December CROSSROADS Language Studio’s Newsletter 2006

…And, Nick, our International Roving Reporter, hasWALES: Not only has Nick uncovered anbeen visiting many countries these past few years at unusual Christmas custom here, he has
also found
Christmas time in order to compile this report for our the roots of a common idiom in theEnglish
newsletter. Fermented auks, horses skulls, table settings language! Good work Nick! Here’s
how it goes:for the departed, blatant extortion!,… Nick has seen it all! At Christmas time in certain parts of Southern Wales, theHere are his reports from:Mari Llwyd, one of the local men, hides under a horse-hair
IRAQ: In Christian homes children read stories from sheet while carrying a horse’s skull on a pike. He wanders
the Arabic Bible while family members hold candles and the streets and if anyone is unfortunate enough to be given
listen. When the story is finished, a bonfire of dried thorns a bite with the horse’s skull, he or she must pay someis lit. If the thorns completely burn to ashes, the family money to the Mari Llwyd. The idiom? To “put the bite on”
believes it will have good fortune in the coming year. The someone, means to ask them for money!
family members also jump over the ashes after the fire has
YOGOSLAVIA: On the second Sunday before
died out and make wishes.
Christmas, children creep up on their mothers and tie
GREENLAND: Here’s a gastronomical treat, if their feet to a chair, shouting “Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day,
you’re up for it! The Greenlanders bury the raw flesh of an what will you pay to get away?” A week later, they do theauk (a black and white duck living in the North Sea) in same thing to their fathers! On both occasions, Mommasealskin and place it under a stone for several months. It is and Poppa will give the children presents!
unearthed and served at Christmas, by which time
THE YUCATAN, MEXICO: Here Christmas is a
it is in an advanced stage of decomposition.
bit like Halloween! Every night during Advent (the 24According to Nick, it smells like old blue cheesedays leading up to Christmas) children go house-to-houseand tastes rather pungent!
holding branches and pictures of Mary. They put on a littlePORTUGAL: At the “consoda” feast onshow about Christmas, and sing songs. If the occupant ofChristmas morning, extra places are set at thethe house does not give them some coins, the kids can get,dinner table for the souls of the dead. Foodwell, nasty! They play tricks and throw insults or lemons!
is offered to these souls in the hope that theyWell, that’s all we have space for this year, Nick. But,
will bring good luck to the family in thethanks for a great report and …
coming year.

(These words are in colour in the story)roving 移動
blatant ずうずうしい
pungent ピリッとする

compile 組み立てる
fermented腐敗した
gastronomical 美食学的decomposition 変質
pike 槍creep(up on) 忍び寄る
occupant 住人

