ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

The third day was our longest travel day. We had three destinations in mind. First we would visit Yufuin, small mountain town west of Beppu, famous for its hot springs. Second was Ganryujima, a tiny island in the straight between Honshu and Kyushu where Miyamoto Musashi fought his most famous duel. Finally, we would end our day in Fukuoka for some street food and maybe some motsu nabe.

It was a long day, but starting it off in Yufuin was a good move. We took an early morning bath in an outdoor hot spring overlooking the village. Feeling refreshed and invigorated, we set off on the two hour drive to Shimonoseki, where we caught the ferry to Ganryujima.



Ganryujima was tiny, but worth it. I’ve always been interested in Musashi, even reading “The Book of Five Rings” when I was younger. Getting to see the place where he fought his most famous duel (indeed, possibly the most famous single combat in Japanese history) was a real treat. Even in its modernized and less natural form, it was easy to feel and understand the history on display. I visited Sasaki Kojiro’s grave and paid my respects to one of the most famous swordsmen in Japanese history.



After Ganryujima, we stopped for lunch in Shimonoseki. I ate Kujiradon (fried sei whale on rice)!
It was really delicious, thought I felt bad for eating it.

After that, it was time for the hour and a half drive to Fukuoka. We settled in to a very small Ryokan just down the street from Tenjin station and headed out for some street food. I had Hakata ramen and some tongue steak, both of which were really delicious. After a bit of walking around, we decided that it was time for a second round of food, and decided to get some soup dumplings. They were also delicious.

That covers the first three days! More to come soon! keep scrolling!
  

The road trip is a long tradition in America. Families will take a longish vacation and spend it on the road, driving from place to place and sightseeing along the way. With winter break coming up and no solid plans, I decided to plan a road trip for myself and a few friends. After a lot of discussion, we decided to go to Kyushu for our trip.

We departed Saijo at around 9:00 AM on December 27th and headed for Yawatahama. We arrived early enough to enjoy a meal there before having to board the ferry. I ate champo ramen, and it was delicious.

Loading the car on the ferry was a nervous experience to say the least. My car is quite long, and the ship’s ramp was pretty small. Still, it worked out in the end!



We arrived in Beppu that afternoon after an uneventful ferry ride. After settling in to our hostel, we decided to find some food and drink. Beppu had lots of both to offer.

The next day was spent in Beppu visiting the famous “8 hells”- a series of volcanic vents surrounded by various attractions. Some of them were quite beautiful, and they were all interesting.



As the sun set on the second day, I visited an onsen near the final hells. It was an outdoor/ indoor bath, and the cold mountain air felt great after the hot water. That night we met a Japanese man who was also staying at our hostel, and who spoke pretty good English! He invited us out for dinner, and we agreed. We ate tempura chicken, tongue steak, and black pork, and they were all delicious.

That covers the first two days!  

Transporting a bicycle can really be a pain sometimes. At least with a road bike you can easily disassemble it. But it's still a little dirty, so you have to be careful handling it. Then you have to put it in a bag or in the car. After taking it out you then have to reassemble it and double check the alignment of all the parts. It can be a hassle. Knowing this, I was sure to bring my bike rack from America. It has made transporting my bicycle around by car a breeze. What do you think about it?

  

A few days ago we had a gift exchange with all of the ALTs in Saijo and Niihama. I got some awesome imported beer from Belgium, and some delicious Japanese snacks.

I also got to see Star Wars finally! I've been waiting for so long! It was really awesome and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Star wars has been famous for a long time, so many people were worried that someone would ruin the new movie for them by telling about plot details or twists. This is called a "spoiler" in English. A lot of the internet tried very hard to not release any spoilers for this movie, because it was so hotly anticipated. I got lucky and didnt have it spoiled for me!   

It's Christmas time! I got to spend some time last week with my friends in Saijo!




We had dinner and a ton of fried chicken. My friend Matt is dressed as Santa. It made me feel like I was back in America for a little while. :)  

I really enjoy reading up about all the new things we as humans keep developing. From Japans love for robotics to Europe's love for colliding particles deep under Geneva. But his blog post is dedicated to SpaceX, a company that has been developing a reusable rocket that can be launched into space and come back down to earth and be reused.

Up until now any rockets our world's astronauts would use would be a one time launch and then be discarded as space junk. But SpaceX has just developed a reusable rocket that just recently passed it's first landing test. Isn't that cool?

- James Barbosa   

Hello, all!

Friday was Christmas, so I Skyped my family in the evening. It was Christmas morning in Minnesota. We got to open our presents together! I gave my sister a daruma otoshi set. Actually, it wasn't a daruma—I bought her one shaped like a mouse. I guess it was a nezumi otoshi! My father got a 3-dimensional beer puzzle, because he likes beer. My mother got two presents. My mother's birthday is on December 23rd! For her birthday, I gave her a set of three silly earrings. For Christmas, I gave her a gift to share with my grandmother: a jigsaw puzzle.

