February 15, 2021 Is Thrifty Living a Global Thing?

Thrift is a concept that promotes reusing, recycling, up-cycling, and avoiding waste. The students in the 3^rd year studied how about people practiced thrift. Our topics included: Hidden Cultural Foodways, Thrifty Living: The Parent’s Stories and Thrifty Living; Vermont and Canada.

Nagwa-sensei introduced food in Egypt. Pauline from Guyana talked about the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its impact on Guyanese foods. Students tried to make a dish of items they were given (on paper). They named the dish by themselves and later learned how Guyanese used the ingredients to prepare a one-pot dish called Cook-up Rice from leftovers.

Ian introduced students to the words associated with thrift, such as: tightwad, stingy, spendthrift,  Portmanteaus. The students tried to figure out the meanings of freegan = free+vegan; shopaholic= Shop +alcoholic. Students voted based on their spending practices. One was named the thriftiest (always keeps receipts), and another the biggest spendthrift.

Our guest on video was Mrs. Diana Stevenson (Ian-sensei’s mother), who shared her stories of practicing thrift after WWI in Scotland, where she grew up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83AEaiH4ctI

In pre-recorded video interviews with Pauline-sensei, we listened to Mr. Frank Tan and Mrs. Betty Tan (Anne sensei’s parents), who taught us about thrift in the Philippines, Taiwan, and the USA, respectively.

Our other overseas guest was Miss Zeona from South Africa living in Switzerland. She introduced the history of South Africa, its economy and inequities. Students learned about wealth distribution and the use of a traditional banking system called STOKVEL. Lastly, Keith Ikoma-sensei shared how is thrifty or not. Stephanie Reynolds – sensei talked about being thrifty in Vermont. Students learned about garage sales and thrift shopping. Additionally, she shared how she up-cycles her clothing. Stephanie taught the students how to knit using chopsticks!

Students completed journals that included:

• A Summary from Cornell notes
• What you knew and/or didn’t know before
• What surprised you and/or questions arising from the lesson

Excerpts from Journal Entries:

Student A: “We have watched several videos on stories of teacher’s parents. First, it was Ian-sensei’s mother. She experienced tough times when food supply and other things were running out. She needed to be thrifty on lots of things. Ration was also being used to make sure that everybody got supplies equally. She still uses some of these techniques today. Second, it was Anne sensei’s parents. They also have some experiences where they were having thrift in life. Her mom once was given the big shoes and pants in order to save some money when she was a child. Now they’re careful when they go shopping. I didn’t know about the ration thing that existed to help people, and I think it’s a great idea to organize things. I was not that surprised to know that they all have experienced thrift in life because there are lots of problems long time ago, especially after the war.”

Student B: “I heard about Ian sensei’s mother. What she did during the war contributed to her saving money food or anything. She said that she kept wrappers, and ribbons for gifts. I do so even now. When I buy something, the shop gives me good quality bags ribbons and wrappers.  I use them when I have to bring something somewhere or wrap something or so do some decorations. I think this action is really good because it doesn’t waste money to buy them and it helps avoid global warming. I didn’t know the word tightwad and miser they mean greedy I want to use these words from today.”

Student C: I know in South Africa white people are being given preferential treatment and have power in each country in Africa. However, it is more than I could have imagined. I am very surprised because in Japan we don’t have distinction for something, so it was hard to imagine to distinguish but other countries have distinction culture. I have never heard of STOKVEL, too. In Japan, we don’t have that kind, so living in Africa is probably difficult, but I want to live there because I went to America. I got culture shock. I want to see every country and touch directly with their culture.

Student D: With Miss Pauline, we cooked our own dish. I made Mixed Fish Rice dish. I really hate to call this this “Chinese.” I really hate this, but I know this has a good taste. I also mixed words and explained why my dish is a mixing dish. Everyone voted for the thriftiest and the spendthrigt. What are the good points for thrift or what is a bad point for thrift? The good point is to save money and the bad point is to be greedy or too economical. For me, I don’t have money, so I am not thrifty.

