From Australia_St. Andrew’s Report_May 16th 2016
Here comes the updated report from Cairns, Australia. Marin Nakamura, 11th grade student of Otsuma Nakano, is now studying as an exchange student at St. Andrew’s Catholic College. She looks so fine and impressed with many new experiences.
Hello, everyone there!
I didn’t realize it, but my host mother said to me that my English pronunciation is getting to be Australian accent. That means I have gotten better at English than before. There is a lot of beautiful nature here in Cairns, so it is a nice place to spend time in and everywhere is surrounded by green.
How is the climate in Japan? I guess the summer is approaching. I have heard that year 11 students in Otsuma Nakano are enjoying the trip to Kyoto and Nara. I’m little bit sad to miss the school trip, but I am able to having a precious experience of studying abroad. Therefore I feel honoured to be here.
On the 5th of May was a BLUE DAY at St. Andrew’s. Have you ever heard about that day? Blue day is the colon cancer community’s day to unite for a future free of colon cancer. It all began with a stage for colon cancer survivors who had lost a close friend and her father by the disease. At St. Andrew’s, some people makes a cake and cookies as volunteers and sell them at the morning tea time and the lunch time. The proceeds will be the special donation for the colon cancer persons.
On the next day, there was “Japanese night” after school. It was a recital that many students perform Japanese songs, dance, karate that they studied at the Japanese class. I was very surprised that every students Japanese was good. I wore the yukata, which my Japanese teacher lend it to me. I felt a little bit strange wearing yukata in Australia. Almost all students were wearing yukatas and one girl was wearing the Japanese traditional hairstyling wig. It was pretty cool! There, sushi and takoyaki was sold and the teachers were fund raising for the Kumamoto earthquake. I felt very pleased with that.
On 7th of May, my host family took me to the drive in movie. A drive in movie is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen. Everyone can view movies from comfort of their car. We brought some blanket and the pillow and put the back seat of the car flat. Some people was bringing a chair and they were sitting outside. It was very comfortable and I enjoyed it very much.
On another day, I did horse riding. It was not my first time to ride a horse, so I rode the horse by myself. It was really fun! After that, I saw the horse’s bathing. I was really surprised about putting a conditioner to the horse’s tail. I have enjoyed watching the horse’s bathing . It was a wonderful experience.
On the 13th of May, there was “The Mass of The Holly Spirt” at fourth and fifth period in St. Andrew’s. A mass is a type of liturgy, but the difference is that it normally celebrates a specific event and in a mass, we receive the ‘body of Christ’, which is bread and wine. However, no wine at school for the students. You can only eat the bread if you have gone through holy communion, which is something like an initiation into the Catholic Church. The one we celebrated was because of Easter/Lent. Lent is when we give something up for 40 days, it’s supposed to represent Jesus living without food or water for 40 days and officially ends on Sunday. Every students were gathered, which is prep to year12. It was my first time to see the mass.
The half of the days when I’m studying at St. Andrew’s has already passed, and that means I have only 5 weeks of staying in Cairns left. Everyday has passed so quickly; I have been able to experience so many things.
Thank you for reading my report and see you in two weeks!
Best regards,
Marin Nakamura
こんにちは!
自分では気づきませんが私の英語の発音がオーストラリアのアクセントになってきたねとホストマザーに言われました。少しずつ前より英語が上手になってきたのかもしれません。ケアンズには美しい自然がたくさんあり、過ごしやすい場所です。どこを見渡しても緑に囲まれています。日本の気候はどうですか?だんだん夏に近づいてきたのではないかと思います。大妻中野の高校2年生は京都、奈良への歴史研究旅行を楽しんでいると聞きました。歴史研究旅行に行けなかったことは残念ですが、留学という貴重な体験をさせていただき光栄に思います。
5月5日はBlue Dayでした。聞いたことがあるでしょうか?Blue Dayとは結腸癌の人の将来の自由のために団結する日です。これは親しい友人とお父さんを病気でなくした癌ステージ4の生存者の方が始めました。St. Andrew's では一部の人がボランティアとしてケーキやクッキーを朝のティータイムとランチタイムで販売します。売上金は結腸癌の方のために寄付されるそうです。
次の日は、放課後にJapanese nightがありました。Japanese nightとはSt. Andrew's の生徒が日本語の授業で習った歌、ダンス、空手などを披露する発表会で、私はみんなの日本語の上手さに驚きました。日本語の先生に浴衣を貸してもらって私は浴衣を着ました。オーストラリアで浴衣を着るというのは少し不思議な感じがしました。ほとんどの生徒が浴衣を着ていて、1人の女の子は髪型まで日本を意識していました。たくさんの先生達が熊本地震のために募金活動をしているのを見て、私はとても嬉しく思いました。
5月7日はホストファミリーにドライブインシアターに連れて行ってもらいました。ドライブインシアターとは、巨大な駐車場にスクリーンを配置し、車に乗ったまま映画が鑑賞できる映画上映施設です。私たちはブランケットと枕を持って行き、車の後部座席を平らにして横になって映画を見ました。車の前に椅子を置いて見ている人もいました。とても楽しかったです。
また、別の日には乗馬をしました。私は乗馬をするのは初めてではなかったので1人で乗らせてもらいとても良い経験ができ、嬉しかったです。その後、馬のお風呂を見ました。馬の尻尾にリンスをつけて洗うことに私は驚きました。
5月13日にはThe Mass of The Holly Spirtというミサが学校でありました。ミサとは礼拝式です。body of christでパンとワインを受け取ります。しかし学校なのでパンだけです。カトリックの教会へ入会してる人のみ、パンを食べることができるそうです。幼稚園生から高校3年生までの全校生徒が集まりました。
もうケアンズに来て半分が過ぎてしまいました。ということは後5週間しかありません。毎日があっという間に過ぎています。毎日が新鮮で、たくさんの経験をさせてもらっています。
レポートを読んで下さりありがとうございました。それでは2週間後に!