Friday, December 26, 2008

Life changing event every 5 years?

At the age of 5, I move from Kyoto to Kagoshima and went to kindergarten. At the age of 10, I met a former Chairman of Kyoto Prefecture Council (deceased) and accompanied him to the Diet Building in Tokyo. He bought me the first suitcase when coming to the US in 1988 and I cannot threw it away because of its sentimental value. At the age of 15, my dad's construction company got bankrupted and got to know what yakuza is (no details here!). I owe my high school Japanese teacher (a famous Haiku poet in Nara now) for getting scholarship! At the age of 20, I joined Kyoto Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (a Kyoto branch of the Japan Anti-Apartheid Committee). The leadership I respected at that time is now CAO (Chief Academic Officer) of a university in Japan. At the age of 25, I came to the United States. At the age of 30, I became full-time lecturer at Miami University in Ohio. At the age of 35, I took students to Japan as an international field trip for the first time with a instructor of College of Lake County (CLC). At the age of 40, I became one of the leadership of Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese (national organization of teachers of Japanese in the US). At the age of 45, I received the national "TEACHER AWARD." What do I want to say? I hope that "meeting with GTS" becomes your life changing something!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shingo! Your life is so interesting :0 You should tell us more about it *nods* Of course if you can't, then life lessons will always suffice ^____^

thank you~

For making such serious growths every 5 years (obviously) has left a deep impact

You've accomplished so much! I hope that mine can turn out as well :0!!

GTS said...

OH, Julia, I bet your life gets more interesting with a lot of twists! I can talk about it more! -GTS

ミシェル said...

GTS' life IS like a great adventure. Yay! Talk about it more over some delicious dinner... sometime soon, I hope.

It hasn't even been that long since meeting GTS, but already I have reaped many life-changing benefits in small AND big ways.

I am looking forward to many more learning experiences with GTS in the future for many years to come... even if it means "sneaking" into more classes. >_>V

GTS said...

Michelle! I'm glad to hear that. I'm not sure if you remember GTS 25 years from now but... Enjot the moment and live in that moment! -GTS

Anonymous said...

I just turned 24... and ive never taken a semester off of school in my life. That includes grade school, high school, my time as pre-med at NIU, my culinary school times, and now. You are the only teacher i have ever had that my friends ask about... by name.

you are also the only teacher ive ever had that im stoked to run in to outside of class, like at mitsuwa.

on top of all that, your class is the most backbreaking grind of a class ever, possibly the only class that ive ever lost sleep over, and that includes organic chemistry. and yet for some sick reason, i keep coming back. I thnk that in itself says something?

oh ya, also you should write a book :-D

GTS said...

Wes, I will take it as a complement. A lot more striking events are waiting for you in next half a century! We've gotta move forward! -GTS

ミシェル said...

Shingles! Are you going to Mochi Pounding on the 1st at Mitsuwa?!
I think GTS Trio and Assoc. will be making an "educational field" trip there.

My only experience of mochi pounding has been in the Cooking Mama game... so I'm excited. ^_^

GTS said...

Yes, I am planning to be there with EMA. There will be several shows beginning around noon. I guess Owl trio will be there towards the end of it! hahaha.... -GTS