It's from the old Nippon Animation version of Anne of Green Gables. It's almost all yellow, and it's 1,000 pieces. I hope it's hard enough!

My family knows me very well. They got me nothing but books!

The two comic books in the upper-right are from my sister. She gives me two volumes of Transmetropolitan every time it's my birthday or Christmas. Someday I will have the whole series! She always forgets which volumes she's already given me, though. I think I have four copies of volume 6.

Rules for a Knight is a little "life advice" book by Ethan Hawke, and Rising Son is about a father and son bicycling the entire length of Japan. I want to do that, too! I was very surprised that my father bought me Kamishibai Man, because I've just been reading about kamishibai. The book is very simple, but very moving!

Finally, the silver snowflake tin has an Amazon gift card, so I can buy more books. What a great "Christmas haul!"

Did you give or get any Christmas gifts?

—Matthew  

Hello!

This blog post is pretty late, but here is the second part of my Kyoto post :) I got a chance to visit the Manga museum. IT was pretty cool! There were so many mangas. The main reason for my visit was to get my portrait done by a manga artist



Two Manga artists were there. Here is some of their work :D



Arian Teacher is getting his portrait done



Here is the artist who did my portrait. He was so cool and sweet. We chatted the entire time about art, tv shows, America and Japan :)



The final product. I asked him to give me cat ears hehe

Leslie


  

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful day, and that you had a visit from Santa! In North America, December 26th is called Boxing Day. It's a day where many stores have extremely good sales, and many people go shopping to get some fantastic deals! The stores are always very crowded and often run out of popular items.   

Every year billions of people sit down to have their own version of Christmas dinner. A traditional American dinner includes either ham or turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, a variety of veggies (vegetables), bread, and deserts which include pie, cake, tarts, and more. For my husband and I, Christmas dinner has changed over the time we have known each other and been married.

This year I had the great pleasure to cook Christmas dinner (pictured above) for my amazing friend and second mother, her daughter, and my husband. Since turkey, and even ham on occasion, are difficult to find in Japan, I decided to make herbal chicken with my homemade mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, corn, and bread. Though it wasn't much (compared to a traditional Christmas dinner) it was plenty for the four of us and came out beautifully. I look forward to adapting my Christmas dinner for next years Christmas in Thailand. It will be interesting.

What was your Christmas dinner? Do you have any special traditions in your family that you would like to share with the other readers?

Thank you very much for reading!

Leigh  

What do you eat for Christmas Dinner?

Here is a picture of the last Christmas dinner I cooked my family. I cooked everything myself. We ate turkey, stuffing, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole and bread rolls. It was delicious! My favorite thing to eat for Christmas dinner is green bean casserole! It is so yummy. It is made with green beans, onions and cream sauce.

Would you try turkey? Would you try green bean casserole? Let me know!

Thank you for reading,

Kristen  

Merry Christmas! I have spent my first few days of vacation cleaning and packing. I'm going to Tokyo! I can't wait to go shopping, especially for clothes and christmas presents. I'd like to pack more clothes for the trip but I am certain I will need the room.

Santa brought me 4 presents. A lip gloss, sunglasses, a calendar, and a bank shaped like a dragon! Isn't his cute? My parents sent me money for my trip too, which was really nice of them!

A Christmas card from my Grandmother arrived on the actual day! My Mom called me on Skype and we chatted for a little bit. I wish I could someone go to the big family party tomorrow.

I watched lots of Christmas movies like The Muppet Christmas Carol, Home Alone, Die Hard, and a set of silly short Christmas videos.

This being my first Christmas in Japan, I went out and got some fried chicken. It was super delicious. The cake was too expensive for me so I got a nice parfait instead. It's a little lonely but I know I'm about to be surrounded by my friends for the next 8 days so it's a kind of calming.

Happy New Year!!  

Hello Everyone!

I'm writing this from our new apartment in Takamatsu! We spent our first day of the holidays moving in and getting ready to celebrate our time off, talking with family and friends, and making sure that everyone is safe and happy back home in Canada. Soon, we'll be traveling to Tokyo for a week and exploring the largest city in Japan. I'm very excited and looking forward to experiencing some completely new and different food and culture, and enjoying some time off. After the holidays, we'll be settling into our new routine here on this part of Kagawa, and getting used to traveling some new streets!

Happy Holidays to everyone, and I hope that 2016 will be the best year yet!

A  

After a very exciting few days we're finally settled in our new apartment! It's been so fun but exhausting moving here, everything is new and exciting and we can't wait to get to know our new city! We're very happy to be here.
Even though moving is always a difficult process, it's always so exciting. We were lucky enough to have a lot of help from our friends/coworkers at GEM, so the process was easy and as a bonus we got to spend more time with everyone. We even ordered pizza after, which was even more delicious after working hard all day.
We're so grateful to everyone who helped us and so delighted with the new situation. We can't wait to start our lives in our new apartment!  

