inner light

My new project is "Arithmetic lessons" for Class 1 to 3 pupils.
Learning arithmetic is not just for your head.
It is really important to learn number theories and rules through your body.

This "Arithmetic Lessons" leads you and your children to practical and rhythmical exercises.

Children will learn numbers, four processes, and the beauty of numbers as they enjoy!

Arithmetic Lessons-online programme

2011-08-02T08:31:00.003+01:00

Arithmetic newsletter

2011-08-02T08:17:00.003+01:00

I started publishing another e-mail newsletter "Arithmetic newsletter."

Topics based on Waldorf Steiner education are very useful.

Updates

2010-10-22T22:15:00.002+01:00

After long absence, I want to update my activities.

After publishing two books which are Steiner-Waldorf educational books for home-edu families, I prepared for my new project.

The project is called "e-waldorf inspiration on-line workshop."

As you can guess what it is, this is workshops you can learn by yourself via internet. You sign up for the membership, which is fairly reasonable, and can take workshops wherever you are. Just the site is currently limited for Japanese speakers. We are planning to publish these programs for English speakers eventually...

I want anybody to enjoy the activities on the programme, since only experience of using your hands can give you real understanding of this learning. But it is not easy to do this kind of activities by yourself without good instruction.

This program provides good text articles, pictures, and video clips. So members can easily follow the instruction.

We have members' forum too. Members can talk about their experiences through the workshops, discuss topics, exchange informations, and find frineds! It is fun to have friends to learn with.

Just come and join us.
You will find something outstanding which you have never seen in Steiner educational materials.

horoscope reading

2010-01-14T11:32:00.008Z

I just want to copy the horoscope reading here.
Because it was encouraging, and it brought some bright hope to my near future.

This year, we are planning to move on to new path of our lives.

We are almost sure that the change would bring us more happiness, though it is nice to hear some hopeful fortunes like this.

So I copy it here as a record for me, and also to cheer us up.
Hope it can also cheer you up.

------- the reading result -------

The influence of your Day of Birth;

You were born on the 8th of the month, which makes your birth number 8.

Whenever anyone looks up "motivation" in the dictionary, they find YOUR picture right next to the definition! You're extremely goal-driven and will go through anything -- EVEN brick walls, if need be -- to reach your objectives.

Your hard work reaps its rewards. If you're career oriented, no doubt you have some kind of supervisory role. And you're very good at it, too! You thrive on power, respect and authority. You're the author of the "master plan" for your company -- a plan that will bring prestige and hopefully, money!

Your Destiny number;

A refined intellectual, a woman who's studious, analytical and very research oriented . . .

If you've heard yourself described in these terms by friends from time to time, there's a reason. You're under the influence of a 7 Destiny. The 7 focuses on education, research, learning and mysteries. Women with this Destiny (like yourself!) are constantly working to uncover, to solve and to find answers to life's questions.

If you prefer the company of a book to the company of friends on some evenings, you are indeed, feeling the power of a 7 Destiny!

In order to fulfill your destiny, it's important to accept that there are certain things you must be, do, and accomplish in your life. As someone with a 7 Destiny, your mission is to discover and educate the world.

Your Life Path's influence;

Ambitious, authoritative and able . . .

My friend, your qualities are genuine "Triple A"-cutting edge! In addition to the above traits, feel free to add self-confident, energetic and efficient.

The source of all these marvelous traits is the 8 Lifepath you're on. Women on this materialistically-oriented Lifepath tend to be dependable hard workers who are determined to get to the top in their own particular field or industry and who have the emotional and physical "stuff" it takes to make it into the big time.

Your Intuitive Plane;

You are very attuned to supernatural phenomena, and have keen insight into forces which others are not even aware of.

You should learn how to tap into your excellent PSYCHIC abilities and find answers to life's mysteries.

Some people could talk until they're blue in the face and not be able to convince anyone of anything. You, on the other hand, have but to lift an eyebrow or smile ever so slightly to WIN people over. And when you actually make a formal argument for or against something, your persuasive powers are at their peak.

"Well, things could always be worse." That's a typical reaction for you to a predicament that might leave someone else in a funk for days. Being OPTIMISTIC just comes naturally to you, and you have a knack for finding the humor in almost every situation. The only thing that brings you "down" is being considered superficial or fake.

Your Personality number - how others see you;

My friend, when people talk of refinement, distinction and quality, your name tends to pop into their minds. Your distinguished characteristics, combined with a tendency to be alone, can turn you into an interesting-and yes, even somewhat romantic-figure.

The reason for the outward appearance you convey to others is that you're under the influence of a 7 Outer Personality. Women with this Personality can be the shy, studious quiet types. But even though you aren't flamboyant or loud, people DO remember you after you've come and gone!

You always give the appearance of being expert in your fields of endeavor. This is because you most likely take the time to study or bone up on that topic.

Your Soul Urge influence - what truly makes you happy;

Spiritual, generous warm . . . someone who is giving to others and beloved of all. . .

If this sounds like someone you know - namely YOU - there's a good reason: you're under the influence of a 9 Soul Urge.

The driving forces within you are compassion and a love of harmony and beauty in the world. Your whole makeup is oriented toward helping others in need, and on a very large scale.

You're the eternal optimist, a woman who regards the glass as half-full rather than half-empty, and who always looks for the good in other people. You possess that enviable ability to forgive and forget.

Along with the capacity to perceive beauty amidst ugliness, you're extremely intuitive. You ALWAYS know what to say to whom...and when to say it!

Life Changing

Kayo, the above was just a small taste of what I can tell you. But at a time like this, you also want answers about your future. It's depressing to spend so much time not knowing if what you want to happen will happen. Worse yet, not doing what you could to make it happen.

You are a person who has many great things yet to come into their life. What I have to tell you will turn your life into the life you want - bringing you the things you deserve. What I tell you will be the most important information you will ever receive.

Keep in mind that the path to happiness is more than just monetary riches. Think about a life in which you awaken each morning to greet the day with a smile because you KNOW good things will happen to you! Picture yourself experiencing such a day in which all your spiritual and emotional traffic lights are green, allowing you to sail through the day with no roadblocks!

Imagine yourself walking into a room and automatically being the focal point of attention because your serenity has become so attractive to others. Furthermore, picture yourself being able to WEATHER DIFFICULT TIMES WITH EASE because you know that better days are just around the corner!

The free Horoscope Forecast

Michael Voss

2009-11-19T15:03:00.004Z

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

2009-11-16T21:22:00.002Z

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

2009-11-09T21:27:00.003Z

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

2009-11-04T22:29:00.006Z

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...

2009-09-22T13:54:00.002+01:00

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!

2009-06-12T15:57:00.003+01:00

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

Wow.
Well-done.

blue solar water

2009-06-03T21:19:00.003+01:00

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!

2009-06-02T19:34:00.005+01:00

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

2009-05-14T07:38:00.004+01:00

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

2009-05-13T13:37:00.005+01:00

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

2009-05-11T18:58:00.003+01:00

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

2009-05-07T20:20:00.004+01:00

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.

This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

warabi

2009-04-30T15:17:00.003+01:00

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

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

blue bell forest

2009-04-21T14:18:00.004+01:00

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??

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

flowers

2009-04-20T18:07:00.006+01:00

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.

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

flying penguin

2009-04-15T20:25:00.005+01:00

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!!

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

bath time

2009-04-14T20:34:00.003+01:00

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.

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

private

2009-04-14T15:41:00.004+01:00

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.

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

drawing lines

2009-04-14T15:34:00.003+01:00

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

2009-04-08T18:07:00.002+01:00

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

2009-04-07T13:38:00.004+01:00

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

2009-02-18T16:39:00.004Z

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

2009-02-06T10:21:00.004Z

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...

2009-02-05T11:39:00.002Z

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

2009-01-07T20:10:00.004Z

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!

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Magazine

2009-01-05T19:38:00.007Z

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!

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

rice noodle

2009-01-05T14:06:00.006Z

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!!

Å©This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

turning point

2009-01-04T10:07:00.006Z

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.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T12:16:00.003Z

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.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

cherry blossoms

2008-12-30T20:13:00.009Z

I found cherry flowers blooming on the school campus.

Today's highest temperature in this area was only 1°C. It is a bit too cold for cherry blossoms, isn't it?

This is a cherry tree which has bit sour cherries in early summer. It is not exactly cherry flowers from Japan, but this reminds me Japan. Also this is nice for new year, isn't it??

Another photo that shows Japanese tradition is here.

Tiny ORIGAMI crane, which is the most popular pattern of origami. I made this a few days ago using a wrapping paper.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

GP

2008-12-30T17:37:00.004Z

We changed our GP (home doctor).
The previous GP was the bad choice we made. We registered with the clinic soon after we moved to England. We didn't know much about English health system, and of course had no clue about good doctors in town. Back then, we didn't own a car, that limited our choices. We just picked the nearest GP.

The GP was the busy one. I always had a hard time to talk to a person to make an appointment over the phone. They were always busy and overwhelmed, and they just don't answer the phone. After many attempts, finally I got an appointment, but you know what comes next... Long waiting time... What was the appointment for, if we had to wait to see a doctor so long??

After the long waiting time, we finally see a doctor. But the doctors were always businesslike, they didn't really see us or listen to us. The time they spend to figure out the diagnoses was only a few minutes...Maybe less than a minute. I am not exaggerating. We usually got out of the doctor's room within five minutes. I always felt I was talking to a machine, or computer..., something without human heart.

With such a poor consultation, of course they gave us incorrect diagnoses, with prescriptions which I could not agree with it.

So after my first son got an antibiotics which is harmful and unnecessary for his symptoms, I quickly changed the GP where we can see an anthloposophical doctor who can prescribe homeopathic remedies.

We got an appointment for my first son today, and all four of us attended the consultation. The doctor looked my son's ailments closely, and listened to us well, thought through what the best choice for the boy would be. It took almost thirty minutes. Our conversation was far better from ones with the previous GPs. It was actually the conversation between human being who care about the patients the most.

He gave us a prescription not only for my son but also for my husband who was still greatly suffering from his chest ailments, although it was not the consultation for my husband.

We got several homeopathic remedies and one antibiotic medicine in case it would be needed. My son took two kinds of Weleda remedies as the doctor instructed, and he slept through all afternoon. He woke up and ate his supper, soon after that he went back to sleep.

His unusual long sleep assured me that my son would be recovered from his illness soon.

Today I felt relieved after the doctor's consultation.
Actually it was the first good medical experience in England.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

no more flu

2008-12-28T19:39:00.003Z

I want to cry.

I have been poorly since mid November. It is an infection that is around in this area. Many friends got this infection and have been suffering from it severely.

I am one of them.

Before the Christmas break began, my first son fell ill. He had temperature, not so high though, and the virus attacked his nose, sinus and ears. He got middle ear infection, and it caused bad nose bleeding when the ear infection was bad.

After my son was my husband. On the first day of the Christmas break, he fell ill. He spent three days in his bed without any strength to get up. Even after he regained physical strength to walk around in the house, he seemed to be very weak.

Then my first son's virus power was back. He wanted to stay in his bed, and was very weak, as he dripped yellowish liquid from his right ear, at the same time, sudden bleeding from his nose.

And today, my husband was back to bed. All day. His dry cough sounded very painful. He claimed he is enable to breath.

Since we share one bed, of course his virus keeps attacking me again and again. Today my infection seemed to have come back. Pains everywhere in my body, chillness, sore throat and cough.

