Presentation: My name

Hello. My name is Chihiro Yamashita. Now, I'll talk about my name.

First, about Family name. My family name is Yamashita(山下). "山"(yama) means "mountain" and "下" means "under" in English, so "山下" means "under the mountain".

Next slide shows my given name. It is Chihiro(千裕). "千"(chi) means "thousand" and "裕"(hiro) means "wealth" in English.

Actually, my mother wanted to name me Mei, Shiori or Satsuki. However, my grandmother was opposed to my mother's idea. After all, my mother named me Chihiro. Why my mother named me Chihiro? She named me Chihiro with a hope that she wanted me to be a person who lives a long life about 1000 years, has wealth knowledge and obtains great wealth. There are parents named their boys "Chihiro". I am sometimes called "Chihiro kun(Mr. Yamashita)" at a hospital.

Look at this! My grandfather's name is Hiroshi, mother's name is Hiroko, sister's is Hiromi and an uncle's is Hiroyuki. Do you find a common point? It is “hiro”. In my family, there are 5 members who has name which has "hiro". “hiro” is taken over.

There are some nicknames for me. They are chippy, chi-chan, chii, yamachii, pi-chan and yamachan. Most of my friends call me Chi-chan. Colleagues at axes femme, which is the shop I worked before, call me pi-chan. Do you know the reason why they call me "pi-chan"? Do you know Tomohisa Yamashita? He is a singer and his nickname is "Yamapii". At first, they called me "yamapii". However, now, "yamapii" is abbreviated as "pi-chan" and they call me pi-chan. In my circle, there are 3 members whose names are Chihiro, Chihiro Kawakami, Chihiro Arima and me. Chihiro Kawakami is Kawachii. Chihiro Arima is Arichii. My nickname is Yamachii. In my circle, I’m called Yamachii.

Next slide, here are big names who has same name. Have you heard "Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi"? This is a movie by Hayao Miyazaki. I like it and have a DVD. Recently, this movie was broadcasted on TV, so I watched it. If you haven't watched it yet, please try to watch. This is a book written by Chihiro Iwasaki. She is a painter and a picture book artist. Her works are heart-warming. There is a Chihiro art museum in Tokyo. I would like to go there. The last person is Tomohisa Yamashita. As I said, he is a famous singer. Their names has same name.

Thank you for listening.

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maedori

Look at this! This is an album of maedori. In Japan, most of girls who are approaching Coming-of-Age Day take pictures with a long-sleeved kimono. I received the album of maedori a few days ago. On 28th November, I did maedori at Wedding Box which is the store of lending costumes for Wedding and Coming-of-Age Day. It was so cold day. On that day, I went to the beauty salon to have my hair set. I put on a beige hair ornament. Of course, it is the shape of rose! To my surprise, a man made it for me. I put on 2 long-sleeved kimono for maedori. One is my mother's long-sleeved kimono and another is mine. My mother's kimono is light pink and my kimono is deep pink. I did various poses for pictures. Maybe, I got a photographer to take about 100 pictures. I had a lot of fun! After taking pictures, I chose 14 pictures for the album with my mother. It was so hard for us to choose 14 pictures, but it was fun. At 4 p.m. maedori finished! After that, I visited my grandparents with my mother's long-sleeved kimono. They look happy. At 8 p.m. I got home. I had put on a long-sleeved kimono for about 9 hours, so I was so tired.

Tomorrow, it is the Coming-of-Age Day! In the morning, I went to a beauty salon at 5:30, so I have to get up early. I'm looking forward to putting on a long-sleeved kimono and meeting Marist friends.

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SHOPPING!!!

Today, I went shopping with my mother and a younger sister. I bought clothes, accessories, shoes and so on. At first, we went to the TSURUYA. I bought two dresses and a jacket at ANNA SUI. They are little expensive, but are so cute!!! I am going to put them on for the after-party of a coming-of-age celebration. Second, I bought a pair of pumps at the shoes counter. I didn't have black pumps and bought this for after-party of 10th January. I went to the first floor and bought a nail polish at ANNA SUI. It is gold. I chose this color to match my long-sleeved kimono. This color must match a dress for the after-party, too. Next, I went to the wallet counter and bought a red wallet. It is about 5,000 yen, so it is little cheap. Its brand is LULU GUINNESS. Have you heard this name? I like goods of LULU GUINNESS. They are very cute. After that, I went the PARCO and bought three accessories and a stole. They are so cheap.

Today, I spent about 60,000 yen for shopping! Oh no... Let's tighten my purse strings! I'm really happy to buy a lot of things.

