November 30, 2015

Connor's farewell message

Hello people, Connor here;


At the end of September my selection in the Young Socceroos for the 2016 Asian cup qualifying campaign was confirmed and i was incredibly excited to join up with the boys in Sydney for our pre-tournament training camp. Fortunately, the squad was based in the Crowne Plaza, a hotel on Coogee Beach which was 10 minutes away from my house so it was wonderful to be back in and around familiar territory. After a week of training, preparation and massage on-request, we were off to Vientiane in Laos to start our three game campaign against Laos, Philippines and Japan.


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Upon our arrival we were welcomed with hot humid climate and some girls who were waiting to take photos (which was a bit of a surprise), but they were quickly ushered away by our massage therapist/security. We stayed at the Mercure Hotel and for three days we acclimatised to the conditions by training each day at the times our games would be played.


Our first game came against the Philippines and it was definitely a success as we put six past them, conceding zero. It was quite a surreal experience playing in the colours of your country in a big stadium, it was definitely something I won’t forget.

The second game against Laos didn’t go as smooth as our first, but, we did manage to get a 2-0 win. Unfortunately, our last game against Japan which I didn’t play in we went down 3-0. All in all, it was an amazing experience going away with the boys and we were able to qualify for the tournament next year.


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Unfortunately, my selection in the Young Socceroos cut short my stay in Japan and at Seiritsu as my new club Adelaide United FC expected me to join the squad in Adelaide as soon as I got back from Laos. I was very sad to be leaving Seiritsu but this day was always going to come and it made me reflect upon the dozens of memories and relationships that have been made over the past three years.

Looking back upon the previous 3 years made me realise that coming to this school was one of my best decisions as it helped me achieve my goals which was to develop my athletic ability and language skills whilst growing as a person.


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None of this would have been possible without the support of all the staff, especially the International Department’s Brent and Peter who helped me tremendously with everything from school to everyday life and made my stay far more enjoyable. Also Yamamoto Coach and Miyauchi ‘Kantoku’ were instrumental in my development as a footballer. I would like to thank everyone at Seiritsu who made my time in Japan an enjoyable experience!


Thank you,

Connor


It was great having you here Connor, and it's fantastic to have seen you develop into a great person and player! - PW

November 24, 2015

Meg's potato picking experience!

Meg here!


On November 12 we went to do Imohori, potato picking in English .

First I waited for Emilie and Melissa at Akabane station and then we went together to Higashi Washinomiya.


When we got there we met with our classmates and changed our clothes. Then we went to the hatake (field) to get imo (poatatoes). We dug for sweet potatoes and then normal potatoes first.
I did Imohori with my friend Julia.


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While we we were digging there were worms and a lot of other insects.The boys were playing with the insects by throwing them at the girls.


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Then I counted the potatoes and separated them up with Julia. We got so many potatoes, we used 6 plastic bags to take them all home!
After digging we had Curry. In the curry there were potatoes, and the rice for the curry is the rice that we harvested at inekari (rice harvesting) during last term.


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After everything finished we went back to Washinomiya station and headed to Ikebukuro .
First we took purikuras at round one (a famous amusement chain with arcades and bowling alleys, etc) and after that we hung out at Ikebukuro .

November 20, 2015

New International Student: Say Hello, Toby!

Hello!


I am Toby, I am on a student exchange from Australia for Japan and this is my second time coming here. I am in Japan for one month and I am here planning to extend my Japanese studies, experience the culture and make new friends. I am currently staying in Saitama with a host family who are very welcoming and kind. Japan is a great city with a lot of great opportunities, so I plan to return to Japan when I am older and further continue my studies.


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Back home, I live in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia and attend Cranbrook School[this school, Toby included, visited seiritsu last year! -PW]. I have been studying Japanese in Australia for three years in my school, but I felt that I was not getting enough out of my Japanese class in school, so I decided to organise an exchange to Tokyo.


So far, it has been an incredible experience; meeting new people, attending a new school and definitely the bustle of Tokyo transport from home to school everyday. It is a great experience that will never be forgotten and I'm sure there are also many more to be had.


Toby Fellas

November 16, 2015

Mel goes potato picking!