I am better than my husband, so I am the person who takes care of boys and my husband, although I myself want to be looked after by somebody as well......

It is an awful cold.

I hope you don't catch this nasty virus.

Take good care of yourself.....

I go to bed now.

Good night...

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

blogging

2008-12-27T11:26:00.003Z

I have already been blogging for three years. I have some blogs which I update actively. One of them is called "Kayo in England" written in Japanese.

The reason I write is just my love for writing. As a tool of communication, blogs are such an easy and fast tool that helps to communicate with people all over the world. Also expressing my opinions and thoughts to people are important factor of blogging.

But recently I found myself getting bored writing on "Kayo in England." Since it is my main Japanese blog, majority of my Japanese friends visit there to know how I am doing and they make their comments, that allows us keeping in touch without much effort.

I think blog is better than exchanging emails in some way, because blog involves more than two people. It is not just two way communication, but other people can participate in the group conversation. Since the blog is one method to let my frineds know my recent life, I can update only once for each event. If it is a communication via emails, I have to write same thing so many times to let several friends know about the event...

Anyway, for that reason, I keep writing the Japanese blog every once in a while. However, I found much more interesting and fun to write a journal here in English. I think it is because writing English is more challenging for me. Also I can write more freely here than on "Kayo in England," because of the less connection with the readers. I don't have to think how my friends would feel about my thoughts that are shown on my blog.

The initial purpose of writing this blog was improving my English writing skill. At a certain level, I can say I have achieved the purpose, because I can now write English much more comfortably. Of course I have to make more effort to improve my English. The vocabularies I use are quite limited, and there are lots of mistakes on every post... XD

But certainly I am enjoying writing English here.
That is a big achievement, I must say.

Don't you think so???

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Christmas tradition

2008-12-26T04:46:00.003Z

As a non-Christian, Christmas is one of the seasonal events for me. I appreciate the spirituality of Christmas, but I cannot truly understand its real meaning underlying Christianity as well as people grown up in Christian societies do. My understanding is my own way, far from pure religious understanding. Christianity doesn't live in myself.

Also my Christmas tradition is commercialized one without any religious thoughts, which I don' like. So I usually follow my husband's way of celebrating Christmas.

I can not say it is European or German style Christmas. I think it is his family tradition.

His parents being jewellery artists have the busiest time before Christmas, since their customers buy their works as Christmas presents. They have so much work to complete their works just before Christmas.

My mother-in-law usually works until noon on Christmas Eve, then her Christmas preparation finally starts in the afternoon.

She cooks salmon with horseradish cream for Christmas Eve dinner, which my husband and I follow her tradition.

For Christmas dinner, we are establishing our family tradition to cook "lamb in anchovy sauce", and we added Greek yogurt sauce to the menu this year.

My husband has a trauma from his childhood. Since her mother sold her works before Christmas, often her beautiful works were all gone by Christmas day. She makes such beautiful things, but her works are all for other people. She makes living from making jewellery, so it is wonderful that people buy her stuff. And it is a nature of being artist that they don't own their works. But it has made my husband so sad that not having the beautiful art works on the annual special day of Christmas.

This year, we sold several Christmas ornaments my husband made. We had our own ornaments, but we had to give them away because he fell ill before Christmas, that made him impossible to finish his work.

Now our Christmas tree is not as gorgeous as usual. They don't have red and white roses. They don't have Steiner's Christmas symbols.

Missing the ornaments reminded my husband the trauma from his childhood.

He was sad.

Christmas ornaments and other beautiful art works can wonderfully decorate our events. Of course they contains the spirit in them. But still they are just physical objects.

I want him to be happy even if he does not have the objects.
Being happy in the special day is more important than having material.

I understand his sadness, but probably not fully.

But I want to believe that Christmas is a time for everyone to be happy.

I dressed up for him, and reminded him how wonderful and happy family we are.
Our sons are beautiful, and he has a cute Japanese wife who loves him so much!! :D

He realized his happiness soon and smiled at us.

Love and peace for everyone!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T13:02:00.003Z

The craziest days passed so quickly, and it is already a Christmas day today.
How fast time flies!!!

Merry Christmas to all of you in the world!
I wish you a happy Christmas and have a peaceful new year!

May the new year bring you a happiness and joy!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

potatoes

2008-12-21T19:35:00.008Z

The Christmas break began, and my sons stay at home all day...
And my husband got ill on the first day of the break...
He has been in his bed for three days since then...

I have totally forgotten how the life with two boys all day long is. Before this September, I had two boys all day, every day. They both together started going to the school in September, then I got time for myself in the morning. It is only three and half hours free time, though the free morning has been precious for me.

During holidays I have to forget about my precious free morning, and look after two boys, and now one more (big) boy. XD

My sons need some activities that are creative and useful.
So I decided to cook with my sons today.

The picture is dark, but can you recognize this food?
This is called "daigaku imo" in Japanese, which can be translated to "university sweet potatoes." The sweet potatoes are common in England as well, but the Japanese sweet potatoes are rare. If you use ordinary English sweet potatoes for deep frying, they would be melted and lose their shapes. So I cook this "daigaku imo" or "sweet potato tempura" only when I could find this Japanese kind of sweet potatoes. It is nothing special for Japanese people in Japan, but is very special for me.

As I deep fried the sweet potatoes, I just thought of making potato crisps.

So I let my first son to slice the potatoes like this. ↓

Sorry, the picture is blurry, but it is not my fault. :D He was working so hard, and I couldn't find a moment when he stayed still. hahaha.

In the end of the cooking activity, we got a plate of "daigaku imo" and another full plate of "potato crisps."

These potato crisps didn't last even five minutes...

It is ok. My sons liked them so much.

...After the cooking, they had a fun with gardening as well.
It was nice and warm today.:D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Space for family

2008-12-17T19:42:00.003Z

Today the school's autumn term was over, and my boarding girl moved out. She is going to rent a room at a eurythmist's house in the same town after the Christmas break.

She is a very good girl, and is mature for her age (17). However it was not very easy to live with non-family person for a long period. At least for me, it was quite difficult.

I guess Japanese has more distinct division between private and public, generally to say. I want to keep my space private, and don't want anybody else to disturb the space. I want to cook whenever I want to cook without clearing up somebody's mess or telling somebody to make a space for me to cook. I want to work whenever I need to without being annoyed by stranger's presence. The home should be a private space for me.

I found that Westerners often don't mind much to share individual stuff with somebody else, which Japanese care much more. For example, using my kitchen with her friends without asking me, or looking for some stationary at my office, where there are lots of private documents, without any permission.

I think Japanese tend to care too much NOT to disturb other people, that gives us some kind of tension in our relationship. The Westerners' way is more easy and is good to keep easy relationship unless one of them go beyond the limit.

But I guess my limit is a bit stricter than Westerners'. My boarding girl jumped over the limit quite often...

I don't think Japanese way of relating people is better than Westerners, at the same time the other way around can not be said to be better. I just think keeping the balance between different individuals from different culture is important, and that is a key for the good relationship.

The conclusion in me was that I DON'T WANT TO HAVE THAT KIND OF TROUBLE AT HOME.
I want to keep my home as a space where I can freely breath, and I don't want to worry about my privacy at home.

Actually having a boarder from abroad was an interesting experience.
But...no more boarders.

I just want to express my feeling how happy to have gotten my place back to my family.
I feel like I can relax now for the first time after she joined us.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Messiah

2008-12-14T12:14:00.004Z

Yesterday we went to Hereford Cathedral to see Handel's Messiah. It was a performance by an orchestra, four solo singers, and choral group of 150 singers.

This was my first live "Messiah" experience.

The performance over 2 and 1/2 hours was brilliant. I really appreciate sacredity which they created in the cathedral. The experience of listening to it in cathedral was special. It was not neither CD, concert hall, nor ordinary church, but the cathedral in England, the country Handel lived. The power of the place (cathedral) with spirit and the music with soul in it was enormous. I felt I myself was cleansed by music and then a light was lit inside of me. The light is little now and it is in a darkness. However it will grow to be a big fire to generate a strong energy in near future.

I think it is a part of the meaning of Advent, and I actually felt it through the concert.

It would be great if we are going to have this as one of the family tradition of Advent and Christmas. Next year, maybe "Messiah" at Worcester Cathedral.

By the way, my sons pleased other audience with their behaviors.
The people around our seat praised them.
"You are such good boys with the best behavior. I am proud of you!"

Yes, we, as your parents, are proud of you, too!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

vegetable cutter

2008-12-11T19:23:00.003Z

Recently one of the most popular goods among my boys is vegetable cutters. If you are a Japanese, I am sure you have seen a piece of carrot cut into flower shape. The cutters are smaller version of cookie cutters. I remember my mother used them when I was little, but she stopped using them at some point when I got too old to be pleased with that kind of decoration.

Now it is a time for me to use those cutters for my little sons.

I was sure that my mother still has those cutters somewhere in her kitchen. She is a person who can never throw things away even though she would never use them again.

So I asked my mother to send them to England so I can please my sons!

It was actually great idea. First, they were simply pleased to see the flowery shaped carrots. Then, of course, they tried to cut vegetables themselves. It took no time for them to learn the technique.

One morning, they made many flower carrots out of two whole carrots before breakfast, packed them in ziplocs and took them to the school.

The second son shared the flower carrots with his classmates. Both the class teacher and the classmates got one flower each and admired the pretty carrot.

The first son's flower carrots were cooked in the soup. Each child got one flower in his/her soup for snack.

They all pleased, and of course the admiration made my sons happy.

What an easy and successful project, it was!!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Goodbye Tsugumi

2008-12-09T19:41:00.003Z

I read a novel "Goodbye Tsugumi" by a Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto.
I have read the original Japanese "Tsugumi" soon after the book was first published in Japan.

I had a lot of fun by reading Banana Yoshimoto's novels at that time, but soon I got tired of her writing. I felt her writings were bit too girly, and they gave me an impression of "girl's comics." I was also not fond of her being bestseller author. I often don't like things that are too popular. I know ... I am a perverse person.

Why did I read her book again after twenty years of its publication? The answer is quite simple. I just wanted to read some Japanese novels in English. I guess it is one of my homesick phenomenons. I just wanted to feel something Japanese-like.

As I expected, the scene and its description were very familiar to me. Japanese society and its culture are big part of myself, and simply the pictures appear mentally one after another as I proceeded reading. The novel perfectly achieved its purpose and made me feel "Japanese".

I have not compared the English translation to Japanese original, but I guess the translation is quite faithful to the original. I can imagine Banana Yoshimoto's original writing from the English sentences at many parts of the story.

The fact this translation was done by a male translator amused me. For me, Banana Yoshimoto's novels were typical girlish stories based on female feelings. How could a male writer interpret its feeling??? Did the English language make it possible, because English doesn't express the genders by its language as much as Japanese language?

However it was well translated and it made me want to read each word carefully.
I think I enjoyed it more than Japanese original.

Let me introduce you a part of the book review;

"beautiful water-colour writing."

I have never seen a description as good as this. Her writing is exactly "water-colour"-like. The descritions beautifully float along a stream and are purely transparent.

I want to read other translations of Banana Yoshimoto's.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

transparent stars and...

2008-12-05T15:24:00.008Z

Our annual event (?), one of the preparations for Christmas is making the transparent stars.

