NEWSLETTER

June 2018VOLUME 35

ENGLISH EDUCATION CENTERTopics■ Ramadan in Qatar - A Personal Experience (Article by Scott)■ A Studying Abroad Report from an Aidai Graduate■ A Report of an Internship Program■ Now On - Letʼs Enjoy English!

Ramadan in Qatar – A personal experience
I lived in Doha, Qatar for 12 years and have some vivid memories of my time there. One such memory is Ramadan. According to Islamic belief, Ramadan is a time to celebrate the firstrevelation of the Qu‘ran, to Mohammed. Muslims honor thisevent by not eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset. Atsunset they break their fast and then have Iftar (a special
evening meal).
For myself not being Muslim, Ramadan brings back memoriesof happiness and despair. I marveled at the extravagance anddedication the Muslim community devoted to this event. All
the major hotels offered nightly feasts. There were sales everywhere. Another great part of Ramadan, for myself and colleagues at work, was reduced working hours. Each hour ofclasses was reduced by 20 minutes. Also, there were two official prayer break times instead of the one prayer break. Forme, this meant time to catch-up on work. But it was not all
wonderful.
Not only didRamadan alter my working
schedule it changed my leisure and shopping activities.
During the day only supermarkets and petrol stations
were open. If you wanted to- by Scott Webber
buy a TV for instance, you needed to buy it at night. This
would not be a problem if
the traffic was not insane.
Driving on the roads during Ramadan, especiallybefore sunset and at night
was a nightmare. There
were always more traffic
accidents during Ramadan
Ramadan traffic – Dohathan the rest of the year.
Just before sunset, for instance, many people, who had not
had any food all day, would drive as fast as they could so they
could break their fast with family and friends. This resulted inincreased traffic accidents and deaths. And at night the roads
were clogged with vehicles. People are going shopping or to anIftar. A trip that would normally take 20 minutes, took 2hours during Ramadan. To avoid these situations I made sure
to be home an hour before sunset. You also need to alter youreating habits. You are not allowed to eat or drink in public
even if you are not Muslim. If you were caught eating ordrinking, you might end-up in jail or worst case scenario
kicked out of the country. So I loved and hated Ramadan inDoha.
(In the solar calendar, or Gregorian calendar, Ramadan in 2018 isIftar - Dohafrom May 15 to June 14. -- Editor)

A Report of an Internship Program
400 days in the “Dream Land”- by Shunsuke Hamamura (Faculty of Education, International Understanding)

I have just finished my mission of 400 days in Walt DisneyWorld, the happiest place in the world. I worked as a bartender at a “Sake Bar” in the Japan pavilion at EPCOT, which isone of the exciting theme parks at Disney World.
For the first few weeks, I often faced difficult situations since I
had rarely drunk sake before. That’s why I couldn’t answer
questions from our guests; such as “Where was this sakemade?” or “What type of sake is the most popular?” But finally, I could suggest many types of sake smoothly in accordance
to their preference.
The most surprising thing to me is that Japanese sake is reallyfamous among foreign people. Many guests came to the sakebar saying “Sake! Sake!!”, and especially Americans they love
“Hot sake”.
Also I could enjoy talking about different cultures and spending a memorable time while drinking Japanese sake with wonderful guests. I was really proud of working as a bartender at

the Japan pavilion. My clumsy guest service, including mysuggestion about sake, gradually improved day by day throughdiscussion with those guests.
I spent a precious time inWalt Disney World as a castmember for a year. It was notalways fun, because sometimes my English made myguests
disappointed.
But
these trial and error experiences encouraged me to realize thesatisfaction of the guests. “Disney”, is the happiest place in theworld and always creates a gorgeous time for guests, in a real
“Dream Land”.
Finally, if you have a dream to help people realize their dreams
come true, or you hope to work for “Disney”, you too can havesuch a memorable experience.
“If you can dream it, you can do it!”A Studying Abroad Report from an Aidai Graduate
My Days at the University of California, Irvine- by Tomoya Okamura (Graduate of Faculty of Law and Letters)

