Michael Voss

This weekend we will have an exhibition at the Coach House, Elmfield School.
This features art from Vosscination.
The two generation of the Voss; Michael Voss and Kilian Voss, have created sophisticated art.

You will see sculptures, jewellery, and Christmas decorations.

We will have an opening event at 7-9pm on Fri 20, 11, 2009.
The exhibition will go on for a week.

I hope I will see you all there!


If you can't make it,
you can always visit our website at VOSSCINATION!

At the exhibition, we will have latest works that are not on the web yet.

I will update the website to show the latest works shortly,
so everybody all over the world would be able to see their beautiful works!

Google AdWords

ummmmmm
I am trying to tackle Google AdWords...
I have just started trying out this ad tool today, but I am far from successful. No keywords are shown on search pages...
What am I doing wrong?

Help me.......



Probably I need a beginner's guide for AdWords.
Do you have any recommendation for an instruction book??????


Please let me know if you have any advise!!

Vosscination

Now we are almost ready to publish our website containing my parents-in-law's art works. The web site name, also the business name, is called VOSScination.

The word Vosscination is made from their family name "VOSS" and a word "fascination".

We are introducing Voss' art works: jewellery, sculpture and accessory, and of course are selling them!

They are actually fascinating!!



The site is not completed yet, but I think the structure is ok enough to publish.
And also the collected works are not enough, but more and more are coming.
As we receive the works and data, I will update our "gallery."

I hope you will enjoy it!
VOSSCINATION

long absence again

Sorry my dear readers.
(I don't think there are so many...though. hahaha)

Recent world around me was like swift stream. Everything happened quickly, and moved fast.

One of the things we, my husband and myself, have just started last week was starting new business.


My husband's parents are both artists, creating sculptures, jewelleries and some other accessories. Since they live in Germany and they mainly sell their art works through exhibitions or crafts fairs, only local people can see their wonderful works.

You know, artists are people who are good at creating beautiful stuff, but generally not the people who are good at selling the items.

So I just thought that I would sell their works through our website!

I am not a professional merchant yet, but I have prepared to start e-commerce business to sell our stuff since Spring.
So... why not selling his parents' works ?

The idea came up suddenly last week, and one week has passed.
Now we are almost ready to publish our new website!!

Can you imagine how busy we have been??


My husband is also a semi-professional photographer, so he has been taking my mum-in-law's jewelleries.
I have been building the website...

The website is not completed, but the structure is done.



So... I will let you know the web site information soon!!
I hope you will like it!

long time no see...

yeah.... How long have I been absent from this blog1?

My husband pointed that I have not updated this site for a long long long time.




ummm.


I have been writing a book about Geometry activities from Waldorf school lessons.
Lots of crafty activities and Geometric drawings you can actually do with your children.
I hope that parents and their children would enjoy these activities together.


The book is almost done.


Exciting!

HERO!

Two pupils at my school showed up on a top page of the local newspaper.


Wow.
Well-done.

blue solar water

I don't know if you have ever heard of the "blue solar water."
If you don't know and want to know about it, please search it on the web. You will find loads of web pages about "blue solar water" and "ho'oponopono."

This week I bought two bottles of mineral water "TY NANT."

The bottle is beautiful dark blue glass and the shape is simple and beautiful.
The water is collected in Wales.

I searched same item in Japan, and I learned that the same products are sold in Japan as well. Of course the price is surprisingly high. I also learned that TY NANT is sold in the supermarket "JUSCO" in Japan.

Anyway, I bought two bottles at the local supermarket, and made the special "blue solar water."

The method is quite simple and sounds nothing special.

Just fill some tap water in the blue bottle, then put a non-metal lid on.
Leave the bottle under sunshine for 15 min to 1 hour. (it is ok when it's cloudy or rainy.)

Drink the water 2 litres a day.
The water can be used for cooking, cleaning, watering plants, skin care....etc.


The water left in the sun tasted surprisingly mild.
The tap water in this region is hard though the "blue solar water" was soft and mild.
Actually it tasted like mineral water.

