ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

  

Hello, all!

It's very difficult not to blog about my bicycle rides every week, because I think they're the most interesting things I do! But I do try to take at least one longer ride each weekend, so I can see more of Shikoku, find places I'd never otherwise visit, and watch movies in strange new theaters. I was thinking about my riding history today and I realized that I've made a spider web of routes all across northern Shikoku!

Thank you, O Bicycle!
This web would look very strange if you mapped it—although the strands end in many places, they all converge on just a few routes near my hometown. This is the result of the "Shikokuchūō Problem." The Shikokuchūō region is where all the roads in the area come together, so I have very few options for leaving town. In fact, there are only 5 ways to get out of the city! There are three "seaside routes":

1. Route 11 West (for Matsuyama, the Ishizuchi area, and anywhere else further west than Saijo)
2. Route 13 West (the shortest rides, to Niihama or the bicycle shop in Saijo—I've done them so many times I have every turn of the road in the headlands and the timing of every light on 13 through Niihama completely memorized!)
3. Route 11 East (for Utazu, Ayagawa, Takamatsu, and absolutely anywhere else in Kagawa-ken)

...and two "mountain routes":

4. 192 East (for the lovely Miyoshi or Tokushima—you can also get to Kōchi this way if you want to avoid high mountain passes and take a less direct route)
5. 319 South (the only route that's not east or west! Mostly it's useful just for exploring the mountains, but destinations include Niihama via the Besshiyama Cycling Line, a number of dams, Senryū-ji, and Otoyo in Kōchi-ken via some very high yet rewarding passes)

And that's it! In flat Minnesota terrain, I could take off in pretty much any direction I felt like, but here in Shikoku I have to admit that I'm a little tired of my only choices being "left," "right," or "up." Maybe next time I should attach some floats and paddles to my bicycle so I can finally take a ride up north...

—Matthew  

Today I visited Kochi. Despite the gloomy weather, I really enjoyed myself.

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I visited Godaisan temple. It was really beautiful and even though there were many tourists, it was still peaceful. Sometimes when I visit temples it really helps me to feel recharged. Something about the atmosphere there is just... healthy. It's hard to explain.

I decided to take the long way home and got back to Saijo around 8:00. Im exhausted!   

Daiso has been closed for over a week. If you know me, you will know that I very often go shopping at Daiso for many different things. It had been a very hard 10 days for me, because I am so used to shopping there! Daiso finally reopened today!!! I was so happy to be able to go there again! They have rearranged the store a bit, so finding some things was a little difficult, but it felt like an adventure! Which 100 yen shop is your favourite?

  

One of the things I really miss while being here in America is my dog Ginger. She is a Puggle, half Beagle and half Pug and I think she is the cutest. Her personality is hilarious; she loves to eat and sleep and will sometimes ignore you when she is being moody.

She lives with my parents and I can't wait to see her again. I see her sometimes when I video call my mother and I try to talk to her but I think she might be mad at me for leaving so she ignores me. I'm sure that she will still remember me when I get back and we both will be very happy when we see each other again.

  

Last weekend I took a drive down to Kure in Kochi prefecture to attend "katsuo Matsuri" or Bonito festival.





Bonito is a small tuna variety that is very common around Kochi.

One of Kochi's signature dishes is "Katsuo no tataki" or seared bonito. It's cooked over a very hot and high hay fire that sears the outside of the fish black while leaving the inside raw. It's served with ginger, garlic and usually a sauce, either ponzu or soy.

This is one of my favorite Japanese foods.   

Here is something that you may not know about me: I am afraid of heights.

High places really scary me but I still like to try to test myself or face my fear of heights. It doesn't always go well. I went to Matsuyama and tried to ride the Ferris Wheel but I mostly cried and kept my eyes shut. At the end I was so scared I didn't believe they would let me out! When my mom visited me, we went for a drive and I decided to face my fear by trying to cross this bridge. The first time I saw this bridge was last year. I was only able to walk 10 steps. However, this time I was able to overcome my fear and I walked all the way across. I was so happy and proud of myself.

Do you have something that you are afraid of? Have you ever tried to face your fear? Let me know!

