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]

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2010年4月6日 (火)

Hello everyone,

Last week I had a much appreciated four day holiday. I spent time doing a lot of things I had been wanting to get done in the past few weeks. I made some jewelry, caught up with my email, and did some much-needed cleaning in my apartment.

But the highlight of my vacation was going to the Round One game center with my little sister. I must admit I’m not fond of games-even as a child I considered games to be something of a conspiracy organized by my teachers and fellow school mates in order to torture me. But I did enjoy my time at Round One.

For one thing, I hadn’t spent time with my little sister in quite awhile-she’s fourteen years old, and has just entered her third year of junior high school, so needless to say she is quite busy with her studies. So, it was nice to have a chance to spend time together, just the two of us.

We started with a game of pool. Though I am a meager pool player myself, I was able to teach her some of the basic principles of the game. After that we played a game of badminton-I’m not sure who won as neither of us seemed to be keeping track of the score. We moved on to archery, then on down to the arcade, where we proceeded to play all sorts of games, most of which I had never heard. Since my Japanese reading skills are minimal, my sister had to do all of the reading for me, figure out how the games worked, and teach me how to play them. She was very patient with me, which was nice 😉 Finally, we each donned a pair of inline skates to do a few laps around the skate rink.

We ended our adventure at my favorite Indian restaurant, Mayoor, (North 23, West 5) where I introduced my little sister to some of my favorite Indian snacks: samosas and papad with yogurt and vegetable salad (raita), which she really seemed to enjoy.

Until last week, I hadn’t really played in a long time. It was nice to know that even as an “adult” I can still enjoy a day of good, clean fun from time to time.

Thanks, see you next time!

Luella

Reminiscing

2010年3月24日 (水)

Hey hey! How is everyone today? The sun is out and I`m in a good mood. Recently I have been reminiscing (thinking about my past memories) about my childhood favorite author. When I was a child I liked Roald Dahl, I especially loved the book “BFG” (The Big Friendly Giant).  It`s a story about a massive giant who makes friends with a small girl.  It was my favorite story from when I was maybe 5 years old until I was about 10.  Do you guys have any favorite childhood Japanese stories? I`d love to hear about them!!! If they are simple enough, maybe I can read them 😀 Anyway, enjoy the lovely sunny weather. Have a good one.

Tokyo

2010年3月15日 (月)

Hey everyone! I just got back from Tokyo and I must admit that I DO love shopping in Tokyo.  Tokyo has so much choice and wicked shops.  I think its great for the weekend, but I wouldnt want to live there.  Everyone is so busy and I guess their jobs must be hard because when I asked for help, the staff sometimes werent so helpful.  I definitely like Sapporo best. Which do you prefer?  I think most people like Sapporo best.

I`d say it`s...

2010年3月8日 (月)

They say the Eskimos in Alaska have 100 different words to describe snow. Yesterday, while snowboarding I was wondering which word an Eskimo might use to describe the conditions. I don`t know what they would say, but in English the conditions were slushy (zaku zaku in Japanese). Perhaps you`ve heard this word before. Slush is essentially partially melted snow and ice mixed with water. These days, when the sun shines warmly for a few hours, the sidewalks become slushy (making it difficult to ride my bike…). At Rusutsu yesterday, here and there the snow was soft and wet: slushy spring conditions. Lot`s of fun! I hope you`ve got good boots for the slushy city sidewalks that are coming soon!

Pessimist or Optimist?

2010年2月25日 (木)

Hey up! So snowboard season is coming to a close and I`m looking forward to some spring cycling. Now I`m planning my cycle route for golden week.  Im hoping to do maybe a 6 day tour.  If I dont start planning it, I`ll be depressed that snowboard season is coming to a close.  I think it`s important to look ahead with optimism. Are you an optimist or pessimist?  (you can`t cheat and say you`re a “realist”, which is a mixture of the two).  Anyway, hope you`re all not getting too wet with the slushy snow.  Have a good one !