The Golden Week has started.

In Japan, there are some national holidays from the end of April to the beginning of May, and it's called "the Golden Week."

This year, the dates in red are holidays.

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
.	.	.	4/29	30	5/1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Many Japanese go to somewhere for pleasure during the Golden Week, so everywhere is TOO crowded. The worse thing is everything is TOO expensive. So I usually don't go anywhere in the Golden Week.

This year, I'm going to concentrate on preparation for job interviews, university studies and learning English. It's very good environment that I can stick to those things without being bothered with my work. Usually I can't help centering my life on the work.

I want to spend a quality time.

Meditaion Class

I attended Tibetan meditation class today. It was a bit disappointing. I'm now thinking that I should keep going the class or learn meditation myself by books.

I'm going to reading some books and at least attend the next class, then I'll decide.

The job opportunivy closed to my ideal

I was introduced two job opportunities this week, and I've just finished an interview for one of them.
I'm strongly interested in the position. It is quite close to my ideal in various aspects. Very high level English is required though.
I hope I can proceed to the next step.

Why do people wait in line so long?

About three years ago, the fist Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Japan opened in my neighborhood, Shinjuku.
My article back them:

http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2007/01/krispy-kreme-landing-to-japan.html

There used to be a long line, but now, you can buy or enter the shop without waiting in line.

A new shop opened in a local city, Nagoya last month. The news said that people had to wait in line for 9 hours. 9 hours!!
I can say for sure that doughnuts of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts are NOT worth waiting for 9 hours.

Always tired after English conversations

I'm always incredibly tired after speaking English. Too exhausted like just after running a marathon.

Today, I attended a workshop provided by a bilingual Professional Network Group. It was for about 3 hours and half of it was conducted in Japanese. That means I had English conversations only for an hour and a half. But I'm very tired.

Ahhhhh! I want to be able to speak English without any stress!

My English isn't so bad?

I'm not confident of my English at all. That makes my English conversation worse.
But, I recently started feeling that my English is quite well, given that I've never lived abroad. Most of Japanese people who can speak English well have lived in an English-speaking country, or even grew up there.
But I need to be able to speak English like them, so although I started feeling that way, the fact that my English is still not enough hasn't changed.
I just gave myself a small praise about my English for the first time.

The cherry blossoms

Sunny day today! I have short-sleeved T-shirt now on.
The cherry blossoms season almost finished, but I still can enjoy them.
The photo is the cherry blossoms in my neighborhood.

Calvin and Hobbles came back!

About 4 years ago, I was subscribed English newspapers only for 6 months. In the newspaper, there was a cartoon I really liked. It's "Calvin and Hobbes."

My article back then,
Bye bye, Calvin

The other day, I found a website which Calvin and Hobbes is written!
Here it is:
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes

I can read a new cartoon everyday. I' really enjoying it, and actually it's very useful to learn English expression.

I wonder if Calvin and Hobbles is famous cartoon in the US and everyone knows it.

I'm going to see the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

I always write about big sports events on my blog excitedly, such as Olympics and World Cup soccer's World Cup. But during my absence from the blog, The Vancouver Olympic Winter Games started and ended.

Of course I watched many games, but I was less excited than usual Olympics. I don't know why though.
But I was very impressed with the opening ceremony as usual. I wonder why the opening ceremonies of Olympics are always so impressive. I've always wanted to see it live. After seeing the ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics, I took a firm decision to go to see the ceremony of the London Olympics!

By the way, a Japanese figure skater Mao Asada, I was cheering for, missed the gold medal. It was a pity. She was crying hard.

Update on my job hunting

I have been looking for a good job opportunity for a while. After *"Lehman Shock", number of positions decreased. Especially, my specialty, HRD/Training is very narrow area, and it's the first target for cost cut.

I went all out to get an ideal position a couple of months ago.
Last month, I met several recruit agents and they introduced me 3 positions. I was selected for an interview on one of them and had the 1st interview the other day. On the same day, an agent introduced me another position. My job hunting seems to start taking off.


Today, I heard the feedback from the company I had the 1st interview with. They decided not to proceed to the next step with me. Actually I feel a bit relieved, because I had some concerned about the job opportunity. As a company, it's a great company. But as a working place for workers, I hear a lot of negative stories. I also had some concerned about the interviewer who would be a direct boss. So it might have been a good result. I was also introduced one more new position today. Goody, goody.

My preparation for the interview this time wasn't enough. I'm going to prepare to perfection next time.

*"Lehman Shock"

In Japan, we call Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers "Lehman Shock." However, I haven't heard this word in English conversation or writing. I wonder if it is only used among Japanese people. We often say, "after Lehman Shock, blah-blah-blah."

Attending an English conversation Club

To improve my English conversation skills, I've always thought that I should have more time to speak English outside of my work.

I tried to attend an English circle today for the first time. People who want to improve their English gather and speak English.

Attendees were divided into 3 groups, beginner, beginner-intermediate and intermediate-advanced. I joined the intermediate-advanced group.
What I need to improve most is listening skill. I know I can't improve it in the circle, because all attendees are Japanese people and their level is not so high. But at least, it's useful for speaking. And the fee is only 500 yen for 110 minutes.

I'm thinking about going to an English conversation cafe. I've never gone such a cafe though. According to the info of its website, there is one native speaker for every table.

Speak, speak speak! and Listen, listen listen!