Makuhari

Makuhari is located in Chiba prefecture, next to capital "Tokyo." I 've lived there 4 years by myself while I was studying at university. If you have any chance to come to Japan, I would strongly recomend you to visit this place. They have a famous exhibition hall called Makuhari Messe , my univeristy Kanda University of International Studies, etc.

My Home Town

My home town, Sakaki town, is located in the middle of Nagano prefecture. Some of you might have heard the name of my prefecture. Yes, we had the winter olympic games in 1998!! If you have enough time & money in near future, come and visit my beautiful home town.

TESL classmates

Here's my TESL classmates.

Let me introduce them!

Susan, Heather, Sarah, Mari, Suzette, Elizabeth, Kathryn, Eung-Tae, Charles, Diwakar, Yumi, Kim, Paul, and Karl.

In this picture, we are missing Gabriela, Beverly, Laurie, Lindsey, Wendy(teacher), Donna(teacher), and Frank (teacher).

They are my wonderful classmates & teachers. I admire them a lot!!

Secret of My Name

麻里(MARI)

This is my name in Japanese that my mum and dad gave me when I was born. Well, can you guess what my name literally means in Japanese??

Well, the anwer is "hemp field." Now, please don't think my parents are drug dealers or involved with the Mafia. PLZ!! The reason why they gave me the name is that they wanted me to grow strong and straight like hemp.

I was really impressed when I found the true meaning of my name and I am pround of my self until now for growing strong & straight as my parents wished.

亞土何　苗奉

Serendipity

I guess some of you guys may be wondering why I'm using the word "serendipity" for the title of this blog.

I like this word because of the sound & the meaning.
I came across this word from the movie called "serendipity."

Here's few transcripts from movie which relate to the meaning of serendipity.

"Serendipity, a fortunate accident"
"we make our own decisions. But....fate sends signs and how we read them decides whether we're happy or not."

After I saw this movie, I realized that I should not try to change the unfortunate accident/situation, but it is more important that one should keep a positive atittude and try to learn something from that situation.

Mom

Here, you can see my lovely & awesome mother that I admire a lot! She is a very strong woman who has several different roles as follows: a wife, mother, manager of nurses, and masters student. Yes, she is working in a hospital, at the same time, taking the Master of Education program at Meisei University in Japan.

As you can see from her information, she is an extremely intelligent woman that I hardly believe I am her daughter!!

My Future

I like planning my future. I try to follow the exact same plan that I have made. Especially, when it comes to my future career, I have this clear vision of what I'm going to do in order to accomplish my ultimate goal.

I've already made a future plan for the next 5 years. Now I am 23 years old, taking a TESL program at Niagara College, which I really enjoy. After I complete my study at here, I am going to Brock University to take the Masters of Education(ISP). I am really excited about going there since taking this program will enable me to widen the possibility of my further careers.

I have two choices about where to start my first career. First choice is starting my career in Japan as an English teacher in junior high /high school after graduating from Brock in October of 2007. Second choice is to stay in Canada and become a school councelor, who can support Japanese international students, in a private language school since I've been interested in becoming a counselor besides being an English teacher.

Regarding my ultimate goal, I am planning to start my own private language institution. I believe that training qualified English teachers would lead to children's improvement of learning authentic English. Thus, I would like to assist future English teachers gaining skill through teaching them with based on what I have learned about the TESL field from my previous education.

See, now you know how much I enjoy making future plans. I am really excited about accomplishing every single plan that I've stated here and having a wonderful teaching life!!

My Favorite Quotes

• We live very close together. So our prime purpose in this life is to help others.

By Dalai Lama　（1935-）チベット仏教最高指導者

(われわれは深くかかわりあって生きている。だから、この世でのわれわれの最大の目的は人を助けることである。)

• Far and away the best prize life offers is the chance to work worth doing.

By Theodore Roosevelt　（1858-1919）　第２６代アメリカ合衆国大統領

（人生が与えてくれる最高の宝物はなんといっても、する価値のある仕事に打ち込めること。）

• We want people to feel with us more than to act for us.

By George Eliot　（1819-1880）　作家

（われわれは人が、自分のために行動してくれる以上に、自分と一緒に感じてもらいたいのだ。）

• One can choose to go back toward safety or forward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.

By Abraham Maslow　（1908-1970）心理学者

（人は安全を求めて退却するか、成長を求めて前進するかを選ぶことができる。成長するには繰り返し選択する必要があり、恐怖は繰り返し克服されなければならない。）

• One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fourtune of others.

By Archibald Rutledge　（1883-1973）　作家

（人生の最も健全で、豊かな喜びの一つは、他人の幸運に対して幸せを感じることから生まれる。）

• The future　belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

By Eleanor Roosevelt　（1884-1962）　第３２代アメリカ合衆国大統領夫人

（未来は自分の夢のすばらしさを信じる人のものである。）

• The Master said, "The gentleman seeks it in himself; the small man seeks it in others."

By Confucius　（B.C. 551-B.C. 479） 儒教の創始者

（子曰く、君子は諸れを己に求む。小人は諸れを人に求む。）

• To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

By Anatole France　（1844-1924）作家

（偉大なことを成し遂げるには、行動するだけでなく夢を持ち、計画するだけでなく信念をも持たなければならない。）

• In the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

By Abraham Lincoln　（1809-1865）　第16代アメリカ合衆国大統領

（人間にとって大切なのは、この世に何年生きているかということではない。この世でどれだけの価値のあることをするかである。）

• Alone we can do little; together we can do so much.

By Helen Keller　（1880-1968）　講演家・著述家

（一人ではできることが限られているが、大勢だと多くのことができる。）

• I think one's feelings waste themselves in words, they ought all to be distilled into actions and into actions which bring results.

By Florence Nightingale　（1820-1910）看護師

（人の気持ちはそれが言葉になるとただ空しく失われてしまう。どんな気持ちでも行動に、しかも結果を生む行動に移さなければならない。）

• To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.

By Mother Teresa　（1910-1997）カトリック尼僧

（ランプの灯りを絶やさずにいるには、絶えず油を注ぎ続けなければならない。）