Thank you for reading,

Kristen  

So in 35 days we'll start to get a closer look at Jupiter. We've sent an orbiter to Jupiter called Juno that will analyze and take photos of Jupiter from up close. And when I mean close, I mean real close. Take a look at this simulated GIF of how close the Juno Orbiter will get.



To see a gas giant this close is an amazing opportunity. What a time to be alive!

- James Barbosa  

Recently I had a small book of poems called a chapbook published back in the States. I'm really excited, because this is the first time I've been published all by myself and not with other authors. I didn't get paid for the publication, but I got ten free copies. The copies are being sent to my favorite teacher back home. He's going to sell them, and I'm going to donate the money to the literature club I used to be the president of. I miss them a lot, but the new president is doing a lot of great things.   

Sunday night Sadie and I went out to eat. We went to a restaurant called Yakiniku. I'm sure most of the readers know this restaurant so I will simply focus on my experience. The price was, in my opinion, expensive. We spent about 6,000 Yen. The variety in meat was nice and we enjoyed the various flavors. The experience as a whole was very tasteful and the customer service was exactly what we expect in Japan. In the US there is a similar restaurant called Texas de Brazil.

Texas de Brazil is far more expensive it's usually 6,000 yen per person. This is a buffet style restaurant where servers bring different meats to your table. You are given a chip when you sit down. If the chip is facing red side up it means you are full. As long as the chip is green side up servers will continue to offer you different cuts of meat cooked to different degrees. The restaurant offers about 30-40 different meats and 50 salad items. A family mean can easily run you about 75,000 yen.

Eating at Yakiniku brought back memories of Texas de Brazil and my family in America. I treated my parents and grandparents to dinner at the restaurant, something they would never be able to afford.  

Last Monday, I did something very crazy and spontaneous! I got up early, went to the station, bought several tickets and went to....OSAKA!

I was missing Osaka a little bit, I used to go there all the time when I studied at Kansai Gaidai. I wanted to buy recycled clothes from my favorite store and do something a little adventurous. The shinkansen was kinda expensive but I didn't want to take a bus.

None of my friends could come, so I was suddenly standing in Shin-Osaka station, marveling at my crazy plans. I had a big fear that I would somehow be unable to get home to Kagawa in time to go to work (the next day) but after an hour I calmed down. I reminded myself that I spent good money traveling to get here and that I'd better make it count!

I was scared I'd get lost trying to get to the subway. I'd navigated it several times and it usually ended in terrible confusion. I got in a taxi but it was so expensive that I thought "no way, I'll take the subway back."

I went to Amemura and all of my favorite shops over there. I didn't find any clothing that I really wanted but it felt good to take my time deciding. I did get some great discounted art books in the Mandarake.

I was tired quickly from walking many hours (and I had done yosakoi Sunday night) so I went back to the station. I bought my sister a present from the Pokemon Center and wandered around a craft store. Pictured above is the scrapbook pieces that I was shocked to find, of Kochi and Shikoku! The yosakoi dancer and pieces had me THRILLED! I will take care to put them in the best pages of my book this year.

I navigated Shin Osaka and Umeda station like a PRO. I didn't get lost or wander too far from where I needed to be going. This was a real first! I went home with heavy bags and a very pleased feeling of confidence.   

I don't know if I stated this before, but I sort of have a hobby with cooking. I always thought it was fun and interesting, but never really made much time for it. Due to recent events, I have decided to try my hand again at becoming a capable cook. So I recently purchased a cook book called "Yaseru Okazu Tsukuri Oki". The plus side of using this cookbook is that it involves a lot of meals that will help with slimming down, which is also something I am trying to do.
Anyway, I bought this book, and am pleased to see how relatively simple the recipes are. I can read about half of it, having the most difficulty with the kanji, but have been able to successfully recreate at least two dishes! The dish I have already done twice now is called "Toridango to Hakusai no Monde Chin". Here is a picture:



I can't wait to try out the other recipes!  

Japan has many, many islands.Some islands are even mildly themed, for example there is rabbit island, deer island, and even cat island! This past weekend my best friend and I went to cat island and demon island in the Seto sea. Cats are so cute! I have wanted to play with them for a long time! I absolutely love that Japan has all of these fun little places that are scattered around! It makes for a great adventure!  