Using rectangular translucent papers, fold them to shape stars.

Like this ↓

The different number of layers make subtle shades over the stars.
Of course the two or three colours mix to make another colour.

And I went to the entrance to take another picture..., and what I found there is....

A rainbow!!

It was a huge rainbow!

We, myself and my sons, ran out of the house to look at the rainbow.

It was not just a huge rainbow, but double rainbows! Wow!!

Do you see the second rainbow over the first one?
It was already shading, so it may be hard to see it on the photo.

But it was a nice gift from nature!

I guess I have a great luck today!!

I wish you a luck, too♪

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

gloves

2008-12-04T12:25:00.007Z

It is cold recently.
But amazingly my body has gotten used to the cold weather quickly.

This morning I felt warm, so I went out without a coat. Just one jumper over a cotton top.

As I predicted, it was not cold at all unlike ordinary December.

The thermometer said the temperature was 3.5 ℃.

3.5℃ is not cold for me...
My sense of warmth must have gone bad..., thanks for English climate.

Anyway, it is just the beginning of real winter.
So I knitted two pair of gloves for my sons so that they wouldn't be cold outside.

While I was knitting, a Japanese song was repeatedly in my mind...

母さんが夜なべをして手袋編んでくれた♪
My mother stayed up nights knitting gloves♪

Also these gloves go with their matching hat and scarf.
Like this ↓

Aren't they cute??
The gloves are suspended from his neck, but they are not worn on the photo.
I put buttons for the scarf, so the boy wouldn't lose it so easily. People including the kindergarten teacher love this idea as well as myself.

hehehe...

By the way, when my sons say "gloves," the word sounds like "love" without "g" and "s." It is not correct, but hearing the word "love" for hand-knitted "gloves" is heart-warming as well. Actually the gloves are knitted with my LOVE for my beloved sons♪

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Main lesson book

2008-12-03T16:32:00.002Z

In Steiner schools, pupils don't use textbooks. They create their own textbooks as a part of learning. It is a time consuming work, but it is worth to spend a lot of energy and time for making the books themselves.

The books contain not only academic contents but also artistic presentation. They use colours to decorate the pages, and illustrate the diagrams and pictures beautifully.

The more effort they put into the work, the more precious the book becomes.

As a Steiner school teacher, I loved creating my main lesson book. I am good at art, especially I loved to colour with Lyra colour pencils.

When I was in a school, I loved making my notebook, summarizing the contents from the textbooks, and making the book beautiful, although I was not in a Steiner school.

It is wonderful work to create a book like this. It helps to understand the contents better. On the other hand, I found that creating a book could not be enough study. After understanding the contents, and then students need to MEMORIZE/EXERCISE the contents. Memorizing is very important for exam preparations.

Now I quit the teaching job, and I myself is a learner now, preparing for the exams.

So... I have been trying not to spend too much time for creating a notebook, to study more effectively. If I spend too much time for it, I would not have enough energy for memorizing.

But recently I found myself not enjoying the study. Just reading the textbook, understanding the contents and memorizing the terms are not very fun. I felt my understanding becomes shallower when I just read it.

So I started making my main lesson book... of course I am trying not to make too perfect book, so I can still have enough energy/time for memorizing.

Yeah..., it is actually FUN to make a book!

The exams in England has more questions that require written explanations. So it is a key to be able to describe and explain the scientific matter in ENGLISH in a short period of time.

For that reason, making my own book is helping me to improve my English writing.

I think it is a great way of learning English.
Reading something you like, take a note and summarize it in English.
You would need better understanding than just reading English to express it in English.

We learnt our native language like that when we were at school, didn't we?

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

throat infection

2008-12-02T18:48:00.003Z

I've got an throat infection for over two weeks.
I think this is just a cold, but it has already been ten days since I lost my voice.

I don't like taking antibiotics, and I normally take only natural remedies, herbs, and homeopathic remedies for the ailments.

This time, the symptom is worse than usual. One of my friends sent a cough remedy recipe to me. That was given to her by her INDIAN friend. It seems to be an Indian traditional remedy.

This remedy is made from a whole onion, sugar, and hot water. The essence of the onion is extracted to make the cough syrup. Very easy to make, and simple, good syrup.

Since I have had this symptom already for ten days, I didn't expect too much. A quick treatment in the beginning is the best remedy for a cold. But still this remedy reliefs me quite well.

My sons also got infected. Yesterday my first son was coughing hard, and I gave him a teaspoon of the syrup. Only one spoonful of syrup stopped him coughing for several hours, and he didn't suffer from cough much. Amazing effect.

Another thing that relieved me was "amazake." Japanese sweet drink made from sake lees. It is not very tasty drink, but is nice to drink when I miss my country.

The sake lees is not the item I can buy anywhere in England. Only Japanese grocery shops deal with it. And the Japanese grocery shops are only in London, not in where I live. So I asked my friend to buy one for me, when she goes to one of the shops.

I received this sake lees from her, exactly when I was so much suffering from the infection.

I think the "amazake" warmed both my physical body and my soul.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Advent garden

2008-12-01T11:03:00.004Z

We had an Advent garden at our school yesterday.
This is a festival for little children at Steiner School, and it was the first Advent garden for my sons.

A spiral shaped with branches and leaves was in the centre of the school hall. In the centre of the spiral was a light of a candle.

Each child was lead by a teacher to enter the spiral, and then the child walks along the spiral towards the light without the teacher. He/she lights his/her candle in the centre of the spiral, and walks and brings back the light to the world..

Older children are more aware of people watching them and the events, but for little children, the spiral was a magical world. As soon as the child enters the spiral, it is like in the middle of woods. He/she has to walk alone in the darkness. This is an adventure for little ones. After the child reaches at the candle in the centre and lights his/her candle, the child has a task to bring the light back to the world. The child walks back the path they just came as he/she carefully holds the candle in his/her hands. He/she places the candle by the pathway of the spiral.

The spiral was dark, but the spiral path was lit with candle lights after the children walked through the path. In the spiral, there are the caldles left as many as the number of the children walked in the spiral. There, it is not dark any more...

In this dark season, the children bring the light to the world.

It is amazingly magical. Little children are truly absorbed into the world with their pure souls.......They were not playing the roles. They were actually bringing the light to the world to light up this darkness.

And of course, it is wonderful to see our own sons purely absorbed in the world...

Children are beautiful.
Our world is beautiful.

I appreciate that we and our children can experience the beauty of this world.

This is the candle brought back from the festival. The candle is set on a handmade candle holder, which is made of an apple, a toothpick, and a golden star.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

what if I was in Japan?

2008-11-28T20:15:00.002Z

Sometimes I wonder what if I was in Japan.

Now I have a difficulty finding a job because of my qualification. In Japan, I had a good education, and had a degree from a university. When I apply for a job in Japan, they would have no doubt on my ability that is estimated from my education history.

But I have no qualification at all here.

Many English people know that the education in Japan is more advanced than that in England, though they don't take the Japanese diploma as a useful qualification.

Probably it is too much trouble to compare the Japanese qualification to English ones. I can easily guess that it is easier for them to hire English person with equivalent qualification.

When I faced this difficulty in England, the idea of getting a job in Japan popped up in my mind.

What if I was in Japan?
Could I get a job more easily?

Of course ... the answer is "NO."

The society in Japanese local area is closed to aged woman. I am in the late thirties. People would not give me much interesting job even though I am a well educated person.

The age verier is not so hard here in European countries. So if I study something and get a qualification, I will have more opportunities to get a better job at my middle ages.

Also quitting teaching position and starting something completely new must be very very difficult in Japan. Of course it is not easy in England as well. But the path for the new career is not closed. People support the idea of doing something new positively and they even encourage it.

So I think I have more opportunities here than in Japan.

It is not very easy living in a foreign country.
Surely I have to have more difficulties here that I wouldn't need to have in Japan.
On the other hand, I can see more interesting things and have different experiences that I could never have in Japan.

I appreciate the various chances I get by living outside of my country Japan.
I am enjoying both difficulties and joyable events very much.

My life must be quite intense.
But I like my life having such troubles that can make my life even more interesting and fun!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

job hunting

2008-11-27T12:11:00.004Z

I have been looking for a job these days.

I used to be a teacher, teaching mathematics to English kids at a Steiner School. I am a trained Steiner School teacher, also I am qualified as a high school / middle school mathematics teacher.

Early this year, I have decided to stop teaching to change my career path. For the change, I need to study seriously for many years, and I realized the teaching job is too interesting to play two roles at the same time. When I teach main lessons, all my time and energy are spent for thinking/planning and preparation. It is actually 24-hour job that needs full power commitment. Studying needs constant work, and the energy consuming job as a teacher doesn't fit to my life.

Ideal scenario is getting easy-going part time job. Something I can work ONLY the core time, and I don't have to think about the job at home at all.

I have two little sons who go to the school, nursery and kindergarten, every day. The school is only for morning and they are still too little to stay at school all day. That limits me finding a suitable job ....

Also problem is on myself as well. Since I was educated in Japan, and I have not gotten a degree in England. I am not really qualified person in this country.

Qualification and experience are the first information that makes the candidates to proceed to the job interview.

Thinking about my past career, I devoted most of my career for education. So almost no experience for other jobs. ...Only two years ICT engineer experience can be a bit strength, though.

The current situation is making my job hunting process so hard....

I got one weekend job starting next April, but I want to have something else for weekdays.

So...job hunting will not end anytime soon............I guess.

But this is a part of my life experience.
It is also something enjoyable......let's think positively. :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

lunch for school kids

2008-11-26T15:52:00.004Z

Our school doesn't have neither school lunch nor cafeteria. So school kids need to bring their packed lunch + snacks every day.

My children are not old enough to stay at school after lunch, so I don't need to pack lunch for them. But my boarding girl, a German girl from Sweden, needs it.

So my days start from cooking and packing lunch for her every day.

The ordinary English kids lunch are awfully simple, such as bread with jam and potato crisps. If they have some raw vegetables, it is quite NICE and healthy lunch for them.

My boarding girl told me the fact that many kids eat "crisp sandwiches." Can you imagine what they are? Crisps are deep fried potato crisps, in American English they are called "potato chips." The junk food from bags. They put the crisps on a piece of bread, then crush them and place another piece of bread on top of it. That is so-called "crisp sandwiches."

Sounds awful, doesn't it?

As a healthy, and organic food conscious mother, I can not offer such a junky food for my boarding girl.

I don't think the packed lunch for her has such a variety as typical Japanese lunch. But I cook everything from scratch using healthy ingredients.

This is today's lunch.

I was very happy this morning, because I received the vegetable cutter from my mother in Japan. I asked her to send some of hers, since things like vegetable cutter are impossible to find in this country.

Cutting vegetables into flowery shape is only simple decoration. But this little thing is a kind of warm consideration which is typical Japanese manner.

Also it is not just for her.
I myself enjoyed making the flowers. :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Exhibition

2008-11-25T15:42:00.010Z

We had an open house exhibiting my father-in-law's, mother-in-law's and my husband's arts. It started on Friday evening, and ended on Sunday. Saturday was the busiest day when many people were in the house all day. We had several guests on Monday even after the exhibition was over, and sold some jewellery, sculptures, and Christmas tree ornaments. Thanks a lot. We appreciate your visits and interests to the art works. :D

It was a celebration for my husband's 40th birthday and at the same time, the 40th anniversary for my in-laws' career as goldsmiths.

