2020/02/22(土)SMC

Hello everyone!

Here is the summary of the meeting held on Feb. 22(#4) at the Oyama Community Center.

There were seven attendees, including SM K. Narisawa, SM Yo. Narisawa, SM Kaneko, SM Koizumi, SM Noro, SM Yu. Narisawa and SM Yamazaki.

The Coordinator was SM Yo. Narisawa and the Lecturer was SM Noro.

The meeting started with the Presidential Remarks. The President just talked a little about his experience of loneliness during his wife's absence for four days using the idiom of "hold (down) the fort". In response to the remarks, the 　Coordinator also touched on her pleasant experience of taking care of their pet Koume-chan at her daughter's apartment.

Lecturer

"Tricky quiz"

The members worked on 25 tricky questions. Here are some of them.

. What is a 10 letter word that has thousands of words in it ?→dictionary . What normally stands up and grows down? →candle . If you and I are stupid who is between us? →and .What happens when you mix the c and the son? →season . Among the alphabet letters, which makes honey?→B

Table Topic Speech

"What is something popular now but in 10 years we might be ashamed of ?(SM Yu. Narisawa)

The speaker took up leg warmers and mufflers, explaining that they don't warm up automatically. The Coordinator brought up miniskirts which used to be popular among college students in the early '70s including herself.

"What is your favorite winter sports?"(SM K. Narisawa) The speaker started his speech with the quite useful phrase "winter sports isn't just not cup of my tea". He talked a little about his skiing experiences with the phrase of "had a hard time maneuverering uphills and downhills". He added some pleasant memories of after-ski events. SM Kaneko took up the words of "sledge"(AmEnglish) and "sled"(BrEnglish) for vocabulary question.

"If you have one week left on earth, what would you do?(SM Kaneko)

The speaker mentioned simple actions for each day of the week left. SM Yamazaki added his desire of spending last seven days in the Yamato Cirius Complex attached with a gorgeous library.

"What is something you've tried but would wouldn't do again?(SM Koizumi)

The speaker talked about a memory of eating an unusual thing with an inspiration from a writer. SM Yamazaki added a bitter memory of eating a Katshudon served (delivery service) at someone's home for lunch despite of the fact that he doesn't care for any kind of meat.

"If animals could talk which animal would be the most charming?"(SM Noro)

The speaker talked about memories of keeping a cat when he was a university student. With his experience, he prefers cats to dogs, he said. In connection with the sound and the behavior of cats, SM K. Narisawa added the word of "hoarse" and the phrase of "size up the situation".

"What's the worst smell you've ever experienced? (SM Yamazaki)

The speaker talked about a memorable event of bad smell he experienced when he was a small child. On a summer night, he said the bad smell from his late mother's bare foot after work stays in his memory, indicating how hard the mother worked from early morning to night as a farmer.

Prepared Speech

"What's going on? "(SM Kaneko)

The speaker talked about the globally worrying issue of CORVID-19.

In his speech, he emphasized the change in his impressions about China. Before the outbreak of the disease, China appeared like a bully toward Hong Kong in connection with demonstration calling for democracy. However, through media reports in relation to the various measures to contain the disease, he said that he learned how a crucial role China plays in the global economy. Also he added that through thinking about the root cause of the issue, he took up his favored interest of world of "unknown force" and "super natural things". SM K. Narisawa gave a vocabulary question, asking for the proper phrase opposite to "by accident" and gave an answer of "by design".

"Olympics Coming"(SM Koizumi)

The speaker talked about a brief introduction of the e-learning given for volunteers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

SM Yamazaki raised concerns surrounding CORVID-19, when would be the deadline for making a final decision?

"Life Is What You Make It "(SM Yu. Narisawa)

The speaker who had long been wondering what Sanya was like finally visited there. Here is his report. Sanya is said to be one of the three major ghettos. The accommodation fee of apparently cheap lodging houses is equivalent to that of first-class capsule hotels. With some middle-aged people's lives he saw there such as drinking canned beer sitting on the curbstone in the daytime, he said he felt learned something important for his life from walking around Sanya.

"Good buy"(SM K. Narisawa)

The speaker's speech started with a reference to buying things such as books and an electronic dictionary. The speaker went on to the main issue of his experience of staying at home alone for four days due to the absence of his wife. He concluded his speech with the phrases of "My wife is priceless and she is the best buy I have ever got".

"A fan letter to a radio program"(SM Yamazaki)

The speaker talked about his experience of writing a fan letter to an anchor of NHK ラジオ深夜便(Overnight Radio Express) with a slight hope that his letter might be taken up in the program someday.

Next time: Mar. 14 (Second Sat.)

Oyama Community Center

Coordinator: SM Noro

Lecturer: Yo. Narisawa

Reported by Yamazaki