Hi y’all! I’ve been to California on a study abroad program for9 months (from September 2016 to June 2017). Although I’ve
experienced some short-term stays in foreign countries, I had
not had a long stay, and studying abroad was one of my wishes to achieve in my college life. Fortunately, thanks to a scholarship “TOBITATE! Young Ambassador Program”, I could finally study abroad.
I studied at the University of California, Irvine as an international student of California Academic Program. The main feature of this program is that students can take both English
and several undergraduate courses. Actually, it depends on
your English level, how many English classes you need totake. If you already have enough English skills, you can register for some undergraduate courses even in the first quarter.
Still, you have to take one English class anyway. In my case, I
mainly had to take English classes in the first quarter. Aftercompleting the first quarter, I was allowed to take a few undergraduate courses.
I mostly took the classes provided by the faculty of International Studies and Political Science such as International Relations, International Organizations, Model United Nations, andConflict Resolution. In addition, I took a Spanish class andtried to learn a new language in the last quarter. Since I had tolearn the third language in the second language, I had a lot ofdifficulties to catch up with the class, but it was fun. Also I
had a chance to teach Japanese to those who are studying
Japanese as a conversation partner outside of class. There’s abunch of options, and you can study whatever you want anyway!

dents who can speak English and Japanese in the world, isheld in Boston. This event is held for three days, and the applicants are able to get offers from companies if they pass theinterviews. Fortunately, I got an offer from a company which I
was interested in. In February, I went to Boston again to attend the conference. This conference is held by students atHarvard University twice a year. Although it had nothing to dowith my study abroad program, I applied for the conference just for fun. Boston,which is the oldest city in theUnited States, is a truly
beautiful place. I came to love
this wonderful city throughthese experiences.
Throughout my stay in the United States, I learned and experienced a lot, but I just wrote only a part of them in this essay.
Of course, there were a lot of fun times, but many difficulties
which I countlessly faced occupy the biggest part of mymemory rather than good the ones. To be honest, most of thetime during the stay, things did not go well. There was no end
to my troubles. Still, I cannot help recommending you to go tostudy abroad EVEN IF YOU HAVE ONLY A LITTLE INTEREST.
I believe this experience made me stronger.

While I was staying in the United States, I had some opportunities to visit other cities. In fact, I’ve been to Boston twice.
The first time was for job hunting, and the second was to attend an international conference. Every November, the Boston
Carrere Forum, the largest job fair which mainly targets stu-Last but not least, studying abroad has the possibility tochange your life. Going to a university similar to mine is notyour only choice. When and where are you going to go? Andwhat are you going to do there? You can make YOUR ORIGINAL PLAN on your own. If you don’t have enough money, youcan apply for scholarship programs. There are plenty of scholarship programs for studying abroad, just utilize the resources
around you. Don’t be afraid of trying new things. No one cantake responsibility for your life because it is not theirs. I hope
this essay encourages you to try something new, even just alittle. Best of luck!

Now On - Letʼs Enjoy English!

DayTimeTeacher

Theme“Let’s Enjoy English!” is a theme based free English conversation class. You will have a chance totalk with native English speakers in a social atmosphere. Students can take a 45-minute conversation lesson in a small group (maximum 6participants). Many students have already signed

Mon

13:00 - 13:45

Chris

English through Music

9:00 - 9:45

Andrew

Internet Culture

16:30 - 17:15

KristinLife Skills

10:30 - 11:15

Scott

Creating Stories through Simple Programming

up for this exciting and interesting program.

Wed

13:00 - 13:45

AdrianSocial Skills and Strategies

14:30 - 15:15

Magee

The Music of the Foo Fighters

16:30 - 17:15

Lexi

Freeze Frame : Iconic Images in History

9:00 - 9:45

Danielle

Learning Communication Strategies from Shrek

16:30 - 17:15

Zhou

Fun Conversation Games!

Classes are held until July 25 during this semester, the autumn course usually starts from lateOctober.
If you want to join this program, please sign up at
the EEC office in advance.

TueThuFri

ENGLISH EDUCATION CENTER @EHIME UNIVERSITY
2nd ﬂoor, Aidai Muse, 3 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime
TEL : 089-927-8340

E-mail : eec@stu.ehime-u.ac.jp

Webpage: http://web.eec.ehime-u.ac.jp/