Report of October's English Club

Hi there!!

October's English club was very unique and interesting. Thank you so much for all who had joined us

This time, we welcomed the guest from Iserael. She was a very energetic woman who had been working as an chemist studying toxicology and pharmacy untill her retirement. And since it was a collaboration of Soirée DE Nara and EU English Club, we had some special things. Firstly, the place. We held the English club in a town house called "". Secondly, the food. We talked each other; while sitting around the table, eating food. These changes definately helped producing the friendly mood.

Her talk was very interesting and moving.

"I am an lucky person."

She told us about where she was liveng, what happened to her, her life in Iserael etc.(like this!!) Though she had to face a lot of trouble, she did her best and which leaded her to success. According to her, she started her laboratory on her own! Impressive!! It sounded more like a fiction than a true story, though it is a true story.

Anyway. Our next English club will be held in...

Wednesday, November 12th 18:45-20:45

I'll tell you more about it later.

Report of September's English Club

Hi there!!

September 11th's English club was so fun!!

Thank you so much for everyone who joined us!!

This time, we welcomed an owner of an Italian Cafe, LUCAFE (Here!!). Who's name is Gianluca. We also welcomed a Malaysian mother and her 2 doughters (Cindy, Joanne, and Michelle). And the theme of the month was "How did you spend this year’s summer ? And, do you have any exciting plan in the autumn?"

First, Malaysian mother and her 2 daughters told us about difference between Buddhism and Taoism.

Also, about marrige. (Like this!)

After their talk, we talked about things we did in summer and exciting plans in autumn.

And finally, Mr.Gianluca told us about what caused him to start the cafe in Japan, and munu of his cafe (Like this!!). His view was really interesting for me that sometimes, what is nothing secial for us looks very fascinating to people from abroad. Four seasons is one of them. Before opening the cafe in Japan, he was living in Singapore which doesn't have four seasons. So, for four seasons, he decided to open the cafe in Japan. Hearing his talk, I started to feel very sad that I cannot understand the wonder myself because it is too normal for me and decided to look around more to find those wonders.

Anyway, next English Club will be held in...

Tuesday, October 14th

I'll tell you more about it later.

続きを読む

Report of August's English Club

Hi there!!

August 13th's English club was so nice.

Thank you so much for everyone who joined us!!

This time, we welcomed Mr.David Boilley from France and Mr.Flavo Valsecchi from Italy. They told us a lot about monitoring of radioactive substances in Fukushima or differences between Japan and Italy in the term of bicycle competition.

As I wrote, using slides on the screen like in the picture above, Mr.David Boilley told us about monitoring of radioactive substances in Fukushima, such as why he started it and what can be learned from its results.

The best thing I was surprised at was though the accident occurred in Fukushima, Japan, France is affected more than Kyushu. How can it be true? According to Mr.Boilley, this is caused by "the wind power". Wind blows against France from Japan carried the substances with it. How scary the wind power can be!! He said he was also shocked to know radioiodine was detected from the grass of France.

His talk reminded me of words I heard before, "Due to the accident in Fukushima, we can no longer detect artifacts' age by determining radioiodine level." I wonder how wide the range of influence.

After that was the time for introductions & questions. He answered every single question very nicely

Like this!!

After that, Mr.Flavo Valsecchi told us about attractions of bicycle competitions and differences between them in Japan and Italy passionately. I hadn't even known there are differences between them until he told us about it!!

Anyway, next English club is on...

Thursday, September 11th !!!

I'll tell you more later.

September's EU English club is on 11th in #1 on 6th floor

Guest for English Club held in 9/11 is an owner of an Italian cafe

Information for the next English club in 9/11.

This time, we will welcome the owner of an Italian cafe which name is "LUCAFE". His name is Gianluca. Malaysian mother and her 2 daughters will also join us. Don't miss it!!

・Date: September 11th, Thursday 18:45-20:45

・Theme: "How did you spend this years sumer? And do you have any exciting plan in the autumn?"

・Charge: Member 1000 yen, Non-member 1500 yen (No appointments necessary), Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited (free of charge)

・Place: Room 1, 6th Floor of Nara Seibu Kominkan: Right after getting out of the south exit of Kintesstu Gakuennmae St. (Here!!)

June's EU English club is on 19th in #1 on 6th floor

■DATE: Thursday 19th 18:45-20:45 @No.1, F6 of Nara Seibu
Kominkan(Near from Kintetsu Gakuenmae St. South exit.)

■THEME: 
What phobia do you have?

