When the 'T' Words are Just Too Difficult to Pronunce As a non native English speaker, one of the difficulties I have in pronunciation is pronuncing words that have T in the middle and end with an R. Pronuncing words such as ‘water’, ‘daughter’, and ‘better’ is so arduous. The T is like pronunce somewhere between T and R and I can’t seem to get it right. In the Indonesian language we usually pronounce a very thick T just like in ‘tax’, ‘temper’, and ‘touch’. There were times when I pronunce the word ‘daughter’ using my Indonesian tongue and I got a confused look because of it. And when I tried to correct it using (what I consider as) a ‘native’ pronunciation I got an even more confused look. He eventually knew what I meant after I wrote it in a piece of paper. Another bad experience in pronuncing the ‘T’ words is during my English writing class. I had to say the word ‘castle’ three times and my English professor still didn’t get what I mean. I almost wanted to kill him at that time.

Small Things Matter Some people say that human were created with two ears and one mouth so that human will listen more rather than to speak more. To some point, I agree that we should use our ears more than use our mouth, but in some occasions there are a lot of acts of kindness that people can do with their mouth, for example: 1.Smiling. I have a friend that when she talks she always put a smile on her face. Even it is just a ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’, she adds the ‘smile spice’ in her greetings and the rest of the conversation become delicious. It is difficult not to smile back at her because she always talks with enthusiasm. Sometimes, just to be around her is already a pleasant experience. 2. Giving encouragement. Another friend likes to give words of encouragement, such as, ‘You can do it’, ‘Ganbatte (do your best/good luck), ‘Don’t worry, you’ll improve’. Well, sometimes those words doesn’t have an immediate effect, but still it feels nice to hear that. 3. Paying a compliment. One of my professors has the habit in paying compliments to his students. It looks like he never runs out of positive words, whether it is during class or when he returns our assignment that has been graded. ‘Well done’, ‘good job’, ‘nice works’ and ‘excellent’ are only some of the examples. 4. Wishing people well. Instead of saying ‘bye’ as a farewell, some of my friends will say ‘have a great day’ or ‘ki wo tsukete’ (take care). And I tend to believe that it will indeed bring me a great day, free of troubles. For me, it is just delightful to be surrounded by these acts of kindness, and I am very grateful of that. But if you think that these acts of kindness is not important, imagine if you live in an environment with the reverse quality. It would be awful, right?

The Most Civilized Country is... The most civilized country in the world is a country where the people… 1. Greet each other even with a smile, 2. Prioritize pedestrians who cross the street while they are using expensive car, 3. Stand in line in order to get on the bus, 4. Say ‘thank you’ and ‘good luck’ frequently, 5. Give other people in need, 6. Don’t cat-call to women, 7. Don’t sound their car horn when there is another car broke down in the middle of the street, 8. Don’t take other people’s property without their consent, 9. Don’t judge others based on mere appearances, 10. And instead of judging other people choices with right and wrong, they wish for other people well-being and happiness with their choices.

When Friends Become Numbers Friends... In the end, they are just numbers on your Facebook friends list, Twitter followers, and BlackBerry or WhatsApp contacts. No one to talk to. No one to turn to. No one to hold on to. And then you realize that there is no other person to rely on other than yourself.

The Benefits of Smiling Smiling... This simple facial expression turns out having a lot of benefits, not just for our health and beauty but also for our social interactions. Science provide evidence that smiling reduces stress, boost our immune system, and lower the risk of a heart attack. Some studies also suggest that smiling makes people look younger, more attractive, and trustful to others. For me, some of those benefits are kind of true. Looking at people who put a genuine smile in their faces is so enjoyable. It feels like by smiling they spread their warmth and affection. When a friend talk to me with a smile in her face, I unconsciously talk back with a smile in my face. And somehow it makes me also feel happy. I think most of us will prefer to interact with people who put smiling faces rather than angry faces, won’t we? Not only science, religious teachings are also encourauging the act of smiling. In Islam, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that ‘Even a smile is an act of charity’. In the Bible, it is said that ‘A cheerful look brings joy to the heart’. In Buddhism, there is a ‘Smiling Meditation’ which has the purpose of reducing stress and creating joy and happiness.