Pauline Baird

節約はグローバル？

節約とはリユーズ、リサイクル、アップサイクル、そして無駄遣いを避けることです。3年生の授業で、節約について勉強しました。トピックは文化に隠されたフードウェイ*と倹約生活です。

（*社会科学では、食道は食物の生産と消費に関連する文化的、社会的、経済的慣行です。フードウェイとは、多くの場合、文化、伝統、歴史における食物の交差点を指します。）※ウェキペディアより

ナグワ先生はエジプトの食文化について紹介しました。ガイアナ出身のポーリン先生は大西洋奴隷貿易とそれがガイアナ共和国に与えた影響について話しました。学生は（紙で）渡されたモノを使って料理を作ることに挑戦し、自分たちで料理名を付けました。その後、残り物をひとつの鍋で作るCook-up Riceというガイアナ料理について学びました。

イアン先生は節約と関連する英単語を紹介しました。Tightwad, stingy, spendthrift, Portmanteausなどです。その後、学生はfreegan (free+vegan)とshopaholic (Shop+alcoholic)の２つの単語の意味を推理しました。学生は自分たちのお金の使い方の癖ごとに投票し、ひとりはthrifiest（レシートを集める者）、もうひとりは最強のspendthriftに任命されました。

ゲスト講師としてビデオ出演してくれたのはダイアナ・スティーブンソンさん（イアン先生のお母さま）で、第一次世界大戦後の子供の頃のスコットランドでの節約生活について語ってくれました。

以前にポーリン先生が撮影した動画で、フランク・タンさんとベティ・タンさん（アン先生の両親）からそれぞれフィリピン、台湾、そしてアメリカでの節約生活について聞きました。

もうひとり、海外からビデオ出演してくれたゲストは南アフリカ人で現在スイスにお住まいのZeonaさんでした。彼女は南アフリカの歴史、経済、そして不平等について語ってくれました。学生は富の分配と、STOKVELという伝統的なバンキングシステムについて学びました。最後にキース・イコマ先生が節約の定義について、ステファニー・レイノルズ先生はバーモント州でのガレージセールや節約できるショッピング術についてそれぞれ語ってくれました。ステファニー先生は加えて、割り箸を使って洋服をアップサイクルできる裁縫術を伝授しました。

学生は以下を含んだジャーナルを完成させました。

• コーネル式ノートの要約
• すでに知っていたこと/知らなかったこと
• 驚いたこと/授業に対する疑問

ジャーナルの一部を紹介します。（英語記事最後）

ポーリン・ベアード

February 9, 2021 Snow Hiking

2021年2月6日（土）、白山麓キャンパスの特別活動としてスノーハイキングを行いました。このイベントはNature and Adventure Clubの尾張コーチの企画運営によるものです。参加者はアファフさん、本田さん、勝方さん、酒井さん、中里さん（全員1年生）、尾張コーチ、潟辺先生、フィリップ先生、ナグワ先生と私です。朝9時に白山麓キャンパスを出発し、２０分ほどのところにある岩間林道入り口に車を駐車しました。そこからカンジキを履いてハイキングを開始しました。途中、尾張コーチによるカンジキ歩行や動物の足跡観察のレクチャーが行われました。見晴らしの良い尾根に出たところで休憩、春の兆しを感じる日光浴をしながら、気持ちの良いひと時を過ごしました。１１時過ぎに目的地であるブナオ山観察舎に到着し、双眼鏡を覗いたりイヌワシなどの剥製を観察しました。今シーズン初めて実施したスノーハイクは、全員が安心して楽しむことができたため、来年度以降Nature and Adventure Clubの定例イベントにしていこうと思います。

On February 6 (Sat) 2021, a group of students and teachers went snow hiking near Hakusanroku Campus. This event was organized by Owari coach of the Nature & Adventure Club. Participants were Afaf, Honda, Katsukata, Sakei, Nakazato (all first-year students), Owari coach, Katabe sensei, Philip sensei, Nagwa sensei, and myself. We departed from ICT at 9 am and parked near the entrance to Iwama Rindo, which is about a 20 minute drive from Hakusanroku Campus. We put on our snow shoes and began hiking. On the way, Owari coach gave advice about how to walk with snow shoes and how to observe various animal tracks. There was a nice ridge with a beautiful view and we stopped to take a group photo and enjoy the warm sun. It was a our first glimmer of spring. We arrived at our destination, the Binao Mountain Observatory, and spent time looking through the binoculars and observing the stuffed animals on display such as the golden eagle. I'm glad students were able to safely enjoy this year's first snow hike. Hopefully it can be an event we do every year.

