EECC

これはＥＥＣＣを検索しているうちに平成22年5月5日の部分を見つけた。ＥＥＣＣ立ち上げの意図が説明されているので、この活動を紹介するときには役に立つと思われる。
　
　昨年（Ｈ２１）の夏、日光清風塾のボランティア活動の一つとして、友人と楽しい英会話クラブ（EECCC=Enjoyable English Conversation Club）を立ち上げた。今年になってそれが下野新聞に紹介されたのをきっかけに英語が何とか話せるようになりたい一心の多くの人がこのクラブのある旧今市中心街の空き店舗に集まり始めている（この店舗は一年後売却されたため、その後は市民活動支援センターで活動は続けられている）。恥ずかしいからとか、今さらといった消極的な思いを見事に捨てて、たった２，３カ月でその閉鎖性を突破。心を開いた好感度の高いおもてなしの環境づくりを目指して、全員が仲良く元気に大きな声を出しながら歩み始めている。そんなクラスに私自身が大変励まされ、鼓舞されている。6年前に夫が退官したのをきっかけに夫の故郷に戻り、夫は大学で教鞭をとりながら新しい人生に挑戦している。シニア世代に入っているからこそ、私も置き去りにされたくないという思いと地域のために出来ることがある筈という思いが重なってこのクラブを立ち上げた。恥をかきそうな自分を守ろうとする殻をまず破る勇気が最初の一歩。殻を破ると異なった世界が広がり、新たな事がどんどん吸収されてくる。人が集まるところには必ず情報が集まる。 世界には知らないことが一杯溢れていることに気付かされ、人生が豊かに楽しいものに変わっていく。夫のキャリアのお蔭で約20年間、8カ国もの異なる文化を持った国々での生活体験を活かしながらも、このクラブから又一つ新しい体験を得ることに感謝し、新しい生き方に挑戦している。まだまだこれからという思いで胸が高鳴っている。（平成22年5月5日　水曜日）
　For the sake of my friends abroad, an English translation is shown below:
In summer last year, 2009, I set up a new voluntary activity under the auspice of the Nikko Seifuu Juku (a private cultural body providing lectures or seminars for local cityzens of which the chairman is my husband) with a help of my friend. This activity is named EECC (Enjoyable English Conversation Club). In February this year, thanks to the local newspaper Shimotsuke which introduced our activity on the paper, many local people have shown up in this club EECC located in one of the closed shops along the main street of the former Imaichi city(This place was sold a year later and we moved to the Nikko citizen's activity support center). Throwing away their shyness and negative feeling, they have started speaking out loudly to create a better atmosphere to induce good friendship with mind wider opened. Their eagerness to learn English and cheerfulness to get acquainted with as many friends as possible have now encouraged us a lot.
 It was 6 years ago when my husband retired from MOF and we moved back to his native town. Instead of indulging himself in a pension life, however, he wanted to challenge another new life. He has now been involved in teaching on an academic campus since then. Well, myself, I didn't want to be left behind and on top of that feeling, I myself ssought to do something useful in this local city. Then I found my new way to challenge another life. The first step is to break up a stubbornly closed shell protecting itself. Doing so, we can find a new wonderful world through which many interesting things come into our mind and give us a chance to think more about human life. Many information is to flow into the place many people gather. We can finally notice that the world is full of strange and interesting things. More we get to know the world, more enjoyable our life will be,I think.
My husband's career gave me a chance to live in 8 different countries for around 20 years where I experienced lots of different cultures and customs which made me face some difficulties one hand and a courage and pleasure on the other hand. (Our 3 children were always with us facing these different situations.) I now find myself challenging a new experience here to seek for a new life with an inspired feeling. I have a dream one day all those people in this EECC at least will be able to speak to foreign visitors wandering around in Nikko and help them to enjoy their visit and conversation with local people to have better understanding each other!!!