昨日守谷市の「英語でおしゃべりMIFA Chat Salon」にスピーカーとして招かれ楽しい半日を過ごした。60人以上のメンバーが5、6人ずつ10ほどのテーブルに分かれて座しておられ、25分のスピーチを熱心に聞いてくださり、質問も多く出て、その後は各テーブルごとのチャット、筆者はテーブルを順に回って引き続き質問に答えたりおしゃべりに参加する、というスタイルだった。会員の皆さんが大変活発、且つ自信満々に話される素晴らしいグループだ。筆者はブータンから帰国したばかりで準備時間が少なく、前夜やっと英文の講演カードを作り、「寝ながら暗記だ！」と思いつつ疲れで寝てしまい、当日の電車でも講演カードの内容を覚えきれず、ぶっつけでおしゃべりさせていただいた。骨子だけ記して見よう。
“Suddenly Like a Flame”
(1) Building Bridges between Cultures
(2) Constant Renewal Keeps a Spring Alive
(1) 導入略…Today’s topic is “Suddenly Like a Flame” and as you know, this is the title of a famous movie in which famous ジャンヌ・モロウ(JM)acted. Sadly enough, she recently passed away, and my book “Suddenly Like a Flame” has sold out at the same time. J M’s and my life have a lot of common, one of which is, I would say, both like to be challenged. Let me introduce a little bit of my life “like a Flame” in the US, and my efforts to build bridges between cultures through my stay in the US and traveling around the world.
I went to the US when I was 52; I wanted to achieve something challenging during my stay in the US, and on the flight from Tokyo, I scribbled my ambitious goals and plans on a paper ; (1) “Earn a higher degree to teach at universities.” (2) “Publish a book about my experience.” (3) “Introduce Americans to correct Japanese culture.”
A Person needs goals and plans for whatever she wants to achieve, right?
I knocked the door of Xavier Univ., let it open Japanese course while I was pursuing a Master of Degree, (1) I earned a doctorate in Education and taught at University of Cincinnati, (2) I published several books such as “Suddenly like a flame,” “ Across the Milky Way,"”See You at the Opposite Ends of this Globe.” (3) Introducing Americans to Japanese culture was not very difficult. I had a lot of home parties; in all, more than 50 times.’ I made a lot of presentations and lectures at elementary and high schools about Japanese culture. Eventually, I achieved all the three goals. I’ve also been a Global Explorer, traveled over 120 countries across 6 continents as a backpacker. I became a travelogue writer for J-Angle, a newspaper which Japanese people who live in the US read. After we came back to Japan, we often make presentations with regard to cross-cultural, global, education on the importance of developing a global community. (to be continued続く)(彩の渦輪)