■We have some guests…
♪Mouloud Hammadou & Jérémy And Marie Godard

Message from Jérémy And Marie Godard

Hi everyone! We are Jeremy and Marie, a couple of backpackers!

We started our world tour on the 6th of november. Our next step is Japan! :)

There we will travel by bycicles around the country during two months! We would like to meet people who live there to find out the difference between cities, countries and the beauty of every city! we want to travel that way to realize how different can be lifestyles of each country. 

★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge)

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

No reservation needed!Join us!

Thanks.

Report of April's EU English club

Hi,there!

April's English club was so nice..lively and good atmosphere.

Thank you everyone for joining us and I appreciate your kind support.

Well,the topic was "Tell us about your hometown!".Everyone introduced the favorite spots of their hometown.Though I am already on familiar terms with most of members, through this topic I can see a bit of their lives & other aspects in a new way.

This topic was very nice to deepen our self introduction.

Well, as for me,I introduced Ofusa Kannon Temple near my house.

Ofusa Kannon has been known as the temple of Roses and Wind chimes in this past 10-15 years.(When I was little, I remember...it was.....just the simpe temple...)

The name of this temple originated from a local girl called Ofusa. It is said that Ofusa began worship of the Goddess Kannon of this spot, and it was developed into the name of this temple today.

●They have biannual Rose Festival in May & November when roses are in full bloom.In this season, the grounds are filled with rose flowers, and that is so beautiful.

●And Wind Chime festival is held from July to August at the same place.

Wind chimes are hung throughout the temple and its lyrical sound in a hot summer breeze is amazing and I love it.

In Kashihara-shi, you can see the historical/traditional Japanese establishment in such as Imai-cho or Huda-No-Tsuji(less well-known...?)...calm area and good for promenade.

Well......

........

...............

Oh, I remeber what I have to write!

NEXT ENGLICH CLUB is .... planned on Wednesday 14th May 18:45-20:45

@Nara Seibu Kominkan

Details will be followed later.

Thanks!

April's English club is on 9th Wednesday

■DATE: Wednesday 9th 18:45-20:45 @No.4, F5 of Nara Seibu
Kominkan(Near from Kintetsu Gakuenmae St. South exit.)

■THEME:
Tell us about your hometown!

If your friends visit your hometown, where do you recommend to visit?

Beautiful scenery? Discount supermarket? Temples & shrines? Favorite spots.....

Why do you like that spot? Any episode is O.K.!

Anyway,please introduce your town!

If you have photos or any material to show us, that would be nice

■We have some guests…
♪Mr. Mathieu Freydis from Germany, Mr. Chantal Foubert & his girlfriend

★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge).

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

No reservation needed!Join us!

English club is coming so soon! On 12th March

Hi,people!
We are having our English club this week!

★DATE: Wednesday 12th 18:45-20:45@No4., F5 Nara Seibu Kominkan
So near from Kintetsu Gakuenmae Station, South Exit.

★THEME: Who is your role model in your life and why ?

★MODERATOR : Mr. Sho Nakamura(Thanks!)

★Guests : Ms.Elaine Czech
Born in America and is half Maltese and half Polish.
Now she's studied graphic design in Kyoto as an exchange student

and a couple from Czech will also join!
Sorry for this short notice….! and looking forward to seeing you!

February's EU English club is on 12th !!

★DATE: Wednesday 8th 18:45-20:45@No., F5 Nara Seibu Kominkan
So near from Kintetsu Gakuenmae Station, South Exit.

★THEME: Do you have any memories about Winter Olympic / Paralympic?
The next EU English club at 2/12(Wed) will be held during Sochi Olympic!
So, We would like to cover it for your self-introduction.

★MODERATOR : Mr. Hiroshi Imai (Thanks!)

★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge).

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

★GUEST from Poland!
**Message from Mr. Witold**
We are a married couple, Servas travellers from Poland. We will be
spending 2 weeks in Japan in February – we are excited about it and
interested to see the Japanese country, Japanese culture and meet
Japanese people.

And we're having other guests from Malaysia and Australia…?

Don't miss it~~~~

Report of January's English club^^♪

Hi,there!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
BONNE ANNÉE!
明けましておめでとうございます。

Do you know the Japanese old adage
"New year's day is the key of the year.（元旦は一年の鍵である＝一年の計は元旦にあり） "

How did you spend your New Year's day?
And have you decided your New Year's resolution yet?

This month, our English club's theme is "What's your New Year's resolution?", and each member showed their own goals or resolutions for 2014.

