fujiko’s blog

The "Star Trek" series was produced by Mr. Gene Roddenberry and started in 1966 in the United States. The first series was called "Star Trek: The Original Series: TOS." It aired from 1966 to 1969. "Star Trek" is science fiction and describes the world of the 24th century, and the adventures of the spaceship called the U.S.S Enterprise.

The opening scene is really famous. It started with the phrase "Space, the final frontier." This phrase makes me so excited. I feel that great adventure always opens in front of me if I watch the night sky. Lots of stars are there. 21st century Earth has no frontier left for us. Beyond the dark sky, though, there are gigantic spaces waiting to be explored.

The main characters are so unique. The main crew is a mix of different nationalities, such as English, Irish, Russian, African American, Asian and Alien: Vulcans. Also, women officers can work in the operation room. Nationalities and sex differences have no meaning in the future. The Earth is united with all nations and also many aliens. The United Federation of Planets aims for cooperation and seeking knowledge. There is no war and no greed. Money has no meaning in the future. It is an ideal world.

Many difficult accidents and problems have happened on the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. To face these difficulties, the crew must work together and have courage and imagination, then they finally solve the problems.

Also the show displays a great deal of scientific technology along with true theory. For example, the warp engine for the starship is based on the theory of relativity.

For an English learner, technology words are sometimes really difficult. However, 24th century people speak clear and beautiful English with no slang or bad language. It is a good point of watching this show. One of my great ambitions is to understand this show without Japanese captions. Then my English learning frontier is Star Trek itself.

This year's weather is really different from the ordinary season pattern. The summer started really late but the temperature rose even higher than average. We had many typhoons. Recently, we had two big typhoons cause damage throughout the Japanese Archipelago. On the country side, many rivers flooded and there were landslides. In the urban area, subways, underground shopping complexes and roads were covered with water. The Meteorological Agency said the typhoons brought a remarkable amount of rain in a very short time and the wind blew really strong. Many ships were capsized by big waves. It was like a tropical area's weather pattern. I can count myself fortunate that my hometown had no serious damage this year. However, I feel more afraid of greenhouse effects than last year. I think we should do something to prevent global warming as soon as possible. It is seriously affecting our living.

I went Sunday's tennis lesson replacement for last month's absence.

During lesson,  coach gave me a advice about fore hand volley wrist position. My wrist move during volley. It cause for the net . The wrist shouldn't be moved , I should move from arm.

I think I get the idea how to avoid the volley mistake. That so great.

After the tennis lesson, I went to ward library. It is same building of ward office. The first basement is a library.

I can rent six books for two weeks at one time. It really useful for the English study.

They also rent English novels as well. I rent three English grammar books and three English novels.

1) The Diamond Girls by Jacqueline Wilson

2) Answered Prayers by Danielle Steel

3) Imitation in Death by J.D. Robb

If I finish to reading about those books, I will write some comment about it.

I hope I could read some of them in two weeks time.

In front of the ward office, there is one ecological street lamp.

It is experiment for save electricity. They should display how much difference of building cost and running cost for ordinal one to ecological one.

Without it, it looks like some kind of statue.

I went Costco wholesale shopping center with my sister. This retailer is very famous for wholesale and a lots of goods are imported from other counties.

Costco1

 And head office is in the United Stats.

Now shop is displayed Xmas goods. These are much bigger than Japanese ones. I think Japanese living room are much smaller than the United States one, then decoration goods should be fit in space.

I found a very attractive snowman and Santa Claus , but It's really big.  Unfortunately it's not fit in my living room.

For me , it's for school or some shops not for personal use in Japan.

We bought lots of chocolate and candies for Xmas party for my three niece.

Even we are not Christian, Xmas bring family reunion and warm feeling in the family.

Sunday's Tennis school is indoor and start from 18:00 to 20:00.

The coach is very skilled person. I can check each my shot and learn how to make racket face.

Usually I don't use slice ball for stroke, but class's stroke drill lesson are strictly decided what ball should be use.

It is very useful to make my skill wider. If I don't practice my weak shot, I never use during match. Then I never realize how effective that shot is.  

Tennis movement have lots of variety. Stroke, Volley, Serve, Lob and Smash.

Coat1

That is why I like playing tennis.

On Saturday , I go to Chigasaki method English class, or English news dictation class.

It is really useful for improve listening English and translate skill for English to Japanese.

The class's tutor is also teaching Japanese for foreign students. She have a great Japanese language knowledge.

I learn mainly English but also Japanese. I think learning English need big amount of Japanese vocabulary as well.

For me, learning English seems like learning Japanese.

She have two cats and one dog. During lesson two cats visiting class room.

Their character are very different. I like both of them. They are really cute.

Male cat : Yasu about 1 year old.

He is really friendly cat, he likes to contact with people.

He looks like a dog to me. (For his character not his figure).

Female cat : Kyu

She is a beautiful three colored cat. She is shy. She like to have some space with people.

She is a typical cat.

From October , I joined citizens' group Tennis lesson. It is on Friday.

Today is seven eighth of this term. My challenge of today is back hand volley.

But It is really difficult to make good position the racket.

I need more practice about it.

Dec_01

The weather is fine and warm for December.

Good condition for any sports.

 I am living in Yokohama, a port city close to Tokyo.

My occupation is IT Engineer. Recently, I worked at a US based company. There, I had to write email correspondence every day and had a telephone meeting once a week. I found it really difficult to express my opinions during these meetings. Then I had to send e-mails about this topic to make sure of the problem. One of my goals for learning English is to express my ideas more clearly.

My hobby is playing tennis. I usually practice twice a week and I want to retain this pace. Recently, I found a web bulletin board for tennis which aims to find practice partners. It is really convenient. New IT technologies make communication much easier and useful. It is really great!

I think The Linguist system is one of the most interesting examples of efficiently using new technology. I am really excited to use your system.

I am looking forward to speaking with you soon.

Thank you.