Hello! Mel here!
On November 12 I went to do Imohori (potato digging) with my class. The school has its own plots of land in a place about an hour away called Higashi Washinomiya [This is where the athlete students have their dorms, and it is also the are where Seiritsu has its rice fields - PW] so we all travelled there by train.


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First we dug up sweet potatoes using shovels, although in some places the sweet potatoes were buried quite deep in the ground so it was hard work! Next we dug up white potatoes! I haven't eaten mine yet but they looked really good and fresh! The only sad thing about the day was the bugs and spiders in the soil! I even saw some of the boys in my class playing catch with a worm!


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Me and my friend Hana made a yukidaruma (snowman) out of mud which was really cute!! Imohori was really fun and it was such a nice feeling going on a school trip with the class and getting closer to everyone!


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-Mel-

November 10, 2015

Laurence's October Web Post!

Laurence here!


A lot happened this month, but one of the most memorable things definitely was my school trip to the Emperor’s palace with the international department. Our visit started at Tokyo Station, which is officially already on imperial grounds.


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When we arrived on the site, we were not allowed to walk past a certain point. We didn’t know why at first but then we noticed that something was going out of the palace grounds : two carriages led by beautiful horses and escorted by cars were on their way out! Inside were probably members of the emperor’s family and we were just in time to see them off. Not exactly a sight you get to see ever day right? Lucky us!


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We walked past the moats and headed to one of the numerous entrances to the gardens. There’s actually around 32 of these entrances, that were built in order to confuse invaders and break their momentum.


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The international students, Teresa and I got to listen to many interesting and intricate stories at key locations throughout the day. We were very lucky to have Brent and Peter and our knowledgable guides! They were also willing to let us take the time to stop and take lots of pictures, which was appreciated.


Our visit ended at Yasukuni Shrine. Past the gates, the actual shrine felt very peaceful. There were dozens of chrysanthenums in blooms neatly lined up near the main shrine, along with some trees and ikebana. It was a nice relief from the ever so present noises of the city, which have been personally a bit hard to get used to.It was a very fun day and even though the areas we visited are probably going to be very crowded then, I’m still considering going back in the spring when the cherry trees are in bloom.


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Lastly, I want to talk about a little about the one thing people associate with October in the West : Halloween! Although it hasn’t been celebrated here for very long, Halloween has been slowly but surely becoming more popular in Japan in recent years. Huge parties are held in the bigger wards and you see decorations everywhere, even in "konbinis"! In grocery stores, tons of limited editions of snacks and sweets with jack ‘o’ Lanterns pop up, neatly wrapped in cute orange and black packaging. That being said, while pumpkin is popular here during October, pumpkin spice isn’t so much, which is a big difference with the West. Halloween seems to be more cute than scary here, and more focused on dressing up and catering to children. So while grown ups definitely use it as an excuse to throw costume parties, you probably wont see people dressing up ( or parents dressing up their kids) as visual representation of puns or semi-obscure references to pop culture, which has become increasingly popular in the West.


See you next month!!


-Laurence-

November 5, 2015

A quick introduction from Tai.

こんにちは、私の名前は劉大鵬です。


Hello. My name is Tai. I am from Beijing,China. I came to Seiritsu Gakuen in April.


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My club is basketball club, because I like playing basketball.
I am enjoying studying at Seiritsu. It's difficult for me, but I will try my best.
My classmates are very friendly. I don't feel very strange.
We also have many interesting days. We had an event in September and we had a small trip last week.


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My club has had many games with the other clubs. They were so fun.


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Bye

November 5, 2015

Seiritsu Gakuen on TV!

We can now announce a big secret..


It was an exciting time for all students at Seiritsu Gakuen on Monday October 5, as famous veteran J-pop idol group V6 came to visit the school!


Under sworn secrecy the band arrived just after the lunch bell rang, to tour the grounds and interact with all students as part of their 20th anniversary special TV program "Let's go to school".


They also faced our national championship winning futsal side in a small game, which we won 1-0 thanks to an own goal!


The 20th anniversary program was aired on November 3. We are unable publish pictures for copyright reasons, but we know for sure that there are some videos around.. !


Peter Williams
International Department Coordinator

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about Seiritsu

Seiritsu Gakuen is a private co-educational high school created in 1925 and it is located in Tokyo, Japan.

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