Vol. 5

Dec. 2022

Thank you for all your art submissions! This year, Mitsuki Ishihara got first place. Congratulations!

First Place: Mitsuki Ishihara

Runner-up: Noa Usami☆

Runner-up: Maho Hirokawa

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This year’s float featured
Huggy Wuggy!

2022’s Halloween Poster

YourFriend!!

ゃParticipation Card☆

On Oct. 29 (Sat.), the Saijo Shopping Street Community Council and the
local volunteer organization ELIS co-hosted a Halloween Party in theKonyamachi Shopping Street for the first time in 3 years. The weather
was great and about 2,000 people gathered there. Kids wore their best
costumes and went door-to-door, trick-or-treating and playing games
as they went.
Thank you to all the attendees, as well as all the Saijo HS students andorganization members that helped to make the event run smoothly.
While this year’s event was more restricted than last time due to COVID19 restrictions, enforced mask usage, and limitations on food and drink,the fact that we were even able to hold a large-scale event like this forthe first time in 3 years successfully and without any problems is thanks
to all of you. All of us here at SIEA extend our deepest thanks.

L A N T ①E R N
F U N

P A I N T I N G

Rock,Paper,Scissors!!

VS.

♡♡S H O WD O W NInternational Relations SAIJO is a newsletter published by the Saijo International Exchange Association(SIEA). Feel free to contact us with your comments, questions, and submission requests.

Saijo International Exchange Association (SIEA): SAIJO BASE 2F, Akeyashiki 131-2, Saijo, Ehime 〒793-0023
TEL / FAX: (0897)66-9990 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

2International Relations SAIJO

Event Information
Aug. through Nov. 2022

SIEA held its first African cooking class and tie-dye workshop. Thank you for cooperatingwith our COVID-19 restrictions (mask wearing and eating without talking rules). We havemore fun event ideas for next year, so feel free to join us!

8/7 （Sun.）
Kambai Community Center

Trying African Cuisine

8/24-25 （Wed./Thurs.）
Kambai Community Center

Tie-Dye Workshop

10/1 （Sat.）
Komatsu Community Center

Family Trivia Night☀☁

Local ALT Charlotte hosted a 2-day tieThe International Exchange Association
dye event. “Tie-dye” involves tying andand the JOCV’s Ehime branch invited
dying cloth to make designs. T-shirts
long-term JICA trainee Augustine for anwere dyed and left overnight, andAfrican cooking class. Participants
washed the next day.
made jollof rice from Nigeria,
No one knew what toAugustine’s home country, before
expect, but they all
moving onto the dishes of countries likecame out better thanSenegal,
Check it out.
we could’ve hoped for.
Bangladesh (inWith all the exciting
Asia), and Niger.
English games, this 2Every dish tasted
day event was agreat.
perfect way for people← Get the recipes
to have fun on theirfrom the association!
summer vacation.

10/8 （Sat.）
Saijo Welfare Center

10/22-31
SAIJO BASE

Vietnam’s Mid-Autumn Festival

Halloween Art Exhibit

Local ALT Joshua held the 2nd Family
Trivia Night at the Komatsu Community
Center after its massively successful
launch in 2021. The questions weretough, but all the teams finished withtons of points! This year, the venue wasalso used to test everyone’s luck, andthe event turned out to be more
exciting than last time.

Event Information
SIEA Website

SIEA Facebook Page
Local CIR Nhi, who arrived in August,celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festivalwith Saijo’s Vietnamese residents. Afterlearning about the festival’s origins,
they made mooncakes and starshaped lanterns, and played withVietnamese toys. The halls echoedwith the lively laughter of children,
capping off another great event.

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Thank you for
all yoursubmissions!
They were socute that thejudges had
troublechoosing thewinners! Thewinning
submissions will
be used fornext year’s
Halloween
poster!

SIEA Newsletter

Want to join but don’t know how?
Want to know more about our events?
Or have any other questions?
Just call us!（^^）/
Call our office at TEL: 0897-66-9990!

Saijo International Exchange Association (SIEA): SAIJO BASE 2F, Akeyashiki 131-2, Saijo, Ehime 〒793-0023
TEL / FAX: (0897)66-9990 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

International Relations SAIJO

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Let me introduce our club...

Book Lovers on Mondays
Learning English and Reading Books

Commemorative photo at the last session

Book Lovers on Mondays started its second term of 2022 on October 3. At this book club, members
aim to read an English book over 8 Monday sessions held at the Saijo Community Center every 2-3
weeks from 7:00 to 8:30. Currently, everyone is reading “The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed
Out of the Window and Disappeared,” the English translation of a Swedish best-selling novel. At thissession, members learned about Sweden and author Jonas Jonasson’s career, and talked about thetheme and setting. Discussions are mostly in English, but Japanese can be used whenever to help.
Hailing from the U.K., local teacher Richard Westrop advises the club, choosing the books andplanning the day’s discussion. Thanks to his English discussions, members cover a wide range of topics
from vocabulary and reading comprehension to the culture and history of the U.K. and the rest ofEurope.