Let me show you some pictures of their works. These are only a few out of many, but you would see their taste, at least.

Today both left for Germany, went back home.

They had a good time in England, and decided to come back next year to have another show here.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

burn out

2008-11-19T21:47:00.002Z

These days are again crazy.
I knew this November would be very busy. But now I am in the middle of the craziness.

Soon after finishing the exam, My mother-in-law came from Germany. Two days later my father-in-law arrived. They have been divorced for thirty five years, and have not seen each other for many years. I guess all of us involved in this situation have something uncomfortable feeling..... But it is going all right so far. They chat together, and are preparing for the exhibition together without arguing.

Celebrating their forty-year career as jewelry artists and my husband's fortieth birthday, we will have an exhibition to show their works on this weekend, starting from Friday evening. My father-in-law, mother-in-law and my husband's arts are now gathered here at my house, getting ready to be shown to people.

So I have loads of things to do, helping preparation, cooking nice foods for seven people three times a day, and of course keeping the house tidy so that our guests can be happy and comfortable...

On top of it, our school will have an Advent Fayre on the same day when we have the exhibition. As stuff of the school, of course we need to help running the fayre. But this year we need to play a role as school parents as well, since our sons started going to the school from this September.

I didn't know being a parent is such a demanding job.
I need to donate vegetables, homemade cookies, handmade little toys and decorations for the stall. It is ok to donate veggies. But I have been too busy to bake cookies and making toys myself these days......

But I made an attempt today, at least.
Driving around and finishing errands in hurry in the morning, then I came home just before my sons' school ends. I quickly prepared the lunch for six people, and ran to the school to fetch my boys. Finishing the lunch and clearing up the dishes, then I made the cookie dough. These cookies are for the fayre, and the recipe was given and I had to follow the recipe. The cookies on the recipe was British cookie recipe that the ingredients contain "LYE golden syrup", which is typical BRITISH syrup. I am not very interested in English food, so this was the first time to make the cookies.

I measured all the ingredients and followed the instruction PERFECTLY. But the dough was too soft to spread, so I put the dough into the freezer.

I had to do this between lunch and my doctor appointment.
It was such a hurry.

After two hours set in the freezer, the dough was still too soft. Then I just gave up. I had to cook again for the supper by then, and after supper I attended jewelry making workshop. Just no time for baking...

I phoned one of my friends, and asked her to bake twice as much as she needs to make. So she will make cookies for me too. She is a great cook, and she has made same cookies before, so she would not have any problems at all. She was very happy to help me, since she knows I am super busy this week.

So, I guess the frozen dough will be cut into small pieces and will be icebox cookies. That would be tasty, but it would not be what I was asked to bake. They want something decorative with pretty shapes... So I will eat them at home with my family. hahaha. :D

Ok, I should stop writing this.
My study time disappeared, and I am frustrated for not being able to study....

But it is ok.
Life is not always calm and stable.

.......I must say my life is frequently crazy....

Hopefully I can have some more time for my study next week....

Now I shutdown the computer, and read at least a few pages of my textbook before I go to bed.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

jumble sale

2008-11-15T15:57:00.008Z

I went to a jumble sale at the school today. It was a fund raising event for class 11 trip.

I rarely go to second hand shops or charity shops, but I went there for our pupils.

The school hall was filled with all kinds of used stuff, used clothes, shoes, books, and bric-a-bracs. There were crowds of people in front of the piles of clothes.

That reminded me the bargain sales or wagon sales in Japan. So many ladies fighting for their targets. I could have never joined there. I didn't think it's worth to fight for just MATERIALS. Today I felt just same as before, and I couldn't go closer to the clothes.

But there is one thing I can enjoy looking at.

That is "books".

Often I discover quite interesting books at this kind of stalls. I feel it is a kind of destiny to come across these books. There are not so many books in the stall as much as proper book shops, and I don't look around the stall so carefully. But still I find the books that I just need at that time.

The books I got today are as follows;

Old magazines about Steiner education.

English novels. The book called "Just so Stories" by Rudyard Kipling is my friend recommendation.

One is a book about acupressure, the other is about Ayurveda.
Just recently "Ayurveda" came up as a topic in the conversation with my friends. One of my friends asked me what it was. I knew very little about it, so I could not explain about it much. I had some interests in Ayurveda before, but I have never taken it seriously to read or study it. And today, what I found in the stall was this book. This little book gives me very basic idea and concepts of Ayurveda, without much deep philosophy explained. But it is good enough as a starter, I guess. Maybe this book is an invitation for me to the world of Ayurveda.

And ... this is a cookery book of vegetarian food. I am not a vegetarian but I want to eat more vegetables. So I am trying to learn more and more vege dish recipes. When I search or learn from Japanese vege cook, I found many of the dishes are called "like" meat, such as "deep fried soy meat dumplings like fried chicken." They often make vege dishes to make fake meat or fish. I don't like this idea. I prefer to call it, for example "deep fried soy dumpling" , simple and straightforward naming. They are not FAKE meat, they are vegetables. Calling them in their real names is the way to respect them. ...Maybe I am too critical about it. :D

Anyway, this book is not about the fake meat dishes. This book contains 200 European recipes that are simply vegetarian dishes. Many of them are traditional, not too creative. But they look simply delicious.

Those books above and one more for my sons cost 1.40 pounds, which is about 200 yen total. It was a great buy!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

crazy man

2008-11-14T21:24:00.003Z

I tell you..., my husband is crazy and workaholic.

He is a Steiner school teacher. Generally steiner school teachers are low pay and much busier than general school teachers. He has full time table which is the most busiest timetable at the school, that means he is busier than other busy steiner teachers. On top of it, he leads a building project, leading the school to build new buildings and make radical change to the school. This work came to him because he is not just a teacher but a trained architect.

As a project manager, his work can be a full time work... Remember..? Full time project manager's work on top of full time super busy teaching.

He loves the school. He is into the project. He spend all his time to the project. He is definitely overworked, and often he fell ill from the overwork.

...He is not paid for the project work at all, though.

This week he has just decided to fly to Germany to visit Schloss Hamborn Waldorf School which is our partner school. And there, the winter fair will be held on Saturday. It is a great opportunity for the project to present our master plan that was completed just this month.

So...he asked the arrangement to the teacher at Schloss Hamborn and flew this evening after school.

He will stay in Germany for two days, and will come back just before midnight on Sunday.

Spend his all weekend for the trip..., it is usual for him to work through weekends, but trip causes me quite trouble too....... I had to run and run and run all day today for him.

He was ill last week having kidney stones. Now he is flying to Germany...

I am really worried about him.

It is wonderful that he has such an interesting work that he can put his soul so much into it. If his work is not that interesting for him, he wouldn't work so hard but on the other hand, he would be bored. The interesting work is exciting and gives him energy. But he forgets how much he is tired as he put all his energy into it. When he gets ill, he finally realize he worked more than he can handle.

I want him to do interesting thing that he can beam and shine in his work.
I believe that is the way he can be happy.
And his happiness is my happiness as well.
But I don't want to see him exhausted all the time.
I want him to be healthy. I want him to smile and beam with his exciting work.
Now the exciting work exhausts him and sucks his energy, falls him into ill.

It is not right.

But it is very difficult for him to change his way of working. It is big part of his personality.....

ummmmmm.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

After physics...

2008-11-13T20:05:00.003Z

I have been studying for the university entry. I have to go through all the exams that other young students do. If I make an entry as an international student, I would not need this exam preparations. But the fee would be 20000 pounds (4000000 yen)a year as an international student whereas UK students pay only 3000 pounds (600000 yen). Who can afford 20000 pounds a year...?? At least, not me...

So I can not be too lazy even though I am finished with physics exam....

Look at the following list. This is what I am planning to do in the next half year..

1. Chemistry GCSE
2. Biology GCSE
3. Mathematics GCSE
4. Additional Mathematics GCSE (Advanced mathematics)
5. Information and Communication Technology GCSE
6. First language Japanese GCSE
7. English as a second language GCSE

These exams will come all in May/June 2009.
The GCSE requirements are only five subjects (physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics and English), but I decided to take as many as other UK students normally take. The course is very competitive, so the better grades I get, the more possibility to be a successful candidate. So I picked the subjects No.4 - 7 so that I can easily get good grades without much study. :D Mathematics is my special, it is a piece of cake. And Japanese exam would be much easier than studying other subjects. ICT won't be a problem, either. For I used to be a computer programmer, I know the computer systems as much as they expect me to know for the exam.

English is the most difficult one. I need English exam for native speakers, but I decided to take this easier one first to gain confident before I take "first language English."

This is the plan up to May/June 2009.

Sounds crazy?

Not too bad. I can do this because I have a goal to achieve.
I actually enjoy studying a lot.

I think studying something else in English is the best way to improve English, too.

By the way, isn't it funny that I can take "first language Japanese" (KOKUGO) exam in England to get into a university in England?? The exam subjects variety is amazingly wide in this country.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Exam is over

2008-11-12T10:03:00.002Z

I am done with the GCSE physics exams.
The physics exam contains three tests, and I am finished with the last one this morning!

Done! Yeah!!

I like physics, but I am not going to study A-level physics, so I am done with physics now. Now I can move on to other subjects.

I am taking GCSEs at our school where I taught before.
Now the pupils I used to teach know that I am taking the exams just like they are.
When I went to the exam room this morning, several pupils saw me and smiled at me saying "good luck!". Even some teenage boys, who usually don't say even "hello" to me, cheered me up!

Before I took exams, I felt a bit embarrassment of taking GCSEs. GCSEs are for 15, 16-year-old pupils normally, and the academic levels are basic. Being a teacher of that age group myself, I was embarrassed to take the same exams which my pupils are working for. I know it is nonsense, but I felt like that because of my silly pride.

But obviously, our school kids are impressed with the fact I am studying and making an effort towards the exams.

One of the most important ways to educate children is to reveal myself in front of children as an individual, who is developing, and making an effort towards goals as I struggle and overcome difficulties. Because children learn not from what they are told to do but from the real human doing, acting, willing, and putting souls into something.

I stopped teaching, so I am not a teacher here any longer. But I hope I can encourage them as a human who is trying to achieve something.

Anyway....., I am done for now!
cheers!!!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

smile

2008-11-11T11:18:00.003Z

I had been badly frustrated for the last seven months. My son's toilet training, my workaholic husband's health issue, financial issue and my study were the main causes.

I am usually a positive person who can easily turn my negative thoughts to positive ones using the Rudolf Steiner's positivity exercise or other meditative exercises. They are good methods that work for many people.

But I have gotten a feeling that changing the negativity to the positivity by thinking process does not solve the problem fundamentally. Once the negative thought appears in my mind, it affects me and people around me. As long as I have negative thoughts coming up even just for a moment, that brings negative feeling to me. It is a spontaneous response. I think the best solution is to avoid the negative thought coming up to my mind at all.

It is very difficult to control our thoughts by our THINKING.

But it is not too difficult to control it by changing our feeling life.

When you are happy, many things appear as happiness, happier than usual. You can accept more stress with broader mind and deal with them without being stressed-out.

When you are frustrated already, you have less tolerance for the stress. You tend to think more negatively at the under-stressed situation.

So it is important not having any negative thought if you want to be happy from the bottom of your heart. Happy feeling can avoid negative thoughts coming up to us.

I discovered one easy and effective method to be happy.

