Every year as the holiday season approaches, I think about my life living in a foreign country. Well, not exactly. I think about living in a place far from ‘home’. This is truly a unique experience and adjusting yourself, being adaptable, is essential to survival. Some parts of life abroad are incredibly unique, experiences you would [...]
Below is a story about a recent trip to Hawaii written by one of the student’s at my English school, Smith’s school of English Otsu. My student’s name is Toshiko. She is a franchise business owner and a very determined English student, as English helps her with her business. She has been studying with us at [...]
Below is Part 2 of a story about a recent trip to Hawaii written by one of the student’s at my English school, Smith’s school of English Otsu. To read Part 1, click HERE. Hawaii Travel 4th to 9th July, 2010 July 5th, 2010 (Second Day) That day, I went to golf from early morning. Hawaii [...]
Below is Part 3 of a story about a recent trip to Hawaii written by one of the student’s at my English school, Smith’s school of English Otsu. To read Part 1, click HERE. To read Part 2, click HERE. Hawaii Travel 4th to 9th July, 2010 July 7th, 2010 (Fourth Day) That day, I went to [...]
Last week I told you about the mysterious rice paddy art in Japan, and this week I will reveal the secret! Created in a small northern-Honshu community, the art project was created as a way to attract tourists to the area. The idea came from seeing school children planting different coloured rice plants, and realizing [...]
Within the Smith’s English curriculum is an advanced section in which our students of English conversation are asked to read a news article and then discuss it. The first in the set is about the mysterious crop circles of Australia, Europe and America which inspired the blockbuster hit “Signs” starring Mel Gibson and Joaquim Phoenix. In [...]
One of the best things about owning your own English school is that you can have any kind of events you like. Every year, Smith’s school of English in Otsu hosts 4 major events: Hanami in spring, BBQ in summer, Halloween party in autumn, and Christmas party in December. We also host many minor events, [...]
I grew up watching a program called The Nature of Things, hosted by Japanese-Canadian eco-icon David Suzuki. As my hometown is near Suzuki’s hometown of Vancouver, BC, he was also considered a local and my family and friends were all fans of his. The Nature of Things was a program dedicated to educating the world [...]
At the far end of the platform at JR Otsu station is a large globe, and I always wondered what it was. So the other day I walked out to the end of the platform and had a look. Apparently (this was unknown to me beforehand), Otsu is sitting right on the 35th parallel! The [...]
I was reading a photography magazine recently and came across an article about digital double exposures. The idea was quite simple but unfortunately I don’t have the necessary software to do it as they suggested. So I did my own thing (as usual). Now, in the pre-digital days, a double exposure involved taking a picture, [...]
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