About Maori

The Maori are native Polynesian people of New Zealand(a.k.a. Aoteroa, Maori name for the country.)　They are said to have been come from Polynesia in canoes about 9th to 13th century AD. For now, 14% of people in New Zealand are the Maori and 95% of them live in the North Island. Their language and culture have a close relation with lives of New Zealanders.

Maori language is used by 25% of Maori people, and it's one of the national languages in New Zealand. In elementary school, children must learn the language. Not many people can speak it fluently, but everyone knows expressions for greeting and how to count numbers in Maori.

Cultural art of them are called as "treasure of the Maori." Traditional art, such as whakairo (carving), raranga (weaving), haka (group dance) and moko (tattoo) are known well. Daily goods like a fishing hook, an axe and goods for rites like Tokotoko (a stick which god dwells within), are not just goods but also artworks

There is an ancient way of Maori cooking called Hangi. First, men dig a big hole in the ground, while women prepare meat and vegetables for cooking. Second, they put big heated rocks in the hole and then, put food in baskets on the rocks. Then, put wet clothes on them and steam.

Speech: Thanksgiving Dinner

Families and friends come together and have a big dinner on Thanksgiving. The food that are eaten on this day originally came from the American Continent. Here's are said to be common dishes for the day:

Roasted turkey: it's the most popular main dish which is eaten on Thanksgiving dinner. It's usually stuffed with cereal, sage, chopped celery, carrots and onions.

Stuffing: sauted breads and vegetables.

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

Cranberry sauce

Pumpkin pie: The most popular dessert in Thanksgiving dinner.it's often served with whipped cream.

Sweet potatoes: It's cooked with brown sugar, mashmallows or maple syrup. It's a way of traditional American cooking.

Green bean casserole: It's a sort of stew which includes green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup and frenchfried onions.

Corn on the cob

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a national holiday which is celebrated in USA(4th Thursday of November) and Canada(2nd Monday of October). It's the day when people give thanks for the harvest of the year, and they celebrate the holiday at home with their families or friends. They also watch football games and eat large meals together on the day.

==Thanksgiving Dinner==

The food that are eaten on this day originally came from America. Each family have their own recipes for Thanksgiving dinner. Anyways, here's a common one. On Christmas, dinner which is like this is served too.

Roasted turkey: it's the most popular main dish which is eaten on Thanksgiving dinner. (That's why the day is also called "Turkey Day.") It's usually stuffed with cereal, sage, chopped celery, carrots and onions. Recently, deep-fried turkey is becoming popular.

Stuffing: sauted breads and vegetables. It's also stuffed in a turkey.

Mashed potatoes: It's usually served with gravy sauce.

Gravy: It's eaten with turkey and potatoes.

Cranberry sauce: It's eaten with turkey, but it's also eaten as a food itself.

Pumpkin pie: The most popular dessert in Thanksgiving dinner. Traditionally, it's served with whipped cream.

Sweet potatoes: It's cooked with brown sugar, mashmallows or maple syrup. It's a way of traditional American cooking.

Green bean casserole: It's a casserole which includes green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup and frenchfried onions.

Corn on the cob: they're boiled or baked.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

I haven't seen many movies recently, since I don't have enough time to go to theaters. But I watched the movie called "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" in the September. (The English title of the movie is "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea".)

This is the latest Miyazaki Hayao’s movie, and the story is an original one, not based on novels (although, many people believe that it was based on Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”.) One of the notable things about movie is, the film isn’t animated in computer graphics but in hand-drawn. It has taken 14 billion yen as of September 15th.

This move takes place in a port town in Japan, which name is unknown. One day, human boy called Sousuke saved a gold fish girl, Ponyo, who was stuck in a bottle. They became to like each other, even she wised to become a human girl. But her father, Fujimoto, took her away to sea. He was planning to cause a flood on Earth and turn it into part of sea, by filling his well with "Water of Life". When Ponyo managed to escape from there with helps of her sisters, she filled the well with the water, not on purpose. Soon, a huge storm started to blow and the town was being struck by a tsunami! The world’s destiny is in Sousuke and Ponyo’ clutches…

...Well, in some reviews on the Internet, they say "the story is not good, it’s just for little kids, unlike other Miyazaki’s movies". Surely, it IS for kids, so I didn’t expect the plot to be complicated. But I thought design of characters, props and backgrounds were simply awesome, they were very beautiful! Especially, when the most of the town disappeared under the sea… As for characters, all of them are nice people by heart, which made me feel good.

I recommend this movie to you, who wants to see sweet and heart-warming one.

My Summer Vacation

During the summer vacation, on August 21st to 23rd, I went to Osaka for a camp of university drama club. One week later of that, I went to Mie Prefecture for a camp of Department of British & English Studies. Both of them were good experiences for me, but this time, I’m going to write about my part-time job.

