ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

As the title says, what is this odd chocolate I'm eating? I got this as a gift, and I must say it's actually pretty good. I has a hint of bacon flavor but the flavors that really stand out are the salty and sweet notes that smack you right in the face! Overall I am actually enjoying this chocolate. I'm a fan of sweet and salty mixed flavors so maybe that's why I like it so much.

Do you like weird flavored chocolate? Usually if I see something like this I'll definitely buy it. I like to try new things and weird chocolate is one of them!

- James Barbosa  

It's nearly the end of August, and that means the end of the spring/summer term at Gem. With the start of the new term comes new students, students advancing, and class rearranging. And of course, schedule rearranging for the teachers. It is inevitable, it will always happen, but it can still be sad. For some teachers, there will always be that one class with the student (or students) that really brighten their day, or the class that is so fun they want to teach it forever, or even a class where they once had a struggling student who has improved greatly, and want to continue watching and helping them grow. I know I have a few classes like that, I will be losing those classes for sure. It's all a part of life, though, especially when it comes to children. They grow up, move on, and possibly won't be seen again. Agh, it makes me so depressed! I guess the only consolation is if I was able to leave a (positive) lasting effect on my students. And if they remember me at all down the line, I'm sure I would be very happy! In the meantime, it's time to prepare for all the new and returning students! I hope I can make things more fun and enjoyable than before!  

Lately I have noticed that it is starting to get much cooler (or at least, not as hot, for those of you who think it is still hot, :p). That, plus the fact that it is already starting to get dark between 6 and 7 pm, can only mean one thing: summer is coming to a close. And that makes me really, really, really sad. It's already well known that my favorite season is summer. But what makes me really sad is that I feel like I didn't get to enjoy summer all that much this year. I mean, I have only been to the beach a few times, and most of those times I didn't even go near the water, let alone go swimming. In fact, the one time I did go swimming was for my birthday party, at the river, and that was brief as well. I don't think I was outside all that much this summer. either. A lot of my time was spent indoors, with preparation for Summer Tour, among other things. I guess the one thing I did get to enjoy, at least, is watching all the fireworks. I definitely saw more this year than last. And I was able to go to the Zenigata festival, which I couldn't do last year.
All in all, I am a bit disappointed in how my summer went, and sad to see it go. At least I do have something to look forward to in autumn: more festivals! I can't wait for October, because I am gonna get my festival fun on!


  

This past weekend I got to spend a lot of time with my best friend!!! We had a lot of fun! We ate Every flavored Jelly Beans, we went to the Street Mall, we went to the pier, we took really cool pictures, and we had dinner with even more people! I had a lot of fun! This next weekend I want to have even more fun! Make sure you spend time with your friends. Time is the best thing to help friendships grow! You get to know each other better, make good memories, and have tons of fun! I hope everyone gets to go out and have as much fun as I am having!  

When I was in Canada I collected a lot of things. I think I got the habit from my grandmother, she always collected things too. I've always been what you might call a "pack rat", I keep lots of things around me, whether I need them or not. I've always collected porcelain dolls, the traditional western kind that have round faces and pretty dresses. My grandmother would give me one every year for Christmas and I always looked forward to it. My friends thought they were creepy. :p
I also collected books, nail polish and lots of other things I don't need. Everything is at my parents home in Canada now, but it's strange not to be surrounded by it. I've started collecting things here in Japan too, even though I need to be careful since we don't have much space. It's a habit I just can't break!  

Recently I've been working on planning some vacations!
This September my parents are coming to visit me, and we'll be very busy! We're planning to go to Tokyo, spend time in Kanonji, and visit Osaka. To take my parents to all these places means I need to do a lot of planning, but I've never planned a vacation before so I didn't realize how much thought it takes.Booking flights and hotels, making reservations. It's fun but hard!
I'm so excited to spend time with my parents and show them all of the places I love to go, all this planning is really going to be worth it when they get here.
I can't wait!  

