English Lunch Blog（18.
18.10.2013）
Hello
My name is Tatiana Peláez Jiménez, but people usually call me Tati. I´m from Colombia, but my home
university is Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, Canada. I just came here a month ago and, honestly, I
can barely survive using Japanese since I actually haven´t studied it that long.
My hobbies are dancing, especially tango, practicing kendo and “BJJ” (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). Needless to say,
keeping my grades high and practicing a sport is very hard, but I´m motivated to continue my dancing and
martial arts training.
Tokyo is very famous for tango. There are a lot of places to go dancing. I went to a place in Shibuya called
Tokyo Tango City (http://www.tokyotangocity.com/). I really recommend this for a Saturday night, or maybe just
for some classes. The people that go there have been dancing for a long time and it is very fun to learn and to
dance for a while. They even loaned me shoes to go dancing that day, and there was a performance. too, by a
wonderful couple from Argentina.
I hope you can check out the place and, at the same time, I encourage you to come to English Lunch at 12:15
on Mondays and Fridays.
Love,
Tati
Hello,
Last weekend I received a visit from a Japanese friend that I met in Canada. Very small world, isn’t it? We went
to the Global Festa, where NGOs show different projects and activities and there is also food. We looked at the
World Bank exhibit, which had a very interesting idea that showed Japanese how much can you buy with 100
yen outside of Japan. When I arrived, I was surprised with all that I can buy back home with a 100 yen.
If the
conversion is 100 yen equals approximately 1 dollar, then it is equal to approximately 2,000 Colombian pesos.
For that amount of money, I could buy more than one apple, or I could even take a bus to go to any part of the
city. In my country we don´t pay for distance: It’s the same fee if you are going three blocks away or to the last
bus stop. With just 150 yen back home I can get a manicure!
On Sunday, we went to Disney Land. It was very interesting to go to there, even though I didn´t understand
much of what was going on around me. I found it very curious that there was a large amount of people
dressed up in Halloween costumes and some others as Disney characters.
I hope that some time you can check out the Global Festa!
I will see all of you during lunch period on Mondays and Fridays.
Love,
Tati
Hello everyone,
My name is Jennifer Dumper. It was really great to see all of you in the lunch time
hour today. I learnt a few things about some of you, but I didn’t get the chance to ask
some of the questions I wanted, so I hope we can get to know each other more next
time!
A few things about me; I study at York University and my major is English literature
and Japanese. I talked a little bit about my favorite book last week: Dostoevsky’s
Crime and Punishment. This is slightly difficult reading to start off with, so if any of
you are interested in literature I would recommend starting with ‘Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll or perhaps ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ by Alexandre
Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo can look a bit daunting at first but the language is
relatively simple. Anyway, as you can tell, one of my hobbies is to read! My other
hobbies include playing the piano, ballet and swimming.
I am also in the process of joining the karate club, it’s a bit confusing with emails here
and there in Japanese/English, but hopefully soon I will be a member! I wonder if any
of you are in interesting clubs, I hope I can talk to you about it next time.
I am looking forward to seeing you all next time and I hope you have a lovely
weekend! What will you do? I am going to Harajuku. Please have lots of fun
experiences and tell me about them on Monday!
Jennifer