イースターの 休み

イースターの　休みに　シカゴに　かぞくに　あいに　いきました。土曜日に　Michigan Ave.に　かいものを　しに　いきました。

あとで、　John Handcockの　下に　Cheesecake Factoryで　ばんごはんを　たべました。　ぼくは　おいしい　Ahi Tunaと　Banana Cheesecakeを　たべました。

イースターの　ミサは　ごぜん　くじに　Croatian Churchに　ありました。Croatian Churchは　とても　ふるくて　うつくしい　です。

ぼくの うち

ぼくの　うちは　いい　アメリカの　うち　です。ひろい　です　そして　たかい　です。よく　日本の　うちは　せまい　です　そして　ひくい　です。だいどころは（Kitchen)　とても　大きい　です。さかなの　グリルが（Fish Grill)　ありません　でも　に　オーベンが　あります。テーボルも　あります。ぼくの　うちの　中に　たべる　こと（Eating)の　へやが　あります。生かつの（Living)　へやは　とても　たかい　へやです　そして　ひろい　テレビが　あります　そして　大きい　だんろが　あります。ぼくの　へやは　に　大きい　ベッドが　あります　そして　カーペットが　あります。よく　日本の　うちは　カーペットが　ありません。ぼくの　うちは　いちばん　うちです！

かいわ！

クラスメートのなまえ：バーコリさん

かいわのタイトル：にほんの　ゆうめいな　ところ

バーコリさん：こんにちは　ソンタグさん！

ソンタグ：こんにちは　バーコリさん！にほんの　ゆうめいな　ところを　べんきょうしまあしたよ！

バーコリさん：そうですね？こんなつ（This summer)　にほんに　いきますね！

ソンタグ：はい！ いきますよ！おかやま　こらくえんに　いきます　そして　ひめじーじょうに　いきます！

バーコリさん：おかやま　こらくえんに？　なんですか？

ソンタグ：おかやま　こらくえんは　おかやまで　ゆうめいな　にわ（Garden)です。にわは　とても　おおきい　ですよ　そして　とても　うつくしい（Beautiful)ですよ。えーと、　き（Trees)が　あります　そして　おおきい　かわが　あります　でも　こうえん　ありません。

バーコリさん：そうですね？いいですね！そして　ひめじーじょう？
ソンタグ：ひめじーじょうは　ひめじし（Himeji City)で　とても　おおきい　じょう（Castle)　です。えーと、　じょうは　たかい　です　そして　とても　ゆうめい　です　でも　ふるい　です。　２４３０まん（Ten thousand)　だんせい（Men)　じょうを　つきましたよ（Made)。　はちじゅうさん　たてものが　あります　そして　にじゅういち　ゲート（Gates)が　あります。
バーコリさん：そうですね？さばらしい（Wonderful)　です！
ソンタグ：はい！じゃあまたね！
バーコリさん：じゃあまたね！

ぼくの しゅっしん

ぼくは　インヂアナ　しゅの、　インヂアナポリスから　きました。インヂアナポリスは　おおきい　まちです　そして　たてものは　たかい　たてものです。まちは　よく　あたらしい　です、でも　たいてい　ふるい　です。かわは　インヂアナポリスで　しろい　です　でも　ちいさくあります。インヂアナポリスは　あまり　ゆうめいじゃあります　でも　とても　いい　です。

せんしゅうまつ！

せんしゅうまつ、いそがしい (busy)　でした！　のとるだむだいがくで　JPWが　ありました。ぼくの　おとうさん　そして　おかあさん　のとるだむに　きんようびに　いきました。きんようびのばんに、vinylの　パーティーが　ありました。ぼくは　Vinylが　すき   です (I love vinyl)。Vinylが　すき　ですか？　ごぜん　いちじに　ねました。どようびのあさに　キャンパスを(campus)　あるきました (walked)　そして　じゅういちじはんに　Morrisseyで　ひるごはんを　たべました。ごじはんに　Joyceに　マスを　いきました　そして　ななじに　Presidentの　ばんごはんが　ありました。　どようびのばんに　じゅうじに　Comptonで　アイススケートを(ice skating)　いきました。にちようびのあさ　じゅうじに　Joyceで　あさごはんを　たべました。　ごご　にじに　ぼくの　おとうさん　そして　おかあさん　うちに　かえりました。

お箸の 二月! (Chopsticks February)

I wanted to pass along a wonderful up and coming tradition that a few friends of mine started last year. We all know how depressing the month of February can be with the South Bend permacloud, Valentine's mishaps, and the biting cold. So to liven up the month, Chopsticks February gives you an excuse to get better at using traditional Asian utensils as well as failing epically and laughing about it with your friends.

RULES:

1) Any meal can only be eaten with chopsticks or fingers.

2) Food may be "prepared" before eating using the usual fork, spoon, or knife if necessary. For example, a delicious steak may be cut up using a fork and knife.

3) Don't be lame and get pizza and hamburgers every day!!!

4) Periodic "expert mode" days/meals may be activated in which everyone must use their non-dominant hand to hold the chopsticks.

