CROSSROADS Language StudioÊs Newsletter, February 2010
What would Valentine’s Day be without

Cupid? This little cherub’s image iseverywhere at this time of the year. Take
away Cupid, and you may as well takeaway chocolate, candies, cards and flowers.
But, where did this little guy originate
from?
Cupid is Latin for "desire" (cupido) and to
the ancient Romans, he was thepersonification of love itself, or, at least,“falling in love”. He was the sonof Venus and Mercury, or was itMars? And, his main task wasto go around piercing people’shearts with golden arrows, causing
them to fall deeply in love.
To the Romans, Cupid was innocent
and child-like; not malicious, thoughsometimes mischievous. To the ancient
Greeks however, the god Eros, (whom theRomans co-opted as Cupid) was an older, moreterrible god. Eros, still concerned with matters oflove, carried both gold-tipped and lead-tippedarrows. The latter were used to spread loathing,jealousy and all that is contrary to what weconsider healthy, romantic love.
Fortunately, it is the Roman Cupid that
we cherish most, even if his arrows docause mischief sometimes.
On one occasion, according to Romanlegend, Cupid himself became the subject ofa great love story. Venus, his mother,became jealous of Psyche, a mortal woman,because Psyche’s beauty rivalled that of herown. She ordered Cupid to punish thisupstart. But instead of punishing thebeautiful Psyche, Cupid fell hopelessly inlove with her. Defying his mother, Cupid
married Psyche and they lived happily
together – for a while.

Cupid set only one restriction on
their relationship. Psyche should never lookupon his face – it would be totally
inappropriate for a mere mortal to lookdirectly upon the face of a God!
Psyche accepted this situation at first andremained content, and deeply in love with,her mysterious husband.
But, one day curiosity got the better ofher. Holding a candle, she snuck up on Cupid
while he lay asleep. She found that
her husband was an extraordinarily
beautiful young man. As she
looked upon him, a drop of candle
wax fell onto his shoulder and heawoke. He was furious that she had
disobeyed him. He abandoned her!
Some time later, heart-broken andlonely, Psyche asked Venus for help. Venus
set her a series of difficult tasks to perform.
Psyche succeeded in all except the last one.
Curiosity once again got the better of her. While
returning a box to Venus she peeked inside. Thiswas forbidden and immediately she did this, acurse put her into a deep, death-like sleep. Cupid
was devastated, and asked the gods to help her.
They took pity on the young lovers and turned
Psyche into a god so that she and Cupid could, atlast, be together forever.

NET LESSONS: Try our lessons on the Internet!
It’s CROSSROADS in your home or office! You get
CROSSROADS’ great teachers, teaching programs,
even classmates, on-line! Call for details: 089 9217595

NET SITE OF THE MONTH:
Here is a site dedicated to Cupid:
www.free-clipart-graphics.net/cupid-graphics-history.html
NET NOTEBOOK: Don’t forget to take a look at theInternet activity notebook in our open-house. You’llfind games, news and English learning sites.

Joshua Says: The time has come (again) to say “goodbye” to one of ourteachers. I can’t believe a year has passed since Alessio joined us here atCrossroads. We all wish him the best of good luck in the future and wewill miss his happy smile and good humour – not to mention his selectionof “background” music! And, of course, we won’t forget his pasta! “Goodluck” Alessio and may the fortune be kind to you.

Junko Says: I too wish Alessio all the best for the future. “Good luck”, andlet us know how you are getting on! Promise?! Change seems to be the orderthis month. We are losing Alessio, but we are welcoming Jonathan fromEngland, our new teacher who will be taking over from Alessio. Also, you
can’t have missed all the other changes going on this month to the office andOpen House. We are sorry if this work might have inconvenienced anyone,
but it will be over by the end of the month and well worth it.

Alessio Says: Hello Crossroads students, this is my last newsletter. I'm very sadbecause every time I want to write it 2 or 3 times, but Joshua lets me do only one...
Anyway, I'm leaving soon and I'm very sad. After a year I have so many goodthings and nice moments in my mind...It is very hard to leave. I want to thank all
my students for this beautiful experience. Everybody has been so nice and kindwith me, it seems I'm leaving a piece of my heart here. I hope to come back nextyear though. All the best to all of you, I'm going to miss you a lot... ale : )Greg Says: I can’t seem to grasp the Japanese custom of Valentine’s Day.
Why do people feel they “have to” give “giddi chocos”?? Valentine’s Day is a
day for love, romance and Cupid. I much prefer the western style of
Valentine’s gifts (mostly cards or over-priced roses) which are usually given
anonymously with only a “?” in place of the giver’s name. It makes it very
interesting trying to work out who your secret admirer is. Sometimes it’s yourfriend or sister tricking you into thinking you have an admirer!

Kevin Dit: Un mois s'est déja écoulé depuis le début de cette nouvelle année ! Letemps passe tellement vite, vous ne trouvez pas? Cela fait maintenant un peu plus
d'un mois que j'enseigne à Crossroads, et j'ai l'impression que c'était hier! Dansquelques jours, Alessio va nous quitter pour rentrer en Italie... c'est un peu triste.
Mais souhaitons lui bonne chance dans ce qu'il entreprendra, en ésperant qu'ilrevienne vite! En attendant, nous allons accueillir un nouvel enseignant très bientôt! Entre les changements de professeurs et l'ouverture prochaine du Café
International, beaucoup de choses changent à Crossroads en ce debut d'année !G E N E R A L ( ジェネラル) コース
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