Joshua Says: What a great “Performance Night” we had last month! Check out thephotos on P3! My hardy congratulations to all students and teachers who participated. A
great job, well done. I can hardly wait for March to come around so we can do it all overagain! But for now though, may I wish everyone at Crossroads the very best for the holiday
season. Take care of yourselves and let’s look forward to another great year next year!
Junko Says: “Fusaomakizaru” are a kind of monkey, about 40-45cm tall and weighing only about 3kgs
on average. They live in the tropical woodlands of North-East Brazil, and like apes and man, they havelearnt to use tools! The area they live in is dry and there is generally not enough food, so they have started toeat coconuts. But how do such little monkeys manage to crack open the hard shells? They each have theirown personal stone (about a third of their own weight) and a place to work in. They hold their stone highwith two hands and bring it crushing down on the coconut! They looked so human doing this, I had to laugh!
Alice Says: Season’s greetings everyone! This is such a wonderful time of the year, pretty
lights and decorations everywhere, parties to attend and best of all- festive food to eat! We
have been busy in the cooking classes preparing a very traditional recipe, ChristmasPudding. It contains lots of dried fruit, spices and alcohol! When the mixture is ready, thewhole family should stir it in a clockwise direction and make a wish for the next year – butthey must keep it a secret – if you reveal what you wished for it won’t come true!
Iain Says: I don’t consider myself a religious person, but I
really do like Christmas. I love to get together with friends andfamily to eat turkey and cranberry sauce. We exchange gifts
and sing songs. It’s really good for the soul!
Greg Says: Well 2006 is drawing to a close and once again I won’t be here to enjoy
the Christmas festivities and the New Year celebrations in Matsuyama. I will beenjoying a warm summer Christmas in Australia at the beach with my deardaughter. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy NewYear. If there is one wish I could have granted, it is the wish that everyone whoreads this stays healthy and achieves all their dreams throughout 2007.
Adrienne Says: It isn’t funny. The news about Iraq is very bad. I feel very
embarrassed as an American because America is responsible for the civil
war that is going on in Iraq. These days, even President Bush seems tounderstand that the situation is serious: he is not grinning anymore!
Dean Says: I read some interesting news recently from New Zealand that is creating a lotof interest. Two icebergs, one that is 500 meters long, 60 meters wide and 60 meters high, theother 300 meters long, 60 meters wide and 100 meters high are drifting off the east coast.
They are the first icebergs to come near New Zealand for 75 years. Certainly an interestingsight for the beginning of summer! Enjoy your Christmas and the New Year’s season.

William Says: Christmas and Yew Year are the busiest times ofthe year. There are parties, family gatherings and giving andreceiving gifts. It all keeps us very busy. I hope you have awonderful holiday season with peace and good times a-plenty.
Yuka Says: At the beginning of this year, I made up my mind to “eat less, sleep
more and keep fit.” Have I carried out this simple resolution? I can’t say “yes!”
What I’ve done is to “eat lots of sweets, sleep less than 6 hours and do little
exercise.” But luckily, I have had a healthy and happy life. So, I’ve decided not tomake any New Year’s resolutions next year. I wish everyone has happy holidays!

Iainand the “gang”

Adrienne and her two very
talented Cosmopolitan
Piano students, Yumeko(top) and Ayaka“The Alice and Adrienne
Duet” in performance
Cosmopolitan Guitar student
Shima with someencouragement from William“The Banana Boat” – A play written,

produced and performed by In(A)1

William and Alicebelting out a fine tune

A little Magic from Iain and his
Cosmopolitan Magic students, Katsumi
and Chigiku

A great performance fromthe Cosmopolitan Singingstudents – Yumiko, Ryokoand KatsumiSome of the “brave ones”
who stayed on to the end

Courses you can take at CROSSROADS
NET LESSONS:
Are you too busy to come to CROSSROADS to study? Try ourlessons on the internet! --- It’s CROSSROADS in your homeor office! You get CROSSROADS’ great teachers, teaching
programs, even classmates, all on-line! Call for details.

GENERAL COURSES:
2 x’s 60mins / week
1 x’s 90mins / week
Private 1 x / week
Semi-Private 1 x /week

NET SITE OF THE MONTH:
You’ll find some interesting facts and information FRENCH with Natacha
SPANISH with Patricio
about Xmas at: http://eldrbarry.net/mous/saint/eldrxmas.htm RUSSIAN with Natasha
NET NOTEBOOK: Don’t forget to take a look at theInternet activity notebook in our open-house. You’ll findgames, news and English learning sites.

GERMAN with Marita & Matthias
CHINESE with Noriko
KOREAN with Kim

MOTHER & CHILD, group or private
KIDS, group or private
COSMOPOLITAN COURSES:“Singing in English” with Alice
Yoga with Dean
Guitar with William“Cooking in English” with Alice“Magic English” with Iain
Piano with Adrienne
Acting with Alice
NETLESSONS:
group or private

Phone: 0120-21-7594
Tel: (089) 921-7595
Fax: (089) 921-7319
E-mail:info@crossroadsco.com
Web Site: www.crossroadsco.com