These days, I've looked for the opportunity of internship in Philippines.
The biggest reason why I want to work in Philippines is that the country is still a developing country.
I was born and raised in Japan.
Fortunately, I got a chance for an exchange program and I'm in America.
As you know, Japan has the second biggest economy and America is the biggest in the world.
It is unusual to have known only those two countries when we expand our view toward the world.
Moreover, I'm thinking that I'm an exception.
In the world, most of people are living in developing countries.
So, I need to know about their lives and expand view on the world by actually living there.
Especially, it is the best time to absorb everything what is happening around me. Now, I'm 21 years old.
I think I'm more mature than other the same old people. I believe that experience will develop myself.
Moreover, I think there is a demands for people who can speak both English and Japanese. Philippines is close to Japan geologically. And, many people come to Japan every year (though some are coming illegaly.)
And, I can also develop my English by being in Philippines because English is the official language and they can speak.
This exchange program finishes on mid-May of this year.
And, the fall semester in Japan starts on October 1st.
Now, I'm absent from the school in Japan for a year for this exchange program. So, I don't need to come back to the school before the fall semester starts.
So, I have more than 4 months for summer vacation.
It's too long for me.
I like to be busy, and I look for the place where I can challenge everytime.
That's why I'm looking for an internship abroad now.
Actually, I've decided to apply for an internship abroad after I finish study in America since I was in Japan.
If I can get a job as I want, I'd like to work in Philippines on mid-May to mid-September, whole 4 months.
I want to go to Philippines directly from America.
Now, I'm contacting AIESEC which is a non-profit student organization for internship abroad and volunteer abroad.
It is the best way to get an internship through AIESEC.
But, the problem is William and Mary doesn't have that organization. Applicants have to apply through colleges that have AIESEC.
The closest college that has AIESEC is George Washington University in Washington DC.
So, I contact staffs of George Washington.
Therefore, I might need to go to George Washington many times in this semester.
It consumes the energy and the time to go there and go back from there.
In addition, I'm contacting staffs of university in Philippines directly.
And, this is more exciting part for me.
They don't offer any recruitment of internship, but I'm trying to get an opportunity.
Actually, It's so weird....
As I wrote, I like challenging. I want to get the chance by myself.
They might be supprised and think me crazy.
But, I'll keep doing my best.
If I can get an internship from one of those universities, I will work there.
I know this application method is unusual.
But, I'm doing as much as I can.
By the way, I contacted a Japanese company in Philippines before I started applying for AIESEC and contacting universities in Philippines.
A staff of the company replied to me, and he said that the company might give me an internship for 3 weeks in this summer.
For me, 3 weeks is so short because I want to work nearly 4 months.
So, I didn't apply for that again.
Anyway, the most reliable way is through AIESEC.
I hope I can get an internship as soon as possible.
Tomorrow night, I'm back to Williamsburg.
I'm excited to meet my friends and go to classes!!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
About Education
Today, I attended classes in high school.
Now, I'm staying at my friend's house.
By the way, he is going to the same college. So, he is not a high school student.
He took me to his high school.
Actually, we went there to meet his high school teachers.
We met many teachers there, and all teachers remembered him.
After that, we took two classes.
In the first class, students made a presentation. I listened to 5 or 6 students' presentations.
In their presentation, to use Power Point is required.
Everyone was assigned laptop from high school and made their original presentation.
When I think about my high school, I had no such classes.
I don't even remember that I had used PC for the classes.
Although it has passed almost 3 years since I graduated from high school, I don't think to use PC is adopted to classes even now.
And, my friend said he did the same presentation. So, it is obvious that it is not a new trial to adopt PC into classes.
Above all, the most impressed thing in those presentation is that students did presentations without reading notes. They expressed their ideas about works by their words.
It is not easy for high school students to do that.
Many other students were listening to he/her presentation. So, it is not unnatural that the presentor becomes nervous and cannot tell what they want.
However, there were no students who hesitated to speak in front of many people.
If this is in Japan, I think most of students will just read notes that they made for the presentation.
And, I remembered presentations in college.
We had a couple of opportunities for presentation when I was in Japan.
Most of students made notes for their presentation and just kept reading that one.
Especially, almost all women students spoke with reading the notes.
Honestly, such kind of presentation was so boring for me because the presentators become like a machine.
I think American students were used to speak in front of other people.
Next was a discussion class.
That class was so active. Many students expressed their ideas whether their ideas are correct or not.
