Miho was the only student tonight. Kenji had a New Year's party and Hiroichi is in Sri Lanka doing research. He should be back next week. Speaking of Sri Lanka, I wonder if he has read Anil's Ghost. It was the book I was reading during winter vacation and I only have a few pages left. It is a very good book and probably not too difficult for Step 4 or 5 students. The author , Michael Ondaatje, also wrote the English Patient. I read the book, but never saw the movie. I guess I will have to rent the video.
1C
nother snowy Tuesday night. Even with the snow we had a pretty good turn out. Seichiro had good news tonight; his fifth granddaughter was born on the weekend.
We practiced the conversation in the book and added a little twist. This time people had to walk and talk. Everyone did a pretty good job. Sometimes when people try it they always stop walking when they start walking.
The homework is to write sentences about what there partner told them.
1L
Hideko did join this class, so we are up to five members. Mitsue got a new battery for her car and can look forward to not having car trouble. Hiroko went to Kyoto with her son and daughter last week. She said on the plane she was able to speak to members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra that were on their way to Osaka after a concert in Sapporo. She said she was able to communicate with them without too much trouble. Hiroko has been to Austria so she could talk to them about that. Her son took a picture with his digital camera. Hopefully, he will send me a copy and I will post it.
4K
People's personal ads were very good and interesting. We listened to the tape several more times to catch more of the details. At the end of class we talked about if the popularity of personal ads was a sign of healthy society. Most people felt it wasn't. Somebody asked about the history of personal ads, but I don't know too much about them. I believe they really became popular in the 60s. This link is a humorous essay and this link is an academic paper about courtship that mentions personal ads. This link is to an article about Yahoo's new personal ad features.
I just came across this bit of trivia.
In 1727, Helen Morrison, a lonely spinster, became the first woman to place a Lonely Hearts advertisement. It appeared in the Manchester Weekly Journal. The mayor promptly committed her to a lunatic asylum for four weeks. - The People's Almanac #2 In the United States "going Dutch" on a date means each person pays for
her or himself.date.com Please add a comment 1:31:10 PM
