Postcard from...Winchester Castle,England

The Great Hall of Winchester Castle -
King Arthur's Round Table

Dear Jim, Yukari-san and all at Luna,

How are you? My daughter and I are having a wonderful time here. Winchester was what I expected, I saw the Round Table from the 13th Century and learned a lot of history. I also saw Jane Austen's grave at the Cathedral. 

We are going to do some sightseeing in Bath today. 

Tomorrow we'll be in Cotswolds, then to Ireland, Galway. 

This is my fourth visit to England. Every time I come back, I feel nostalgic. This year the weather is very bad, even in June. Raining all the time.

All the best

Shizue

Castle - TV series review

N.B. May contain spoilers!

Castle TV series features a beautiful detective Katherine Beckett and a mystery novel writer Richard Castle, who solve unusual crimes in the city of New York. This series was created by Andrew W. Marlowe, and originally released on March 9, 2009.

Female protagonist, Kate Beckett had a painful memory and trauma about the death of her mother. The case had been unsolved, and that was why she chose her current career. The first episode starts with a murder case which seems to resemble the murder case in Castle’s novel. Detective Beckett comes to contact Castle and asks him for help. Intrigued by the beautiful, mysterious Kate Beckett, Richard Castle starts working together with her two other male colleagues to solve strange challenging cases. Interestingly, Castle argues that he is going to investigate as many murder cases as possible in order to release his new novel series featuring an attractive female detective named Nicky Heat. As story goes on, Beckett is almost close to her mother’s murderer, but at the same time she has to face the devastating fact, losing her trustful boss and naerly losing her own life. The story is very thrilling as well as romantic. Richard cannot help fall in love with Beckett, supporting her in the back. Where are their relations going?

Richard Castle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The great strength of this TV series and what makes the series different from other detective stories are the speed each episode moves and discloses the murderer, and the attractiveness of each character. Richard leads a life with his beloved daughter, Ashley, and his eccentric actress mother. Beckett’s colleagues, who are Ryan and Esposito, who support her and work with her doggedly. Each of them has their own private life and they are presented during the series. There are eight seasons. The only weakeness I notice is the unsolved case of Beckett’s mother, which remains unsolved until the end.

Posted for Shizue

Postcard from...Luang Prabang, Laos

Hi Jim,

Jardin des Buddha/Xieng Khouane

I'm now in Lunag Prabang with my daughter Saori. This is an old capiltal before Vientianne. Streets are so beautiful. Many things have happened to us since our departure. Lao people are fashionable, wearing traditional skirts for everyday life. We enjoy night market, too. But it is too hot & humid. Tuku Tuku were so scary and dangerous. They seemed to ignore traffic rules.

See you soon,

Shizue

A guide to wildlife in Japan - bears

Japanese black bear (Photo credit: jasohill)

One of the most appealing animals found in this country is the bear. These attractive creatures live in forests in northern Japan, and they are also ideally adapted to a hunting life neater water, having waterproof fur. Bears live on a diet of fish and nuts, and are very solitary animals. When they are young, they are playful and love rolling and playing with siblings. Bears are very overcautious, so they seldom come near or appear before humans. However, in recent years, due to food shortage, some are appearing near residential areas and farms.  

Observing bears:
Catching sight of bears is pretty difficult, because they are fierce creatures and don't like to interact with humans. Therefore, you have to have a special guide called "Matagi," who used to hunt bears for their fur and meat. If you are lucky enough, you might be able to see a bear from a distance.

Posted by Shizue

Ohanami BBQ at Joyama Park

A great big THANK YOU!!! to everybody who joined us on that windy hill on Sunday. Although the weather wasn't all that good, we still managed to have a decent barbecue, have a few beers, play a little football and meet fellow students and friends. We discovered that Matsumoto really is a small place indeed, ALT's and English language teachers were reunited after 15 years, and discoveries through email addresses exchanged that two parties actually worked at the same company, but had just never met there before!

Eventually the rain got the better of us and we had to move up the hill to the little shelter at the top where we huddle d together, enjoyed a little guitar, and ran outside again when the sun came out. All arrived and departed safely despite the slippery path, some in high heeled shoes, and some carrying the massive cooler box and smoldering barbecue.

And then as the temperature began to drop, Shizue kindly came to the rescue by inviting those who still hadn't had enough to make use of her garden at her house nearby. And so, a handful of die-hards lit the second barbecue of the day and Shizwe brought us all hot coffee to warm our cold hands. We ended the evening with a song in our hearts and bellies full, having made some new friends and having reunited with old ones.

We hope to see you all there again next year! And hope we have better luck with the weather next time!
Who knows, we had such fun we might even schedule another one for summer!! So you won't have to wait that long.

Will keep you posted,

Tana

Who's a clever girl?!

I love it when students are too modest to realise they have just achieved something remarkable!

Congratulations Shizue, on passing First Certificate! (Here is Luna's Local Secretary Yuki presenting Shizue with her certificate.)

Shizue spends every other Friday teaching me. She knows more about English Literature than I ever will, and her questions about grammar are truly frightening! She is the worst student I know for doing homework - I don't think she has ever actually done everything I asked her to...but that doesn't matter because she has passed FCE. She is the only Japanese English teacher I know that has managed to do that. Most, in my experience, would be badly shown up.

Why isn't there some universal measure of English language skills/requirement for English teachers in this country? To be fair, this should include native speakers too - just because you grow up speaking a language doesn't make you an expert, let alone a teacher. And yet Nagano prefecture wastes millions upon millions of taxpayers' yen on unqualified imports - working alongside mostly less than competent English-langauge users.

Do I know what I am talking about? Sadly, yes, I do. Do I have any useful suggestions? Again, yes I do...

Well done Shizue: shining example of what teachers should be capable of in this country. Proud of you.

Oh, and by the way, Shizue will be examining Young Learners for us on Sunday!