Lesson 15
Dear Yuki,
Thank you for your fifteenth message. My
comments and corrections follow.
Sincerely,
Prof. Sue Garreis
Prof.
Susan Garreis,
Hello.
Thank
you for your reply and corrections of my English.
I
will answer your questions.
What
kind of sports team does your college have now?
Field hockey, soccer, tennis, volleyball,
basketball, lacrosse, softball and swimming are the varsity sports that my
college has now.
→Oh, There is many varsity sports
in your college.
>Yes, there are very many varsity sports
at my college now.
I
went to an old historical site in Japan nine years ago.
The
name is “Nikko Toshogu”.
Here
is the link: http://www.toshogu.jp/index.htmlThis was built in 1635.
In
1999, it was registered as a cultural site of world heritage.
The
building has beautiful sculptural decorations on its exterior.
I
do not get tired even look at long time.
There
is a place very beautiful colored leaves called “Iroha-zaka” near the Nikko
Toshogu.
There
are some pictures here: http://kouyou.4-seasons.jp/l1917.shtml
If
you have the chance, please visit.
My goodness! What a beautiful shrine! They
must have just had a sacred procession on Oct 17, according to the website.
Thank you for the pictures of the fall
leaves. They are exquisite! I hope I have a chance to visit someday.
→Many wild monkeys and deer live
there and one can watch them close up.
They
are really cute.
Do
you like animals?
>I like animals very much.
>There are several deer that walk
through my yard every day.
>I love to watch them.
>I must be very quiet, or they will run
away.
Have
you encountered a major natural disaster near you?
In August of 2011, three trees on my
property fell after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee soaked the ground
for a week. Luckily for me, the trees missed the house. Two trees landed on the
stone front porch. One tree fell onto the ground parallel to the house. My
neighborhood lost power for a week. The generator at my house came on, so I was
actually in good shape. Some houses in the neighborhood were destroyed.
Fortunately, no one was killed. Hurricanes are the source of major weather
events in my part of the US.
In July 1977 my family and I lived in Iowa.
We could see a tornado in the distance headed for us. I could hear the wind,
like a locomotive. The tornado jumped over our town, but destroyed the town
next to us. I never want to live in tornado country again!
→That is a frightening experience.
I'm glad you're safe.
The
news of the tornado in the United States is reported in Japan.
When
I see the image of a tornado destroying houses, I feel a heartache.
>Yes, it is sad and frightening to see
those images.
>We feel the same in the US when we see
images of a tsunami or earthquake in Japan.
The lesson that is attached this week is
the summary of the course for the entire year. Thank you very much for the hard
work you put into this course. When you complete your web page, please send me
the URL. I will look at your page.
→I've got it.
If you ever come to the US, please let me
know.
You have an invitation to stay at my house
if you come to the mid-Atlantic area. This is a for-real invitation.
→I will surely let you know. I am
very pleased about your invitation.
Before
this course I wanted to go to the U.S.
That
feeling became stronger since I began the exchange of e-mail with you. I
started to study English conversation a little from August.
I
will surely go to the United States if I become better at English!
Please
suggest places for me to see when I visit the U.S.
>It is probably cheaper if you visit the
West Coast. In California I recommend San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
They are far apart, so you may only be able to visit one of the cities. In
Washington state, Seattle is a beautiful town, I have heard. The flowers there
are lovely! Of course, I recommend Washington DC, because it has wonderful
museums and it is near me. It may be better to travel with a group, and the
tour guides will know some very good towns and places to visit. There are many, many wonderful places to
visit in the US. I hope someday you can come here.
My
older sister made a dish for me recently.
The
meals she cooks are delicious.
I
can make only fried egg. However, the appearance is good, but the taste is bad.
>Oops! Keep practicing, and you will
make a good fried egg. It took me a long time to learn how to cook decent food.
Do
you like to cook?
>I used to cook when I had children at
home. I do not like to cook for just one person. So I make very simple meals
now. I don't like leftovers either! Too often I forget to eat them, and they
spoil. I have an excellent recipe for spaghetti sauce, though. I make that in
the winter.
Sincerely
yours,
Yuki
P.S.
There is no mail because there is a school festival next week.
>I hope you have a great time at the
school festival. Please tell me all about it next time.
------------------
The next lesson is attached. It is called
#14B Evaluate 2013.
In the US, at the end of every course, the
students tell the instructor what they liked and what they didn't like about
the class. It helps the professor improve the class. The lesson this week is
the course evaluation. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
On Saturday October 26th my cousins and our
children gathered to honor our aunt. She is one of two surviving aunts. She is
a Catholic nun. She celebrated her seventieth (70th) anniversary as a nun. That
is a very long time to do anything!!
My aunt, Sister Annina, is eighty-eight
years old. She taught school for a few years. She became a nurse working in a
few hospitals, became a teacher of nurses and later director of nursing. She
spent ten years in Taiwan. She left for Taiwan when she was sixty years old!
She learned Chinese, too.
She is now in Maryland about two hours away
from my house. I am fortunate to see her every few months.
Older Catholic nuns do not sit in their
rocking chairs and think of days gone by. They all keep working until they are
confined to bed because of illness. So my aunt works with the very old nuns who
are in the hospital.
The celebration of the anniversaries was a
marvelous experience. There were twenty nuns celebrating their anniversaries.
They ranged from fifty to eighty years of service. Very many family members
came for my aunt. There were thirty-four of us. It was a great time for all.