September CROSSROADS Language Studio’s Newsletter 2006

September is the month of
the Autumn Equinox here in
the Northern hemisphere. Thisyear it falls on the 23rd. There
are two equinoxes in the year.
The other, the Spring Equinox,occurs in late March. Along with these there are
two other important solar occurrences during
our earth’s trip around the sun – the twoSolstices.
As everyone knows, the earth takes a year totravel around the sun in an almost perfect circle.
But, the earth’s polar axis is not aligned with theplane of its orbit; it tilts at an angle of 23.5°. Thismeans that when one of the earth’s Poles points
towards the sun, the other points away from it.
The point in either hemisphere where the sun’sposition reaches its highest (or lowest) extreme,
as observed from the earth during its year-longjourney, is called the Solstice – one in Summer(the longest day of the year), one in Winter (theshortest). During this journey (keep in mind that23.5° angle) the sun appears to “move” between
these two extremes, crossing over the equator
twice in a year. Equinoxes (from the Latin,“equal nights”) occur at the point where the sun
appears directly above the equator. On both
Equinox days, we experience an equal amount ofdaylight and night, about 12 hours of each.
But during the Northern Hemisphere’s

Autumn Equinox, the penguins at the South
Pole will welcome the first appearance of the sun
in six months! And at the North Pole, the polar
bears will be bracing themselves for 6 months ofdarkness!
For many societies, the Autumn Equinox has
had special significance as a time to celebrate the“Second Harvest”. Traditionally, this is the timeto reap the benefits of a long summer’s hardwork. The crops are in, the harsh winter is still 6weeks, or so, away and food is plentiful. Enjoy
the rest, and the feast, while you can!
But while many have, and do, view theAutumn Equinox as a time to celebrate “the goodlife”, it is also a time to honour the dead; observe
how the sun appears to be “dying” (to those inthe north) on its slow journey to the south. Or,
think of it as the bounty gathered from the land
providing nourishment, but also resulting in thedeath of those plants and vegetables harvested.
Thus, the Autumn Equinox, or as it is sometimes
called, Mabon (the title of this month’s article), isa celebration of the cycle of life. And as surely as thesun is now moving
away from us, itwill begin to return
when the next
Equinox arrives inlate March – theSpring Equinox!

(These words are in colour in the story)
Hemisphere 半球
occurrence できごとalign 正しい関係位置に無い
tilt 傾く
extreme 極端
bracing 準備する
reap 手に入れる
harsh 厳しい
bounty 恵み
harvest 収穫する

Joshua Says: I’m glad to see we are welcoming many new students toCrossroads. It’s campaign time again and there are gifts for yourfriends when they join up – something for you too! So, please continue
to introduce your friends during this campaign and we will do ourbest to make their dream of speaking English come true!
Junko Says: We have started to issue “library cards” at Crossroads. You canborrow any of the books from our library with one, any time! It is free for all students
to use our library, and you can even take the books out with this card! We wanteveryone to start using the library, so please ask me at the office for your own card!
Alice Says: Well “hello” from Crossroads’ newest recruit! It’s a pleasure to meet you
all. I arrived in Matsuyama on September 4th and subsequently fell down a long flightof stairs at the airport! Thankfully, only my pride was hurt. It wasn’t exactly what I
hoped my first experience of Japan would be, but at least it will be unforgettable! I
hope the rest of my time in Japan will be just as memorable for good reasons!
Iain Says: Can you believe it?! I’ve lived in Japan for over eight years and I
haven’t been to Kyoto! Happily, that all changed last week as Kyoko and I went
there for a summer trip. I wasn’t mentally prepared for how beautiful the gardens
and temples are. We just walked around in silence. It was impossible to takeeverything in, in such a short time, so I hope we get to go back in the near future.
Greg Says: It is that time of year where people begin to sniffle and catch colds. Well for the pastweek I have been as “crook as a dog”. Each and every September / October I get knocked over with aheavy dose of the flu and this year was no exception, although a little earlier than expected. TheJapanese flu seems to hang around for a lot longer than the Australian flu!!! I remember a few years
ago in Sendai I had a cold for a month, but finally I got better. Why is the flu so strong in Japan???

Adrienne Says: In one of my classes all the ladies, about 50 to 70 years old, collectively
shook their heads sadly and asked, “What is wrong with Japan these days?” “Why arechildren attacking their parents?” But then the topic turned to the subject of elderly
women killing their husbands, they all began to smile. And then the smiles turned togiggles when they began discussing the methods used. When someone asked, “Why are welaughing?” The giggles then turned into howls of laughter! What does this mean…??

Dean Says: Well, the warmer weather is finally drawing to a close and thenights are getting cooler. It’s almost time to think about getting thewinter wardrobe ready. Suddenly, one night you’ll be caught without yourjacket. So, prepare soon! The cold days are not far away, now.
William Says: Autumn has arrived! The afternoon sun is still hot, and theweather feels like summer in eastern Canada to me. I enjoy this weather
the most – great for hiking! I already climbed Mt. Ishizuchi once this year
and will go again to see the turning of the leaves. This mellow heat is ideal– and the best part of my day is practicing guitar next to Ishite River.
Yuka Says: Now that the awfully hot summer is over, I really welcome the cool autumnbreeze. And this is the best time for reading. I assume a lot of you are book lovers and I’m oneof you. Reading books is a good thing of course, but keeping them is a problem. With limited
space for keeping them, I sometimes wonder how I can dispose of them. Among the mountainsof books around us, I know few of them are worth reading more than once, but I can’t help
feeling guilty when I throw a book away. Do you have any ideas for solving this problem?!

Setsuko Says: I work for NTT and I have been a student here for 3years. I am famous for many hobbies, one of which is dancing. I likemany kinds of dance: social dance, ballet, flamenco, Yosakoi, Gaiya
and many others. Gaiya is a wonderful dance from Uwazima. In fact,
Gaiya means “wonderful”! I have been to Okayama, Chiba andSendai performing these dances. Dancing has really taken me allover the world. I even got to dance Yosaki in New York!

Ah! The Market! An open-air market where you can find all
Seasons’ foods! From traditional cheese to the best apples! Oh!
Without forgetting of course the chocolate dipped blueberries!
The market is not only a place to buy food, it's also a place tomeet the farmers and know everything about the food itself! This also
promotes buying local food and helps the local people to make a better living.

Here are a few shots from last month’s
Summer Roof-top B-B-Q Party...

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.

NET SITE OF THE MONTH:
Go here for some interesting info about equinoxes:
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2002/news-autumnalequinox.asp

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.

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

FRENCH with Natacha
SPANISH with Patricio
RUSSIAN with NatashaGERMAN 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