American movies with a Christmas theme come out at the end of each year. A couple of weeks ago, I heard about an interesting movie from 2023. It was at a movie theater in Nagoya, so I took my wife to see it. “The Holdovers” takes place at a boys’ boarding school in the snowy northeast of the U.S. Most of the boys go home for Christmas, but a few unlucky ones have to stay at the school. The teacher who looks after them is very strict. Nobody is happy at first, but they change as they get to know each other. The movie is very funny and sometimes sad, and the acting is great. My wife and I don’t always agree, but both of us loved this movie! (129 words) You can send me comments or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Matsuyama Hideki got off to a great start this year. Last week, he won the Sentry tournament, the first PGA Tour tournament of the year. If you know golf, you know that the lower the score you get, the better. A very good golfer can get a par score for each hole. If you go under par, you are playing very well. A PGA tournament lasts four days, and golfers play one round of 18 holes each day. In the first two days, Matsuyama got eight under par for each round. In the third round, he got an amazing 11 under par. In the last round, he got eight under par again. His total was 35 under par for the tournament. He made history with the lowest total score ever for a PGA tournament! (134 words) You can send me comments or a story at jaremaga@gmail.com

I have finished the Korean course in Duolingo. I kept studying with this app for 10-15 minutes almost every day for two years. I never gave up because Duolingo is a very understanding app. If you sometimes miss a day, it’s okay. In any case, all good things come to an end, and I finished the course last month. What did I learn from Duolingo? It really helped me with my reading, especially when I had to listen to a Korean sentence and put the words in the correct order. I learned helpful phrases and vocabulary as well as grammar. Duolingo didn’t help me become a better speaker, but that was partly my fault. I should have practiced shadowing more. My New Year’s resolution this year is to read and practice shadowing Korean every day. (135 words) You can send me a comment or story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Christmas is a great time to be in the U.S., but I like to be in Japan at the New Year. I always go to a temple in Nagoya at the end of December and help them make “kagami mochi.” They let me bring rice and make my own rice cakes, too. We steam the rice over a fire, and when it is ready, we put it into a stone mortar and pound it with a wooden pestle. Everyone is welcome, and the temple serves freshly-made rice cakes with sweet beans, bean powder, or soy sauce to all the visitors. It is a very Japanese event, but at the same time it is very international. Some foreign students from Nagoya University come for the experience. This time, I met people from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and Namibia. (137 words) You can send me a comment or story at jaremaga@gmail.com

This is the last post of the year. It’s been a year of big changes at Jaremaga. Until April of 2024, Jaremaga was an email magazine, but then I started making a video for each story and posting it on YouTube. I never imagined that I would become a YouTuber! It is a lot more work, but I think it’s important for language learners to hear the language as well as read it. Now it’s time for my New Year’s resolutions, and I have two for 2025. I want to go birdwatching with veteran birdwatchers at least once a month. I also want to improve my Korean by reading something every day. I wish there were a Korean Jaremaga! What are your New Year’s resolutions? Let me know and I will post them on the first Readers’ Corner of 2025. (140 words)

When I walk my daughter’s dog, we often cross a busy old shopping street. The other day, I noticed an unusual barbershop. It had a long message written on a large window facing the street. I looked at it more closely and was surprised. The English was correct, and the message was actually a good advertisement for a barbershop. I especially liked the last line that said, “You are but a few steps away from the future you.” I tried to imagine what the future me would look like after a visit to the barbershop. Then, I noticed a sign that said, “By appointment only.” Making an appointment was a hassle. I wasn’t that interested in the future me after all. (121 words)