Frozen is very popular both here and in America, but the story its based on isn't as widely known. "The Snow Queen" is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson. Frozen was inspired by "The Snow Queen", but its actually very different. In "The Snow Queen" a little boy and a girl are best friends, but the boy gets pricked by a shard of glass from a broken magic mirror, and so his heart begins to grow cold. This is when the Snow Queen takes him. The girl has to travel across the world to save him. Its a very cute story, but a very different story.   

This is one o Ontario Canada's hidden gems. It's located on Georgian Bay and it's simply called "The Grotto". When people think of Canada everyone is familiar with its cold climate and winter sports but this Grotto shows the summey and tropical side of Canada. It's definitely a place worth checking out. Georgian Bay is fantastic



What is really awesome is being able to dive into the water, it's clean and clear and makes you feel like you're in an entirely different place.

- James Barbosa  

Christmas is upon us, and with it, vacation from work! I hope everyone will do something fun for Christmas (though from the sounds of it, everyone will be going to school or work, :\). As for me, well, I never really plan to do anything for Christmas. I don't really celebrate it much. This year, though, I will be doing something! It's nothing grand or special. I will just be spending time with my friends in Niihama. We didn't really talk much about the plan, but I believe they want to head to the Game Center in Aeon mall a little after noon. I don't know how long we will stay there. But I am sure we will have lots of fun playing games together! For the evening, we are going to get together for dinner, as well as watch a movie, I think. I don't know what movie, but I am sure it will be Japanese.

Like I said, it's nothing crazy, just some light-hearted fun with some friends. Though, knowing this group, something crazy just might happen! I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!  

Blue is my favorite color. It is the best color after all. I always try to buy things that are blue when I can. I was describing my love of the color blue to my friend, he didn't quite understand, so I sent him this photo. I have a blue shirt, a blue bag, a blue water bottle, a blue helmet, and a blue bicycle. Is that blue enough for you? It's not blue enough for me. You can always use more blue, I say.

  

I'm headed home for the holidays! I am so happy and excited and also nervous. I actually really don't like flying. I am going to try my best to stay asleep during the flight. I know in my brain nothing will go wrong but I can't help but worry! Any turbulence will have me clutching the chair and takeoff will be rough too! I will be tough though and I will get through it! See you guys later!  

Hello, all!

This is an American tree sparrow, also called a "winter sparrow."

Isn't it cute? It's a perfect Christmas bird! You often see it finding seeds in the snow on a white Christmas. But the real reason I think of winter sparrows when I think of Christmas is a very lovely poem. (You may have noticed that I enjoy poetry!) The poem is called "Christmas Sparrow," and it's by Billy Collins.

Billy Collins is a very famous modern American poet. (He's 74 years old, but still writing every day!) In fact, from 2001 to 2003 he was the Poet Laureate of the United States. That means he was the country's official poet. He writes easy-to-understand poems with strong imagery. You don't need any special English knowledge to understand and enjoy his poems, although sometimes you might need a dictionary. It's definitely worth it, though! Collins only uses more difficult words when they are exactly right. (For example, in this poem Collins describes a window as an "enigma of transparency." "Enigma" is a better word than "mystery" here because it's much stronger. Collins wants to communicate the fact that sparrows don't understand windows at all. Another example: Collins says that his hands were "uncupped" instead of just, "opened." Why? Because a "cup" is meant to hold something, and Collins has just been holding the sparrow. "Uncupped" suggests that Collins has been holding the bird's life in his hands, just as a cup holds precious water.)

When you read this poem, ask yourself: why is it a Christmas poem? The answer might surprise you!

Enjoy!

—Matthew

Christmas Sparrow
by Billy Collins

The first thing I heard this morning
was a soft, insistent rustle,
the rapid flapping of wings
against glass as it turned out,

a small bird rioting
in the frame of a high window,
trying to hurl itself through
the enigma of transparency into the spacious light.

A noise in the throat of the cat
hunkered on the rug
told me how the bird had gotten inside,
carried in the cold night
through the flap in a basement door,
and later released from the soft clench of teeth.

Up on a chair, I trapped its pulsations
in a small towel and carried it to the door,
so weightless it seemed
to have vanished into the nest of cloth.

But outside, it burst
from my uncupped hands into its element,
dipping over the dormant garden
in a spasm of wingbeats
and disappearing over a tall row of hemlocks.

Still, for the rest of the day,
I could feel its wild thrumming
against my palms whenever I thought
about the hours the bird must have spent
pent in the shadows of that room,
hidden in the spiky branches
of our decorated tree, breathing there
among metallic angels, ceramic apples, stars of yarn,

its eyes open, like mine as I lie here tonight
picturing this rare, lucky sparrow
tucked into a holly bush now,
a light snow tumbling through the windless dark.