yuko2000さんのブログ

Piles of Books to be Read.

I've been reading English books for pleasure for 3 years. I have a propensity for stockpiling books. During these years, I've bought more books than I could read. I suspect that I enjoy buying books more than reading them.
During Golden Week, I piled them up on the table to see how many unread books I've hoarded. I was hit by an avalanche after I took a keepsake picture of piled books. I'm sure it was a scathing rebuke from the books. There are 36 books to be read.

I've read 105 books so far, but the more I read, the more I want to read. I practiced the skimming technique to read fast. It worked well for my academic reading. It took 3 weeks to read an academic paper when I started my PhD course a year ago. Now, I can read 1 or 2 of them in a day.
I think the fast reading technique takes the fun out of my reading for pleasure . When I started reading English books, I could read 100 words per minute. Although it increased 2.5 times, I don't think it's fast enough. I hope I can read all the books that I want in my life time!

未読タワー

I was watching the swine flu news on TV this morning. A Japanese TV reporter interviewed people in N.Y and asked why they didn't wear surgical masks. I think there is a cultural difference about wearing masks between nations.

When foreign people read a guidebook of Japan, they will see religious, mysterious, and exotic masks of Japanese culture. In fact, the most famous masks in our culture are surgical masks in winter.

I've heard that when foreigners come to Japan, they are all surprised that a considerable number of Japanese people wear surgical masks in public. Foreigners wonder if they are all health workers even though they don't look like doctors or nurses at all.
Japanese people wear masks not because there is a pandemic of flu every winter. There are several reasons.

Firstly, when Japanese people catch a cold, they wear masks to avoid spreading viruses to public. Wearing a mask when having a cold is considered to be good manners.

Secondly, Japanese people wear masks to fend off viruses to avoid catching cold. In spring, people who are suffering from hay fever wear masks to avoid inhaling allergenic pollen. Since an estimated 20% of Japanese have hay fever, it is likely that many people wear masks in spring.

Thirdly, some of my colleagues wear masks not to spread out their noxious bad breath when they've got drunk the previous night. I presume that people who wear masks even in summer and autumn have bad breath and try to avoid them.

There are variety of masks available in drugstores. The N-95 mask is for a professional use in hospitals but sold for laypeople. There are also lovely anime character masks for children and young ladies, aroma oil impregnated masks to reduce stress,　an innovative mask for those wearing glasses to avoid building up condensation on glasses when breathing . These masks were invented not only to fend off viruses, but to help people to enjoy wearing a mask. Thanks to these masks, wearing masks in public is widely accepted in Japan.

I've heard that only Japanese tourists wear masks in N.Y even though there is swine flu going around. The Japanese tourists said they felt embarrassed by being looking at. If the flu pandemic comes to Japan, I assume every Japanese person will willingly wear a mask because we already have brilliant mask culture. I'd like to recommend people living abroad to wear a Japanese mask. Once you wear one, it will fit comfortably to your face, and you'll never want to give it up.

My stomach must have been stretched during the New Year's holiday. I've been always hungry since then. I must have eaten too much because my mother prepared so many foods during the holiday. Now,  holiday is over, but my stomach rumbles all the time in anticipation of big meals.

 As one of my New Year's Resolutions is to lose weight, I don't want to gain weight at the beginning of the year. I participated in New Year's Resolution discussion two weeks ago. Miwa suggested taking a supplement called "New slim". Julie advised me to drink a chocolate flavored tea instead of eating chocolate. I rushed into the department store and bought both of them the following day. I was sure I could lose weight successively!
 I was relieved to buy these items. I forgot to take the supplement before meals. The  tantalizing aroma of chocolate flavored tea stimulates my appetite. My vigorous stomach took over my mind. I have to find another way to lose my appetite.

Today is officially the first work day of the new year. Japanese people enjoy various kinds of first day of the year. First writing of the year and first dream of the year is popular in Japan.
 Today,  I watched people enjoying the first swimming of the year. The weather in Kagoshima is relatively mild, but today's temperature is 4 degrees C!  They wish  their well-being by swimming in the cold sea. I like the feeling of the first day of the year, but I've never thought of doing it myself!  I hope they won't catch cold.

A Happy New Year!

Now is the best time to set new goals. My New Year's Resolutions are:
1. To write 100 English articles.
2. To read 30 English books.
3. To eat properly and to exercise regularly

 I used to forget about New Year's Resolutions as soon as New year holiday is over. I'll try my best to fulfill these goals this year.

I have been doing a major housecleaning these days. In Japan, most  people do a major housecleaning at the end of the year.
 I watched a TV that introduced how to clean a bathroom. A cleaning expert used beer to clean a moldy bathroom, and it worked!
 I decided to give it a try. I don't drink beer, so I used leftover red wine. I threw the bottle of wine to my bathroom floor, and scraped off the grimy floor with my old toothbrush for an hour.
 When I finished scraping, I got drunk even though I didn't drink. What is more, the floor hasn't changed at all!
 
 Now, I'm thinking of calling for a professional cleaning service. It will cost 12,000 yen for a bathroom cleaning. Or do I have to try it again with Beer?