This is a big difference with Japanese education.
Usually, a teacher keeps talking and students only take notes.
They have no opportunity to speak in the class, and they are not expected to speak in classes.
It was boring for me to just listen to teachers' explanation.
So honestly, I slept a lot and read cartoons in classes in high school....
But, if I had been in classes that I attended today, I could enjoy classes and create my ideas.
Moreover, if I were a teacher, I want to teach in a class that I saw today.
Today, I saw the differences between education in America and Japan.
Now, I'm trying to find advantages of Japanese education. However, I find much more advantages in education in America than in Japan.....
Now, I'm staying at my friend's house.
By the way, he is going to the same college. So, he is not a high school student.
He took me to his high school.
Actually, we went there to meet his high school teachers.
We met many teachers there, and all teachers remembered him.
After that, we took two classes.
In the first class, students made a presentation. I listened to 5 or 6 students' presentations.
In their presentation, to use Power Point is required.
Everyone was assigned laptop from high school and made their original presentation.
When I think about my high school, I had no such classes.
I don't even remember that I had used PC for the classes.
Although it has passed almost 3 years since I graduated from high school, I don't think to use PC is adopted to classes even now.
And, my friend said he did the same presentation. So, it is obvious that it is not a new trial to adopt PC into classes.
Above all, the most impressed thing in those presentation is that students did presentations without reading notes. They expressed their ideas about works by their words.
It is not easy for high school students to do that.
Many other students were listening to he/her presentation. So, it is not unnatural that the presentor becomes nervous and cannot tell what they want.
However, there were no students who hesitated to speak in front of many people.
If this is in Japan, I think most of students will just read notes that they made for the presentation.
And, I remembered presentations in college.
We had a couple of opportunities for presentation when I was in Japan.
Most of students made notes for their presentation and just kept reading that one.
Especially, almost all women students spoke with reading the notes.
Honestly, such kind of presentation was so boring for me because the presentators become like a machine.
I think American students were used to speak in front of other people.
Next was a discussion class.
That class was so active. Many students expressed their ideas whether their ideas are correct or not.
This is a big difference with Japanese education.
Usually, a teacher keeps talking and students only take notes.
They have no opportunity to speak in the class, and they are not expected to speak in classes.
It was boring for me to just listen to teachers' explanation.
So honestly, I slept a lot and read cartoons in classes in high school....
But, if I had been in classes that I attended today, I could enjoy classes and create my ideas.
Moreover, if I were a teacher, I want to teach in a class that I saw today.
Today, I saw the differences between education in America and Japan.
Now, I'm trying to find advantages of Japanese education. However, I find much more advantages in education in America than in Japan.....
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Great Days
This two days, I mostly spent time with an Indian guy.
We are in the same room in the hostel.
He is a PhD student of Stanford!! and his major is computer electronics.
He is sponsered by Indian government and the government pays all of his tuition.
So, he doesn't have to pay by himself.
Moreover, he got a scholarship from Stanford, and Stanford gives him 2,000 dollars a month.
He said he spends 1,000 dollars each month and doesn't spend all the money.
So, he can save 1,000 dollars a month, which is much more than average salary in India.
He graduated from Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), the most prestigious college in India.
He got a Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree from IIT.
As you can imagine, he is so smart but he doesn't show off his intelligence.
He said he will not get a job in America.
He will be back to India after he gets PhD. He said he wants to become a professor.
Actually, he has a lot of option about his career.
He is a PhD student of Stanford.
He can stay in America and get a high position in a company and get a large income.
However, he will be back to India.
Although India is getting economic power, it is still a developing country.
It is obvious to get more money in America.
He is anxious about the future of India.
Now, many people go to America to study more.
And, some of them are supported by government financially.
But, most of them are not back to India and get a job in America.
His ambition is to maintain many Indian intellectuals in India.
He is afraid of such situation. He thinks India cannot keep developing by that way.
To make India strong, it is necessary to get intellectuals stay in India.
So, he wants to become a professor in India.
I hope he becomes a great professor and he can definitely become that one.
He has a soft attitude to others.
I leave Chicago tomorrow morning.
The flight is 6:20 in the morning.... so early.....
I'm not sure that I can get up such early.
So, I'm going to the airport tonight (maybe 12 or 1), though it's dangerous to take a subway in midnight.
Anyway, it was a wonderful days in Chicago!
I enjoyed everything here.
