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NEW! The Pros And Cons of Group Tours
2019/03/03Group tours. Some people love them, and some others ask, “Why are they still a thing?”Growing up in an Asian family, I’ve always felt like group tours were the norm when we wanted to travel. It was also before the age of computers and the internet, so…
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NEW! A Volunteer Experience I Had
2019/03/03When I was in high school, I was one of the most selfish people you could ever meet. I did not care about others and had no interest in anything unless I could directly gain something in return. I know it is a horrible trait, but in my defense I was a teenager…
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NEW! A Regret From My School Days
2019/03/03In the first half of my final year of high school, I had achieved reasonable results on the assessment tasks for all subjects. It looked as though my goal of achieving a high overall score was within reach.Reaching this goal would give me a wide range of courses to choose from at university…
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My Future Dream
2019/02/15Ever since I was a child, it has been my dream to be a doctor. It started at first because to me doctors were cool and rich. Then it changed from them being cool and rich to having prestige and respect. Finally, it morphed into an actual understanding that what they do is…
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Power of Thoughts
2019/02/15We live in a world full of nature, animals, humans, robots, and many other creatures. Up to this point, humans were believed to be the superior creatures due to a very special thing that we have. This special thing is our mind. Our mind is the most valuable thing we possess…
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My Best Friend
2019/02/15I met my best friend in college when I was 20 years old. His name is Cameron. We studied at Sunshine Coast T.A.F.E in Queensland, Australia. We were studying business and the main focus was on the hospitality industry. He is only one year and one day older than me so we got on well from the beginning…
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New Year Resolution
2019/01/07I’m like the millions of Americans who have made the resolution to get in shape for the following year. I’ve been no different than those people who have made that resolution only to break it within a month of the New Year, and it’s been like that for years…
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My Favorite Thing To Do When I Have a Moment To Myself
2019/01/07My favorite thing to do when I have a moment to myself varies from day to day. Recently I have been writing down my goals for the week in a tiny notebook and checking off the completed items one at a time. I usually complete two or three of my tasks every night…
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Failing Miso Soup
2019/01/07I have always wanted to learn how to make Japanese food even before I came to Japan. I researched a little bit about it in America, but unfortunately many of the ingredients tended to be more expensive in my home state. So when I first came to Japan,…
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My Favorite Christmas
2018/12/25What is Christmas? Is it just a day to eat delicious cake with your lover and possibly some fried chicken in the cold after work? If this sounds familiar, then you my friend might have been living in Japan for over 4 years. The reason I say 4 years is because that is the amount of years…
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How I Celebrate Christmas
2018/12/25Christmas is considered to be the most wonderful time of the year. This may be true in most countries, however in other places this is not the case. I find that Christmas in Japan is missing something. Yes, there are beautiful lights, and decorations line shop windows and homes…
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Christmas in Australia
2018/12/25One of the defining images of Christmas in Australia in the eyes of people from around the world is of Santa Claus making a spectacular entrance on a surfboard, wearing a T-shirt and shorts. While the reality may not be quite as flamboyant,Christmas in summer is a novel concept to people from Northern Hemisphere countries,…
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Winter & Colds
2018/12/15With the dropping temperatures come flattened Gingko fruit scattered along the pavement, and the night descends upon us sooner as autumn gradually shifts to winter. While winter may bring joy and festivities to some, for others it is a season of caution and trouble. The layers upon layers of clothing we wear become heavy as we…
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Passover：A Jewish Tradition
2018/12/15One of my favorite holidays is Passover. Passover is one of the most important Jewish Holidays. Passover is held in the spring in but the exact date changes from year to year. Passover celebrates Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt. In ancient times, the Jews were slaves in Egypt…
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My Recommended TV Show To Watch
2018/12/15A TV show that I’ve been watching recently, and that I would like to recommend to you is Queer Eye. Queer Eye is a TV series on Netflix that currently has 2 seasons. It’s a show hosted by five gay men referred to as the ‘Fabulous 5’ or ‘Fab 5’ for short. Each host has their own specialty that they use to contribute to the show…
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Which Are Better, Handmade Gifts or Store Bought Gifts?