After one day trial, I realized that my skin got more moisture than before.
My muscles are softer although my muscles are usually as tough as rocks.

The rice cooked in the blue solar water tasted better.
Of course it is no wonder it tasted better, since the water itself tasted much better.


The difference of my skin and muscle might have been caused by drinking a lot of water... not because of the specific water called "blue solar water", because drinking a lot of water is good for your health.

But there is one mysterious phenomenon I experienced.

That was... the water always made me sleepy instantly.
I felt the water is actually working on where something's wrong... such as my back or shoulders.

So..... obviously it is not just tap water any more.

It has gotten some vibration energy from the sun and gained the power from the blue colour.
I don't know HOW that works scientifically. But I am feeling it works through my physical experiment.



My husband doesn't believe the power of the water, but now he likes drinking the water.
The water is tasty. Your sense of taste can prove it.








It is simple, isn't it?

blooming!

England is a country of roses... Although the climate in England is not really suitable for growing roses, people love the flower and make so much effort to have the gorgeous success on their rose bushes. The fact that there are so many beautiful rose gardens in this country shows the British people's love for roses.

The rose in my little garden bloomed today.
As the bud grow bigger, it spread the strong scent.
Today the rose flower opened like this. See the photo below.




Isn't it gorgeous???

pop-up card

After I made the card I showed you on the previous post, I had another piece of yellow paper left over to make one more card.

So I decided to make one more.
Here it is.



This is the main building of the school we belong to.

I just made it quickly without measuring nor looking at the building photo. So the design of the building is not exactly same. But you see the feature appeared on the card, if you know the real building.

I love this kind of paper crafts.
This is called the "Origamic Architechture" that a Japanese Architect Masashiro Chatani invented. He created the cards of all kinds of famous buildings and world heritages all over the world. You can find his books that contain a loads of patterns for Origamic Architecture for you to make the architecture cards on your own. His books are often bilingual, English and Japanese. I think you would love to see his books!

Anyway, I stole his idea of making a card of existing building and made a familiar building that stands in front of my house as a symbol of our school.


When I make this again, I will make the card that is more closely designed to original building...

birthday card

This morning my husband informed me our friend's birthday.

She is an old lady who has been contributed her love and efforts to the school for more than half a century. I think everybody in this community loves her. Of course we are not the exception.


She turned to 91 today.
She still comes to the school every Tuesday to see how we are doing.
Her love for the school and her positivity always amaze me.




I quickly made a birthday card for her to celebrate her birthday!!




The photo is not very clear, but I hope you can recognize a bird with a flower on the photo.
I cut out a plain yellow paper and glued it on a white paper to make a pop-up card.
You see my friend's name cut out on top of the card.


Do you like it??

hair pack

I had my hair packed last night.

Since I moved out of japan, the dry weather in California and England dried my skin and hair out... Especially here in England, the hard water affects the hair so bad, and my hair became harder and it doesn't shine as much as before.

Recently I learned an interesting method of hair pack using mayonnaise.

Yes, the mayonnaise from the fridge.


It is surprising, but considering the ingredients of mayonnaise, it is no wonder the mayonnaise works well for hair.

The vinegar adjusts the pH balance of the hair.
The oil smoothes the hair.
And the protein from the egg adds nutrition to the hair.

If we think it scientifically, we can understand that the mayonnaise pack would be ideal for dry hair.


So I did it.


The method is easy;
1. apply a lot of mayonnaise all over the dry hair.
2. Cover the hair with a cling film.
3. Leave it for 10 to 20 min.
4. Rinse it with luke warm water, and then shampoo the hair as usual. Use regular conditioner afterwards.


The result was impressive.
The hair regained its shine that it had ten years ago.
It got smoother and softer.

Believe me.
Don't be so skeptical.
It is an excellent + natural pack.
I truly recommend this method if you have dry hair.



By the way, i used home made mayonnaise.
Because home made mayo doesn't smell much, and it doesn't contain salt and pepper.
Making mayo is not difficult.
Mix 100ml of olive oil, one egg, and 2 T spoons of vinegar with a blender.
That's all.

