It was November '88 when the event happened. My friend called Hiroshi and I intended to get to Niagara Falls. We started to leave for there at about five o'clock. However while we were driving, after about three hours, we noticed that we had gotten lost on the way, so we were going to go back to a place we could recognize on the map. We looked for a suitable place where we could do a U-turn and we decided to do a U-turn in someone's garden, because it was difficult to find a place for a U-turn.
When my friend was about to do the U-turn, our car began to slip on the grass. Our car never held still. We tried to make the car move for over one hour. It was getting darker. The air was cold. We wanted to set out for Niagara Falls as soon as possible.
Then the house owner came to us. He was very angry with us. He said, "How will you make up for this?" I'm going to call the police!" My friend became very nervous because he must have thought that the policeman would take us to the police station . He was about to drop tears. I had a hard time stopping a laugh. Finally the policemen only ordered us to pay fines. After that, we started to get to Niagara Falls. It was about 11 o'clock when we reached there.
-Kiyo
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Wedding Ceremony
Summer 1988
One day, I went to a wedding ceremony with my American host family in Ashland. The wedding couple was my host family's friends. It was the first time I had worn a suit since I had come here. It was my first experience to go to an American wedding. After the wedding ceremony had finished, I went to the wedding reception. This wedding reception really impressed me. The wedding couple gave the reception in a house which was near a small lake. The reception was simple and all the food was self-service. I was so surprised that it was different from Japanese wedding receptions. It was the first time I ever saw a bride eating a hamburger. After we had finished eating, we had some games and dancing. The wedding couple did not care when their wedding dress and suit got dirty. I felt that this is America. At an American wedding, we can relax and enjoy it. At a Japanese wedding ceremony, we will get tired and bored.
-Yukiko
One day, I went to a wedding ceremony with my American host family in Ashland. The wedding couple was my host family's friends. It was the first time I had worn a suit since I had come here. It was my first experience to go to an American wedding. After the wedding ceremony had finished, I went to the wedding reception. This wedding reception really impressed me. The wedding couple gave the reception in a house which was near a small lake. The reception was simple and all the food was self-service. I was so surprised that it was different from Japanese wedding receptions. It was the first time I ever saw a bride eating a hamburger. After we had finished eating, we had some games and dancing. The wedding couple did not care when their wedding dress and suit got dirty. I felt that this is America. At an American wedding, we can relax and enjoy it. At a Japanese wedding ceremony, we will get tired and bored.
-Yukiko
David Jones
When I was in my middle school days, I was studying so hard. Every day we couldn't go home until 10:00 P.M.
One day, when we went to home a friend of mine was run over by a motorcycle at the crosswalk in front of school's gate. Unfortunately my friend couldn't see it because the motorcycle was very fast and its head-light was turned off. The motorcycle was overturned and simultaneously he was knocked down. At that time we had no time to spend because the enterance examination was coming up. So my friend cried because of pain and worried about the examination at a ambulance. His situation was very serious but he insisted that he study continuously. Fortunately he could apply for the examination at the hospital, and he succeeded in the examination.
After the accident, traffic signal light was built at the crosswalk.
One day, when we went to home a friend of mine was run over by a motorcycle at the crosswalk in front of school's gate. Unfortunately my friend couldn't see it because the motorcycle was very fast and its head-light was turned off. The motorcycle was overturned and simultaneously he was knocked down. At that time we had no time to spend because the enterance examination was coming up. So my friend cried because of pain and worried about the examination at a ambulance. His situation was very serious but he insisted that he study continuously. Fortunately he could apply for the examination at the hospital, and he succeeded in the examination.
After the accident, traffic signal light was built at the crosswalk.
The Narrow Road
8/12/1987
Early one morning an old woman was walking from her village to the town. She was carrying a big sack of cabbages on her head. She was taking them to the market, where she hoped to sell them to the people from the town.
The road which she was on was a very narrow one over a mountain. There was a cliff on one side and a wall of rock on the other. There was very little traffic at that early hour, but she was walking very carefully on the side of the road, because she didn't want to have an accident and lose her cabbages which she had grown herself.
But as the old woman was climbing a steep hill, she suddenly heard a loud bell and a bicycle came around the corner, and passed her, going very fast down the hill. The old woman had to jump to one side so quickly that the sack of cabbages nearly fell into the ditch.
