Just two weeks ago, I have arrived at Vancouver,Canada and started to study in UBC. This is the first time when I go abroad. At first, everything I saw is new, interesting and exciting! I have started home stay with a Canadian family. What surprised me first was the size of things; house, food, clothes....everything is much bigger than Japanese things!! For example, when I went to a restaurant in campus to have lunch and ordered a pasta, I and other Japanese friends couldn't eat the whole of it. I thought why people in this country can eat such a big size? However, now, after I have spent two weeks, I am becoming to be used to these differences between Japan and Canada. I realized what is common in Japan is not necessarily common in other countries. Especially in Canada, there are a lot of cultures and various types of people. People who have diverse backgrounds live together, accepting the differences between each other. It is a big difference from Japan. In Japan, while Japanese are majority, foreigners are minority and sometimes they feel even isolated. I think Japan should be open to people from other countries or cultures, just like Canada.
Learning Record
In these two weeks(9and10week), we learned how to make reasonable and grammatically right sentences. For example, we studied about the depersonalizing sentences, parallel structure. I think to use these kinds of sentences or structure is essential for writing academic essay. Especially, when we make a parallel structure we should care about the conjunction, like and, but, or. In addition, we learned adj/V +preposition sentences. Through the class I noticed I should study about this kind of sentences because I am not clear on the grammatically right preposition for each adj/V.
Moreover, we have started to learn how to write a opinion essay. In opinion essay, we have to present one clear argument and evidence(statistics, experience, article...)which supports our thesis. Now, I am struggling with my opinion essay and I am thinking it's very difficult. I hope to write good one finally.
i was also surprised at big size of meals at first, though now i'm too used to eating Canadian size, and gained weight!!haha
返信削除be careful not to be like me!
Yukiko,
返信削除Your experience with large portions in restaurants is a common one - especially for Japanese newcomers. Did you know that if you do not want to waste the food you cannot eat in the restaurant, you can ask to take it home with you? This is a very common practice here. There is a term "doggie bag", which is not used very often anymore, but essentially this is what it means. You can take home what you can't finish at the restaurant. This expression may have originated from the idea that people would bring home the leftovers for their dogs. Nowadays, people will often eat their restaurant leftovers for their next meal - at home.