It is fairly simple.

Just smile.

I smile to myself in front of a mirror, looking at myself, imagining the most beautiful myself, beaming at something exciting, filled with satisfaction and feel the love for others and myself.
Just for a few minutes.

When I smile, even when I don't really feel like smiling, something warm spread in my chest. I feel the warmth and the warmth brings me joyous feeling. I am sure that the smiling has some physical effects that can be proved scientifically.

Feel the joy and happiness brought by my smiling. It has already changed my feeling. The smiling I made before the mirror might have been fake, but the positive feeling popped up inside is REAL. Feel it, and try to keep it. If you had to overcome stress, remind yourself to smile.

With the feeling of happiness, I can deal with stressful situation better because I carry the happy feeling inside of myself.

You don't need to think WHY so seriously.
Just smile. Just do it.
I am sure it will help to bring you happiness.

That is how I have been very happy recently.

......Have you noticed with my change...., my dear?

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Text books

2008-11-09T20:32:00.003Z

I have been studying sciences to take exams.
Biology, Chemistry, Physics...

Recently I ordered A-level Biology and Chemistry textbooks. A-level in England is equivalent to upper level of Japanese high school standard, I think.

Since I can rarely see actual text books in normal bookshops around, the only way to get them is just ordering online. I choose the books after reading the descriptions and book reviews. I found one science series of popular textbooks and I bought older edition of them intentionally. They were published in 1990's. Of course they are used ones. But there are no marks or notes in the books, good enough for studying.

The latest edition cost about 30 pounds, whereas the older edition costs 1 pence.
Of course that was one reason I choose the older ones.

But it is not just about the price.

I found the older textbooks are often better than newer ones. Since exam standards lowered significantly, older books cover more academic contents, which are more interesting for learners. On top of it, older textbooks were written in more formal, nicer, better language. Newer textbooks or revision books use quite casual language. Often they use speaking language, I found even slangs in the revision books.

I see the author's intension. The authors aimed to provide more FRIENDLY books for students so that the students get interested in the materials.

But the students are not studying only the subjects but language through the subject. If these textbooks don't offer the good language for students to read, they would lose the best opportunities to learn good language.

When I was teaching in Japan, I often found students making mistakes because they don't have good language skill. They just couldn't understand sciences/mathematics because they couldn't use the language as a communication tool very well.

What teachers do to deal with those students is to lower the teachers language standard, using everyday speaking language so that the students can understand more.
By doing so, the students lose the chance to listen/read proper vocabularies/terminologies. That affects their academic development so badly whatever they study....

So...what I wanted to say was "good language is important."
And... If you want to get textbooks or reference books, older ones are often worth to buy more than newer ones... generally speaking. That proposition would apply for finding English study materials as well, I believe.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

miss it!

2008-11-01T16:35:00.003Z

I rarely miss Japan. It has been over six years since I left from Japan. I visited Japan only once since then. It was five-day stay, which is extremely short visit for a long Journey between England and Japan. I had some business needed to be done, so I didn't have much time to enjoy my country Japan.

But I don't mind being away from my country. I miss family and friends, but we can freely communicate whenever we want to, thanks for the Internet. So it is not so problem.

Thing I miss about Japan is this. Please click this link and see the photos.
You would understand what + why I miss about Japan.

November is the best season to see this in mainland Japan.
If you have never seen this beautiful red leaves, book an air ticket now(!) and fly to Japan and experience the extraordinary beauty of our nature!!

Now I am proud of Japan and myself being a Japanese.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Snow!!

2008-10-28T16:31:00.005Z

It is still October.
It is not such a cold Autumn compared to average record in England.

But.... it is snowing now!!

It is cold.
I guess I am not the only one who is excited to look at the white snow!!
At the same time, some kind of melancholy occurs in my mind when it snows. It is nice to be in the house with whole my family feeling warmth of family and physical warmth of the heater. But if every family member is not in the house, I miss the person so much. I get this feeling only when it snows...

So.. now I miss my husband who is only 100 meters away from the house. XD

Come back, please!!!!!!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

christmas present

2008-10-23T15:53:00.004+01:00

Christmas is a big event in England as well. Of course it is rather commercial. People buy presents for EVERYBODY! This "everybody" seems to be exaggerating, but it is not. Believe me.

People start going Christmas present shopping as soon as a summer break is over. So from September is the crazily busy time for shopping centre. I often go to one of the largest shopping mall in the central England, it is not because I like shopping there, but because I often shop groceries at a supermarket in the mall. Everytime I go there, I have to drive around all over the huge parking lots, looking for just one spot for me. I sometimes give up to look for a space after driving around 20 minutes.

The presents people buy for Christmas are mostly cheap stuff, something nobody really wants. And on the boxing day, which is the next day of Christmas, all the unwanted presents go to charity shop..., that is the origin of "BOXING" day, one of my English friends told me. Yes, boxing day is not a day to box (fight) for bargain staff right after the Christmas, but a day to pack these unwanted presents in gift boxes to give away to charitable foundations or send to developing countries.

Now I decided a Christmas present for ME!
I don't want anybody to waste money to buy unnecessary present for me. But I secretly tell you what I really want. That is something useful and I have been longing for it for a long time.

The thing is .... this.

Do you know Chassuer? It is a French cast iron cookware company. It is not as popular as Le Creuset in Japan, but its quality is as good as the top brand Le Creuset. Also Chassuer is slightly inexpensive.

Last winter, just before the Christmas, the prices of Chassuer products slode down the hill rapidly as low as 80%OFF. I bought one pot and a grill pan at that time. They are excellent and I am sure they will last longer than my life.

You know what I am aiming for...?
Of course you know.
I am waiting for the time when the prices drop. That is the time I can get my new Chassuer wok.

Hehehehehe... :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Clockmice

2008-10-22T19:47:00.004+01:00

The book I ordered two weeks ago hasn't arrived yet. More than ten days ago I received a confirmation e-mail telling me that they dispatched the book though...

I could hardly wait for the arrival without reading any other books, so I grabbed a book nearby. That was another children's book called "time and the clockmice" written by Peter Dickinson. I have just read one children's book "Pippi", although I rarely read kid's book myself.

This is the second time to read this book, and it was so fascinating again.

The way of his writing is sweet, funny, and lovely! Also he implies his philosophy through the main character. His philosophy is not something new, is rather familiar to me. It is the ideas I share with Dickinson a lot. That pleased me.

I can hardly imagine what children would think about the philosophical aspect of this book, but I guess they would understand the philosophy in a different level than adults, probably in much deeper level. Certainly this book brings a big joy for adult readers.

Peter Dickinson seems to like sciences and technologies. So readers find some scientific and technological contents in the novel, that was quite fun for me to read. I am sure many kids would love the technological descriptions as well as the plot itself. Of course this book gives many children interests in the world of science, as the author aimed.

I found his work quite fascinating, so I ordered another book "Eva." This is also children's book though it seems to be good for adults as well. This book again contains scientific and medical materials in the story.

I am very much looking forward this book's arrival...

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Take it easy!

2008-10-20T15:55:00.003+01:00

My boarding girl left for Sweden this morning due to the half-term break. We have two-week break, so she will spend ten days at home in Sweden with her family and friends.

It is nice to have her. She is a friendly and social girl, and is open to new culture and people. When she is at home, my sons enjoy her presence.

Nevertheless it is also good to have some time without her, just with my family. She is like a family, but she is not quite a family. I feel that looking after her is a kind of a job for me, which is not equal to a responsibility as a mother. I have some kind of responsibility for her. When she needs help, we need to help her. I feel keeping our house tidier is one of my task as a host mother, too.

When she comes home late, I don't feel easy. She is seventeen, so she can legally drink alcohol and smoke. In England youngsters at her age have much more freedom than Japanese high school kids. She is not stupid, but it makes me feel uneasy when she comes back after midnight, which she does quite often. Our house is in a safe neighbourhood, but walking in dark by herself makes me worried. Especially because she is a cute girl.

Now she is absent, and I feel totally at home. I don't need to clean the house as much as I do when she is here. I need to cook only half of food without her, because she is surprisingly a big eater. And I don't have to be worried about her safety...

I enjoy my private time just with my family now, then I will enjoy the time with her more after the break.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Pippi

2008-10-19T14:18:00.004+01:00

Do you know "Pippi" ?
Pippi is a girl in a book "the adventures of Pippi longstocking."

I remember seeing the TV programme when I was little. The book always reminds me the theme song of "Pippi" on TV. As soon as I think about the book, the song appears in my mind and it never stop....

This book was brought to my sons by our boarder. She is from Sweden in the area where Pippi lived. She says the landscape described in the novel is just like her place. Now I am enjoying reading it, although I don't like reading children's books normally. I think this is quite enjoyable to all generations. Pippi is so sweet and funny, and her innocence makes me smile.

I also think this is a good book for English learners. This is suitable for ages seven to ten, which is fairly easy. With amusing story, 280-page stories are not too long nor too short, even for beginners, I guess.

Some people recommend English learners to read children's books, because the language is simpler. But normally I don't agree with it, for many of children's books are boring for adults. To entertain adult readers, the books need to have interesting contents even though the reader's English ability is limited.

But I like "Pippi" and can recommend "Pippi" to many adult readers!!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Half-Term Break + application process

2008-10-17T16:42:00.005+01:00

The school ended. It is an autumn half-term break now.
I don't have any plans other than one of the physics exams. I am almost ready for the exams, so I would feel relieved if I could finish it now...

Exam is something bringing you anxiety even if it is not a big deal at all.

Huuuuuu.

By the way,
now I am seeking a possibility for the entry of university in September 2010. Application should be submitted in October 2009. Normally the candidates are college students studying A-levels which they will take the exams in January or May 2010. The exam result appears only in August, which is only a few weeks before the new school year starts. So the exam results are not ready neither when they applied for the uni nor when the uni is in the selection process. Instead of waiting for the exam results, the uni selects their students by the predicted exam results which are done by college teachers. And the selected candidates proceed to the next step, interview. As a result of the paper selection and the interview, the uni decides whether they accept the candidate or not. If the successful candidates don't achieve the predictions, they might lose the seat even after they are accepted by the uni.

This is the process.

Problem for me is that I am teaching myself without attending a college. That means I can not get the teacher's predictions. If I can wait for another year, it wouldn't be a problem, because I will have all the exam results required by the time I apply for the uni. But I don't want to waste another year. So I really want to find a way to the application process in 2009.

It seems to be quite difficult. The department at the uni is very popular and there are about 15 times as many candidates as the number of their seat. Entering other courses are not too difficult and the courses are open for many people in various situations, such as mature students, international students, students from low education family, and students without qualifications. For the course I am aiming for is denying all these possibilities and basically it accepts only direct entry procedure...

But I am still seeking for the possibilities to enter the uni in 2010.

I still have a plenty of time. I can still research more and then decide how I get there.

Also I wouldn't be disappointed even if I have to wait another year.
One year is only a short period of time compare to the whole my life.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

book stall

2008-10-15T15:49:00.005+01:00

I got several books from a book stall, which my friends held at school.
Since they are interesting and intellectual people, sharing anthloposophy with myself, I expected to find some interesting books there. Filling my expectation, I found some for me, and some for my children.

