CHILDHOOD MEMORY

My earliest childhood memory that I remember is ... Disneyland in Florida I went with my family.
However, this is not a kind of happy memory that many poeple may expect.

I was about 2 or 3 years old, so I was still an only child (my sister was born when I was 5 years old).
My family was spending winter vacation in Florida, and they planned a surprise party for my birthday.
On that day, we went to a restaurant at Disneyland.
I think my father and mother were already setting the surprise with the staff of restaurant.
When we were eating dinner, Micky came in with a brithday cake and balloons.
Everyone expected me to be delighted or surprised.

BUT, I was too surprised.
I was terrified by Micky and cried as if something awful happened.
I don't remember further on, but my parents have sworn that they will never arrange surprise event for me in the future.
This is a pity because now I'm sure that I can fully enjoy any surprise event.
It was an unfortunate accident.

CANADA

Next year, I'm planning to visit Toronto, Canada for the studying abroad progarm.
I'm really interested in Canada!:D
I heard that two languages (English and French) are the official languages of Canada, and most people can speak both. That's unthinkable in Japan.
And the reason why I chose Toronto is that it is one of the largest cities in Canada.
An university surrounded by great forest and lakes were attractive too, but I wanted to experience a life in downtown.
Then I can enjoy shopping witout a problem in transportation (in fact, I don't have a car license)
That's why I chose Toronto:)
I can't wait for next year.

MISUNDERSTANDING

The greatest misunderstanding between men and women?

I don't know!
I see many couples break up because of small troubles...but what is the greatest one?

Women generally want empathy and support in conversation with others.
It helps us to feel close!
So we want to talk more about our feelings as well as facts.
That's why we get sometimes incredibly emotional during chats.

But men don't seem to talk much about how they feel.
How do we call this...report talk?
I get a kind of impression that they prefer just giving facts (not everyone, of course).
I think this difference may lead to misunderstandings between men and women.
I don't know how to avoid it, though.
It's really complicated.

FALL

Actually, fall is my most favorite season:D
We can enjoy the beautiful autumn leaves before facing the winter cold.
In our campus, the trees have finally begun to turn red and yellow.
It's really nice to see the trees every morning as we walk the street to the school.
Also, I personally like the autumn fashion among all the seasons in the year.
We can put on our boots while we don't have to wear many layers of clothes yet.
I really hope that the weather would warmer during November...
It's been too cold for the last few days!
I'm not ready for the winter yet.

TYPE OF FASHION

Today I'm gonna talk about my favorite type of fashion.
I think everyone has his/her own fashion preference, such as classic, trendy, casual, and etc.

Recently, I'm really into preppy style.
A long sleeved shirt under button-up cardigan is an simple style, but it makes me feel cool and formal.
Striped shirts are one of my hottest items!
Since I really love them, I always look for same kind of shirts during the shopping.
Vest and tie are also my favorite items too.

I like watching the fashion of KG students in campus, because there are many interesting styles that I want to learn.
Observing people is sometimes efficient as well as reading magazines.

TREND

ummm...I think one of the trends in Japan, or around the world, is Twitter.
I'm not a user of Twitter, but I know many people who are using this service.
You can read everyone's tweets, and know what is happening at this moment.
Since each post is limited to 140 characters, it is very easy and quick to send messages.

The main user of Twitter may be young people.
Twitter is appealing for Japanese students, because they can catch up to the latest event without taking a lot of effort.
Adults also use twitter in business and other activities.
It is amazing that many companies are now offering recruitment information for university students through Twitter.

I think this trend will last for a long period of time, because Twitter is developing as a part of people's daily life.
Sooner of later it may become one of the necessary tools for our communication.
Of course there are still many problems regarding privacy and security, but its usefulness is attracting many people.

CULTURE

I haven't experienced that much unsual cultural custom either in Japan or USA...
Most people seem to have ordinary lifestyle, though I really don't know what is normal or not.

One thing I can say is that Western people walk into their house with their shoes on.
For Japanese people, floor (tatami) is the place for eating and sleeping.
We also lay babies on the floor directly.
Therefore, we always want to keep the floor clean and are very reluctant to step on the floor with our shoes on.
However, Western people do not have the culture of sitting directly on the floor.
They sleep on bed, eat on table, and sit on chair.
May be they feel uncomfortable and defenseless when they are walking barefoot.

I think Japanese people are making distinction between "UCHI" and "SOTO" by taking off their shoes when their enter house.
Without taking off our shoes, we can't really relax in private, and by putting on our shoes again, we can shift our mind for public.
I'm really interested to know the real reason behind this cultural difference:D