Valentine

Today each of my students went to high schools to take entrance exams. I waited for them at the station this morning, and I could meet Yoshiro, Moriyasu, Amada, and Mura, and I cheered them up to win the landslide victories.


Anyway yesterday was the day of Valentine, and I got two gifts from my students. Here are the pictures.

The one with pop package you can see the letters "THANK YOU" is from 12 & 14 year-old girls, and the other gorgeous one is from 17 year-old girl. Have a look at the following enlarged photos!! (≧▽≦)




How much do you know about Valentine's Day?


In ancient times marriage was strictly prohibited by Roman Emperor Claudius Ⅱ. On the other hand, the priest Valentine secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had valentine arrested and thrown in jail. The day when Valentine was executed got to be called Saint Valentine's Day.

Also, I found an interesting article about Valentine on BBC.
The main topic is about the Kenyan rose growers who earn less sales than usual because of the world financial crisis. And additional topic is also interesting. The original meaning of Valentine's Day seems to have been lost a little; in Japan and South Korea girls have to give "giri-choco" to their co-workers. That means giving chocolates is an obligation event for women these days. Moreover, in south Korea, there is Black Day on April 14th, unlucky men gather together to eat Chinese-style black noodles. How pity!! (^。^;)


If you're interested in, please click here.

→http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8513045.stm

anxiety

The private high schools' entrance exams have taken place not only in Saitama but in Tokyo since this week. Now I have more than 20 students who have to take the high school's entrance exams, and I'm eager to support them.

But I can't sweep off my anxiety to the exams... so it's really hard to fall asleep every night. Yesterday I slept at about 2:00 and wake up at 5:00, went to the Urawa station and said "FIGHT" to my students this morning. My life got to be a worst one now. The only method to improve my life is to see or hear my students' pass.

Especially the students who will go to public high schools must be in the severe condition. There are keen competition for some high schools such as Urawa, Ichijyo, Omiya, Ichiritsu, Warabi, Urawa Minami, and so on... and we'll need to get higher score than now if we really want to pass.

I believe that we're absolutely strong in terms of the mental growth. To get a high score, they have to compose their thoughts and try to be calm.

I'm looking forward to hearing their good announcements.

White Night

I had a work as well and now I came home. Surprisingly it was snowy today, so my footprints were left on the white ground on my way home.

The tiptoe of my feet got wet so much as if I had soaked them into icy water. The ground were so slippery that I had to waddle like a penguin not to slip up. I don't want all of my students to slip their entrance examinations.

Seven years ago, on the day of January 23rd when I was 15, I got an acceptance of my high school. There was heavy snow on that day, and I remember that I took care of my feet not to slip. Through this experience, I think the snowy weather will bring me a good luck. I really hope to see my students' happy smiles after the exams.

Please, please, please...........(≧ω≦)



I also took photos below at Gyokuzo-in and the park in front of it. White trees and roofs were beautiful, and the snow on the branches glittered in the street light. I don't like the sleety dirty snow in Kanto actually, but don't you feel a sense of romance??

Pass the exam, everyone!! Give us a hand, God!! (_≧д≦)ノ

I feel sorry to delay my updating....
So now I show you my Ghibli Fukubukuro.

Hey, look at this photo. Of course, you know, it's Ponyo. To be honest, I don't think Ponyo is a good film among Ghibli series. This film was intended for kids, so I thought it's too childish. It could get popular because of the lovely little girl singer, Nozomi Ohashi. And this character of Ponyo is really cute, isn't it? This doll is also cute, I think, and it is displayed on the shelf at the front door.

The next one is memo stand. And you can see Catbus at the bottom of this ornament. It's so small but sophisticated.

Jiji is one of the most famous cats in Japan; it is appeared in Kiki's Delivery Service. There is a magnet at the back of this ornament, and I put this on the wall of our refrigerator now.

Do you know this character? Its name is Heen which appeared in Howl's Moving Castle as a lapdog of Madame Suliman. Perhaps this ornament should be used as a paperweight because it is heavy, but I'm not sure what this is...

And finally, here is the candy pot decorated Jiji at the side. I like it very much and I put some Chupa Chups into this pot. It looks wonderful!!

If you have or find some Ghibli products, please tell and show me soon.

Fukubukuro

You know I spent really busy winter section and got a bad illness. So I didn't have any time to buy some cheaper clothings this winter.

Three days later I got ill, my brother and I were hanging out around Urawa station. When we wandered about in Urawa Corso after lunch, a small bag at the storefront caught my eye.


That was "Ghibli Fukubukuro".


I was so surprised that existence of the dream bag!! It must be inevitable for Ghibli fan to buy it! I bought it for ￥3,500, brought it back home carefully, and opened it.


Have a look at these!!（≧▽≦）

Don't you think they're fantastic? I'm sure I'll show you them one by one on the next blog.

See you soonヽ(^。^)ノ

Bad illness

I had worked at cram school really hard from January 2nd to 7th, so yesterday I contracted a bad illness and had to be in bed all day long. Vomit, diarrhea, fever, and headache struck me and I couldn't walk at all.

I suppose that the cause of my disease lies in my unbalanced lifestyle and extreme tension during this winter section. Everyday I went to the cram school around 9:00, came home over the midnight, and slept at 3:00 or 4:00 in bed or sometimes in kotatsu. In addition, on January 2nd and 3rd, I had to teach English in big classes, so I got really nervous then. After that, I also braced myself again for my students' entrance exams. Of course it was inevitable for me to avoid the stress in my workplace.


I slept almost all yesterday and took a good rest today, so I feel much better.

Next week I have to work again but we must keep in mind that nothing is more important than health.

Happy New Year

Happy new year everybody!!
How was your last year??

For me, it was really hard to lead my students to present conditions, especially, my 9 grade students. Three years before I started to work at carm schools and I've been taking charge of the classes since then. I'm so surprised and so glad that all the boys and girls grow up not only physically but also mentally.

I hope I'll see their all smiles after their entrance exams.

Never be arrogant!
Believe in yourself!
Where there is a will, there is a way!

I'm always standing by you!!ヽ(^。^)ノ