One of the books was called "All about Herbs" published about 30 years ago. I love herbs, and own some books about herbs. I found this book interesting, because it features a lot on cooking with herbs. And that was what I wanted to learn more. I have a book about growing herbs, some books about general information about herbs, and some are for medicinal info. As a housewife with two little ones, knowledge of natural medicine is great. But I felt the necessity of using herbs in wider area, for growing herbs gives me more harvest than I can consume as a medicine. Also one bag of dried herb from a shop is too much to use up before they lose their nice smell. Learning more useful methods of herbs is something what I need.

The book "All about Herbs" shows many cooking recipes that are practical, and some are quite unique which are beyond my imagination.

For example:
1. a sandwich with nasturtium leaves
2. elderflower fritter

I didn't know that the nasturtium leaves are edible. It is also surprising that you can eat them raw! They don't look taste good though....

Elderflower is one of my favorite herbs. I make elderflower cordial on its flowering season, but I have never imagined to deep fry them to make fritters!
....I guess it wouldn't be so great with soy sauce but sea salt might give a nice flavour...

I am not sure if I want to try these though this book is surely amusing.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

banana cake

2008-10-13T14:55:00.002+01:00

I baked a banana cake today. I used to bake a cake quite often, almost three times a week. But recently I rarely bake. One reason I stopped making a cake regularly is a health and child-care issue. Non-sweet snack is simply better for children, for adults too. I often give my boys some bread or rice balls as a snack, which is healthier.

I have another reason, which is about my boarding girl.

Because of her allergy, she needs wheat free, dairy free diet. She eats other grains such as rye, spelt, buckwheat, millet, semolina and so on. Non-cow's milk products are suitable for her. So she usually eats goat's butter, goat's cheese, and soya milk instead of cow's. So I can make pancakes for her using non-wheat flour and soya milk.

But ... what ingredients would you use for a cake without wheat and dairy products? Wheat flour can be altered to other grain flour, but the goat's butter I found is only one choice and it is salted butter which is not suitable for baking a cake.

That is a reason I don't bake a cake as much as before...

Today I baked a banana cake. This cake is a normal loaf, with wheat flour and cow's butter. I just gave up thinking what to make so that she can eat.

I am sorry for her that she can not eat this cake. But we have no reason to give up something we like....

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

appetite

2008-10-10T17:08:00.003+01:00

How much does a teenager normally eat a day?

When I was a high schooler, I ate little. Some rice and miso soup for breakfast, lunch in a surprisingly small lunch box, small amount of snack after school, then supper. I didn't need to eat so much, and didn't want to eat much either. So I had one 80% full bowl of rice, and some vegetables, proteins, and soup for a supper. I rarely had a second.

Our boarder, 17-year-old girl, always surprises me with the amount of food she eats. From my own experience, I can hardly believe how much she can actually eat in one day.

Her daily appetite is like this:

breakfast(8:00):One big bowl of muesli with nuts, fruits, seeds. Plus two to four slices of rye bread with tomato or avocado on it.
little lunch(11:00)+ big lunch (13:00): One big container of lunch packed with grains and several kinds of vegetables.
snack(4:00):some fruits and rye bread. When she has a time to eat, she eats "snacks" as much as normal supper.
supper(6:30):big plates of food with rice, proteins, vegetables. Usually she has the second full plate.
second supper(around 9:30 or when she comes home):one plate of left over supper or anything she finds in the kitchen.

For me, it is astonishingly over eating, but my husband used to eat like she does, he says.

I know that Westerners have different digestive system than Asians. Their body got used to eat more meat than fish or vegetables, so they have shorter intestines than Japanese. Yes, we Japanese are more like herbivores in terms of our digestion.

So maybe, this appetite is quite normal for Western youngsters.....

I cannot help wondering where all the energy she obtained from foods are going.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

balloon flower

2008-10-07T20:08:00.002+01:00

One of the things I miss about Japan is a flower called a "balloon flower," "kikyou" in Japanese. There is a same kind of flower of same family in England, but the Japanese balloon flower has different taste than English one.

Hearing my admiration for the flower, my mother sent a piece of root dug from her garden. In the early spring in this year, I put the root in my plant bed, and had longed for the day of blooming.

It was September when I found a tiny buds on the thin stems. Since then I have observed the little plant awaiting for the flower.

When I saw the flower blooming the other day, I got disappointed....

That was not right kind. That was not THE kikyou that I had been longing. I wanted the original kind with single layer petals......

Still it is a beautiful flower, so I upload its photo.

...Do you like it??

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

new blog

2008-10-06T16:15:00.003+01:00

I started a new blog on the blogger.
This is called "hands-on" for now since I can't find any good name for it yet.

This is my little gallery where you can see my craft works.

I have uploaded only three photos there, and I will add more and more.

I hope you enjoy looking at my works there!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

sushi

2008-09-29T18:06:00.005+01:00

Today's supper menu is something new for me. It is "oshi-sushi" which is sushi pushed into a mould. As a Japanese, I love sushi and make it myself. But it was the first time that I have made a "oshi-sushi."

Traditionally thin rectangular mould is used for this, and cut it into smaller pieces that are just nigiri-sushi size. Instead of using a proper mould, a rectangular shaped container can be alternative, but I used a round cake mould. I thought this can be more attractive for Westerners.

Here is the sushi!

There are very limited choices of fish for sushi in England. Although England is in a small island surrounded by an ocean, it is almost impossible to buy fresh fish that is fresh enough to eat it raw. So I use only a few different kind of fish for sushi, such as smoked sermon, smoked mackerel, and prawns...nothing fresh.

Today, I used herrings. I got this idea on a website for people living in abroad who wants to cook Japanese food with the local ingredients.

The herrings I used for this is marinated and sold in a jar.

This is with dill, so this tastes European.
This sushi was great but I felt it too much Western...

But it is all right, since my husband liked it. :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

WMF pot

2008-09-27T20:58:00.003+01:00

When we moved from California to England, we brought as little as we can carry in suit cases. Some boxes were sent by surface mail. But we brought minimum amount of stuff to start our new life in England.

So we bought all the essential things that are needed for our basic life. At that time, we had only 4-month-old baby. So we bought smaller pans that are big enough for three of us.

Four years have passed after that, and our family has grown. Now we have two toddlers who are eating more and more. And one teenage girl has joined to our family this month.

It is amazing how much she eats every day. she is rather skinny girl, but she usually eats twice as much as my husband eats. She always looks for foods in the kitchen whenever she comes home, even if it is at midnight...

ummm.

So ... now I have to serve foods for three adults, which is as much as for four adults, and two children. That means our smaller pots are too small....

I went shopping this afternoon. We stopped at a discount shop in a mall. They sell popular brand goods at reasonable price. What I bought there was WMF vegetable pot with two handles. WMF is a German kitchen tool brand and they make practical and simple/modern design stuff. I didn't know much about WMF, but this brand seems to have high quality and those pots are sold at more than 10000 yen each in Japan. It is only a stainless steel pot though.

Wow. The price for the pot I bought was only ￡16 (about 3000yen). Considering cheaply made non-brand pots can cost as much as ￡16, this good size pot for this price was quite good deal. :D

It was a good buy.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

new work space

2008-09-24T11:58:00.003+01:00

I set up my new desk space in my bedroom. Since I have one desk in an office in our house, this is my second desk.

My house is located on the school campus where my husband teaches. I used to teach at the school as well and now I am a parent of two kindergateners at this school. So I know the stuff, pupils and parents well.

It is so wonderful that I don't have to drive/walk to the school to drop off my kids, or pick them up twice a day. Also I don't have to go somebody's house to socialize, because they come to me. How convenient!

On the other hand, we have so little privacy here. People are coming to see me/my husband asking questions or asking for a help. I like to help people, but I am not always available to help them. I really need time for myself and focus on my staff-- study.

Our office is situated near the entrance area, also two big windows in the office are facing to the area where many people go by. I found it quite distracting to see people walking or chatting there, when I study.

So that is the reason for setting up my desk in my bedroom where I can have some more privacy. Our bedroom is the most isolated room which is the furthest from the entrance. It is on the first floor (-- "the first floor" means upstairs of second storey building in British English--), so nobody walks right there outside of the window.

This change actually made big improvement. I can focus on my desk work much better, although the noise from the street is louder in the bedroom than in the office.

Also... there was another factor to improve my study environment. That was my computer. There is my computer on my office desk, and I tend to check e-mails and internet too often when I am at the desk, even when I am not expecting any e-mailsm news, or information from web sites. I know I should have stronger will to avoid the temptation from the computer, but changing situation can make it possible without stress.

So, now I am happy with my new desk area, and actually it is successful.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

grateful

2008-09-23T13:58:00.005+01:00

I am now living in England.

Japanese people who has not lived in England often admire people living in England. I admired to live in England before I moved to this country. Those who look at this country from outside believe England is such a beautiful country where gentlemen and noble ladies live. Yes, it is a "Queen's" country, and royalty adds something special to this country, too.

But reality is not always so beautiful. I know quite a few Japanese people who changed their good impressions towards England after they came to England. Many of them don't hesitate complaining about England any more.

English people are generally nice, warm-hearted and gentle, which is wonderful. On the other hand, people are too nice to discuss to make improvement happen. So everything stays as they were 100 years ago...(200 years ago??) Things have never changed. They take long long time to accomplish one task, and after having the customers waited for the work done so long, their work is unbelievably rough as if it was done by amature workers.

So there are pro and cons to live in this country as well as living in other countries.

But believe me, I quite like living here in this country.

This morning, I don't know why, but I was suddenly filled with the feeling of gratitude. This feeling appeared and instantly warmed my heart. This happened when I was looking at a sheet I printed out the other day. This was an information about a Homeopathic dentist that I am aiming to become. I accidentally found this dentist through my job-hunting research on the internet.

If I was in Japan, I would have much less opportunity to see a general homeopath. Furthermore I would never have a chance to see a Homeopathic dentist in Japan. There are not so many homeopathic dentists in England though, I found one relatively close to my town.

Homeopathy is still relatively new to Japan although it is acknowledged by more and more Japanese people nowadays. But if I was in Japan, I would not have any chances to study homeopathic dentistry without going abroad. But I can do it here in England. There are homeopathic colleges for medical doctors, dentists, nurses and other medical specialists. Before that, I could never possibly attend a dentistry course at a university. It is so much difficult to change professions for middle-aged in Japan, and going university costs much more in Japan. Scholarship programs are not as open to people as in European countries. So if I was in Japan, I would not really think about going to a uni to study dentistry, especially after so many years have passed from my uni graduation.

Ahhh,
I am really grateful with my surroundings at the same time I am grateful to my family and friends who support me.

Also I am grateful that I have gotten a courage to follow the path I believe...

Thanks for my frineds and for this beautiful world.
...with love.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Fantastic Shakespeare play

2008-09-21T15:40:00.004+01:00

I saw a Shakespeare play "the tempest" on Friday. It was a play by Schloss Hamborn School Class ten pupils.

Our school has a partnership with Schloss Hamborn Steiner school in Germany. Our class nine goes to Schloss Hamborn to work at their farm for two weeks, and as an exchange, they come to our school to perform a Shakespeare play.

Our retired drama teacher stayed there in Hamborn to work on the play for six weeks, directing the play and working on their English language.

Yes, it is a Shakespeare play, so it is spoken in classic English, of course.

I imagine it would be quite difficult for the actors to play Shakespeare in English. But imagine how much pressure they had to overcome to play it in England in front of English audience.