She looked up, and saw that a young girl from the town, wearing green trousers and a red blouse, was riding the bicycle. She was riding without even looking around to see whether the old woman was all right.
The old woman began to shout, "Come back, Come back, Little lady! You dropped something!" The girl heard the old woman's shouts and stopped her bicycle so suddenly that she nearly fell off. Then she turned and began to push the bicycle back up the hill. She had ridden on quite a long way past the old woman, and the slope was steep, so she was quite hot and tired when at least she reached her again.
"What is it?" she asked "What did I drop?"
"Little lady" the old woman answered,
"You dropped your manners."
Early one morning an old woman was walking from her village to the town. She was carrying a big sack of cabbages on her head. She was taking them to the market, where she hoped to sell them to the people from the town.
The road which she was on was a very narrow one over a mountain. There was a cliff on one side and a wall of rock on the other. There was very little traffic at that early hour, but she was walking very carefully on the side of the road, because she didn't want to have an accident and lose her cabbages which she had grown herself.
But as the old woman was climbing a steep hill, she suddenly heard a loud bell and a bicycle came around the corner, and passed her, going very fast down the hill. The old woman had to jump to one side so quickly that the sack of cabbages nearly fell into the ditch.
She looked up, and saw that a young girl from the town, wearing green trousers and a red blouse, was riding the bicycle. She was riding without even looking around to see whether the old woman was all right.
The old woman began to shout, "Come back, Come back, Little lady! You dropped something!" The girl heard the old woman's shouts and stopped her bicycle so suddenly that she nearly fell off. Then she turned and began to push the bicycle back up the hill. She had ridden on quite a long way past the old woman, and the slope was steep, so she was quite hot and tired when at least she reached her again.
"What is it?" she asked "What did I drop?"
"Little lady" the old woman answered,
"You dropped your manners."
Monday, July 23, 2012
The Ghost
I will tell you a story about something that happened to my friends and me, thirteen months a go. This is something that I don't wish to happen to any of you, because it was the worst experience of my life.
It was August 6th, the day of independence of Bolivia. The day was sunny and all the streets were crowded with people watching the national parade. I went with some classmates to see the parade, but we never expected to see what we saw. About ten months before that day, we knew that our math professor in the intermediate school had died. We were sure about that, because we had sent some flowers to his family the day he died. We were standing still on the sidewalk watching some pretty high school girls and laughing about some of them hwo used to have a very hard time knowing that ten eyes were looking at them at the same time. Suddenly we saw the teacher who was dead. We couldn't believe it, and all of us were afraid; we didn't know what to do or what to say, so we started to run behind him. While we were running one of my friends asked in a very low tone of voice:
"Could it be a ghost?" Some started to laugh and others saved their words. One of us said that we could be wrong, and that we were looking at someone who looked like the teacher. Finally we reached him, so we started to walk behind him. When we were face to face, we said, "Hi!" and he said very angrily: "Who are you?", so my friend explained to him that we thought he was our teacher. The man laughed and said, "Oh! you are talking about my twin brother, you didn't know that he died a bout ten months ago?" That moment we had to make things easier, so we told him that we didn't know and that we were sorry about that.
It was August 6th, the day of independence of Bolivia. The day was sunny and all the streets were crowded with people watching the national parade. I went with some classmates to see the parade, but we never expected to see what we saw. About ten months before that day, we knew that our math professor in the intermediate school had died. We were sure about that, because we had sent some flowers to his family the day he died. We were standing still on the sidewalk watching some pretty high school girls and laughing about some of them hwo used to have a very hard time knowing that ten eyes were looking at them at the same time. Suddenly we saw the teacher who was dead. We couldn't believe it, and all of us were afraid; we didn't know what to do or what to say, so we started to run behind him. While we were running one of my friends asked in a very low tone of voice:
"Could it be a ghost?" Some started to laugh and others saved their words. One of us said that we could be wrong, and that we were looking at someone who looked like the teacher. Finally we reached him, so we started to walk behind him. When we were face to face, we said, "Hi!" and he said very angrily: "Who are you?", so my friend explained to him that we thought he was our teacher. The man laughed and said, "Oh! you are talking about my twin brother, you didn't know that he died a bout ten months ago?" That moment we had to make things easier, so we told him that we didn't know and that we were sorry about that.