My Travel in Uji: Visiting the Genji Monogatari Museum and Making Matcha Today I visited a city called Uji. It is located in southern part of Kyoto city (Uji and Kyoto are in the same prefecture, the Kyoto Prefecture). I went there with my friends by using a taxi which took about 30 minutes. We had two activities while we were in Uji. The first was visiting the Genji Monogatari museum and the second was making matcha (green tea powder). The museum displays accessories, clothes, videos, and other objects which is related to Genji Monogatari. Genji Monogatari is the title of a novel written by a woman named Murasaki Shikibu. This novel is believed as the oldest and the longest novel in the world. It was written in the Heian Era, around 980’s. The novel was about the love story of Hikaru Genji, who was the son of an emperor. He fell in love with a lot of women, including with his stepmother who was married to his father after his mother had passed away. After our visit at the museum, we went to a place (I forget the name) to make matcha (green tea powder). There were different tools to make matcha. I was not sure what were the names for those tools in Japanese, but there was a grinder, a small metal spoon, a brush, a cup, and a wooden spoon. I just knew that the tool for grinding tea was very expensive, around 400.000 yen (that is worth ten months of my apartment rent). In order to make a good matcha, we had to use a certain technic or otherwise the tea will become coarse and bitter. We had to use our hand to roll the grinder counter clock-wise and the grinder had to be rolled for three seconds for every rotation. The rolling process took about 20 minutes. It was a little bit tiring but fun. After we grind the tea leaves (sencha), we put the final product in a cup using the brush and the spoon. From the cup, we put the matcha in a bowl, add some hot water and whisk it using a chasen (a wooden whisker). We drank our own hand-made matcha and it was super delicious. *The content of this story was for writing practice only. For more accurate information please do Google search. However, any correction on its content and grammar will be very much appreciated. Thank you. :)

Body Language: Why Do People Avoid Eye Contact? As a person, I am the kind of a person who like to have a direct eye contact with someone whom I talk to. For me, eye contact helps me build a connection with this person. It can also shows warmth, interest, appreciation, and even love (or the other way around, to show negative emotions, such as sadness, hate, and anger). When I speak to someone and he/she doesn’t (want to) have an eye contact with me, it bothers me...so much. So, to answer my curiousity on this matter, I turn to my smartest bestfriend on earth, Google, to find out about this. And here are some of the findings: 1. People in certain culture do avoid eye contact. It is just the way they show respect, humility (humbleness?), and non-aggresiveness toward other people. For example, children are taught not to look at their parents eyes, subordinates are expected to avoid eye contact with their superiors, and women are not allowed to look at men’s eyes. 2. People do avoid eye contact to show that they just not interested in the topic of the conversation, they are not comfortable with the other person, or simply they just don’t like the person (Ouch, that’s hurt). But... 3. Sometimes shy people avoid eye contact because they like the person but too shy to start an eye contact, too nervous to look at the person, or too confused on what to do next after they have an eye contact (whoaa, it is a bit tricky then). 4. Some people tend to avoid eye contact because they have low self-esteem. These people feel insecure because of their ‘conditions’, such as lower economic background, lower level of education, or lower level of...attractiveness. So, that’s why people avoid eye contact, huh. There are cultural, social, and personal reasons behind it. It turns out that body language is indeed a complex thing. I feel like a scientist by now. I have a laboratory, I collect data, I gather the findings, and I draw the conclusion. Well, not the kind of a ‘scientific' scientist, because it is just trivial matter with unaccredited procedures. But, I gain a new ‘knowledge’ today. Eureka!

Body Language: Your Body Speaks Louder Than Your Words In 1972, Albert Mehrabian, a communications scholar, proposed a formula on the effectiveness of spoken communications. The formula called 7/38/55. He explained that in terms of communicating feelings and attitudes, our body language plays a bigger role on how our verbal message will be perceived by others. The formula suggests that the meaning of our verbal message is 7% depends on the spoken words, 38 % depends on the tone of voice (paralinguistics), and 55 % depends on the facial expression. However, these figures are still debatable among communication scholars and practicians. But to me, even though I can’t measure the exact percentage of each category, I believe that without a proper nonverbal language (eye contact, facial expressions, body and hand movements, our tone of voice), our verbal language can be perceived differently. So one day, my friend and I had a conversation. And during our conversation, she congratulated me over a certain matter. She said, ‘Omedetou gozaimasu’ which means ‘Congratulations’ in Japanese formal/polite style. However, her body language did not seem to support the verbal language that she said to me. She did it without a smile and direct eye contact, with her body attached to her chair, and she used a dropping intonation (instead of a rising intonation). By the way, have you ever congratulated someone with a dropping intonation? Those kinds of body langauge made me question her sincerety, and her ‘congratulations’ sound like ‘that kind of accomplishment is easy. I can do it too’. So, instead of feel like had been praised, I feel like had been mocked. Well, I am not an expert on non verbal communications and I know sometimes people do this non verbal language unintentionally and unconsciously. So, maybe I just have to appreciate the word ‘congratulations’ itself, rather than the meaning that she meant it too. But next time, ‘say it like you mean it’ my friend.

You're awesome! Thank you, For the sun that still rises in the East when I wake up, For the clean air that I breathe, For the hot water for my shower, For the rice in my rice cooker, For the 17.658 yen in my wallet (though I do hope you can add some more). Thank you, for today and for everything else. You're awesome!