I won't forget the time I spent here.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas in Chicago
The city was so quiet today...
Most of shops were closed.
We had almost nowhere to visit.
And, it was so cold today... honestly it was freezing...
First, we planed to see University of Chicago.
So, we took a train and rode off in the closest station.
..however, we couldn't find University of Chicago and it was so cold, so we gave up to look for it and came back to the main area.
Almost all shops were closed. It was not easy to find a restaurant.
As I wrote many times, it was really cold today.
We couldn't be outside.
Finally, we stayed in Union Station and killed a time.
After that we went to Sears Tower, the tallest building in America.
We wait for another person, who is Brazilian and now is working in Canada.
....We couldn't meet...
It is because he was waiting for us in our room.
Also, we waited him for 50 minutes inside of Sears Tower.
We went up and saw the whole city from 103 floor in Sears Tower.
The view was amazing, even though there were little light from office buildings because of Christmas break.
I upload a photo of the night view of Chicago.
Most of shops were closed.
We had almost nowhere to visit.
And, it was so cold today... honestly it was freezing...
First, we planed to see University of Chicago.
So, we took a train and rode off in the closest station.
..however, we couldn't find University of Chicago and it was so cold, so we gave up to look for it and came back to the main area.
Almost all shops were closed. It was not easy to find a restaurant.
As I wrote many times, it was really cold today.
We couldn't be outside.
Finally, we stayed in Union Station and killed a time.
After that we went to Sears Tower, the tallest building in America.
We wait for another person, who is Brazilian and now is working in Canada.
....We couldn't meet...
It is because he was waiting for us in our room.
Also, we waited him for 50 minutes inside of Sears Tower.
We went up and saw the whole city from 103 floor in Sears Tower.
The view was amazing, even though there were little light from office buildings because of Christmas break.
I upload a photo of the night view of Chicago.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Chicago
I haven't updated for almost one month.
I restart my Blog again.
Now, I'm in Chicago!!
It's so cold,
not cold, it's freezing!!
The temperature of the last night was only 7 degree.
I experienced such low temperature for the first time in my life!
Yesterday, I came to Chicago.
Actually, I stayed at my friend's house on 17th - 22nd.
and, I write about my plan in winter break.
-28th: stay in Chicago
28-29th: stay in my friend's house (D.C)
29th - Jan 3rd: stay in my friend's house (Delaware)
4th - 7th: stay in my friend's grandfather's house (New Jersey) and go to New York every day for four days
7th - 9th : back to the friend's house (Delaware)
9th - 11th: go to Philadelphia or Baltimore (not sure)
11th - 20th: stay in my friend's house (Richmond)
I came to Chicago alone.
But, I could make friends here and we went sightseeing together today.
and, we are also together together tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
About Chicago
As you can imagine, Chicago is a big city.
It was fun to walk and see buildings, and I enjoyed everyplace today.
At the same time, however, I'm so sad now.
There are many poor people here. They ask for money to people.
I became so sad especially when I noticed many people are young, 20s or 30s.
They say "I'm hungry. Give me money."
I don't know that they are really poor.
But, I gave money to four or five people today.
The amount is less than 1 dollar, though.
People say we shouldn't give them money. They might see us rich and might attack us.
I know my action doesn't work for them.
But, I can't bear to see their situation.
Now, I'm in America! which has the biggest economy in the world.
It's not exaggerated to say America dominates today's world.
However, there many people who are suffered from daily life.
and, most cases, they are black.
I knew there still exist the economic divergence between blacks and white.
A college I attend now is in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Most people there are white retires. One of my black friends said blacks cannot live in Williamsburg because the land is too expensive for them. So, they live away from Williamsburg.
And, many black people are working with low wage job.
Couple hours ago, I called my black friend and talked about that.
She explained about the history of Chicago and how many blacks came to and started living in Chicago.
I hope they have standard life as many people in America have.
I don't want to see young blacks ask for money.
I restart my Blog again.
Now, I'm in Chicago!!
It's so cold,
not cold, it's freezing!!
The temperature of the last night was only 7 degree.
I experienced such low temperature for the first time in my life!
Yesterday, I came to Chicago.
Actually, I stayed at my friend's house on 17th - 22nd.
and, I write about my plan in winter break.