Hello!

Well, it's been a week, and that means our time in Manitoba is coming to an end. It's been so much fun to see my friends from here, and spend time with my family after having been away for so long. Today, we fly from Winnipeg, Manitoba all the way to St. John's, Newfoundland. We leave in the evening, so we won't arrive until almost 3 am. I'm already dreading the flights ( I don't think I've actually fully recovered from my trip across the Pacific yet), but I'll put on a brave face and power through! See you in Newfoundland!  

  

Hello, all!

I noticed that many people have been blogging about video games recently, so I thought I'd do the same! When I was in junior high and high school, like most of my generation, video gaming was one of my favorite pastimes. I even designed a few video game levels and made some simple games (I learned how binary logic works from setting up trigger elevators in Star Wars: Dark Forces, which shows how old I really am). But in college, I really ran out of time for gaming, and I've never been able to play more than one or two games a year since.

But I haven't lost interest! One of my best friends creates independent video games as art projects, and as I result I often like to check out small, indie releases. Many of these games are very untraditional, but my favorites have a quality to them mainstream games often lack: their goal is to make you think, not have fun. (Having fun is great too, of course! It's just that indie games have a different agenda.) The idea is to make something more like "art" than mainstream games, in the same way difficult-to-understand films are often called "art cinema." Many are very silly, but some are really interesting.

Some years ago, my friend launched a project on Kickstarter and spent a long time traveling around Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, making "travel video games." Instead of travel writing, he'd put his thoughts about his experiences into the form of a very small video game! He wound up with a small collection of video games you can download for free here! Some of the games really are pretty fun—you can spend hours playing the Taiwan-based "Status Quo," which looks so simple

but is such an interesting, evolving gameplay challenge!—while others are much more experimental

"Loneliness," about the Korean educational system, made the biggest splash on the Internet and is either the best game ever or the most pretentious piece of junk ever depending on whom you ask.

...or aggressively unpleasant, to inspire thought.

I think "The Killer," about Cambodia, wound up with the most divisive response, and certainly it's the most extreme of the batch—love it or hate it, you can't deny that it gets its message across!

Try out the Gametrekking Omnibus and see what you think! Maybe you'll want to check out a few more indie games sometime...

—Matthew  

A few weeks ago I managed to get out to the circuit with a Japanese friend of mine.


I spent the morning watching drifting. I even got to go for a ride along! I still haven't been able to drive though. :( The Stagea just needs one or two more things before I can take it out.

It was lots of fun, and Ill be heading back soon for sure.
  

Hello! A few weeks ago I tried watercolour painting with Sarah-teacher. I really liked it! I'm still very new to watercolour painting, and I don't know how long I will like doing it, but I wanted to have my own supplies, so I went to Daiso and bought some brushes, paint, a palette, and a book of art paper. I also bought a blank folding fan. It took me a long time to decide what to paint on my blank fan, but I finally decided on painting the galaxy! I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. What do you think? Do you like painting?

  

Before coming to Japan I had two jobs, and both of those jobs had a Starbucks within the same block. I went to Starbucks almost everyday, most of the Starbucks staff in one of the restaurants knew me very well and would sometimes give me coffee for free! I was always known as the one getting coffee from Starbucks, at one of my jobs sometimes I would go twice during the day and usually bring back a huge order of coffee for everybody in the office.

In America there are Starbucks all over the place, if you need to find one all you need to do is drive for about 5 to 10 minutes in a direction and you'll find one eventually. There isn't the luxury of many Starbucks here in Japan, so I only can treat myself when I am close by, which is maybe once a week or every other week.  

I really like to go for a drive in the mountains when the weather is nice. During Golden Week my Mom and I woke up early to a beautiful sunny morning. My first thought was that it would be a great day to show her the mountains and rivers of Saijo and Kochi! In the picture above you can see one of my favorite places, Konoka. It is a beautiful spot by the river and as you can see you can walk right next to the water. It is so beautiful and relaxing. You can also go to their restaurant or get a yummy ice cream to try!

Have you ever been to Konoka? Let me know!

Thank you for reading,

Kristen