英語学習にも役立つ、札幌の外国人英語教師の英語日記 札幌 英会話 [ステップアップ]

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2015年9月5日 (土)

I think autumn is the most wonderful time of the year here in Sapporo.

I would like to share a few adjectives that I think are good for describing something about autumn in Sapporo.  You can try to guess what I am thinking about.

Autumn in Sapporo is:

delicious
beautiful
crisp
refreshing
aromatic
sweet
flavorful
relaxing
peaceful
bright
golden
chilly
crowded
fresh
tangy
fashionable
surprising
always changing
smoky
colorful
bittersweet
crimson
comfortable
gray
misty

Bon dance

2015年8月26日 (水)

Hello everyone! I hope you had a fun summer holiday. I know some of you worked during the summer so I hope your work wasn`t too busy. Anyway, as everyone knows, I love yukatas. This year I bought a new yukata and wore it to dance in Odori Park. For some reason my new yukata was much more difficult to wear than my old blue one. This year I chose a green yukata with a purple obi belt. I felt the green was a little more mature but the purple was a little fun. Dancing in Odori Park was super fun and I made lots of friends that night. Japanese people also greet me so warmly when I wear a yukata and talk more openly to me.

I decided to share a photo of my yukata this year. I think it is more unique that last year`s one (you can see last year`s yukata on a diary post from last year!). Which colour is better? Which do you prefer; bright colours or darker colours? There are so many choices!!!! Next I want to try wearing a Kimono 😀

Kinbi

2015年8月22日 (土)

Some of you might know that I enjoy going to the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art (Kinbi) whenever I have free time.  Their current exhibition (which ends tomorrow) is a collection of French impressionist paintings, mostly from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kinbi is a small museum, but they have a lot of interesting exhibitions, and I am rarely disappointed by my experience there.  I enjoyed this exhibition, too, but I did feel that there were very few 19th century French impressionist paintings mixed in with a variety of other styles of paintings.  I was hoping to see more Renoir, Cezanne, and of course, Monet.

I am always impressed by the huge number of people who come to the museum near the end of an exhibition.  I went this Wednesday morning, thinking that there would not be very many guests at the museum at that time.  I was wrong!  There was a line of people waiting to buy tickets, and the whole exhibition was crowded with people viewing the paintings.  It was so noisy and crowded that I put in earphones and listened to some Debussy piano music.  (This was appropriate because Debussy was, in my opinion, an impressionist composer.)

I had a good experience, but I decided that in the future, I shouldn’t go to an exhibition during its last week.

I once had an exhibition almost completely to myself: I went to see the Taka Kikukawa exhibition at about 4:15pm on a Friday afternoon, and there were no other guests.  I enjoyed that experience much more.

Treehouse

2015年7月10日 (金)

When I was 11 years old, my father told me he wanted to build a treehouse for my brother and sister and I to play in. He said it would be big and that he needed my help. I was  eager to help with the construction and imagined playing in the treehouse a few months later.

I didn’t really understand how big he meant until, after a month of working weekends, we had erected four telephone poles around a large black walnut tree behind my parents house. These were the supports for the structure. From there, construction continued at a snail’s pace.

Fast forward 25 years.

The treehouse is 95% finished. It has 3 stories, electricity for ceiling fans and a refridgerator, glass windows, insulation and the entire structure has been painted. Nearby, my brother built a stone fire pit and he and my mother landscaped the surrounding property with flowers.

What started as a summer project became a 25-year long excercise in experimental architecture. My family regularly holds parties at the treehouse and if I visit in the summer, I always have a relaxing place to stay for a few nights.

England is crazy hot!

2015年7月2日 (木)

Hello everyone! Are you enjoying this lovely…er weather? It has been so dull. The sky has been a lovely british shade of gray! It almost makes me homesick. Whenever I check the waether app on my iphone, I always check my hometown too. Today my hometown was 30 degrees!!!!! I have never heard of my hometown being that hot in July! I think England is hotter than Spain right now. Now, people might be thinking that they should visit England because its so lovely and hot but I really recommend that you dont! Do you know why? England isnt ready for such hot weather so all the transportation and shops will be boiling. I dont think England has air conditioning (at least I havent seen it). So my advice for you is; go when it rains! Us Brits are totally ready for rain and gray skies. We are experts in it!!!