That is the question...

يأتي يومٌ يُطوى يوم
يبدو ماضٍ أو خيال
ماذا أريد ماذا أصير
هذا هو السؤال...

These words are the beginning of the opening song of Digimon Anime (أبطال الديجيتال) Season 3, I watched it before 5 years, and at that time I was singing the song many times without thinking about its meaning. Now, I can feel what does it mean.

A day comes, a day goes

It looks like far past, or like fiction
What I really want? What I want to be
That is the question...

Link for the song :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcYtvZRU9hc

落語（らくご） ： 楽しい！＾＾

Before M-sensei returned back to Japan, she had introduced me to I-sensei. So now I'm continuing studying Japanese with I-sensei.

The other day, the Japanese lesson was about "Rakugo". During the lesson, I-sensei and I watched a rakugo in japanese using the internet. Actually, I did not understand a lot what the "Rakugo" teller was talking, but I got the idea and I understood the interesting part of it.^^

So, what is "Rakugo"?

Rakugo, らくご、or 落語 means literally "Fallen Words", is kind of japanese entertainmment, specifically, traditional entertainment. Where a talented storyteller set on a stage(called kouza 高座= high place) and start telling interesting stories to entertain people.
The story is either a traditional story or a story from storyeller imagination.
The storyteller(which called Rakugoka) changes his voice tone or pose to differ between characters.
Rakugo spread between people during the Edo-period(1603–1867) , but during that time it was known as 小話＝short stories. The expression "Rakugo" started being used in the Meiji-period(1867–1912) and it came into common usage in the Shouwa-period(1926–1989).

More info in wikipedia here.^^

Maybe this type of entertainment looks similar to what was called "Hakawaty = حكواتي" in Arabic traditions, in the way the storyteller sit and what he use and how he speak, but the story type actually is different. The hakawaty stories usually talks about old warriors, like Antara = عنترة, and about their characteristics and their strength, but rakugo introduces more funny stories in different subjets.

The interseting thing about Rakugo also, that even if you see it many times you can still laugh, because the way the rakugoka speaks is really funny, and it makes me imagine the story as if I'm watching an anime!

I searched for rakugo on internet also, and I found many vedios, both in English and Japanese. I couldn't understand the rakugo in japanese completely, but I think it can be good study if I keep listening it many times. Like this I can improve my listening skills.

Here I like to introduce you a rakugo, in english, it is very interesting :) Please watch!

電気がない生活！

昨日の晩、私が住んでいる辺で、電気が停電しました。それはたまに行うことですが、今度は２時間だけではなく、３時間でもではありません。昨日の午後８時からさっきの午後２時までに停電でした！

電球、暖房、テレビ、インターネットのモデム、携帯電話、お湯、それぞれを使うことができませんでした。暗い部屋で晩御飯を食べました。寒い時に暖房がつけられませんでした。テレビやインターネットが使えませんでした。携帯電話のバッテリーが空になって、充電できませんでした。早い朝の祈りに起きて、栓をまわすと、お湯が出なくて、冷たい水で手や顔を洗いました。
大変でした！

「物をなくしたあとで、そのものの重要性わかる」という意味のアラブの諺があります。
それは本当です。電気が消えてくると、私は電気の重要性がわかりました。
電気は本当にすごい発見です。
私も、まる子ちゃんが言うとおりに、「エジソンは偉い人」と言います！
エジソンさま、本当にありがとう！私は電気なしで生きません！

第１２回日本語スピーチ大会： みんな、素晴らしかった！

Continuing the series of Japanese Speech Contests' trip, here I will post my not-very-detailed report about the 12th speech contest.

To say the truth, it was the most interesting speech contest among all other contests I have attended, may be because I understood almost all speeches, and I was setting near to the data show so I could read easily. @_@

In this year speech contest I did not participate, but I did as MC. (T sensei, K sensei thank you for giving me the chance to do that, it was very interesting and a little frightening!)

This time I woke up early, too early. Because I know, if i didn't wake up early this time I would say "Good Bye" to my life! XD

I met my friend H-san(participant in the speech session), and then we went to the place.

All participants were really AMAZING! I enjoyed all haiku's presentations and all speeches.
It was my first time to enjoy haiku's presentations like this, and that makes me think of participating in haiku session next year. (you know which type of haiku i will choose ;)).

The judging took a long time, and relating to W- sensei, it was difficult, and confusing. (W- sensei was one of the judges).

R- san was the grand winner of speech session, and her sister, also R-san, was the winner of haiku session. Y-san, M-san winners of second place and third place in speech, and F-san and S-san winners of second place and third place of haiku.

I'm really glad that there is an event such like the speech contest.

I'm looking forward the next year contest. -^__^-