I had to stop studying Japanese for over a month due to personal circumstances, so I basically forgot all of the intermediate grammar points that I spent some time memorizing in preparation for the JLPT N4 test. Intermittently, sure, I would try my old hand at relearning the matters lost in the meantime, but it was always too discouraging to take the reacquisition phase seriously, since I seem to be getting by in Japan without this alleged intermediate grammar knowledge. However, now that Summer season has passed and all my music and Japanese lessons are starting back up again, I recently encountered again the joy of this language, and of learning in general. In the close up of this picture of my acquisition of a foreign language I see the goal of making some friends and to understand my students better, so that way at least in the classroom of children I can translate the words that they slip out in their native language. But in the larger scope of things, I see myself putting my Japanese skills to use in translation and interpretation, as well as to do some scholar’s work on contemporary Japanese literature and thoughts. Pictured below is the recent book I bought from Tokyo’s Jimbocho, the famous “book town.” It is a book of haikus, poems short enough to memorize, and if I were as focused as I should be, I should attempt to memorize one haiku a day. I know I don’t, and I won’t, do that, but this book has become my recent bedtime reading material. It’s very nice to see the Japanese language evolve and then to be revived in its tradition in the modern sensibilities of this particular haiku poet. I think the next step for me in my restarted studies of the language is to actually produce my own writings and sentences!
  

  

Hello, all!

On Sunday I finally had time to take a nice bike ride through the mountains around Shikokuchūō. The ride was absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed it so much that I kept on bursting into happy laughter and startling birds, lizards, and rabbits out of nearby bushes. I like the ocean, but I think mountains are my one true love!

You can see a map of my ride here. It was only a little under 60km, but Google Earth says that I climbed around well over 1,000 meters all told!

From my house, I climbed up to the Gujo Observation Point, which is very romantic at night. During the day the view is beautiful, but I don't think Shikokuchūō's many smokestacks would make a great backdrop for a proposal.

After passing through a long tunnel I stopped by the Kinsha Lakeside park, and then rode along Kinsha Lake and the Dozangawa River on Route 319. It was cool, shady, and very beautiful. On a small tributary stream sits Senryū-ji, a large temple with an interesting layout. The sacred water flows through a huge concrete tunnel under the temple itself, which is built in a series of long corridors following the line of the hill. I took a hike up the grave-dotted hill above the temple hoping for a good view, but saw only trees... and some amazing spiderwebs. In order to continue walking, I sadly had to destroy two three-and-a-half-meter webs that stretched completely across the path.

After a small detour along the river, my next stop was Shingu Dam. I wound up riding several hundred meters down and back up to where Route 319 meets Route 5, but the dam was not very impressive. (Tomisato Dam is much, much larger, but I can do that ride another time.) That said, Shingu Dam was a very lovely spot: the water trickled through a rocky riverbed with birds wheeling up above, and I watched an elderly couple stepping carefully along the concrete crossing-stones.

There was another tunnel on Route 5, and at the other end I had to go down into a valley and up again to reach my next destination, the Manabe Mansion (a very old samurai residence). This part of the trip was great, because I was riding on very tiny back roads few people ever use. On my way down to Nitta Park, I actually had to walk the bike part of the way because the road was so overgrown I couldn't see where the pavement ended!

There was nobody around at the Manabe Mansion, so I left my 200 yen entrance fee and admired the samurai robot. The robot is supposed to provide an explanation of the house, but it was broken, so instead there was a CD player with a CD you had to start and stop yourself. The inside of the house smelled amazing. I can't describe it very well; the smell was moldy, airy, close, oppressive, relaxing, nose-wrinkling and enticing all at the same time. It smelled like what it was: 400 years of fermented history.

After visiting the mansion I rode back into town and promptly fell over while trying to mount a curb. (Japanese sidewalks have curbs that are much too high, so if I can't approach them at the right angle my tires get caught and down I go.) But I am very experienced at falling off my bicycle, so I managed to do a somersault, pick my bike up before it had stopped moving, and get right back on. I looked so cool... except that the entire thing was completely moronic. I should have stayed on the road!

And yes, of course I have a video. I stopped to use my GoPro throughout the trip, but unfortunately the helmet mount didn't work. I had to hold the camera, which means that everything came out v-v-e-e-r-r-y-y s-s-h-h-a-a-k-k-y-y. I cut out four minutes of the most interesting places and threw them in this video. There's no sound, so I recommend queueing* up some nice music while you watch. Watch it in high definition if you can (since that's the only way you'll be able to see any detail from the shakycam)!

