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Copyright 2005 SIU e-Learning Section All rights reserved.
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Immigrating to America

America is a country of immigrants, we often hear. The strength and energy of America are often attributed to the waves of immigrants who have sought a new life during the country’s more than 200-year history. Ironically, immigrants who start a new life in America sometimes decide that their new country would be better if future immigrants were denied the chance to enter. This is happening again in 2006 under President Bush. When Bush was governor of Texas, he was popular with Hispanic voters. He supported immigration from Mexico into Texas. But now Bush is supporting a new law restricting immigration into the U.S. Mexicans will be most affected by such a law. Mexican parents often name their babies John or Mary instead of Juan and Maria. Why? Because they assume their children will immigrate to the United States when they are old enough to work. Mexican elementary teachers commonly find that their students are already dreaming of going to America to live and work. Currently, Mexicans in the U.S. are sending back 20 billion dollars every year to their poor relatives who stay in Mexico. In fact, there are 11 million Mexicans living in the U.S. now.


S. Walker

Being poor isn’t always bad

Stanford University in California has decided to allow poor students to attend the university for free. “Poor” means that their parents’ annual income is less than $45,000 (5 million yen). This is good news for those students because the cost of a private college education in the United States is increasing every year. In the coming year, Stanford's undergraduate tuition will be $32,994 (3.9 million yen), and total costs including room, food, books, transportation and personal expenses will average $47,000 (5.5 million yen).
A Stanford Admissions Office staff member commented, "When Jane and Leland Stanford created the university in 1890, they wanted students admitted based on their abilities, their future potential and their willingness to work hard, and not on whether or not they could pay the cost of tuition. “
About 76 percent of Stanford undergraduates receive some form of financial aid. The average amount of financial aid is $28,700 (3.4 million yen). In addition to support from parents based on their ability to pay, students are expected to contribute money from their summer job, to work during the academic year, and to take advantage of student loans.


S. Walker

Asahiyama Zoo

One day last week, my wife and I went to Asahikawa to see the Asahiyama Zoo. It was a cold and windy day near the end of March, but still the zoo welcomed many visitors.
There were tour groups from Fukuoka, Osaka, and even Taiwan, plus guests from Russia, as well as from all over Hokkaido and other parts of Japan. There were many families and couples on dates. The Fukuoka group was mostly made up of elderly people.

Asahiyama was the second most popular zoo in Japan in 2005 with 2,607,648 customers. Only the much larger Ueno Zoo in Tokyo had more customers than Asahiyama. The zoo had a yearly profit of ?980,000,000. The zoo owes its popularity to the innovative exhibits featuring such animals as penguins, polar bears, sea lions, and orangutans. I especially enjoyed the penguin exhibit. You can get very close to these fascinating birds. If you have the chance, please visit this wonderful Hokkaido tourist attraction.


Jerry Halvorsen

Baseball Season has Started!

The opening day of baseball season is always one of my favorite days of the year. I really can’t wait to get to the ballpark. This year was even better than usual as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters opened their season at the Sapporo Dome for the first time in their three-year existence. My family and I were among the capacity crowd of 42,300 for the game against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Saturday March 25.
It was great the game was sold out. Prior to the game, popular outfielder SHINJO led the Fighters players on the field by riding on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. The other starting members rode to their positions in sidecars of motorcycles driven by members of Harley Davidson Japan. Best of all was the fact the Fighters beat the Eagles 3 to 1. Ace pitcher Kanemura got the win and World Baseball Classic star Ogasawara Michio hit a first inning home run to lead the team. I hope to see some good baseball this year and I’m looking forward to being at the Sapporo Dome again soon.

