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literacy blog

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  I read three small stories about Kirby in Japanese. I couldn't understand everything that was written at the time but I was pleasantly surprised with the amount that I could read. They were pretty small books with fairly simple sentences but by the end of them I was tired. Everytime I feel myself getting fatigued with reading Japanese I try to push a little bit past then so that I can hopefully increase my stamina and be able to read more for longer. My teacher in one of my Illustration classes showed the books to us so that we could look at the art in them. It was cool to find Japanese that I could read by chance out in the world. It was cool to be the only one in the class able to read what the book said and I bet if I tried again now that some time has passed I’d be able to read more. I noticed that being able to speak about the weather was really helpful to understanding the book. I wonder if any of the new things I’ve learned would help me understand some of the rest of it. ...
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Topic 7 blog

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  It was interesting hearing why people pick the items that they do when looking for something to buy. I don’t pay attention to where the brand I’m picking is from much when I’m shopping online but I do pay attention to some of the same things that the people in the blogs were looking at such as how it looks and how convenient it is. I liked the one blog that was talking about how they enjoyed all the colors they saw within the houses in France during their home stay there. I think it’s cool to see people become inspired by other cultures and look to bring some of their items or ideas back home. I like the access that we have today to foreign items through the internet, there’s lots of cool Japanese items that I’ve seen online and looked at purchasing, plus plenty of items from other countries I’ve seen. I like when I receive a Japanese item from the mail, it’s fun to try to read the packaging. I’m finding that the more I try the more I’m able to understand. Maybe when I visit Japa...
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Topic 6 blog

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  Learning about how everyone makes their bento and where they eat it. There were a couple people talking about making or buying their bento and then eating on the train. I enjoyed hearing about the person talking about how they were excited about ekibento whenever they went on family trips. It made me think about how nice I bet it is to sit and eat on the train while watching the world go by. It makes me wish that we had better train systems here so that I could multitask on my commute. I go home every now and then to the countryside by st.Louis, it would be so much easier for me if I could take the train and get some things done during transit. There might be a new train station in the town I live next to, I might try packing my own ekibento. At the beginning of the school year I looked into getting myself a bento box, I noticed that a lot of bento I see is full of good, hearty food and I needed something to get me through my busy days at school. However all the ones I found on A...
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Topic 5 blog

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It was interesting listening to them talk about interacting with other cultures. It made me think that being a host household would be fun. When I was in highschool I wanted to try to study abroad and stay at a host family's house, I think it would’ve been a really fun learning experience. I still hope I can study abroad in college, it’ll be nice to have more autonomy as an adult too even if I am missing out on a host family. I enjoyed listening to them talk about experiencing other cultures through food. It was cool to see someone growing the vegetables of different countries so they could make their food. I hope to grow my own good one day so maybe I’ll look at some foreign things to grow to try. My roommate and I will sometimes go to the Asian market to try new foods. I went with my boyfriend over the weekend and we got to try lots of new foods. I have a couple things I like to get but I make sure to try new things each time I go. This time I tried teriyaki pork buns, メロンパン、and ...
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Topic 4 blog

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  I noticed that being punctual seemed to be more important to them than it is for us over here. There’s definitely situations here where it’s best to be punctual but I think in general it’s less important. I understand how a lot of them feel about waiting for others to show up when they’re late though. I used to be very punctual and stressed about being late often until I learned that I could be on time and not be stressed out about it. I thought the story of the person waiting 6 hours for their friend was interesting. We don’t rely on trains so much as they do and so they were in an interesting position due to their travel limitations. I think it’s nice that they have community hubs like the train stations though. That persons plan to get there early and then walk to somewhere before they meet their friend later at the station was nice. I wish we had hubs like that where we could take public transportation to and have a nice day in the area. I dislike living in such a car dominat...
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Topic 3 blog

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  I thought it was interesting listening to different people talk about how they view the town changing. Looking back and missing the old town while also being happy that it is changing to be busier. I liked seeing people admiring the beauty of the town, like the person talking about the beautiful ginkgo trees or the person that views the town from the surrounding mountains. Another thing I found interesting was the differing city infrastructure. One person talked about how playing in the street was safe for them because the street doesn’t support cars. That’s just not really something that we have here and yet I see streets designed for people only there all the time in pictures. I appreciate a city structure that supports pedestrians and walking in general. Another thing I thought was interesting was the person talking about catching crayfish in the river. That’s an activity a lot of kids like to do where I’m from in Missouri by all the lakes and rivers. I’ve heard of people from...
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Topic 2 blog

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  It was interesting reading about how Japanese people live during the summer. I know that a lot of traditional Japanese homes are built very differently to ours and are insulated differently. I know that it gets very hot there during the summer and to hear that it’s getting even hotter is a little worrying. I like reading about taking care of the futons during different seasons. I bet sleeping on one that’s been fluffed up outside all day is really comfortable and it’s interesting how there’s an exact time to bring it in so it’s not too hot for bed time. I thought that keeping plants near windows and watering them to regulate temperature was really smart, and I bet it makes the air quality really nice throughout the house. When reading some of the blog posts back in Japanese I noticed that my stamina for reading is getting better as I keep challenging myself to keep going past when I’d want to stop. I had also read some other little books in Japanese today so I got in a lot of rea...
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