Students at Embassy

The Terrifying Barber

Last week, I went to a barbershop for my hair cut and a terrifying accident I will never forget happened there.

I suppose it's about 2 months since I had my hair cut last time. Now I want my hair to grow as long as possible because I needed to keep my hair short while I worked in Japan for 2 years. But I decided to have my hair cut because my long hair was sometimes annoying me. The decision must have been my first mistake.

I was wondering if I should go in the barbershop, because it was clear the woman who might have been a barber was bored. But I went in the shop and it was my second mistake. The mood inside the shop also made me anxious. Something was different from what I expected from a barbershop. Something seemed fishy. I asked immediately "Are you able to give me  a short haircut?" "Sure!" She was full of confidence.

I was still nervous after I sat down in the chair. I showed a picture from a magazine and asked that my hair be the same as the man in the picture. She gave me the impression it would be easy. "Really?" I thought.

Afterwards I couldn't believe my eyes. "Is that me?" The person on the mirror in front of me looked like a soldier. I told her my hair style and the photo were totally different. Then the barber said to me angrily "they are perfectly the same! what are you saying!" Her attitude was really bad. Anyway, I controlled my anger and asked her to make my hair like a butch haircut. Finally, the battle between us was over.

I offered her 8 dollars because I already knew the price, but she said I needed to pay 10 dollars. I guess she meant that she cut my hair 2 times. I didn't say anything to her and paid. I just thought she might not be happy if she tried to swindle a customer.

I don't regret my decision any longer, but I will always remember the terrifying barber is in this town. I'll have to be careful when choosing a barbershop next time.

By the way, do you have a friend who wants a short haircut? Tell your friend I can recommend A Good Barbershop....

Who's the next victim?

My Hot Fashion

I ride my bicycle to school almost every day because I need to save money. I try to enjoy my 20-minute bicycle trips looking at beautiful scenery. Actually, I sometimes get bored because nothing changes.

I try to make the trip better by listening to music, finding little changes in nature, and imagining the trip is good exercise. One day, I found a new distraction for my trip at a market and it has made it more comfortable.

Do you know suflower seeds which you can eat? I learned about sunflower seeds by watching major leaguers. I remember I felt cool eating the seeds in the same style. Now, eating sunflower seeds has become one of my hot fashions while I ride my bike.

Before I ride my bicycle, I put lots of  seeds inside my mouth. Gum is also OK if I just want taste. But the point is how I spit out only the shell after dividing it inside my mouth one by one. I can enjoy not only the beautiful taste but also the style to spit the seeds out of my mouth. It is kind of hot, isn't it?

By the way, what is the hottest recent story from you, your school, or your country? I want to hear stories from you. The hot season is coming to Washington State (it is still cold here.) Why don't we warm up together? 

Same custom Same life

Since I came to U.S., I have been thinking about one idea. The idea is: most things between the U.S. and Japan are very similar even though there are some differences in sizes, rules, and so on.

What I am most suprised by is the graffiti on the wall of restrooms of in the university. Women might not know about this, but there is a large amount of men's restrooms with graffiti and oddly most of the graffiti are dirty words. Most Japanese restrooms also have dirty graffiti. What a custom! What a stupid similarity! However, lots of men can be bored when they are sitting on a toilet...

It has been about three weeks since I came to the U.S. and I have found some similarities between Japan and America already. And I think there can be more similar customs in both countries because even though we have different languages, colors, and places, we are all same - human. I would like to find a good similarity next time, anyway. You can check on the left, graffiti in the restroom of Reiki building. I felt like a freak as I was taking these pictures inside the restroom because the action is the sort of thing that can get you arrested!

Buddies

What do you think about buddies? Do you have a best buddy? I think a buddy is a good complement - like Woody and Buzz Lightyear in the movie Toy Story. I have a close friend in the U.S. who I live all the time with. And sometimes he is easygoing or impatient, and gets me annoyed, but sometimes he helps me and is a kind friend.

He and I were not always as great buddies as we are now, but we became real buddies in class. That's to say we were like Woody and Buzz Lightyear in the class. We were learning conversation, and the final assignment was a role-play.

I heard the best way to speak English better is to copy how native speakers talk, gesture, nod, and so on. So I thought this assignment would help me to get better, and we tried to practice hard. Until then, I had felt that natives' speech was too fast to copy, but I did not think so right before the day of acting.

It was a kind of tough work for us, but it helped us to grow in our skills of speaking English and grow to be better buddies maybe.

"Huh? Right? Buddy?" (quote from Woody in Toy Story)

Here are some pictures of us doing the role-play - click on them to make them larger.

Introducing our Seattle blogger - Keita Kawabata

My name is Keita Kawabata. I am from Japan. I am studying English at Embassy CES in Seattle (Tacoma) because I want to be an English teacher. I have stayed here since the end of March.

I taught at a middle school in Japan for two years, but I decided to start studying English again in the U.S.  I want to tell you why I decided to quit my job and to study in the U.S.

I was a teacher for students with learning difficulties, not an English teacher. The students were so cute and pure. I spent an exciting and interesting time with them. But my major is not special education. I was able to be a teacher for them because there is a lack of teachers that specialize in education for the mentally handicapped. And I have thought I want to be an English teacher for a long time, so I decided to quit my job and study English.

I think Japanese English education is poor especially public junior high school. Most Japanese can not speak English even though they have learned English for six years or more. I want to change that situation, if I can. First of all I need good English skills.

I will try my best to learn English because my parents allowed me to study abroad, to make my students who spent time with me for two years proud, and to help my future students. For 10 months, I will survive!!