Japanese Tea Ceremony

I would like to introduce about Japanese Tea Ceremony called "Sado."

The steps to the ceremony are quite simple: clean the serving bowls, boil a pot of water, serve a sweet treat to guests before the tea, mix powdered bitter green tea (Matcha) and water to make a frothy tea, serve the tea to guests. The flavors of the sweets and bitter tea compliment each other. This is a sign of harmony.

1) Bow when you receive the cup of tea which is called a chawan.
2) Take the chawan with your right hand and place it in the palm of your left hand.
3) Turn the chawan clockwise three times before you take a drink.
4) When the tea is gone, make a loud slurp to tell the host that the tea was truly enjoyed.
5) Wipe the part of the chawan your lips touched with your right hand.
6) Turn the chawan counterclockwise and return to the host.

One of the key historical figures in the Japanese tea ceremony is Sen no Rikyu. He is believed to have emphasized these principles in the development of the tea ceremony. Today the Japanese Tea Ceremony is still actively studied by students of all ages. There are tea clubs in high schools, cities and the countryside. Although the ceremony was restricted to only the wealthy in the past, today it is something in which everyone can take part.


Sado

★Blog Questionnaires★

I asked these questionnaires to my 5 classmates.
The questions and answers are...


★Did you enjoy making blog?

-----5 people said "yes."

★What was most favorite article in your blog?

-----3 people said it was movies, the others said it was festivals.

★What was most difficult things in making blog?

-----5 people said that writing text was the most difficult thing.

★ Did you write your personal article in your blog?

-----3 people said "yes," the others said "so so."

★Did you often writing comments to your friend's blog?

-----5 people said "yes."

★ Did you introduce your blog to someone who is not student of NUFS?
-----5 people said "no."

★ Do you like Simon's internet class?
-----5 people said "yes."

★ Will you make blog from now on?

-----2 people said "yes," the others said "no"

★My Favorite Blogs★ 〜other classes〜

There are also many nice blogs in other classes. I would like to introduce the blogs which are made by Taiki, Yusuke T, Yusuke S. Their blogs are also good!!

1.King of Rock'n Roll (by Taiki)

His blog has nice concept. He is good at using computer so he does many kind of things in order to attract us. And his pictures in blog are very funny and cute.

2.Keep My Pace (By Yusuke S)

His blog's concept is simple, but he is good at text writing. Also, his blog is easy to look because the position of the pictures is united.

3.The Free Man (By Yusuke T)

His blog's concept is simple, but he is good at choosing good pictures. There are many cute pictures on his blog. He uses many colors so very easy to understand which is important.

★My Favorite Blogs★ 〜class I〜

There are many nice blogs. I would like to introduce the blogs which are made by Airi, Mikako, Chiaki. Their blogs are very nice!!

1.HARURURURU〜★ (by Airi)

Her blog is cute and easy to read and has many interesting pictures. And she also wrote the daily life in her blog.

2.Aqua Blog (by Mikako)

Her blog's design is nice, I think. And there are our picture which was taken in freshman camp.

3.Life with You (by Chiaki)

Her blog's design is simple, but the pictures which her selcted have impressive, and her texts are very good, I think.

★Animals in NZ★ ～Opossums～

Have you ever seen opossums? There are a lot of animals in New Zealand although almost are birds, so I am going to tell you about a rare animal, opossums.

In Japan, there are few opossums so you may not understand the opossums. Opossums are very cute as you see, but they are disliked by man though they look lovely. In 1837, the opossums were brought from Australia to make goods by opossum's bristles, but they had increased for a long time, and it damaged the nature of New Zealand. Moreover, the number of opossums doesn't tend to have decreased though the opossums have a bad influence upon people and domesticated animal, and they have been exterminated in 1950. We can also see opossums which were run over by cars.

Now, it is said that there are 17 million opossums in New Zealand. When you go to New Zealand, you may see opossum on the road.

♪Festivals♪ ～Tomatina～

Do you know "Tomato Festival"? Maybe you have heard or watched this festival on TV or something. This festival called La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain. Thousands of participants come from all over the world to fight in a brutal battle. The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks. On the night before the tomato fight, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest.

I want to talk about the history of La Tomatina. The young person was fighting in 1945, and the one person from the group took the tomatoes from the greengrocer and threw out to the other group. Then a police officer came there and this fighting was over, but next year, the same day, they started to throw tomatoes to someone. But that year, the tomatoes were not to be stolen, but to be brought from their own house.

This festival looks exciting, but I don’t want to go to La Tomatina. How do you think? Do you want to go to La Tomatina? If you go there, I suggest that you should wear the red T-shirt because the tomatoes are red.

★Movies★ ～SAW～

I love movies very very much so that my room has big television and many loudspeakers in order to approximate my room to the theater. The other day, I saw a movie with my friend. We held “Horror Movie Party.” We chose “SAW” which was made in 2004. I would like to tell you about this movie. The title of this movie means many things. Saw means a tool that you use for cutting wood, the past tense of see and the name of the criminal is Jigsaw. Besides, the occupation of the criminal is sawbones and this story is advantageous for the criminal so that saw also means seesaw.

This is a story about how to survive in any situations. At the beginning, there are two people and one dead body. The criminal says, “I wanna play a game.” They will die by six o’clock. There are tape recorder, bullet, two cigarettes, cell phone which cannot call anybody, two saws. The choices are killing the person next to you or dying myself at six o’clock. The two people cooperate in order to survive each other and get out of that place, but the method of the criminal is faultless so that they cannot anything. At six o’clock, the person finally cut his own leg with a saw and tres to get out of there. The last scene is awful.

This movie series is from 1 to 4, and SAW5 will be released on 28 November, 2008. I will see that at the theater. I cannot wait until this movie starts.