つまらないよ〜」てな感想になることでしょう。

印象としては、『Monsters Inc.』と『銀河鉄道999』と『ラピュタ』を思い出させます。
でもなんだかんだと、子供よりも私の方がexciteして見てたかも(笑)
英語も易しいですよ。



じゃ、宿題やります。明日提出の。
Literature（文学）の宿題はめんどくさーいのよ。
英語難しいし。


ps
ブログを２つに分けました。
なかなか更新できないけど、多読とか英作文の記録用のを作ったので、興味があったら覗いてみてください。
※現在スキンに障害発生中

ここ

今日は凹んだ一日だったなー。


↑押すと文字が変わるエンピツ投票ボタン

(T-T)



その他もろもろ子供のこととか、英語でなかなか言いたいことを伝えられなかったこととか、図書館の本の返却日を１日間違えていて罰金２０ドルとか、超寝不足とか、たまりまくったエッセイとサマリーとか。


とりあえず記録的に、今日テキストで書いた宿題をペーストしときます。
とほほ。


------
[ESL English Through Leterature] Letter of Advice

17 November 2004

Dear Rebecca,

　How's your everything? Are you happy with your family?
　Now, I'm in my grave. I've just returned to this graveyard after I return visit to my 12th birthday, so I've finally realized importance which I never knew before. Then this is my advice for you.
　When I was alive, I didn't noticed how wonderful my life had been. Although everything of my life was shining, I didn't realized that it was valuable and happy. After I died, I don't have any emotion and happiness, and I can't feel anything. No warmth, no pain, no hunger, no pleasure -- there are nothing here after death without love for you all.
　Rebecca, please notice what is important in your life. Importance of life is not wealth nor reputation. And please appreciate life. You can feel a lot of things because you are alive. Please cherish people you love. You never be able to stay together with them forever.
　I wish you will fulfill your life with brightness.

Love,
Emily



[ESL Grammar&Writing] Test Compsition 4 Draft#2

If Everyone Spoke the Same Language?

　I used to go to a language school when I couldn't understand English at all. The school's owner was a Japanese lady. All of the office workers there were Japanese. Moreover, most of the students were Japanese, so we could hear and speak Japanese in the school even though we were in the U.S.
　Although my best friends and I had been trying no to speak Japanese, many students spoke Japanese without hesitating. The teachers at the school were American. They were perplexed because Japanese language flew in the classroom all the time instead of English. While I was comfortable at the school because my English was too poor to communicate with foreign people, even though I actually didn't like the school very much because I felt talking with foreign people is interesting.
　If everyone spoke the same language, we could travel around the world easily. If all books in the world were written in the same language, we could read thousands of books without translation. However, there wouldn't be any different ethnical cultures which based on the same language, and there would be less interest in communication with foreign people who have the same culture and language.
　I wouldn't wish everyone spoke the same language, even if I suffered to learn foreign language.




[ESL Grammar&Writing] Writing Assignment Draft#2

If the War hadn't Broken out

　Since I was a child, I've believed that I've never wanted to live in a country which is involved in a war. I'm concerned that if there were another World War, the continued existence of the human race would be in jeopardy. Naturally I never imagined I would be living in a foreign country, but I came to the U.S. with my children because of my husband's job. He, who was working in Atlanta for a Japanese company, got a transfer order to the branch of his company in L.A. He said that he would work in L.A. for longer than he was in Atlanta; in other words, for five years. That's why my children and I moved to this country. Soon after I came here, a month later, "911" occurred.
　That early morning, I was chatting with a couple of my friends in Japan on the web, because they had rung the chime of my computer to invite me to the chat room. They asked me in unison, "Are you all right?", but I didn't understand what they meant. Then they said, "Turn the TV on!" Then I saw what was happening. Although I didn't understand English at all, I found the catastrophe inconceivable. I remembered the chemical terrorism which occurred on the subways in Tokyo six years before. I trembled with fear in front of the TV, and I regretted having come to the U.S. I just wished this terrorism would not grow into a war.
　After the "911" attack, my husband's situation at work changed day by day. His company's business got depressed, so all of the part-time employees were fired. The small branches in the U.S. were closed and merged into big branches. A rumor was going about that all of the dispatched workers from the head office would be sent back to Japan sooner than their term. In reality, after the U.S. Army attacked Iraq, the Japanese workers of my husband's company were recalled to Japan one after another. In the beginning when I came here, of course, I wanted to go back to Japan as soon as possible. But I knew I'd lost my life in Japan. I knew that we couldn't go back to our country easily. Anxious days for my family continued, and my husband and I couldn't see our future clearly.
　My husband's turn had come. Only two years had passed since we came here. In 2003, he got an order to go back to Japan. I was in my second semester at this college, and my children had just gotten into regular classes after finishing ESL at their school. My husband was told that even if he returned to the head office, there wouldn't be any important job for him. Fortunately, he got an offer from an American company, one of the subsidiary companies of his Japanese company. Now, my family had two choices, go back to Japan to a dim prospect for my husband or stay here and start a new life. Even though staying here, meant that we wouldn't return to our country for many years or ever, I asked my husband what he wanted. He said he wouldn't mind being a low-level employee if the children and I want to go back to Japan.
　Finally, my husband and I decided to stay in the U.S. permanently. He quit the Japanese company and took the job offer with the American company. My family and I had to go to Japan for six months to change our VISA status. During those months, I missed spring semester and forgot my English, and my children changed their school twice. In addition, we are planning to apply for green cards. If the terrorists hadn't attacked the U.S., this war in Iraq wouldn't have been started. If this war weren't started, my family and I would be returning to our country in 2006, fulfilling the original job contract of my husband's firm. Even in my family, a lot of things have been changed by the terrorism and the war. It is certain that huge numbers of people in the world must be thinking, "If 911 hadn't happened, --." Furthermore, Bush was elected again, so this war seems to have no ending in sight. My family and I haven't experienced all of the effects from this war yet. Our future still remains unclear.

すっかりごぶさたしてしまいました。
中間試験のあと、学校も家庭も急に忙しくなってしまって、自分のサイトはおろか、メールの返事も書けずにおりました。

そうこうしている間に、先週には次のセメスターの登録がありました。
ほんと、あっというまですねぇ。

じつは今セメで一番苦労しているのは
↑押すと文字が変わるエンピツ投票ボタン

来週、再来週が山場かなぁ。
もー死にそ。