I hope that you all appreciate the beauty of Shikoku, your lovely home!

—Matthew

*"Queueing" has five vowels in a row, the most in the English language! (Okay, "euouae" has six, but it's really just an abbreviation.)  

Hello everyone! In my last blog, I told you that for the Obon holiday I went on a trip to Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka. I am excited to share my adventures with you all!

So I left Kagawa on August 12, at 8:35 am, on a bus straight to Kyoto. Once I go to Kyoto station, I jumped on a city bus to go to my hostel. It was a cute little multi-floor hotel in the Gion district in Kyoto, and thy made life super easy. I have never stayed in a hostel that had food and drinks for sale inside, so it was great if I needed a cold drink and didn't want to find a conbini or vending machine!
I checked in, and put my things away in the dorm room I shared with 9 other women, and headed for down town Kyoto to the Kyoto International Manga Museum! IT was so cool, they have a cafe, gift shop, kamishibai, activities, manga artists who will paint your portrait, and a few displays. he most amazing thing about the museum is that you are allowed to read the manga that is shelved on the wall! They also have a giant archive FULL of manga for preservation and research purposes. It felt so great to be able to just read manga in a relaxing place, amongst others who enjoy manga too. It was also amazing to be able to read manga in English! It has been almost 8 months since I have read English manga! After 4 or 5 hours at the museum, I went back to Gion and walked around a bit to find a place to eat supper. After that I went back to the hostel to just relax and plan my next day!

The next day I got up early and found my way to Kinkakuji temple! I couldn't believe how beautiful it was! I spent a good 40 minutes enjoying the temple and garden, as well as the teahouse!
I loved having the chance to sit in a tatami room and drink real matcha tea with a sugar cake! The women who run the tea house were very kind, and gave me all the information and instructions i needed in English, which was fantastic!
It was so relaxing to sit in the tea house just enjoy the view of the garden. After my tea I bought an omamouri,and caught a bus to the Imperial Palace. The palace grounds took my breath away. They were absolutely stunning! And the inside of the palace was insane! all of the hand painted walls, and panels were gorgeous! I hope to be able to go back in the fall, or the spring and see it again in a different season! After seeing the palace, I went back to Gion and walked around and did a bit of shopping.


I cannot wait to tell you all about my time in Nara next week! :)  

  

It's pretty early, but I saw some stuff for Halloween already! I would expect to see some things around mid-September, not August!

But I am weird so I don't care! I was immediatly happy to look at all the cute Halloween things at my local hyaku-en. I bought some wall stickers and some window stickers right away.

Halloween brings me so much joy! There are parties and decorations and it all just makes me smile so hard! I always love bats and bat things but during Halloween season I get to actually find that stuff almost everywhere!

Last week, I was sent an adorable hand-made bat from a friend. It was a wonderful surprise!


  

I have blogged in the past about my awesome Landlord and here I am doing it again! This past week was a vacation week and the old man and his wife were out in their little farm when my friend Mizuki and I were coming out to go shopping. They stopped us and asked if I wanted more vegetables and then they proceeded to give Mizuki and I a bag full of different vegetables. I walked away with two different types of delicious peppers, okra, a lot of eggplant and two kinds of Goya, white and green. I had never had goya before so Mizuki cooked some and it was DELICIOUS! Who knew!

  

Hello everyone!

I hope your days are going well. I am about to embark on a journey to America and I am very excited about it. I will be posting about my many adventures in the states in future blog posts. I am mainly going back to America because of my husbands cousin's wedding, but I will be visiting with friends and going on many grand adventures along the way. I hope you enjoy my future posts! Please, don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have!

See you when I get back!