This year their German accent was stronger and often the speech was hard to understand. The teachers deliberately choose students with lower English ability for the bigger parts in the play. That was one of the pedagogical challenges the teachers set for the pupils.

Except for the language problem, their show itself was brilliant, fantastic and terrific!!! It was very "German" play which has modern + abstract artistic effects, using a projector showing some photos and designs on the screen as a part of their set. Their music was also taking a great part of the play. The music teacher at Schloss Hamborn is a modern composer, and composed whole music for the play. They loaded their whole set of musical instruments, such as big drum, strings, winds, and organ (!) into their coach to travel from Germany to England.

Another great aspect of the play was their dance. They have dance lessons at school, and dance also had a big effect in the play. It was a modern dance by about 7 to 8 female pupils and one male pupil. The male dancer must be a trained and gifted dancer. His body moved so smoothly as if he doesn't have any joints.... All his movements were performed without stretch for him at all, but bringing good tension to the audience... When he was on the stage, his existence just occupied whole theatre.

Wow...... I just sighed with the quality they created. They are just class ten kids. They are only 15, 16 years old normal kids. And I don't think this class was very "good" class normaly, and I could see that the teachers had struggled to bring them to the higher completion on this play. But in the end, they did it. Again I must say the play was brilliant!!!

Thanks for coming, and bringing their achievement to England.
And of course I want to applause to their courage to play Shakespeare in English in England to English audience!!!

Well done!!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Job interview

2008-09-20T21:58:00.003+01:00

I had a job interview today.
It was a teaching position at a Japanese school. But they don't have any job openings currently, so it was an interview just to be registered as their future teacher.

As a fully qualified and experienced teacher, my teaching career is more than they expect. But sometimes one of my career as a Steiner teacher scares main stream people. I think the Steiner education is too different from main stream education and the difference makes people afraid of dropping out from ordinary way that majority of people follow.

When I had an interview at another school a few years ago, I felt strongly that the teachers, including the head teacher, have resistance for the Steiner education. I was accepted at the school but I didn't get a good impression of the school...

But this time, the atmosphere of the school was not the same. The head teacher knew about the Steiner education and he actually has a kind of admiration for it. Of course he is one of the main stream school teachers, so he can't ignore the curriculum that Japanese government set. Still he asked me if I can bring some essence of the Steiner education to the school. It is because he thinks the Steiner education is wonderful, and he wants to improve the education for the children.

So... I will be registered as a supply teacher for now, and when they need a new teacher, probably I will get the teaching position... maybe two to three years later.

A few years of time delay is also a part of my plan. The school is open only on Saturdays. I want the Saturday job when I become a university full time student. So two to three years from now is the best timing for me.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Swedish - German - English

2008-09-15T15:04:00.004+01:00

Our Swedish boarder said
"our class (class eleven = seventeen years old) in England is like class seven."

The class she is in now is an immature group. They don't listen to the teachers seriously, often they are not really engaged in the lessons. They are noisy and she feels that her English classmates behave like a group of thirteen-year-old Swedish kids.

One of her friends from Sweden is now studying in Germany. He said,
"German class eleven pupils behave like class nine."

So...
If Swedish class 11 kids have the quality of 17 years old,
German class 11 kids have the one of 15 years old,
and English class 11 kids are like 13 years old.

ummmmmmmm.

I feel English pupils are quite immature, compare to Japanese, Germans, or Americans. Whenever German pupils are coming to our school as international students, their high standard surprises us. They have the positive attitude towards the work, and really work to achieve 120% of what they are told to do.

I don't think it is because those international students are only selected goody-goodies. Our pupils who went to Germany to study have been inspired by the German pupils' general attitude. Germans have the will to work hard.

But ... do Swedish have higher standard than Germans???

My boarder says,
"teachers here are much better than our school in Sweden."
She says that the teachers in our school are very supportive and the lessons have better quality.

So..., our school seems to be giving better education to our children than her school in Sweden. But the result is class eleven kids with class seven quality...???

ummmmmmm

What is wrong with us???
What is good education????
What is a good teacher?????

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

biodynamic radish

2008-09-14T14:20:00.007+01:00

My friend brought some vegetables from his farm. He is a biodynamic gardener, and is working in a biodynamic garden near the town. Since his wife is a Japanese, a good friend of mine, he has grown some Japanese vegetables using some seeds from Japan.

Last week the vegetables he brought were daikons(white radish) and gobou. Both are rare in England, and it is almost impossible to get ORGANIC daikon or gobou from market. And they are not just organic, but BIODYNAMIC.

Unfortunately, the weather in this summer was terribly bad. Too much rain and no sunshine. That affected the harvest badly. He brought these vegetables with his disappointment, but I was very pleased with his present.

These are the daikons. They have funny shapes and are damaged by pests. So I had to take away a good portion of them, but edible parts were fresh and tasty.

When I was washing and cleaning the daikons, I found some slags and insects on them. I am not very insect-friendly person XD, as I grew up in a city, but still I feel much secured to see those creatures on the vegetables. They are on the vegetables because the veggies are tasty and safe without harmful pesticides.

For the same reason, I can not trust vegetables from supermarket. Even if they have a fancy labels of "ORGANIC", they don't look natural to me. They are amazingly same shape, straight and symmetry, and they are too clean without any insects bite or dirt. Even if they are grown organically, they must have been washed in a strong detergent. I am always surprised to see how troublesome to wash all the dirt off from vegetables when I wash the uncleaned vegetables which directly came from a local farm.

Another treasure of his daikons was its leaves! It is definitely impossible to get daikon leaves. Getting them from your garden or your friend's garden is the only possibility to get organic daikons in England. Those leaves are so tasty. I cooked them in boiled water for a few minutes, and froze them, so that I can use them all year round.

They are really treasures from the earth!!
Thanks my friend and beautiful nature!!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Fasting

2008-09-12T11:16:00.004+01:00

I have been trying a semi-fasting cure recently. It's been one week or so since I started it.

It is a SEMI-fasting, and I eat lunch and supper as usual. I just skip my breakfast. I spend eighteen hours without food from a supper around 18:00 to a lunch at 12:00. I drink some tea, water or sometimes soup without solid ingredients any time, because the liquid doesn't stimulate the digestion system.

I am doing this not for losing weight but for my health. Mainly for the digestion system of course, but it is also for improving my body's efficiency.

I just feel we normally eat more than we need. I think our foods in this modern lifestyle are rather rich and we are generally taking more energy than our bodys actually need. We are wasting the excess energy, and often people gain fat. On the other hand, there are millions people are suffering from starvation in the world, though...

What concerns me about overeating is that the overeating habit ruins our body systems. Once our bodys learn to eat too much, they adjust the system themselves not to absorb the nutrition efficiently. So the bodys don't work as much as they can, and they get lazy.

It is important to eat after the stomach completes the digestion. So I eat less lunch to make sure that my stomach is empty at supper time.

For a few days after I started the fasting, I felt dizzy in the morning a bit. But now I got used to the habit, I don't feel any dizziness at all. Now I feel my body has more energy and brain works more clearly. Now I am more sensitive about my body and feel what my body needs.

I feel really good overall.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

free morning

2008-09-10T17:02:00.002+01:00

One week has passed since my sons started nursery/kindergarten.
They really enjoy the school, although they are still very quiet at school. They often don't want to go home, and want to stay at school longer. I wish they could stay there longer but the school accepts only older children for their afternoon classes.

So my free time is only morning, but I have gotten three hours for myself without being disturbed by noisy children. It is amazingly quiet without boys and I can focus on my staff.

So you might wonder what I am doing in the morning for three hours.

Without boys, it doesn't take so much time for house work. So I quickly finish cleaning, laundry, doing dishes and other errands. Then plenty of time is still left for myself, which seems to be incredibly luxurious for me. So I sit at my desk, and start studying as soon as I am available for it.

I have registered myself for the physics exams that will be in November and December. That would be my first stepping stone for entering a university.

The exam itself is not really difficult. This is a basic high school level. I just need to memorize the scientific terms and learn the exam techniques. The problem is that an exam is an exam. It is not something fun. It brings me some kind of anxiety, and I feel a big pressure for the exam. I am going to take the exams at a school where I used to teach, so that makes me more nervous. Can you imagine my situation? I am going to take the exams with MY pupils, and of course the teachers, which were my colleagues, would see my exam results. It would be embarrassing if I get bad results. I know it is a silly pride, since nobody would really care about my results.

So..., that is how I am spending my free morning.

Wish me luck for my exams, please....... :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Waldorf Schools in Germany 2

2008-09-09T19:56:00.008+01:00

So, the report of Waldorf School tour is here again.

This school is called Schloss Hamborn. In the town where the school is, there are school from kindergarten to class 13, an elderly home, a biodynamic farm and residential houses for the people involved in the anthloposophical community in the town.

This is a glass ceiling of Class 1+2 building. When you come into the building, a hall with this ceiling welcomes you.

This is a kindergarten building.
With a large front garden in front of the building, this whole kindergarten space has very warm atmosphere.

Next school is in Dusseldorf.

Class 1 classroom.
Nice large space is good for a morning circle and exercises with physical movement. Although the windows are not very large, the sunlight through the window is natural and bright enough for the class activities.

The hall in the school.
Unfortunately, I couldn't see this hall, but from this photo, this hall looks great with its contemporary design. My husband admires this hall.

Teachers' room.
Looks nice and comfortable to be and to work. The pink wall would calm down the teachers argument. :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Waldorf Schools in Germany

2008-09-06T20:51:00.013+01:00

Let me upload some photos from our trip to Germany.
As a part of my husband's building project, we had a tour to visit Waldorf Steiner Schools in Germany with our architects. We visited 6 Steiner schools and one Anthloposophy centre in Kassel.

The schools' purpose-built buildings were all built with Rudolf Steiner's philosophy "anthloposophy." They all have certain features of Steiner architectures, such as non-right angle windows, or some sculptural structures.

But when you visit several schools and see their buildings, you see the differences. Each school has its own ideas and concepts to make their ideal education happen in the school building that made significant variety of the space for children. The buildings show their vision.

We can not label them just "Waldorf schools" or "Steiner architecture." The freedom of the Waldorf education allowed them and inspired them to create their own education. That created their individual buildings.

The first Waldorf School "Waldorfschule Uhlandshohe" in Stuttgart that Rudolf Steiner started his "Steiner Education." This is its newest building and is for after school care.

This is a hall in the school in Stuttgart. This building was built in 1970', though this design looks even more modern than the newest building. The power and energy that this hall has is tremendous.

This is inside of the hall.

This is a ceiling of the building at "Widar Schule, Waldorfschule in Bochum-Wattenscheid." Great sculptural design.

This is an exterior of the main building at Widar schule.

I have visited more schools, so the report from our tour will be continued....

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

time for myself

2008-09-04T10:13:00.003+01:00

School began today. Now pupils are back to the school and the school is filled with a fresh and active atmosphere.

This is the first official day for my sons to go to the kindergarten. They have visited the kindergarten before, but they will spend all morning five days a week from today on.

... What a relief!

Now it is quiet in the house without boys. I hear only the sound of washing machine. And I have some time for myself. The time without children is such a precious time for a mother, since "mother" is 24-7 work...

So, I decided not to do house work much this morning, so I can use the first free morning just for myself. I read some books as I have a cup of tea. Some peace and quiet time.

It is a reward for me.

I think I am worth to be rewarded. :D

Don't you think so???