Me? My resolution is to get up earlier in the morning and make my days longer than 2013
Yep,I've been thinking about my themes for 2014 since the end of last year.(Ongoing.)

Old things have ended, and a new chapter has just begun.

**************************************************************************************
Feb's English Club is on 12th! 18:45-20:45
Details will be followed later.
**************************************************************************************

This time, we altered a part of our plans(Ms. Aleksandra was absent), and welcomed Ms. Inger and Mr. Jon McDonald as guests.

Ms.Inger is Danish and has came to Japan from Cambodia.
She's worked there as psychologist, and studied how Buddhism heal victims of severe psychological trauma.
And as part of her study, she'll join the session of "Naikan remedy(内観療法)"in Nara. The word "Naikan" is coming from Zen(禅), related to Buddhism.

Jon has also majored Philosophy and Theology in university,so our discussion may have somehow more religious or introspective touch than usual today.

Japanese culture has been intimately related to Buddhism or Zen in our history.
However, it's not easy for many of us to explain/understand Zen exactly.

This English club was very good opportunity, I think, to try to know and understand our own culture, and the composition...elements, pieces of our history.

On this day, one of the questions I asked to Jon is
"What do you think the best way to improve my English writing skill? "
(Because he thinks to be a writer.)

He said like this...
"Just practice, write sth everyday, try to express yourself in English, discipline..."
That's why I'm writing this article

Thanks!

**************************************************************************************
Feb's English Club is on 12th! 18:45-20:45
Details will be followed later.
**************************************************************************************

January's English club is on 8th Wed.Let's talk about your "New Year's resolution"

★DATE: Wednesday 8th 18:45-20:45@No., F5 Nara Seibu Kominkan
So near from Kintetsu Gakuenmae Station, South Exit.

★THEME: "What is your New Year's resolution?"
Have you decided it?
January is the key of the year....

★MODERATOR : Ms. Mari Oyama (Thanks!)

★GUEST:
Mr. Jon McDonald
I can give you some information about myself. Now I teach English and live in Honmachi. I'm from the city of Portland, Oregon, on the West Coast of the United States. I went to school in California, and I studied history (歴史), literature (文学), philosophy (哲学), and theology (神学). I know the most about Greek history and Western philosophy and religion.

Aleksandra Hanczewska
I'm from Poland and right now I'm studying in Nara Women's University in Faculty of Letters.
Befor I came to Japan I studied at the University of Trier in Germany.
I studied there Japanese Studies and Economics. I can speak Polish (native language), German, English and right now I want to be better in Japanese language.

★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge).

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

No reservation needed!Join us!

December's English club is coming so sooooon!

★DATE: Wednesday 11th 18:45-20:45@No.1, F5 Nara Seibu Kominkan

★THEME: "How was this year for you?"
Did you have a good year?
Did you go anywhere as a trip?
Anything is
Please talk about what happened on you this year.

★MODERATOR : Ms. Haruka Fujii (Thanks!)

★GUEST:
Ms. Hanna Frenz from Germany!

Message from Hanna
I live in Germany. The name of the city is Trier.
It is in the west ofGermany, really close to luxemburg.
I study japanese language and sociology at my university in trier.

Trier is surrounded by the cities Saarbrücken, Koblenz and Luxemburg;
only 30min till Luxemburg; called the oldest city in germany;
many roman architecture; river "Mosel" flowing through; famous for wine; around 100.000 inhabitants.


★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge).

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

Report of Nara English Club in October

Hello, everyone!
My name is Haruka Fujii. I am a new staff of Kyoto-Nara EU Association.
Nice to meet you!

At this month, we welcomed Mr.Edmond to English Club.
He's from Italy.He speeched about classic music and Mozart and Salieri for us.


First, do you know Salieri?
He is not famous in Japan, but he was an instructor of Liszt,Schubert and other famous composers! Moreover, the first Opera performed at "la Scala" was Salieri's.


Mr.Edmond said the classical music changed into romaniticism after the French Revolution. I didn't know that the music changes with history...it its my new discovery. I's interesting~ :)

You can find a new interest if you come to English Club.
Please feel free to visit us!

☆Next English Club☆
Date:Sunday 10th November 18:00~20:00 No.4, 5th floor of Seibu Kominkan
Charge: Member 1000yen/ Non-member 1500yen
Europeans&Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge)

Information: [e-mail]
Please don't forget next English club is on Sunday, NOT Wednesday! and time is also different than usual

October's EU English club with Edmondo from Italy! The expert of music history.