Learning More
Launched in Oct. 2020, the book club is now at its 5 th term, with every book varying in theme. For
example, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” addressed the autism spectrum. By
inviting guest speakers for talks, members can further their understanding and expand theirknowledge about each book’s themes. Members learned about Scottish culture and geography
through “44 Scotland Street”, exploring Scotland in their minds. It’s amazing how reading books opens
up so many new worlds.

We Are Book Lovers. And You?
Borrow the books from the Foreign Language
section of the library.

The club currently has about 10 members belonging todifferent age groups, genders, and occupations. They do,
however, share a lifelong desire to improve their English and alove for books. While finishing an English book by yourself canbe difficult and seemingly impossible, you can push yourself
further when you’re surrounded by peers. Share ideas withyour peers, toss around questions, and deepen your reading
comprehension. That’s what makes a book club so great.
Every session brings new discoveries and surprises.
Book Lovers on Mondays is always looking for newmembers. If you’re interested or want to know more, givethem a call.

Contact Info: 090-6289-7924 (Fujita)

Saijo International Exchange Association (SIEA): SAIJO BASE 2F, Akeyashiki 131-2, Saijo, Ehime 〒793-0023
TEL / FAX: (0897)66-9990 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

4International Relations SAIJO★

I’m Nhi, Saijo’s newest CIR.
My name is pronounced just like “knee.” I came to Saijo in Augustand I work at SIEA on Wednesday afternoons. I look forward toworking with all of you!

When I first came to Saijo, the mountains stunned me with
their incredible beauty. If you want to see mountains inVietnam, you basically have to go the northern city of HàGiang, which faces China. It’s said that roads leading tothe city are a bit difficult to navigate, so solo trips are
generally not recommended. That’s why I truly appreciate
my new life in Saijo — when I bike to work, I get an up-close
look at the majesty of the mountains.

The view of the mountains
from Saijo City Hall

A view of the mountains inHà Giang

Even though I’ve only been able to hold a Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival event forelementary school kids so far, the kids had a lot of fun, and that made me so happy. I
told them folk tales about the festival, and we made cute Vietnamese mooncakes,
festival toys, and star-shaped lanterns. The kids didn’t just take the event seriously, theyalso talked with the Vietnamese trainees helping out at the event, so I think they got anauthentic taste of Vietnamese culture. That being said, only 5 kids attended the event,so, moving forward, I hope I can share the wonders of Vietnamese culture to more andmore kids in Saijo. Of course, I’ll do my best to share bits of Vietnamese culture with thecommunity at large, so feel free to ask any questions (contact SIEA for more information
about Vietnamese events and activities)! Recently, crimes committed by trainees fromVietnam and elsewhere have been popping up on the news, but I hope that interactions
with Vietnamese residents in Saijo will leave the community with good impressions of bothVietnamese people and their culture.

Rất vui đượcgặp bạn！

Saijo is slowly getting colder and colder. Back in Vietnam, I lived in Ho Chi Minh City in thesouth, which meant that we didn’t really have distinct seasons like Japan has. We have dryand wet seasons, with an average year-round temperature of about 26℃, so cold weatherwasn’t really a thing. It’s been a while since I’ve been this cold, so I’ve been putting on tonsof sweaters and winter clothes, which gets my co-workers concerned sometimes. Now thatit’s winter, take care of yourselves! I believe in once-in-a-lifetime meetings, so even if we domeet only once, I’ll treasure that meeting for the rest of my life. I look forward to meeting
and working with all of you!

Vietnam Tet 2023★★Vietnamese New Year at Saijo Base
Editiorial
Comments

I’m lookingforward toworking withyou!

【Date】 Jan. 22, 2023 (SAIJO BASE Day) １０：００～１５：００※ A detailed schedule will be posted on the SIEA Facebook Page.
【Location】 SAIJO BASE 3F【Details】 A celebration of the Vietnamese New Year, known as Tet,featuring music, games, áo dài rentals, and zongzi samples.

Let’s hope 2023 turns out to be a goodyear! — Kondo

International Relations SAIJO Staff:

Minoru Tokumasu
Kondo

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Readable infull color!

Saijo International Exchange Association (SIEA): SAIJO BASE 2F, Akeyashiki 131-2, Saijo, Ehime 〒793-0023
TEL / FAX: (0897)66-9990 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/