Jerry Halvorsen

White Sox Receive Championship Rings

Prior to their 2006 season opening game against the Cleveland Indians on April 2, the Chicago White Sox, winners of the 2005 World Series, can look forward to another tradition that goes with winning a championship. Each player and coach will receive a ring to commemorate the event. Players who retire or are traded will still get a ring. However, the players and coaches are not the only ones who will receive this souvenir of success. The owner(s), of course, will get a ring along with the minor league managers, scouts, and even many of the office staff who work for the team. The budget for championship rings for one of the four major sports leagues in North America (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) is around $1,000,000 for a total of 500 or so rings. That’s nearly $20,000 per ring! Each ring will probably have several diamonds and a unique design. They are beautiful works of art as well as jewelry.
The first championship rings were those given to members of the 1893 Montreal Amateur Athletic Association Hockey Club, the winners of the first Stanley Cup in the National Hockey League. This tradition continued and spread to other sports.
Nowadays, everyone in the organization of a pro sports team wants to earn a ring.

Jerry Halvorsen

The Struggle of Botswana

If you have some free time on Saturday afternoon March 11, why don’t you head out to the Ebetsu International Center. Mari Ujie, a former aid worker to Botswana, will give a presentation about her two years of living in the African nation. Her talk and slide show will cover the difficulties of working in Africa and the daily struggle to survive that people have to endure. She will also talk about her ideas on what we can do to better help those people who are most in need. It should be a very interesting event.
Guest presenter: Mari Ujie, former aid worker to Botswana
Date: Saturday March 11, 2006
Time: 2:00 ? 3:30 p.m.
Place: Ebetsu International Center, near Nopporo JR Station
For more information please call 011-381-1111 between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.



Jerry Halvorsen

Fiddling Around the World Charity Concert

“Fiddling Around the World” is the theme for the annual Hokkaido International School charity concert to be held on Saturday April 15, 2006 at the small hall in the Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara. There will be two shows; one at 3:00 p.m. and a second show at 7:00 p.m. The concert features the violin playing of Ms. Mayumi Kano the concert master of the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Kano has won several awards in international competitions. She will be accompanied by Ms. Junko Sugino on the piano. Ms. Sugino is a regular guest on the NHK FM program, Afternoon Recital. There will be several numbers performed with Airi Lin, a well-known performer on the Chinese hammer dulcimer. The Hokkaido International School elementary and secondary choirs will also join the musicians for a variety of songs from many nations. Tickets are ?2,000 for adults, ?1,000 for students and ?500 for children. Adults are asked to donate ?500 to benefit the school’s scholarship program for students from developing nations. The proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the HIS music program. Please call Hokkaido International School at 011-816-5000 for more information. Why not come out to enjoy the music and aid a good cause at the same time? I hope to see you at the show.



Jerry Halvorsen

Make your own happiness

Polls show Americans are no happier today than they were 50 years ago despite significant increases in prosperity, decreases in crime, cleaner air, larger houses and a better overall quality of life. Maybe this is because it takes less effort to be unhappy than to be happy. It requires some effort to achieve a happy outlook on life, and most people don't make it.
Happiness is 50 percent genetic. What you do with the other half of the challenge depends largely on your effort. Money does not buy happiness for most people.
One route to more happiness comes during creative or playful activity. Athletes, musicians, writers, gamers, and religious people know the feeling. It comes less from what you're doing than from how you do it.
Here is some good advice: Make lists of things for which you're grateful in your life, be kind to people, forgive your enemies, notice life's small pleasures, take care of your health, practice positive thinking, and invest time and energy into friendships and family. People who are grateful, optimistic and forgiving have better experiences with their lives, more happiness, fewer strokes, and higher incomes.



S. Walker

Lottery Winners Share $365 Million

The winners of the biggest prize in U.S. lottery history claimed their money last week. Eight workers of the ConAgra ham processing plant in Lincoln, Nebraska will share the winnings. Each of the eight, seven men and one woman, will receive $15.5 million after taxes in a one-time payout. Three of the winners are immigrants to the U.S. Two of them are from Viet Nam and one is from the Congo. Quang Dao, age 56, still has family in Viet Nam. He will use some of the money to help them financially. Dao came to the United States in 1988.

Alain Maboussou, age 26, escaped the civil war in the Congo in 1999. He and his wife have a three-month baby girl. “She’s going to be happy for the rest of her life,” Maboussou said. Maboussou said that workers would often pool their money if the lottery reached $40 million.

The odds of winning were about 146 million to one. For comparison, the population of Japan is slightly more than 127 million people.



Jerry Halvorsen