I didn’t feel like nor even wasn’t interested in working. But my mother had always told me to get a job and yarn money for my commuter passes & cell phone bill. So, I started to find one after the end of the 1st semester. At first, I applied to a cashier of a bakery store, but I was rejected. Next, I went to a job interview of a clerk at a bookstore, though I couldn’t get a job again. Then, I applied to a worker of a convenience store. Finally, I was able to get the job.

On the first day, I was very nervous about working at a convenience store. There are so many things to learn like: working at a cashier, putting products on shelves, making French fries and fried chickens…etc. I’m not good at memorizing and I’m clumsy, so I couldn’t do the job pretty well on that day.

But now, with the help of other workers and the manager, I’m getting used to working little by little. I can’t say that the pay is not very good, but when I finish working of a day, I can bring food products, which expired dates, to home.

I can’t be lazy on all day at weekends anymore, but it’s good that I don’t waste time and getting money. I want to save money for a trip to meet friends who live in other countries. Still, I still prefer drawing & painting pictures to working, though.

Word Count: 307 words

Delicious Salad

Do you guys like salads? Well, I do! I'm going to write about nutrients of other ingredients for a salad not just simple lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers.


Fruits
All kind of fruits contain good nutrients, such as vitamin C and potassium so on. Those nutrients can fight against deseases. For example, blueberries have polyphenol, which prevents from growing cancers.

Nuts
1/4 cup of nuts/seeds contains 5 grams of good protein, and vitamin E and fiber. It's true that nuts are high in fat, but it is unsatured fat, which tends to lower the level of cholesterol. But don't eat them too much.

Onions
Onions contain flavonoids and desease-fighting phenols. Both of them fight against cancer and chronic desease.

Seafood

Fish like salmon and tuna contain omega-3 fats, which help preventing from risk for heart desease. And, fish can help you satisfied with the protein content of salads.

Vegetable oils

Vegetable oils have much vitami E and unsatured fats. Olive oil is rich in antidioxidants, and virgin/extra virgin olive oils are said to have them the most.

Build a Better Salad with Tasty, Interesting Add-ins

Lack of Sleep Increases Your Weight

Do you sleep enough everyday? Or do you always stay up late? ...Well, I suggest you to sleep enough. Because it's revealed that if you sleep for only few hours, you gain weight. According to the research done by Columbia University, people who sleep for under 5 hours are 73% more likely to be obese than those who sleep for 7 hours.

Then, why if we don't sleep enough, we gain weight? It's because of the two hormones: "leptin" and "grehlin". Grehlin makes us feel hungry, while leptin regurates our appetites. If you don't sleep enough, the power of grehlin becomes strong but that of leptin becomes weak. So, we feel more hungry than usual and eat much food.

For example, here's a result of the experiment that University of Chicago Medical Center. Researchers made fine young men sleep only for 4 hours a day, and those men ate food 24% more than when they sleep for more than 4 hours. In addition, they ate food like candies, cookies, nuts, chips, pasta and bread, which have many calories.

We Become Obese If We Don't Sleep Enough ? (Japanese)

Less Sleep, More Weight

Nutrious Japanese Oranges

Since I love fruits, especially, citrus fruits, so I decided to search about "satsuma mandarin" which is also known as "unshuu mikan" in Japan. Satsuma mandarin is not only easy to peel and delicious, but it contains much nutrients.

As well as other citrus fruits, satsuma mandarin has much vitamin C: 200 grams of it contains 70 miligrams. You can get 70 percents of the required amount of vutamin C per day only you eat 2 satsuma mandarins.

After you worked out, you should take vitamin B1 much more than usual, because it helps you recovering from fatigue. 200 grams of satsuma mandarin contains 0.18 miligrams of vitamin B1.

Satsuma mandarin doesn't contain iron and calcium so much. Though it contains a lot of citric acid, which helps taking iron and calcium into human bodies.

Satsuma Mandarin nutrient facts

Benefit of Laughter and Funny Clips

Hello, everyone!!=D

Laughter Helps Blood Sugar Goes Down
In 2003, Japanese researchers from the University of Tsukuba found that laughter is good for people who have diabetes. They collected blood-sugar measurements from 21 people who have diabetes before and 2 hours after a meal. After dinner of the first day, people listened to a boring 40-minutes lecture. On the second day, they watched a comedy show. Their blood sugar increased after watching the show, but it was much less than after listening to the lecture. It means laughing decreases blood sugar.

Detail of the Experiment

*diabetes: a disease that there is too much sugar in your blood

Yin Yang Yo !
This American cartoon show is about 2 rabbit twins who learn Kung Fu and magic from the panda master to defeat bad guys. I think the crazy characters of the show are funny – like a cockroach wizard who likes disguising, a witch who hates male, a hamster who loves cleanliness so much….

1. 600 Channels of Doom!
2. The High She-As!
3. Neat Freak

Crime Time
Well, these carton shorts are about the criminal called Shifty. He tried evil deeds like robbing or escaping from police, but his actions always go wrong...in funny ways!!

1. The Gift
2. Under Control
3. Paint Job