Try!!

Fire under the Snow

I am finished reading Palden Gyatso's "Fire under the Snow."

Recently the documentary movie originated from this fiction was released in Japan.
The director is a young Japanese woman, working in NY.
She discovered this book when she was studying film directing in NY, and the book shocked her and also inspired her.

Now the film "Fire under the Snow" is ready to be public, and you can see it at some small theatres in Japan.


In 1992 the Venerable Palden Gyatso was released after thirty-three years of imprisonment by Chinese forces in Tibet. He fled across the Himalayas to India, smuggling with him the instruments of his torture. This powerful test is the story of his life and irrefutable testimony to the appalling suffering of the Tibetan nation at the hands of the Chinese.
(from the book description)


I really want everyone to read this book and learn how the situation in Tibet has been.
In the book you will see how Chinese are humiliating Tibetans.
The nightmares in Tibet under the Chinese forces are still going on.


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warabi

Yesterday it was a nice day in between rainy wet days.
I had been waiting for a day like this to explore the wood nearby my house.
It is only five minutes driving distance to get there, and now it must be very beautiful with blue bell flowers. I hoped to see the beautiful blue carpet in the wood.

I had another purpose to go there, that was picking ferns called "warabi" in Japanese. These ferns are edible ones, and taste great with grated ginger and soy sauce. One of my friends told me that she found loads of "warabi" kind of ferns there. Although she was not sure about the spieces, it is worth to try!

So, I went to the wood and picked lots and lots of warabi with my sons.

When I was busy picking them, I saw a biology teacher of my school.

She was very skeptical at my comment on the warabi that we Japanese eat them.


"I know some ferns are edible but I don't know if these are or not."
she said.

She is not just a biologist but a specialist of botany.
She should know about plants more, shouldn't she??

But... who cares?

I know what warabi is.
I am not a specialist, but I can at least try.

and... tried them after they are cooked.




Fortunately they were the right kind of ferns, real warabi!!




My husband, who is a German, was not very sure about them, telling me,
"we are poor, but we are not as poor as eating ferns from wood."
"we are not goats."
(goats eat everything!)


All right,
it is ok.

I don't mind.

They taste good.
That is the most important thing for me.

And I have missed this taste for seven years!!




So..., now I know they are real, and I must go back there again to pick more!!


I must let the biology teacher eat them!!!
hahaha


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blue bell forest

Blue bells are common flower in England.
They grow wild in the forest, spreading and covering the ground with the blue little flowers.

When I talked about the flower "blue bells" to my friends in Japan, some of them didn't know the flower. I realized that blue bells are not so common in Japan.

To show the image of the flower to my friends, I searched good photos over the Internet.

And what I found is..... THIS !!!



OMG!!!
Isn't it gorgeous??



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flowers

Needless to say, spring is the most beautiful season in England.
(Let's not discuss about WHEN is the spring. British sense of spring is a bit off from our Japanese sense.)

After long long grey winter, so many colourful flowers bloom at once.
The flowers must have been waiting for this time of the year as well as humans.

I walked around the campus and took some photos of flowers.










Hope you enjoy looking at the pics.


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flying penguin

I had a dream about flying penguin several years ago.

I normally have very vague memory of my dreams when I wake up. It is almost impossible to trace the plot of my dreams. I rarely remember even just one scene. But the dream of flying penguin was surprisingly clear. I can still remember the picture of the flying fat penguin. It flew so fast and straight just like a jet air plane. :D


My husband sent this video to me last night.
He knows my flying penguin dream and always teases me about it.




Wow I knew there were penguins that can actually fly!!



Isn't it amazing?




hahahaha...




Cheers for BBC!!


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bath time

For me, bath time is the best reading time.
Just relax in the warm water, and read a book is one of the happiest time.

Probably I am too busy mentally to read a book anywhere else.
Bath room is the only room without a computer, a phone, or other attractive tools.

These tools are necessary in my life and my work, although it is the fact that they sometimes kill my time.

