Homework - Family Life

1. When do children usually leave home?

I think that this answer differs from person to person and family to family. My guess is that children usually leave home at about age 18 or when they graduate from high school. My sister and I both moved away from home when we entered college. At the same time, I have many friends in Hawaii that stayed in Hawaii for school and never moved out from their parent’s house.

2. How many people live in your home?

Right now, only my mother and father live at my home in Hawaii. Although, I will move back home soon so it will be three people.

3. Do you have a head of the family?

Yes, my father is the head of the family. He works very hard and handles all of the financial business for my family.

4. Who does the housework?

My mother does all of the housework. She cooks, cleans the whole house, works in the garden, etc. Although, since a few years ago, she has made my father start washing dishes, haha.

5. Who runs the family?

I think my father is the head of the family but my mother is definitely the person who runs the family. My mother is retired but she is quite busy. She does all of the grocery shopping and errands and also all of the housework like I mentioned above. She also cooks for my grandmother and drives her to her appointments.

6. How many rooms do you have to sleep in?

There are five rooms to sleep in. My parent’s room, my sister’s room, my room, the guest room, and an extra room with a bed (I am not really sure what to call this room.)

July 6th BBQ

Hello everyone, I am very sorry but I have misplaced the sign-up sheet with the volunteers names and email addresses on it. If you signed up to make potato salad, set-up, cook/serve food, or clean up, please leave me a comment!

For those volunteering to make potato salad, you may bring it to my office anytime from 9:00. If I am not in my office, you may leave it in the refrigerator in my office. My office is in the Bungakukan on the 3rd floor next to Walmsley senseis office.

For those volunteering to set-up, please meet at my office at 10:15.

For those who signed up to cook/serve food, please leave me a comment and I will let you know where to meet.

For those who signed up to clean up, please stay at the BBQ and help Jennifer and I clean up from 1:00.

Thank you very much!

Homework - Names and Addresses

1. Are feelings, emotions and facial expressions universal across borders, happy, sad, etc..?

I am not sure but my guess is that no, feelings, emotions, and facial expressions are not universal. I think that in some cultures, people do not show emotion easily.

Try to name as many feelings as possible in Japanese.

うれしい - happy
かなしい - sad
さびしい - lonely
うらやましい - envious
ねむい - sleepy
いたい - pain
つかれた - tired
げんき - energetic/spirited
きもちわるい - feel bad
おなかがついた - hungry

I had to use my dictionary! haha.

3. Are there any feelings in Japanese that cannot be translated into English?

I am not sure, what does everyone think?

Homework - Greetings

1. How do you greet members of your family? (mother, father, older sister, grandparents, etc.)

I greet all members of my family the same. After I wake up, if I see a member of my family, I say, "Good morning". Otherwise, I usually just say, "Hi". I do not give them a handshake or hug.

2. How do you greet people that are important in society?

If I am meeting someone important in society, I do not change my greeting much. If the person offers their hand for a handshake I will shake their hand but it really depends on the situation. My verbal greeting is the same for everyone though, I say, "Hi" or "Good morning".

3. Do you greet people from the opposite sex in a different way?

I generally greet males and females the same way but there are certain greetings that I would not do to women and vise versa. For example, sometimes when I meet a male friend, we shake hands. If I shake hands with a female friend, I think it is very strange. Also, sometimes when I see a female friend, we will hug and cheek kiss. If I did that with a male friend it would be awkward.

4. Do you hug anyone? If yes, who and when. If no, why not?

Yes, I hug my family and friends. I actually do not hug my family members very often. We usually hug when I leave or go back home to Hawaii. If I have not seen my friends (male or female) for a long time, we hug. Sometimes my friends and I hug even if we saw each other the day before.

Homework - World Religion

1. How do you greet people in your life?
There are various ways I greet people in my life. Sometimes I just say, "Hello" or "Good morning", or other times I wave, shake hands, or hug.

2. Is it different for different people? How so and why?
Greeting are definitely different for different people. When I am here at HJU, I usually greet people by saying, "Hello", waving, or sometimes bowing slightly. When I greet my good friends, we usually hug or shake hands. Depending on my relationship with the person and depending on the situation, greetings are different.

3. Do you touch people when you talk to them? Why? Or Why not?
I generally do not touch people when I talk to them. Depending on my relationship with the person I am talking to or the subject, I may make physical contact while talking. For example, if I am talking to a good friend and they are feeling sad or crying, I may try to comfort them by hugging them.

Homework - Buddhism

I had a difficult time thinking of ways my life was affected by Buddhism because I do not know much about it. Here are five things that I thought of.

1. Since I was a child, my family always says "itadakimasu" before eating. I am still not sure what the meaning of it is. My parents and grandparents taught me to say it so it is just a habit for me.

2. In my home, my family has a "hotokesama". Whenever my mother cooks rice or gets fresh fruit, we put it in the hotokesama. It is for my sister.

3. When I was younger, my mother told me to never stick my chopsticks straight up into my rice bowl. She said that this is the way the rice is presented at funerals.

4. This does not affect my everyday life but my family has memorial services for my grandfather. The services are held after one year, three years, seven years, etc.

5. Lastly, when I lived in Hawaii, every new year, my family and I would go to a Buddhism temple for the new year service.

Homework - Newspaper Article

Here is the link to an article I found from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/world/asia/24jackie.html?ref=world

This article is about comments made by the actor Jackie Chan about Chinese people. Although Jackie Chan is from Hong Kong, he stated that, "“Chinese need to be controlled”. This caused many people from all over China and Taiwan to speak out against him. A Chinese professor is organizing a boycott of Jackie Chan's concert in Beijing on May 1st.