Five things you might not know about me ... (Part of the Blogging 4 Educators challenge!)
1. I came to Japan for the first time about 5 or 6 years ago. I attended the Lions Club International convention in Osaka, and stayed in Japan only for one week. At that time, I was studying for my M.A. TESL, and knew that Japan was the place: interesting culture, people, language, food, and all! I took this picture at a temple in the city I now call home.
2. I grew up on a farm in Ohio. One of my favorite things is to eat Buckeyes; no, of course not the poisonous nut from the state tree, but the delicious dessert made of peanut butter and chocolate! (Like Carla R., I'm a chocoholic!) You can hear me talk about it on my chinswing thread, "What is your favorite sweet and what does it reflect about you?"
3. I have a B.A. in French and wrote my senior seminar paper on Albert Camus' The Fall. I studied for a summer semester in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec and for a summer semester in Nice, France.
4. I'm not good at swimming, and don't like beach vacations or being on boats.
5. I love to read! My favorite authors include Margaret Atwood, JoAnne Harris, and Albert Camus. I have just started to read The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, and I have started a list of books that I want to read. If you have any suggestions of good books to read, please leave them for me in the comments!
Looking forward to checking Technorati to see what co-mods and participants will write as part of this challenge!
9 comments:
Hello Mary,
You've certainly had an interesting life. I must say that I too am addicted to chocolate. I love it and I'm not ashamed of it (hihihihihihi).
You know, French is another language I like a lot. I have studied it for a couple of years but I need to improve my skills.
Anyway, I read a wonderful book this year called "The Kit Runner", by Khaled Houseni. (I'm not sure that is the exact name of the book in English, 'cause I read it in Portuguese). It is a really moving and envolving story. It also talks about the history of Afeganistan. But beware: you might cry a lot.
Hugs,
Angela
Dear Mary,
How nice to hear about your love at first sight with Japan and to see the picture you took on your first trip there!
I'm sure chocolate is not the only thing we have in common. Have you noticed we are generally online at the same time although we live in completely different time zones?
Kisses,
Carla R.
Looks like this challenge revealed that we have a lot of chocoholics in the group! This week has been a great experience finding personal connections with both of you. Angela and I are both interested in or have been interested in Japan, French, Economics, and of course teaching and blogging! And it is true, Carla R, we have many similar points: chocolate, online time, and so on! Thanks for sharing ;)
Dear Mary,
You're right about our chocoholism. I'm just discovering that myself. Well, it was a bit of a no-brainer ;).
Anyway, from Ohio to Japan! That must have been some journey! I bet it took a lot of guts to take on a new culture like that. I'm in awe!
As to your BA in French, i minored in French (and majored in English) but I'm ashamed to say I've let my French wither and wilt. If i have my moments in my English class when i feel insecure, this grows tenfold when it comes to French.
And books, hmmm, I've recently read "Reading Lolita in Teheran" by Azar Nafisi, an Iranian English literature teacher, and loved it. It's about a teacher's journey ;) to come to grips with the distressing events of everyday life in Islamic Iran and her, and her students', love for English literature. Life imitates art imitates life...
Hugs,
Andreea
PS: I'll continue to leave a link of my blog because i've found out no blog search engine is able to find it. :(
http://squareeducation.blogspot.com/
Hello again Andreea,
Thanks for your book recommendation (Reading Lolita in Tehran); I will add it to my list of books to read for sure!
Dear Mary,
what a great story. I was also part of a Lions Club Forum in Germany. It was my first time in that country. I went many more times back to study and also ended up living one year there. I really like Germany and the German Language.
I also hope to visit Japan sometime soon. I am sure I will be marveled with its culture and values.
I was love Chocolate - Dark chocolate please, but it is so bad for my skin. So I can't even think about it...
Reading is also my great hobby and I can only wish I had more time for it.
My ideal vacations is to go and visit countries on a backpack. I ma not a beach person either. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks, Cris! I really enjoyed reading your post too. Even though we've worked together for some months getting reading for Blogging4Educators, we haven't had a chance to share these kinds of stories with each other!
Mary, Your blog is beautiful + inspiring... I've added you to my feevy + twitter to keep tabs on what you are doing and to encourage me to keep practicing!!!
To answer your questions... I also speak French and Spanish--I'm from Montreal, not-so-far from Trois Rivieres!!! ... and baking bread has got to be one of the best ways to relieve stress--the more you punch + knead, the better you feel and the better the bread tastes!
Keep in touch.
Gina
Hi Gina,
Thanks for your compliments on my blog! I hope that through RSS, tagging, and other ways that we'll be able to keep in touch after the B4E session has finished too.
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