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

positive words

2008-09-02T14:51:00.004+01:00

When I started my blog, I made one rule, which is...,
"I don't write anything negative in my blog."
Any complaints, anger, madness and depressing feeling should not be in my blog.

Because negative things attract negative people, negative thoughts, negative words, and negative effects.

That is the "law of attraction." And I really think it is true.

My rule has been kept well most of the time especially in my Japanese blog "Kayo in England." But I sometimes can't help complaining about something... Whenever I expressed my negative feeling in my journal, I got replies filled with negative energy from the readers. My negative thoughts have spread to anonymous people and come back to me with much more powerful negative energy.

If I want to be positive, I have to be careful with what I say. My positive words attract positive things. And that is what I want.

Just recently, one idea came up to me, and the idea changed my "rule" from

"I don't write anything negative in my blog."

to

"I will write only positive things."

Do you see the difference?
First one is a negative sentence. It shows "NOT to do" which is exactly my negative feeling. But the other sentence is opposite. I have a positive feeling that came up as a positive sentence.

So I am pleased that the new rule naturally came up from myself, because I noticed the change of my feeling turned to positive.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

international student

2008-09-01T13:34:00.004+01:00

Our new boarding student will arrive on Wednesday.
She is a 17-year-old German-Swedish, and will stay with us for this school year.

We often have a foreign guest in our house. Although we live in England, we have had an English guest only once. Surprisingly, our guests are often from abroad; Hungary, Korea, Japan, and Sweden this time.

Our family itself is quite international family. I am a Japanese, my husband is a German, the first son is an American-German-Japanese and the second son is a German-Japanese. So when we have a foreign guest, the guest often adds one more nationality in our house.

Isn't it interesting?
Five people with four different passports under one roof. :D

The Swedish girl seems to be very independent. She left her parents' house to live by herself when she turned to sixteen which she can live by herself legally. Since then she lives in an apartment by herself, and she handles the independent situation very well. This summer she traveled around for one month all by herself. Her mother told us that she insisted that she would not need us to pick her up at the air port when she arrives, but it would be better for her to have a car since she comes with two big suitcases...

Anyway, it is exciting to have a new family!
Somebody we have never met would join us for several months.

We have had a boarder last year as well. But having this Swedish girl would be different experience for us because everybody is different. I will learn a lot from this experience as well as she will.

I hope she loves little children, so my sons can play with her.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

Physiotherapist

2008-08-30T20:07:00.003+01:00

It is Saturday today.

This morning my husband got an appointment with a private physiotherapist for his broken wrist. His colleague recommended the therapist, saying "he is definitely the best in the Midlands." Since my husband lost one appointment with a NHS physiotherapist unwillingly during our trip, and he has to wait to see an orthopaedic doctor once again before seeing a physiotherapist, he was quite fed up with the system of NHS.

He phoned the therapist this morning after 10am, and got an app. at 11:45am. He is a busy therapist and my husband would not get any appointments anytime soon if he does not have a recommendation from his colleague who is obviously a good friend of the therapist.

The session with him took almost one hour. Checking the conditions, the therapist told my husband that his wrist was operated very well. That was worth to hear. What a relief. Also the therapist taught my husband one course of exercises that my husband can do it himself so that he doesn't need to come back to the practice so soon. Surprisingly, the therapist drew pictures to explain how exercises should be done with some descriptions and clear drawings. He told my husband that it doesn't make any sense to give a pre-printed sheet of exercises because every patient needs different exercises. Wow! He really thinks of his patients. Great!!

Furthermore, he informed my husband a contact address of manufactures where he can buy some supporters for his wrist. Usually the practice wants to sell those staff to get the profit out of it. But he didn't. That is because it is less cost for his patients.

Now my husband got another appointment in October. But the therapist seems not to expect my husband to come back. He predicts that my husband would be better in one month of time and another session would not be necessary.

So...my husband's wrist will be better, I believe.
That is a wonderful news.

What a relief.... :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

new chopping boards

2008-08-29T09:52:00.005+01:00

I finished making my new chopping boards.

This material was a left over from a kitchen counter top that my husband used for his workshop. He cut the oak board to make my chopping boards. But he didn't complete them, so I had to sand the boards myself.

Then the boards were left in our kitchen without being sanded for five months.

A few days ago, I just started working on them.
Using two electric sanders, I made the surface smooth, and sanded the edges of the boards so that any sharp corners were not left.

The finish is oiling. I applied some olive oil on the boards with a rag, and dry them. This process was repeated seven times. Now the nice surface was built up and they are ready to use! YEAH!

30cm × 40cm × 3.5cm

Aren't they gorgeous!?

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

from Germany

2008-08-27T19:42:00.006+01:00

What do you think something good in Germany?
If you go to Germany, what would you buy as souvenirs?

Germany is good at making good tools. Their quality is excellent and often ecological. Furthermore prices of German products sold in Germany are often lower than English cheaply-made products sold in England.

So.... I bought some PRACTICAL souvenirs for myself.

Brush
With wooden handle, this fits in my hands naturally. Also the bristles are soft horse hair, so it doesn't get statics. When you clean with this brush, dusts would not get stuck on the hair.

Small Brush
This small one is for washing pans and dishes. This also has a wooden handle. Looks natural and ecological. You can buy spare brushed to attach on to the handle when the brushes worn out.

Mop
This is a German style mop. This is used as it is wrapped in a cloth. The bristle is hard enough to keep the cloth and scrub the floor well. After you finish the mopping, you can just throw the cloth into the laundry machine! You don't need a special kind of bucket for mop, and have no hassle when you mop a floor. This was a wonderful buy! I love this!

Dust pan
The blue dust pan is made of metal. It is very strong and would last long time. This should be a "heavy duty" dust pan.

By the way, the model holding the blue dust pan is my first son. :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

my ordinary life

2008-08-26T18:27:00.002+01:00

Today was the second day after coming back home from Germany. The three-week absence made incredible mess in and around our house. I cleaned thoroughly all over the house before the trip, and nothing was happening in the house during the trip... but the house seemed to be dusty when we came home...

So I mopped all over the house. Soon after that, lots of small seeds from the birch tree nearby the house flew into the house, and our house got messy again. XD

I finished SEVEN loads of laundry in these two days.

And... the weeds in the plant beds have grown so wildly. It was expectable, though. So picking weeds took all afternoon today, but still a lot more to pick.

On top of them, I have been cooking good dishes so much. It is because I suffered from German style appetite... It is so nice to have MY food, such as rice, Japanese dishes seasoned with soy sauce, miso soup and Japanese green tea, especially after eating bread and cheese twice a day for two weeks!! I feel I have had bread and cheese for the rest of all my life.

Many friends of mine told me to take a good rest after the tough trip, but I just got back to my busy ordinary life...

But I really feel I like this ordinary life very much.
And I also like to be busy...

I must be really typical Japanese..... :D

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

back to England

2008-08-25T15:57:00.004+01:00

Now I am back to England.

Three-week trip is over and now I am trying to adjust myself to my ordinary life.
I thought I would need one day in a bed after the trip because I was so exhausted from having driven incredibly long distance. Can you guess how long I have driven over this trip between England and Germany? The total distance I drove was 2200miles which is 3500km. Imagine leaving from Fukuoka driving through main land Japan to Aomori, and then going back all the way to Fukuoka, and some more driving to Nagoya...that's the distance I have driven during this trip. I drove all by myself since my husband got a broken wrist that still hurts badly after 7 weeks of the injury.

It was crazy.
It was madness.
I knew it from the last trip to Germany. Two years ago, after the first trip to Germany, I declared to my husband that I would never never drive to Germany.

But I happened to do this again....

Anyway I am back home in England safely.

When we arrived at the port in Harwich, England, the sky was dark grey that was neary depressing atmosphere. It was totally different colour than the grey sky I saw in Germany. Oh, gosh. This grey sky welcomed us back. I felt it ironic after having a bad homesickness through the trip. XD But still I felt good about being on this small island of the UK.

England is our place.
Our lives are happening in this beautiful country.
The country is covered with a grey sky most of the time, but grey sky is typical English thing. It is all right to have a grey sky over myself. I am totally happy with coming back home!

I don't mean the trip was not enjoyable.
Trip itself was good.
I just missed my place, my kitchen, my bed, and my food...

Let me upload one photo.
This is a picture of Malchow, Germany, which is between Berlin and Baltic Sea.

Can you recognize a brown church on the right of this photo?
In front of the church was an old monastery where my father-in-law currently lives. We stayed there with him for ten days.

This area has countless numbers of lakes and is surrounded by beautiful nature.
It was a wonderful place.

I will write more about the trip later on.

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

See you!

2008-08-04T10:48:00.002+01:00

Today we are leaving for Germany.
We will drive across England, and take a ferry to get to Holland. This is an overnight ferry brings us to Den Haag in the early morning.

Staying with our friend in Den Haag and spend a whole day with her and her baby, then we will be bound for Germany.

Ten days at my husband's father.
Four days at a teacher at Schros Hanbourne(sorry, not sure the spelling) Waldorf School.
One night at a five-star hotel :D in Stutgurt. (again...sorry about the error)
One day at my husband's mother that will be a gathering with my husband's family.
One night on a ferry coming back to England.

We will be back on Sun 24 Aug.

It will be a three-week journey.

According to a cosmic spiritual message, now it is a time of radical change. Two eclipses in August which moon and sun influence the earth from opposite direction. Last three months were kind of "test" period for human beings. And this period will be over on the second eclipse in August.

This message makes sense to me. My life in the last three months were tough. I suffered from emotional problems that were brought by so many little troubles. On top of it, my husband got injured. I have been wondering what tasks were on me.

Now we are on the important time. And I will be on a journey. What does this mean?

We will see...

See you!
I will write about the trip in three weeks!

←This is a banner for the blog ranking at the "Blog MURA".Each click encourages me a lot! Thank you for clicking this.

inner light

夏らしく、朝顔を。

黒板絵

木の枝からナイフで手づくりした木のスプーン

小学校１年生の編み物プロジェクト

数は図形とも結びついている。

数を数えるエクササイズをしながら、こんなに美しいオブジェクト完成。 「さんすう教室」から 〜 http://maths1.... on Twitpic

Arithmetic Lessons-online programme

Arithmetic Lessons-online programme

Arithmetic newsletter

Updates

horoscope reading

Michael Voss

Google AdWords

Vosscination

long absence again

long time no see...

HERO!

blue solar water

blooming!

pop-up card

birthday card

hair pack

Fire under the Snow

warabi

blue bell forest

flowers

flying penguin

bath time

private

drawing lines

5th birthday

absence

fractal

new web site

long time no see...

sake

Magazine

rice noodle

turning point

Happy New Year

cherry blossoms

GP

no more flu

blogging

Christmas tradition

Merry Christmas!

potatoes

Space for family

Messiah

vegetable cutter

Goodbye Tsugumi

transparent stars and...

gloves

Main lesson book

throat infection

Advent garden

what if I was in Japan?

job hunting

lunch for school kids

Exhibition

burn out

jumble sale

crazy man

After physics...

Exam is over

smile

Text books

miss it!

Snow!!

christmas present

Clockmice

Take it easy!

Pippi

Half-Term Break + application process

book stall

banana cake

appetite

balloon flower

new blog

数を数えるエクササイズをしながら、こんなに美しいオブジェクト完成。「さんすう教室」から　〜　http://maths1.... on Twitpic