I just shut down the computer now, and go to the bathroom, disconnect myself from the media/internet.

Just sink myself into the world of traditional way of expression, language.




I will continue reading Steiner's "Study of Man."

I just started reading this again the other day. I have not read this since I left the Rudolf Steiner College.

But needless to say, this is one of the greatest book about Steiner education. Worth to read many times and each time gives some discoveries in me.


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private

I have some blogs that are open to many people.
There are quite a few readers visiting every day.
Since I made links those blogs to my business web site, I now feel those blogs are rather "public" blog where it is not appropriate to publish my private feeling.

Unlike those blogs, this English blog "inner light" is quite private one.
Since I have not made a lot of connection through this blog within blogger or blog ranking communities, I feel like I can write what I feel more freely in this blog than in other blog.


Thanks for the language barrier, there are only a few Japanese friends visiting here.

I think I can make use of this blog as a space to express my private feeling.


Then, the next question comes up.
"Why do I need to have a blog to express my private feeling? This blog is still in a public space where anybody can visit."

That is very true.


I guess I just like to write something.
Also I like to communicate to somebody who might be interested in my feeling.

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drawing lines

What is the difference between Waldorf education and non-Waldorf?

For me the definition is very clear, but the difficulties of understanding Anthroposophy may make the definition of the education unclear.


I see many people, especially parents, misunderstand Waldorf education.
Some believe that using natural material or doing crafts are just simply Waldorf...

It is not...



Sorry I am talking to myself on this post....

5th birthday

Tomorrow my first son will turn to five.
It is hard to believe that I have already been a mother for five years.
It seems to me very short time when I look back the last five years although each moment I face to the children are not always easy and I felt the time for them to grow was so long..... Do you know what I mean?


As a part of anniversary, I collected some photos on my Japanese blog "Kayo in England". I am sure you will enjoy seeing the growth of the boy on the photos.

See you on the blog.

absence

Again, it has been a long absence...

I have been busy again, preparing for my business, building several web sites, and also starting new job at a Japanese school.

Our nearest Japanese school started high school which they haven't had before, and I became their first high school class teacher. I teach Japanese, including classics, and of course mathematics, which is my speciality.


First I was hesitant to accept the fact that I have to teach Japanese. When I was in Japan, I have taught Japanese to elementary to high school level. But now I feel I have been losing my language sense as a Japanese during my long absence from Japanese language environment... You know, I have been away from my country, Japan for seven years. I visited Japan only once since 2002. That was fairly short visit that I had only five nights in Japan...

So I felt I needed to brush up my Japanese language sense to teach high school students. But I also thought it would be good opportunity to recover my mother tongue skill.

It is not just about the language, but the culture. I have adjusted myself to the Western culture through my life in English speaking countries, but at the same time I had to cut off some Japanese customs and culture from my life. These traditions still live deep in me, but I need to consciously bring them forward to teach the language, after living in totally different society for several years.


So I really think it is a good chance to remember my identity as a Japanese.



And it is ALWAYS fun to learn/study something new or fresh.

It may sound strange for you that I said Japanese as something new/fresh. But I really feel so. The proper formal language that appears on the Japanese text book is not the everyday casual language which you read on the web or bestseller books. I read some books which are hard to understand sometimes, but it is hard because of the contents. The language itself is not very sophisticated nor beautiful. The language on the text book is proper, and more beautiful than those I usually read.

So I enjoy reading Japanese text books and also enjoy teaching Japanese as a high school subject.

fractal

You might not know that I am a geometer... , since I have not talked about Geometry so long.


Today I just found an article about paper craft using the idea of fractal.
If you are interested in learning "fractal", go to wiki, which will give you some idea of it.


Then what I made today is....




Isn't it beautiful!?

This is made of a sheet of copy paper, using a pair of scissors.
You don't need a ruler or pattern to design this.

Just cut it following the method.

The method is here.

Simple, easy.
I am sure you would enjoy the beauty of geometrical shape as you make this!!

new web site

My project started from launching a web site. This is not the business web site but just a sub-website related to my future business.