5) Above all, have fun and get a good laugh out the whole ordeal!

p.s.-you can find packs of chopsticks on Amazon for like $3 for 5 pairs, so no excuses about how you didn't have any chopsticks to use.

p.s.s-not sure about North, but South DH has a bucket of crude chopsticks near the Asian line.

Happy Feast!

Today marks the celebration of the Martyrdom of St. Paul Miki and his 25 companions. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these heroic saints, in the 16th century in Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was daimyo at the time, began a vast persecution of Christians because he feared the rising influence of the Jesuits. Paul Miki, who was born to a wealthy Japanese family and who later entered the Jesuit Order, was eventually captured and put in prison along with 25 other Jesuits, clergy, and lay people. They were forced to march from Kyoto to Nagasaki, some 600 miles, all the while singing the Te Deum. Upon arriving in Nagasaki, all 26 prisoners were executed by crucifixion. As a close friend of mine said recently, "the blood of the martyrs is seeped into the soil of Japan". Few people know the vast persecution that Christianity has undergone in this land, and still fewer realize how strong those Japanese Christians were to persevere for centuries under such cruel circumstances. Truly, the strength of the Japanese people astonishes me! Here is some art to go along with the Feast. I've also added a picture of the memorial that stands in Nagasaki to this day to remember those 26 men who gave their lives for their Faith. Let us celebrate today their sacrifice with Joy for we know that, "In the world their will be tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world!"-John 16:33.

ぶろぐの しゅくだい

Here's an attempt at a very abridged version of my daily schedule with some English translations for the stuff we haven't learned.

まいにち　ななじごろに　おきます。　そのあと、いつも　あさの　いのりを(morning prayer)　いのります(pray)。　そして　くらすを　いきます。　そのあと、　うちへ　かえります　そして　しゅくだいを　します。　ぜんぜん　てれびを　みません　でも　たいてい　ほんを　ぼくの　へやで　よみます。

Death Note

So I went to the "Death Note" showing the other night. I didn't know what to expect other than what was said in the brief summary sent out beforehand. The movie was certainly weird in a lot of ways I wasn't expecting. Mr. Death was a bit corny in his love of apples and sub-par CG but it somehow worked overall. It was a very interesting story of intrigue I was a bit confused how they chose to develop the main character as lacking the virtues of a typical protagonist which effectively made him seem like the antagonist. Then in the end the "antagonist" ends up winning and lots of people get killed. He winds up being the most heartless and selfish jerk and still comes out on top which is very abnormal. Certainly I have very little exposure to typical Japanese media and I don't really know how Japanese virtues compare to Western ones, so I can only compare it to what I know. I would very much like to expose myself to further films so I can have a better platform from which to critique. I'm very glad I went and I even recognized a lot of the Japanese words we've been learning in class!

じこしょうかい

はじめまして！ぼくはソンタグ(Sontag)です。さんねんせいです。ぼくのせんこうはうちゅこうがく。ぼくはばすけっとぼるせんしゅじゃありません！(I'm not a basketball player!) どおぞおよろしく。

I'd also like to introduce you to the かたな, or Japanese longsword, that I got from Santa Claus this Christmas. I've started collecting swords in the past couple years and this one makes three! Pictures are at the bottom of the post so please enjoy! The full length of the sword is 41 inches. A few really interesting facts about Japanese blades. Firstly, if you notice the diamond pattern on the tang (handle), you'll see there's white where the diamond is and black around it. The black is basically just a piece of shoe lace wrapped in a really cool way to create the diamond pattern, but the white part underneath is actually a wrapping of sting ray skin which is the traditional method of tang wrapping. I wish I had my literature on the subject to give the actual Japanese names but that will have to wait for a future post. Second, on the blade you'll notice a wavy lighter grey strip on the cutting edge. This is the part of a Japanese blade that truly made me fall in love with the art of swordsmithing. It is traditionally called a はもん and is the result of a really cool chemistry/thermodynamics phenomenon. After forging the blade, the smith will apply two different clays in a pattern. One clay will cover the cutting edge while the other will coat the remainder of the blade. The clay on the edge is a good conductor and so lets heat pass through it much faster than the other clay which is an insulator. After applying the clay, the blade is heated to a bright yellow and then immediately dunked in a tank of water. Now when steel cools rapidly, it hardens and becomes extremely strong but also brittle. So the end result is that the cutting edge cools much faster, becomes much harder, and holds a razor sharp edge, while the rest of the blade remains relatively flexible and soft. Instead of having to pick between durability and sharpness, the Japanese just decided to have both! Why couldn't anyone else think of that?!? (They actually did, I'm just biased) So when you look at a well made blade, you can see the disparity between the hard and soft steels. I attached another picture of some はもん that really show how much artistic beauty the Japanese put into their craft. My sword isn't the best quality so I doubt the はもん is genuine but oh well! Lastly, since a Japanese smith will put so much effort into making a beautiful as well as efficient weapon, they add the gold piece right at the start of the blade. This piece is fitted perfectly to the sheath so that when the blade is all the way in, it's held in place and the blade won't be scratched by the inside of the sheath. So there's a quick introduction to Japanese blades! I hope one day to craft such a fine work of art!!!