Saturday, April 24, 2010

GTS on Chicago Tribune!

Those who had the Friday Chicago Tribune, you may find my picture with a big smile on North Chicago Extra section about dual language program at the Dooley Elementary School of Schaumburg! Keep it if you have for fun! By the way I am going to ICE skating on Sunday! Well, I will see if I can still skate. Sure I will bring my own skating shoes that I brout from Japan years ago!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Almost the end of the academic year!

1102 has just finished its 5th test and the average score was just over 70%. It is almost the time for each students to decide how to finish the course! Some may have to withdraw to keep a good GPA, some may not care about the grade, some may switch from letter grade option to Pass/Fail option. About 35 students are still actively in class and hopefully some dozen students may continue onto 2201 in fall. We lose some good students by transferring to other institutions! Study Abroad Program is soon coming up and I will be busy preparing for it. There will be 16 participants this summer! The fall semester schedule book came out yesterday and four 1101 classes and one 2201 and 2251 as well as the famous honor seminar 1100 are listed. We will be getting a new part-time teacher this fall! 1101 will be at 10-11am and 11-12am daily, 5-7pm on Mon/Wed, 7-9pm on Tue/Thu. 2201 will be at 7-9pm on Mon/Wed. 2251 will be 2-5pm every Wednesday!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Small GTS/JCC Dinner but Fun!

Rather small dinner this month but a dozen of us enjoyed the Spring dinner. Among them were a married couple who were in my class and met for their life! I was glad to see three men from DePaul. They went to study abroad in 2008. One is getting to Kansai Gaidai, the others are waiting for going to Japan as a JET and finishing up the college! The next JCC/GTS dinner will be on Friday, 5/7/2010!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Safe Return but Cold Weather!

GTS field trip group had a very fast flight from Tokyo back to Chicago for 10.5 hours!! Upon arrival in Chicago we began to see clouds and later hail!! Someone in our group always brings the cold weather wherever we go! Now I'm ready to prepare the study abroad trip having 18 students in it. This group is one of the largest ones so I'm sure we can have many unexpected happenings and incidents in summer! GTS/JCC dinner will be tomorrow (4/9/2010), so I hope to see you all!!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Hello and Good-bye to deers in Nara!

Last full day was to greet to deers and the Giant Buddha in Nara which is under the celebration of 1300-year anniversary of the elected capital in Japan (710-784AD) prior to Kyoto. Our group were enjoying full bloomed Sakura while playing with deers here and their in Todai-ji Temple Complex. After getting back to Hotel, some enjoyed Onsen (Hot Spring) to conclude the great flower viewing trip! Now we are leaving from Osaka Itami Airport to Tokyo Haneda Airport first, and from Haneda to Narita International Airport by bus through Tokyo downtown before catching the American Airline early evening! Wow, class tomorrow!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Incense and Sake with Sakura blooming!

A little slow start today! City bus first took us to the north gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace Garden and we walked through in the garden with blooming Sakura to get to the south gate from which we get SHOYEIDO (Incense Factory Headquarters) which has the US branch office in Boulder, CO (www.shoyeido.com) After enjoying traditional KODO (Way of Incense) atmosphere we got to the Horino Sake Museum whose traditional residential style of building is over 130 years old! Trail tasting gave our group some smile and energy to move ahead to Central Shopping Area of Shin-Kyogoku and Teramachi Kyogoku!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Full Blooming Cherry Blossoms in light rain!

Slight rain all day long yet Cherry Blossoms were all blooming here and there! Walking to Nijo Castle through Shinsen-en Park and enjoyed squeaking flooring and gardens, and sure some souvenirs! A city bus took us to the Silver Pavilion which is the beginning point of the Philosopher's Trail and the place GTS was born! Sakura along the Philosopher's Trail were in full bloom and we walk and walk and walk to get to Eikando (Zenrin-ji) Temple and Nanzenji Temple where students had a chance to observe monks' chanting ceremony! Oh, yes, everyone met GTS' mom near the temple before heading back to Hotel! It was a Sakura blooming light rainy day!