It is just at a starting point and doesn't contain much yet. However I am aiming to improve this site as a big community for those who want to study Steiner-Waldorf education. The idea of this web site is the place where you can find all the workshops or study materials of Steiner Ed/Anthroposophy.


I am planning to develop this website more and build another website for English speaking people showing all the information from all over the world.


I am doing this because I really want to give everybody opportunity to reach Steiner Education which should to be available and open to main stream world.

I would appreciate if you visit the website.

long time no see...

Maybe my dear readers have already forgotten me....
I am sorry I have not updated anything in the past month.

My life has been again crazily busy....


I bought a yearly diary in the very beginning of 2009. Before that, I have used an organizer for over 10 years. That was genuin leather diary made in Italy. I loved it for a long time, but I felt larger diary would suit to my new year.

I thought I would be busy this year, having lots of work and becoming more active, gradually separating my life from my little sons as they grow up, although I had only one plan of three-month maternity cover teaching from April to July when I bought the new diary.


Within one week after I bought the diary, I had a request to become a high school class 1 teacher at a Japanese school. Original plan was supply-teaching for one term, but the new offer was whole year class teaching position.

Wow, as I expected, I am getting busier... :D

Then, soon after that, I suddenly had one brilliant idea of a business. Now I am working for the business to be reality. This is so exciting which I can use all my experience, knowledge and connections.



And then, I had another offer of three jobs from a recruitment company I have registered with in August 2008. I haven't heard any suitable job opening information since the initial registration, but suddenly I got three!

One was just an office working lady, part of administrative role. The job sounds boring XD, but the work place is fairly close and it is a part time position which is suitable for me.

Another one was a full-time position and a bit far from my house...It is within commuting distance though. The job was what I was really interested in. Unfortunately I am not qualified with the position, because I need to be trained for the job first, I thought. But the manager of the recruitment company suggested to apply for it, since there are only a few people who would qualify this job. He thought it would be worth to try it..... Maybe he is right. If the company think I am disqualified, they just decline my application. That's all. If they would give me some training for starting the job, that is what I desire. I am keen to learn this stuff.

The third one is not really my stuff. So I wouldn't apply for it.

But, the two jobs are on their process of the application now.....



So that is my recent life.
Getting more and more busy, and I am excited about being busy really.


I try to update here more frequently, but believe me, no news is a good news.

I am doing great.

sake

Today I went to a chinese super market in Birmingham to buy sushi rice.
Sushi rice is essential for me as you can easily imagine. It is quite difficult to live without Japanese sushi rice although I have already survived several years without quite a few Japanese groceries.


Today I bought something special, which is Japanese sake "ozeki dry."

I have never bought any kinds of Japanese sake for drinking myself even when I was in Japan. But when I bought a tiny 180ml bottle of sake to make a special BBQ sauce last year, I tasted it and found it quite tasty!!!

Half of the pleasure might have been one way of expression of just a homesickness. But I have missed the taste of sake since then.


So I bought one bottle which is larger than the previous one, with an excuse of making the special BBQ sauce again.

hahaha.



I tasted a tiny bit after supper today. Just a tiny bit is enough to feel "Japanese" mood.



This sake was made in California, and imported to England.
Actually, the sake factory is fairly close to the city of Sacramento where I used to live.


I knew there were a few Japanese sake companies around the city because there is a good water source from American River and Sacramento River.

But isn't it quite interesting?

I myself , Japanese,
Japanese sake made in California where I used to live.
The sake imported to England where I currently live.


And now I am sending this blog to all over the world via Internet, and many of the readers are Japanese.


Japan → California → England → Japan

It is just a sake, but it is going round the world connecting people.







By the way, it has been freezing cold these days because of the cold wave in Europe. Somebody said it is the coldest winter in the last thirty years in England. In fact, the temperatures these day have been under zero degree Celsius. Several people have frozen to death in the continental Europe. It is nice to see white snow and children playing with the snow, but I hope it will be warmer soon!