Leigh  

I had lunch with a friend this weekend at a cafe overlooking the Utazu seaside. The weather was a bit down, some fog here and there with definite overcast over the majority of the sky. There was also some breeze coming in from whatever tides visited our shores. This cafe could only be identified by the driving passerby by a small sign at the narrow exit on a main road, and then to get to it you had to drive up, though for just a short distance, a steep incline. The parking lot small and the cafe equally, though I was told that the cafe was popular and that we might have to wait outside if the cafe was full at the time we were visiting. Lucky for us there was plenty of seats available outside, and even some on the window seats. I enjoy cafes like this, the ones that don’t make a point to show that they do serve foods beside their drinks, and cafes that actually serve a wide variety of handcrafted drinks. I am not a big fan of the sit-down restaurant-style cafes. These latter style cafes feel to be escapes from everywhere else, while the small cafes like the one my friend and I visited overlooking Utazu, these smaller ones are more like destinations. Not escapes, but ends in themselves, as if the invitation could read, “Come and enjoy our cafe,” not “Come and enjoy being by yourself with our foods.” But one of the best features of this particular cafe is the rabbit that the outdoor patio came with. I realize now that we did not even catch the rabbit’s name, but we appreciated its snuggling in the base of our table. I couldn’t dare myself to pet it for my long-seated fear of being bitten or scratched by anything, but my friend did without even looking where her hand was going. I wonder if not looking made her braver.


  

  

I recently visited an aquarium on Mt.Yashima. It isn't a big aquarium but it has many shows. I got to see a dolphin show and a seal show. My favorite part was seeing the otters as they are probably my favorite sea creature. If anyone gets a chance to go to the aquarium be sure to sit well away from the dolphin tanks during the show or you'll be splashed with water.

This has been the 3rd aquarium that I've visited in Japan and I enjoyed it a lot. Mt. Yashima has a lot to offer!

- James Barbosa  

As I have mentioned before, I have been doing a bit of sewing lately, whether it be adjusting my clothes to make them fit better, making little stuffed animals, and even making new clothes from scratch. That last one was just my costume for Summer Tour, and it was my first attempt at making clothes. I think it turned out pretty well, and many other people seemed impressed. Here is the end result of all my effort:


Not too bad, right? I definitely want to make more pants like that, for personal use, and also to try to make them better. But in the meantime, I will be, and have been, making more stuffed animals. I am making them for both friends and students alike. The students in mind recently had birthdays, and not only that, they decided to put together a little something for me in class for my birthday. It was very sweet, so I decided to try to sew them their favorite animals. It was a bit difficult, but here are the end results:



They turned out pretty well! And I still need to make more. I have a couple of ideas on what to make next, plus an actual request, so hopefully I will be able to make them quickly and well!
  

Things have been quite busy at work, and I had been feeling a little bogged down with everything, especially with all the preparations for Summer Tour (which went pretty well, by the way!). That is why during my break, I basically didn't do a lot outside of Niihama. To be honest, I didn't actually have the money for traveling. A lot was spent getting ready for Summer Tour, especially for my costume.
So instead, I spent time at home, doing some sewing, and starting to work out again, which I haven't been able to do for a while. It feels good, especially being able to run again. My knee has been feeling much better, especially since I have started stretching properly. And so, with running, I can kind of explore Niihama a bit. I have already run to Takinomiya park several times. It is a bit small, but it is a nice place. From there, I found a really nice path that is meant for people walking or on bikes. I decided to run along that pathway as far as it went to the south. I later learned that I had run about 5 km one way (meaning a total of 10 km there and back). I was excited, not only because I realized I can still run that kind of distance (though slowly), but I also found myself the perfect running trail.
I also wanted to check out places near where I live, such as restaurants and pubs. Unfortunately, that also requires money, so I was pretty s.o.l. It's okay though, I will be here for a while, so I should have plenty of chances to check out each place at least once.   

Hello, all!

Today my blog post will be very short, because I have a video!

A few weeks ago I rode my bicycle to Tsushima Shrine, in Mitoyo. The shrine is on a very small island in the ocean. There's a walking bridge to the island, but it's usually closed. There are only a few days a year when you can visit the shrine! I visited on one of those days, and brought my little GoPro camera:

Be sure to watch the video in HD if you can—the original video is 4k! I love the scenery of the Seto Inland Sea. Tsushima Shrine is what English speakers call a "hidden gem": it's a beautiful location, but not many people know about it. You can see the other days the shrine is open here. Do visit when you have a chance!

—Matthew