-28th: stay in Chicago
28-29th: stay in my friend's house (D.C)
29th - Jan 3rd: stay in my friend's house (Delaware)
4th - 7th: stay in my friend's grandfather's house (New Jersey) and go to New York every day for four days
7th - 9th : back to the friend's house (Delaware)
9th - 11th: go to Philadelphia or Baltimore (not sure)
11th - 20th: stay in my friend's house (Richmond)
I came to Chicago alone.
But, I could make friends here and we went sightseeing together today.
and, we are also together together tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
About Chicago
As you can imagine, Chicago is a big city.
It was fun to walk and see buildings, and I enjoyed everyplace today.
At the same time, however, I'm so sad now.
There are many poor people here. They ask for money to people.
I became so sad especially when I noticed many people are young, 20s or 30s.
They say "I'm hungry. Give me money."
I don't know that they are really poor.
But, I gave money to four or five people today.
The amount is less than 1 dollar, though.
People say we shouldn't give them money. They might see us rich and might attack us.
I know my action doesn't work for them.
But, I can't bear to see their situation.
Now, I'm in America! which has the biggest economy in the world.
It's not exaggerated to say America dominates today's world.
However, there many people who are suffered from daily life.
and, most cases, they are black.
I knew there still exist the economic divergence between blacks and white.
A college I attend now is in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Most people there are white retires. One of my black friends said blacks cannot live in Williamsburg because the land is too expensive for them. So, they live away from Williamsburg.
And, many black people are working with low wage job.
Couple hours ago, I called my black friend and talked about that.
She explained about the history of Chicago and how many blacks came to and started living in Chicago.
I hope they have standard life as many people in America have.
I don't want to see young blacks ask for money.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Do they know it's Christmas
December 2nd, today....
Time passes so fast. And, Christmas is coming.
One thing:
We have to know a lot of poverty exists in the world.
I write a lryrics of "Do they know its Christmas"
Do they know its Christmas
It's Christmas time
There's no need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime
But say a prayer
Pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clangingchimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's instead of you
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
(Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone
(Here's to you) underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime
Time passes so fast. And, Christmas is coming.
One thing:
We have to know a lot of poverty exists in the world.
I write a lryrics of "Do they know its Christmas"
Do they know its Christmas
It's Christmas time
There's no need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime
But say a prayer
Pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clangingchimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's instead of you
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
(Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone
(Here's to you) underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime
Monday, December 1, 2008
Good Break
I could spend most relaxed and enjoyable time ever since I came here!
I stayed in my friends' house for whole days in this break.
His family was so nice, so kind father and friendly mother.
I want to be like them when I get my family someday. I felt a importance of family at the same time.
We put ornaments on Christmas tree and decorated house with a lot of lights.
It was so fun.
I lived apart from my parents for almost three years since I got into a college. And, I didn't go back to my home on Christmas day. Even when I was back to my home, I didn't spend time with my family. I hung out with my high school friends or junior high friends.
I felt it's so important to have a time with my parents and talk with them.
I realized that I'll be sad when I have children in the future and they don't spend time with me.
So, I might make my parents have that feeling.
By the way, I stayed in Springfield, Northern Virginia.
But, I stayed in Alexandria only on Friday.
I hung out another friend whose house is in Alexandria and I stayed in his home.
His parents and uncle are Vietnamese and they came to America 21 years ago. And, my friend was born in America.
They are all friendly to me.
It was a good break!
and, I have to study a lot because I was lazy and didn't study at all in this break.
.... I have two papers and dues are on next Monday.
OK, I start studying now.
I stayed in my friends' house for whole days in this break.
His family was so nice, so kind father and friendly mother.
I want to be like them when I get my family someday. I felt a importance of family at the same time.
We put ornaments on Christmas tree and decorated house with a lot of lights.
It was so fun.
I lived apart from my parents for almost three years since I got into a college. And, I didn't go back to my home on Christmas day. Even when I was back to my home, I didn't spend time with my family. I hung out with my high school friends or junior high friends.
I felt it's so important to have a time with my parents and talk with them.
I realized that I'll be sad when I have children in the future and they don't spend time with me.
So, I might make my parents have that feeling.
By the way, I stayed in Springfield, Northern Virginia.
But, I stayed in Alexandria only on Friday.
I hung out another friend whose house is in Alexandria and I stayed in his home.
His parents and uncle are Vietnamese and they came to America 21 years ago. And, my friend was born in America.
They are all friendly to me.
It was a good break!
and, I have to study a lot because I was lazy and didn't study at all in this break.
.... I have two papers and dues are on next Monday.
OK, I start studying now.
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