When you hear the names of "Mozart and Salieri", what images come to mind?
Some of you remember the movie titled "Amadeus"...

Did Antonio Salieri really assassinate that Mozart?!
In the history, Salieri had already grown into a successful person in European music industry as a leader of King's Music in palace
when he was said to be the rival for Mozart...
and was also the great educator for Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt etc....Did he fear Mozart as a competitor?

In this month's English club, Edmondo(guest speaker:the expert of music history) may shine a light on it.....

■DATE: Wednesday 9th 18:45-20:45@No.4, F5 Nara Seibu Kominkan

■THEME: "What do you think about classical music?"

■MODERATOR : Ms.Yasue Tamaki (Thanks!)

■GUEST:
Mr. Edmondo Filippini from Italy.


...Message from Edmond...
The few person in the world are expert on Salieri's music so even if could be strange for beginners, I think is normal and is a good opportunity for enter into a different world for them.
I mainly I let listen music and explain when this two man cooperate and when not and why history it was so changed through three centuries

★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge).

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

The report of EU English Club in Sep. with Krystina & Terry^^♪

Hi,there!
Summer has past like a flash, and autumn has come in suddenly
How have you beeeen?

Well, this is to report the past EU English club on 11th September.
This time we welcomed two guests;one is Ms. Krystina (Czech) from Kyoto,and the other is Mr. Terry HSIEH from Taiwan.

Also we were happy that we had the colorful participants such as Japanese-Brazilian man who speaks Portuguese and Kansai-Ben(not English), the multilingualist from Hippo Family Club who is second-generation Japanese-Korean,speaks not only English but also Korean, Japanese and Portuguese....I'm not sure how many languages she can speak...!!
and Kevin who has recently started his own "MeetUpGroup" in Nara!
and other participants....Thank you all for joining us!

Krystina was really beautiful in Kimono....
and talked about her encounter with Japanese culture such as the Japanese Tea Ceremony.


Terry who talked about his life in abroad such as America, Ecuador and Turkey.He has studied abroad for his research of "Multilingualism"

And he said "We all have an access to be multilingualists"
The important point to master foreign languages is not to be afraid of making a mistake when you try.
And the most important thing is to have fun.....!!!

★☆★We have uploaded the album on Facebook★☆★
You can see without Facebook account.
Click HERE !!

★★EU English Club in October★★
On Wednesday 9th October 18:45-20:45
at Nara Seibu Kominkan No.4, 5th floor.
We'll welcome Mr. Edmondo Filippini, the expert of Music history.
Don't miss it !!

Looking forward to seeing you soon

11th September is English club!! with Ms.Kristyna from Czech and Thierry from Taiwan!

■DATE: Wednesday 11th 18:45-20:45@No.1, F6 Nara Seibu Kominkan
※The room(and floor) is different than usual※

■THEME: "How did you spend this year's extraordinarily hot summer?
Were you conscious of energy-saving (electricity) under that hot weather?"

■MODERATOR : Mr. Toru Miura(Thanks!)

■GUEST:
Ms.Kristyna Cislerova(Czech)
She is learning "Sadoh(Japanese art of tea ceremony)" and Buyo(Classical Japanese dance)in Kyoto.
and also works as a translator and interpreter between Japanese & Czech.
This year she's joined TTT(Traditional Theater Training) to learn & master one Buyo program named "Yashiki-Musume" and had a recital on 9th August.

Mr.Thierry Hsieh(Taiwan)
He is super-multilingual(17 languages!!!),
In May, he joined our French club and talked about his study experience in Ecuador,and this time he will talk about the episode through his study abroad in Turkey.

★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge).

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

See you soon( ^.^)/~~~

August's NARA EU English Club in on Wednesday 14th with Yuki, Anna and Mauro !

★DATE:
On Wednesday 14th August 18:45 to 20:45
【No reservation needed】

★LOCATION:
＠No.4, 5th floor in Nara Seibu Kominkan above Starbucks coffee.
so near from south exit of Kintetsu Gakuenmae St.

★ゲスト:
Ms. Jasmin Yuki
Taiwanese and resident in Japan.
She was born in Japan,and was grew up too.
She will talk about life of resident in Japan .
For example : about different culture,what I do like to and Japanese
beautiful things for her.