2018/12/2Even though I think some people really enjoy a handmade gift I’d have to say that store bought ones are better. Sadly, I often put too much pressure on myself when choosing a gift.It might be because I’m not really in the habit of giving them…
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Help From Strangers
2018/12/2I have been helped by strangers, on trains or in stations, in Japan several times. One of those times was as I was disembarking from a train on the Yamanote Line. I think it was at Shinjuku Station, but I am not exactly sure now.At that time I had dropped my gloves on the train without realizing it and…
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A Fear I’ve Conquered and How I Did It
2018/12/2Although anyone can feel anxious, when in excess, you may suffer from an anxiety disorder. There are situations in which people may consider feeling anxious as being normal or common such as giving a presentation in front of a large crowd…
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Celebrating Thanksgiving
2018/11/20I don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving now but when I was a child it was a very important holiday. In my family it was traditional to go to my great-aunt’s (my father’s aunt) house for Thanksgiving. My father’s Aunt Maggie and Uncle Jack usually had a very big Thanksgiving party,…
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How I Erased My Birthday
2018/11/20It is common for kids in America to have big, elaborate birthday parties. They invite lots of their classmates to a bowling alley, a rock climbing gym or their house, and they have pizza and ice cream cake and open lots of presents. At least,…
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A Food Challenge
2018/11/20Most recently I happened upon a video of a Japanese competitive eater eating 8 specially
large-sized servings of Oily Soba (abura soba), which in total weighed 7.2kg. The person had a time limit of 80 minutes,…
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Autumnal Reflections
2018/11/11My two favorite seasons in Japan are spring and autumn. Cherry blossom season in the case of the former and autumn leaf (koyo) season in the case of the latter have a magic quality that has to be experienced rather than described. These are times of the year when…
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Balthazar the Cat
2018/11/11My cat Balthazar is an interesting cat. He chose his name himself. How did he do such a thing? You see, Balthazar is quite the clever cat. He is also a very hungry cat. On the day that he chose his name, and destiny, we set up three dishes of cat food…
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Family Recipe
2018/11/11Cooking has been one of my hobbies ever since I was a child, and I have fond memories of baking and cooking with my mother during holidays or on the weekends when I was young. Although I do not have the time recently to cook as often as I would like,…
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Your Best Tips For Saving Money
2018/11/3Some people say I am a bit too much of a bargain hunter. I have been known to ride my bicycle to 3 different supermarkets just to save 20 yen on a carton of eggs, 50 yen on yogurt and 300 yen on grapes. One of my friends will never forgive me when we went to Thailand and …
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A Recent Trip
2018/11/3A few years ago, not long after the Egyptian uprising of 2012, I decided to embark on a trip to Egypt. I was into photojournalism back then so my main objective was to document and see with my own eyes the culture, history, people and sites of a country that I’ve had a fascination with ever since I was a child.
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Tips For How To Be Romantic
2018/11/3Many people have ideas as to what constitutes romanticism; the old fashioned idea of an expensive gift is still popular. People often have grandiose ideas like taking someone on a holiday or buying them something ridiculously expensive like a new car or a diamond necklace.
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How Do You Celebrate Halloween?
2018/10/29Halloween is a beautiful time of year when you have the opportunity to celebrate all things spooky. It is the one season when witches, ghouls and goblins are praised and people in houses pass out candy to random children that come knocking on their door in the evening.
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A Bad Habit I’ve Had and How I Kicked it
2018/10/29It has often been said that there are no bad people, just bad habits. From a young age we are all taught how to behave and, perhaps more importantly, how not to behave. Yet bad habits persist and we carry them on into adulthood.
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How I Met My Best Friend
2018/10/20Music is a great way to bring people together. It’s a common topic of interest that can spark a conversation at a dull party or on a lifeless date. So it might not be a big surprise that many people have actually met people through the medium of music. One example would be me.
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My Night Routine
2018/10/20When I get home after a long day of work the first thing I need to do is find something to stop my stomach from growling! I usually feel quite famished after a busy day, so sometimes I go to the nearest supermarket to pick up some ingredients to make a hearty meal.
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