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New Year's Party

Yesterday, I had a New Year’s party and ate out with my circle’s members. We went to the Kobento, a bar in downtown. At 7 p.m. we met in the downtown. There were a lot of people there. Maybe they are KGU students. When I arrived there, I couldn’t find out where my circle’s members were easily. We reached the Kobento and ate a lot. One man, he is a forigner, performed some amazing magics. We all were excited. He is very good at speaking Japanese. We talked a lot and stayed for about 2 hours. It is a good chance to talk with someone who I hadn't talk.

I had a good time!!!

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Essay 2-03a: My enjoyable school life

Now, I go to the Kumamoto Gakuen University. There are kind friends and teachers. Moreover, facilities are so good. I enjoy my university life. I'll tell you about my school life.

I'll tell you about classes. I mainly learn English and take about 17 classes a week in this semester. Compulsory subjects are 5, including 4 skills of English and international history. Elective subjects are 9, including Japanese history, Chinese, politics and so on. In the future, I want to be an English teacher, so I take a teacher-training course. I take 3 classes of this course, English teaching methods, the study of special activities and the principles of education. I like a class of English teaching methods the best. At this class, we learn how to teach English for junior high school students. We all had to do a micro-teaching. I gave a lesson of listening. I was nervous. Classes of teacher-training course are hard. However I’ll do my best for my dream. I want to develop my skills of English, so I’ll study hard!

Now, I'll tell you about favorite places. I have two favorite places at KGU. They are library and bakery. On Monday, I have only 2 classes, so I can talk with friends at the bakery or can do my home works a lot at the library. Recently, when I have time, I often study at library. There are a lot of books and facility of the library of KGU is substantial! My favorite space is on second floor. There, I can relax very much. I don’t know why I can relax. However we can’t drink much water, I am always thirsty at the library. I hope that there are some spaces that we can drink. Every day, I like bread of KGU Bakery and I buy bread for lunch at bakery. I always buy a sweet roll containing cream and a bagel. I decide what I buy, so I can finish buying bread quickly. My friends laugh at this situation. I like the bakery that has cozy ambience. That is why I like these places.

At KGU, I belong to a volunteer circle, Aozora-katsudotai. Now, there are 81 members, freshmen and sophomores, in our circle. Until the Takuma Festival, there are over 100 people in our circle because there are juniors, too. We have a meeting every Wednesday. We have some volunteer activities in a month, for example, we help orphanages to hold festivals and we take care of children while their mothers are cooking, talking and so on. There is a volunteer activity in December. I can't wait it! We have other activities.On Wednesday, I often go to the park and play sports, eat out, drive and see beautiful view with members of my circle and so on. A group plans activities such as this. There are a few groups in our circle. As I said, there is a group that plans activities except volunteer activities. This group has 5 members. They think enjoyable activities for us. A group is one that is in charge of liaison with facilities we do volunteer activities. There are 6 members in this group. I'm a leader of this group, so I’m busy a little. However, other 5 members help me. They are so kind men and women. The last one is a group that is in charge of accounts. Of course, the members of this group are good at calculate. They are cool! I enjoy activities of my circle and I like the members of my circle.

This is my university life. I like my university very much. Every day, I enjoy my school life with my friends and teachers. However, there is only a lack. It is…love! I don’t have anyone I like. I want to be in love with someone at the university like dramas.

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My resolutions

In this year, I have three resolutions. One of them is to study English and Chinese hard. I’m going to take a certificate examination for Chinese. Moreover, I want to get high score for TOEIC. Second, I’m going to go abroad for a month in this summer. Last one is to broaden my knowledge.

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Marist family

A Happy New Year!!!

On 30th December, I met Marist friends, Eri, Yuko and Chika. Actually, I was going to meet Risako, but she couldn't come because of the weather. Risako goes to a university in Kyoto. Yuko goes to a university in Ehime and she wants to be a doctor. Chika goes to the Hitotsubashi University. Eri goes to the Sojyo University. At 6 p.m. we met in front of PARCO and had dinner. We can meet only three times a year. The weather was so bad, but I was so happy.

On 31st December, I met Yoko, Miyo and Ayaka. They are also Marist friends. Moreover, they all are not in Kumamoto. Ayaka goes to a university in Tokyo and Miyo and Yoko go to university in Fukuoka. I met them after a long time. We met at 11 a.m., but Yoko was late for the time to meet. Miyo, Ayaka and I went to Doutor Coffee shop talked a lot. About an hour later, Yoko appeared. After that, we went shopping!!! It was very fun. At 2 p.m. Ayaka had to go home. She gave me a birthday present. I was so happy:> At 4p.m. Yoko and Miyo had to go home, so we broke up. I had a good time today! I love them✿

I am going to meet them on Coming-of-Age Day. I can't wait that day!

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