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Magazine

I recently enjoy spending my spare time as I read magazines.
I subscribe one of the BBC magazines called "Gardener's world." It helped me to learn English botanical names. Flowers and plants are named with unfamiliar language especially for Japanese. So it is hard to learn. However magazines are generally written in a casual language, and are with beautiful photos in nice layout, which is fun to look at. So I think reading or looking at magazines are helpful to learn specialized English terms.

After one and a half year of subscription, I got bored with this magazine.
Loss of interest in gardening was one of the reasons that I recently don't read it seriously.



Now I found a lot of fun in science magazines.



For now my favorite magazine is "New Scientist." You see one of the issues on the photo above.
It is interesting, not formal, and I think editor has a good sense of humor.


Thanks for the GCSE science studies, I have learned English basic scientific terms a lot. That made me possible to enjoy the contents of the science articles.

Originally I bought a science magazine to find more and more interests in sciences. As I study sciences for the exams, the dry scientific information bored me. Science is happening around us all over the world. Science should be lively and interesting. Then I thought that articles in magazines should be something new, latest technology, and easy to make connections between the dry academic information and our real lives.


I am now enjoying both English and sciences by reading this magazine!!
It is fun!


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rice noodle

I am a noodle lover.
Japanese udon, soba, somen, ramen, and other noodles like pasta are essential for my life. I crave for noodle if I miss one noodle meal per day.

After I moved to England, I discovered "rice noodle" which is from South East Asia. I often use it as an alternative to ramen noodle. I make soup similar to ramen soup and eat it as a soup noodle.

The rice noodle I recently bought was from irregular company which I have never heard. I cooked it as usual, but taste was disappointing. So I explored new recipe, and deep fried the noodle as I followed the instruction on the package.

It was my first experience. I have seen the deep fried rice noodle in cook books or Thai restaurant. However I have never made it myself before.

This was a surprise!

Let me not tell you what the surprise was.



Just get a bunch of thin rice noodles, and deep fry it in a hot oil.
Make sure that the oil is hot enough, and you fry a little amount of noodles, not too little though, at a time.



I am sure you will enjoy the process of deep frying.


Enjoy!!


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turning point

When a new year begins, people hope the new year would be great. On the new year's day it is not so difficult to believe that the new year will be brilliant. There is something magical in the beginning of the year. We expect the change of year is a turning point. Even after experiencing a series of terrible events in the previous year, we can feel that the new year could be different and nicer.

I myself had a troublesome year in 2008. However I feel something good will happen to me this year.

2009 would be wonderful.
I believe it.

When I believe it, I feel good about it.
Nothing good has happened yet though I am feeling good.
It is nice to feel good, isn't it?


Do you think I am just a dreamer?
It really helps me to be positive. More positive ideas and thoughts just appear. Positive thoughts multiply and bring more and more happy thoughts.

I think believing and imagining happiness are wonderful positivity exercises.





Anyway, I started my new year with the feeling of happiness, and I thought "why don't I apply this to shorter periods, such as a month, a week, or a day?" If I feel good in the beginning of a new year, why don't I feel good in the beginning of a month?

I will have a good month.
The new month would be different from the previous month, and it definitely will be wonderful.

Can I think like that?


We say "tomorrow is another day."

It is same.



If you can transform your dark mood to brighter, you would perform more happily.


If I have a bad experience one day, I expect happier and nicer day on the next day.
If I have a awful week, I can say "next week would be brilliant."
If I have a dark and blue month, I can imagine a terrific month is approaching.

This way of thinking would give me energy-- good and powerful energy to live and enlighten my life.




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Happy New Year

A new year has come. Now it is 2009!

I wish you a happy new year filled with delightful experiences!!



The first thing I did this morning was smiling.
I just wanted to begin my new year with happiness, joy, and appreciation, hoping the new year will be filled with them!

It is nice to smile.
It is wonderful to feel joy, appreciation and gratitude.

I believe that having these positive feelings invites more happiness to me.


Happy new year to you!

Love and peace....for everybody all over the world.




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