Graveyard
The night of the nightfall has arisen from the death of the night. With the chilly touch of the nightwind and with the soulless sense of the darkness of the night, you can hardly imagine one can do what one likes in the mysterious side, the immortal side of death.
Yes, you can always hear the voices from the ground of death every now and then at night. Often, its echo can easily still your movement. Yes, it never happens to the heartbeat of yours, not until the last moment of your life.
To you, the graveyard is not the place that you like to be in when the midnight clock strikes. To me, it was a place where the spirits of others and me reunioned. It was always a creative view when the time was right for our transparent bodies to never stop balleting with the nightwind. Also, it was the only time that we were free from the daysleep. Nevertheless, the spirits moved in an undetermined way, in the path of up and down and in various entertaining ways either vertically or horizontally. Like the stage of a play, it was never much different than any kind in the other world.
At the time of daybreak, it was another play of life for me; it was also an end for the activities of the night. Night by night, and second by second, life was just another particle of mother nature when I was a member of the death then. As for the present period, day by day and minute by minute, it never did change in any way.
Yes, you can always hear the voices from the ground of death every now and then at night. Often, its echo can easily still your movement. Yes, it never happens to the heartbeat of yours, not until the last moment of your life.
To you, the graveyard is not the place that you like to be in when the midnight clock strikes. To me, it was a place where the spirits of others and me reunioned. It was always a creative view when the time was right for our transparent bodies to never stop balleting with the nightwind. Also, it was the only time that we were free from the daysleep. Nevertheless, the spirits moved in an undetermined way, in the path of up and down and in various entertaining ways either vertically or horizontally. Like the stage of a play, it was never much different than any kind in the other world.
At the time of daybreak, it was another play of life for me; it was also an end for the activities of the night. Night by night, and second by second, life was just another particle of mother nature when I was a member of the death then. As for the present period, day by day and minute by minute, it never did change in any way.
No Title
I have been studying since I was 7 years old; sometimes, I really feel bored of studying. Every time I want to quit studying and join the workers' ranks, however, my brother's advice always appears in my mind.
My eldest brother has always regretted that he decided to quit his study when he was in the 4th grade, no matter how my parents tried to make him understand the importance of education to his future. He always writes to me and tells me to be more concerned about my study. He said if he hadn't decided to quit studying, he would have experienced the real life of an American instead of just reading what I write back to him. In his letters, he always reminded me that he was only twenty five, but he had to work instead of studying.
His embarrassing moment also appears in my mind when I feel tired of studying. One afternoon, he received a letter from the manager of his company. When he opened the letter, he couldn't catch any word in it, because it was written in the Malay language instead of in Chinese. He took the letter and went to ask the manager's secretary to explain to him what it said. The secretary said, "What? You can't understand our national language?" It made him feel very embarrassed at that moment. After that event, he decided to take night classes to improve his language skills. After he had experienced learning the Malay language, he felt that maybe it was too late for him to learn, because his mind didn't function very well after not studying for about 15 years.
Whenever I see a bunch of homework on my table, it always makes me think of giving up studying; however, my brother's experience in lacking education always encourages me to continue, even though it makes me tired.
My eldest brother has always regretted that he decided to quit his study when he was in the 4th grade, no matter how my parents tried to make him understand the importance of education to his future. He always writes to me and tells me to be more concerned about my study. He said if he hadn't decided to quit studying, he would have experienced the real life of an American instead of just reading what I write back to him. In his letters, he always reminded me that he was only twenty five, but he had to work instead of studying.
His embarrassing moment also appears in my mind when I feel tired of studying. One afternoon, he received a letter from the manager of his company. When he opened the letter, he couldn't catch any word in it, because it was written in the Malay language instead of in Chinese. He took the letter and went to ask the manager's secretary to explain to him what it said. The secretary said, "What? You can't understand our national language?" It made him feel very embarrassed at that moment. After that event, he decided to take night classes to improve his language skills. After he had experienced learning the Malay language, he felt that maybe it was too late for him to learn, because his mind didn't function very well after not studying for about 15 years.
Whenever I see a bunch of homework on my table, it always makes me think of giving up studying; however, my brother's experience in lacking education always encourages me to continue, even though it makes me tired.
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