山崎俊太郎
Shuntaro Yamazaki

写真提供：酒井遼（1年）Photos by Ryo Sakei (first year)

February 3, 2021 Things I love about living and working in Hakusanroku

We are approaching the end of our third year of ICT’s new curriculum and new campus. There are many things I love about living and working in Hakusanroku. One of them is the history and culture of this area. I always like to find out about the places I live, and I’ve been trying to do that here by getting involved in the community. I hold monthly English Café events at the local Community Centre, and I made an English translation of the exhibitions at the Hakusan Folk Museum in Shiramine.

Another way of learning about the history and culture of Hakusanroku is through our school’s library, which has some old books about the local area. When browsing one day I pulled a fascinating bilingual book off the shelf: ‘Villages of Tedori River Gorge: The final curtain descends on a way of life, its traditions, and ancient culture’ by Morton W. Huber.

It turns out that Morton Huber was a Professor of Environmental Science at KIT in the 1970s and in his spare time used to travel up to Hakusanroku to paint, draw, and take photographs. This book was published in 1976 and in it Dr. Huber writes about the way of life and culture of people in Hakusanroku, including ningyou jyoruri puppet shows from Higashi-futakuchi and Fukaze, hinoki crafts from Fukaze, and silkworm raising and tree growing in Kuwajima. He also writes at length about the Tedori Dam that was due to be built and many of these villages, and their culture, were due to be lost. As a result, the book has an underlying nostalgia and sadness, along with Dr. Huber’s beautiful photographs and sketches, which evoke a rural way of life that has mostly been lost, but glimpses of which can still occasionally be seen.

I searched for Dr. Huber online and found that he is still alive – aged 97! I think it would be very interesting if his old employer, KIT, got in touch to tell him about the new campus they built in a part of the world that he loved so much.

James Taylor (English Department)

いよいよ国際高専の新しいカリキュラムの3年目が終わります。白山麓に住んで働くといろんないいことがあります。その中の一つはこの地域の歴史と文化です。僕はいつも住んでいる場所のことを詳しく知りたいですから、ここにもコミュニティでいろんな活動をしています。月に１回尾口公民館で「イングリッシュカフェ」というイベントをやったり、白峰にある白山ろく民族資料館に展示してる日本語を英語版を翻訳しました。

そして、国際高専の図書館は白山麓の歴史や文化についての古い本がたくさんあります。ある日、僕はとても面白いバイリンガルな本を１冊見つけました。それは、モートン・ヒューバー先生の「手取峡谷の村落 終幕の下りるとき」という本です。

モートン・ヒューバー先生は1970年代に金沢工業大学で環境工学の教授として働きました。その間に、スケッチや水彩画や白黒の鉛筆画や写真の作品を作るためによく白山麓まで来ました。この1976年に出版された本にモートン・ヒューバー先生は白山麓の歴史と文化を説明します。特に東二口と深瀬の人形浄瑠璃、深瀬のヒノキ笠、桑島の養蚕と山林の木の育ちが注目されています。その時代は手取りダムを作ることが決めたけど、工事はまだ始まってない時でしたから、この本はなくなる文化や生活振りのノスタルジーと残念な気持ちで書いてあると思います。モートン・ヒューバー先生の絵は今の時代にあまり見えない田舎の生活を見せる絵です。でも、現在の白山麓では昔の生活振りが残っているところが時々見えます。

モートン・ヒューバー先生をインターネットで調べたら、まだ97歳で元気にアメリカで暮らしているそうです。モートン・ヒューバー先生が昔働いた大学から「大好きな白山麓に新しいキャンパスが建てました」の連絡があったら面白いと思います。

ジェームス・テイラー（英語科）