HOBBY : traveling ,cooking ,laughing ,play something,
cycling,swimming,surfing and challenge :)

CHARACTER : easy going ,passionate ,active ,honesty ,lazy, enjoy anything

Anna and Mauro
They've traveled to Japan from 10th to 31st August.
It is their time to come to Japan and so far from their home,Italy.
They are 37-40 years old, we work as a clerk (Anna) and as a hearing
technician (Mauro),
They love nature, art, people and different cultures, theatre, cooking, walking and biking.We live in a small house in the country in the island of Sardegna, in the middle of the
Mediterranean sea. Mauro is the regional coordinator of Sardegna

★THEME:
"What is your goal for the latter half of 2013?"

★MC:
Ms.Kumiko Fujioka♪(It's meeeee）

★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge).

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

Report of July's Nara EU English Cub with Rebecca, the "Shihan" of Kongoh Noh^^♪

Listen...

*************************************

Long,long ago in a certain place, a certain day,

Noh masks and a leek dropped out of the sky.

The villagers were surprised.

And then they buried the masks and made "Menduka monument(面塚)" with respect,

meanwhile the leek became the specialty of its village later.

*************************************

This is a folk story passed down in Tawaramoto-cho, NARA where is said to be the birthplace of "Noh Gaku".

Well,this month, we welcomed Ms. Rebecca Teele to our English club held at "つづきの村".
She is a Licensed Instructor (師範) of the Kongoh Noh, and is the first foreigner to become a member of the Noh Association In 1996.

On this day, she's brought some Noh masks and showed them with explanation.(One of them SHE carved by herself!)

What image do you have on Noh masks?
Doesn't it look like "Lack of facial expression", does it?
But actually, it includes several (and very sensitive) emotional expressions....

Now that someone looks carefully,
we can find that the Noh masks are made in unsymmetrical shape

You can see it..?It is unsymmetrical.


And by inclining it toward the light, the contrast between light and shadow change, and we can see various emotions on it.
For example, if you incline the mask down it looks sad, and if you incline it up, we can see somehow light expression.
Wonder of light...


Backside.
Can you see the shape of eyes? It is from "Lotus" meaning "enlightenment " in Buddhism.

This day, we deepened the understanding of Japanese traditional culture from Rebecca's lecture.
It is true and it is good that these Japanese tradition is promoted abroad,
but it is also true that many of us, the Japanese, don't have much knowledge about our tradition.
We might have much room to know about our country.
In that way,this was very convivial and exciting gathering!!


★★★English club in August★★★
Wednesday 14th August,2013
from 18:45-20:45 at Nara Seibu kominkan.
Details will be followed late!!

July's English Club is on Monday 8th ※NOT on Wednesday^^!! With Rebecca from the USA.

★DATE:
On Monday 8th July 18:45 to 20:45
【No reservation needed】

★LOCATION:
※DIFFERENT LOCATION THAN USUAL※

At "YAOYA RO"(cafe restaurant) ... 7minutes walk from Kintetsu Gakuenmae St.
Address → 奈良県奈良市学園朝日町4-4

★ゲスト:
Ms. Ogamo Rebecca Teele
from the USA, is a Licensed Instructor (Shihan) of the Kongoh Noh.
She studies Noh and Noh mask carving with Master Actor UDAKA Michishige.
In 1996 she became the first foreigner to become a member of the Noh
Association.
She is the Associate Director of the International Noh Institute and
is involved in teaching utai (Noh chant), shimai (Noh dance), and mask
carving and lecturing on Noh.

★THEME:
"When do you feel stress in your daily life and how do you cope with it ?"

★MC:
Mr. Sho Nakamra♪(Thanks so much）

★CHARGE:
Member 1,000yen,Non-member 1,500yen
Europeans & Native English speakers will be invited(free of charge).

★INFORMATION:
[e-mail]

The music history around 1700-1800, what do you imagine? The report of June's English club^^♪

It was our great pleasure to welcome Mr. Edmondo Filippini to our English club!
As I mentioned, he is an expert of the music history, music editor, and Japanese "Noh"theater.

On this day, what he kindly lectured to us is about "The history of the music-exchange in European countries especially among Italy, Germany,France and England around 1700-1800".
What do you imagine from this period?
Bach?Haydn？Mozart？

The music has reflected or related so closely to its time background,
and Edmondo has showed us the transition of the music history that includes the change of its era...culture or languages or many essences
by using several CDs or music videos.
That was really impressive!!

We are so happy to welcome him again to our English club this autumn.(October)
So everyone, don't miss it this big opportunity!!!


★NEXT ENGLISH CLUB★
On Monday 8th July