ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

These are my students from last semester at Kanbai Preschool! I love teaching that class, because the larger class size means that I get to think of new and interesting ways to teach from the Gem books. The students from both this semester and last semester are energetic, smart, and creative. A real joy to teach! I was really touched when last semester's class made these pictures for me. The little portraits are so cute, and I will always have the memories! It made me very happy.  

Hello!

I'm going to give you a new history of an English word again today! I hope you enjoyed the one from last week “Phony”, and found lots of ways to use it!

This week, I'm going to talk about the word “Muscle”. We have muscles all over our body, they are used help us move, lift things, and we really could not live without them. In English, the word “Muscle” comes from a very very old Latin word meaning “Little Mouse”. It seems that the old Roman people though that the muscles under our skin looked like mice crawling around!
  

This is a picture of my mom in the middle of enjoying her latest hobby. She has recently taken to gardening and decorating her miniature gardens. I wonder what inspired her to get into the field. We always tried to grow various random crops over the summers. As you might know, Summers are a bit hot in California, so never before have we managed to grow any sustainable crops that would survive year in year out. What my mom is growing these days seems to be for simple self-fulfillment and entertainment, though she is growing some strawberries and tomatoes. It would be nice to be there with her to bring my own hand to her latest hobby of miniature gardens and decorations. I am a bit of an aesthete myself at times, especially lately. I’ve taken to, for example, fashion, spending way too much money on shirts on the weekends. I worry that my mom’s craft might come to an end once the Summer really starts to heat up and the famed California blaze comes on. Hopefully she’ll have started some indoors horticulture before then.

To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.
- William Blake.
  

I always love a good project. I was working on a night stand for my bed. I had everything I needed. I had it all planned out. All I needed to do was punch a few holes and put a few screws in the wood. I had the hardware store cut my wood too. It was a simple process, but I encountered a hiccup. My drill bit broke while I was drill the holes for the screws. I was able to finish the night stand, but I cannot recommend buying drill bits from Daiso.

  

I’m jumping on the “bujo” bandwagon. Bujo is short for bullet journal. Taylor told me about this actually. It’s a good way to keep yourself organized and set goals. Mine has many elements, including, calendar, schedule, health and fitness tracker, daily goals, budget, food recipes, and cooking, art goals and ideas, and reading list. The reading list is one of my favorite elements however. When I finish reading a book I color it in.   

Say hello to my new iPhone 7! I am not very big into technology or the latest trends; in fact, I had my last phone for many years, which is why I desperately needed a new one. My old phone was on the verge of retirement, it would no longer tell me the correct day or time, would constantly crash and have issues with connection. Since I arrived to Japan, I had been dealing with these issues. Finally, I said “no more!” and purchased myself a brand new iPhone 7 from America, and now, it has arrived! I am so excited to have a phone that actually functions again.



  

After our adventure in Hiroshima. dad and I spent a few days here in Kanonji. We spent time relaxing, exploring around, and catching up on all sorts of exciting news. We ended up going to Kotohiki and climbing up to the top of the mountain to see the temple, and the Zenigata! Dad was really interested in how the Zenigata is shaped so that when you look at it is makes a perfect circle. After enjoying the Zenigata and the view from the top of the mountain, we went to a local restaurant to meet some of my friends. Dad was really happy to meet everyone and see how I live my daily life here. We then went back to my apartment and got ready to go to Osaka the next day!

(here is a picture from Hiroshma. All of my students will tell you that I make the same faces!)

  

The past month or so hasn't been the most exciting in terms of activities, I however will say that the amount of books that I have been reading has gone up far more when making a comparison of my amount of books read earlier this year.

What have you been reading? I just finished reading Murakami's "Men Without Women", it was a good collection of short stories.


  

I am lucky because I live in a beautiful area surrounded by gorgeous mountains. I love nothing more than spending my time riding my motorcycle through the gorgeous mountains and stopping by one of my favorite places for a stroll or a nice cup of tea.  

I like berries...a lot. One adjustment I've had to make living in Japan is the lack of affordable fresh fruit. I had resigned myself to only having fruit as an ice cream flavor or surrounded by gelatin. But what did I find at my favorite shopping center? Strawberries, at a reasonable price!

It felt a bit strange to be so excited about something, which in the US, I can have on a whim. After looking at apples that cost a few hundred yen each, or trying to find a melon that is less expensive than my rent, you can accept the small victories. I cannot say for certain if the strawberries were any better than those I've had before, but I thoroughly enjoyed them.  

It's been almost two years since I moved to Marugame, which is pretty cool. Some one recently told me it was he second biggest city in Kagawa. I'm really glad I ended up here. It's nice living so close to a castle, and there's still a lot of stuff to do in this area that I haven't done yet.   

On Monday, my movie buddy and I went to the Utazu theater to see Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2. Here in Japan it was called "Remix" instead of "vol.2" and I thought that was clever, since music plays a pretty heavy point in the series. The main character carries around an old walkman and headphones that he treasures because he came from Earth. Now he and several of his alien friends fight on different planets for various reasons. The first one was great, particularly because the movie has a great sense of humor.

My friend and I forgot to check what time the movie version that we could watch was playing, so we were pretty surprised when the theater didn't have English....ANYTHING! I've seen several movies in Japan over the past 2 years so I was really shocked. I assumed there would be an English version of the movie to watch. But the cinema was only playing the Japanese dub of the movie. My friend and I shrugged and decided it would be good listening practice.

I will say that it was fun, although dialogue heavy scenes were hard to understand exactly. My friend hadn't actually seen the first movie...so she was even more confused than me! When it was over, I looked up a summary of the movie online so I figure out the main plot. I was pretty close and gave myself a pat on the back for understanding a lot of Japanese.   

I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but my wife had been playing a game that had come out recently, Persona 5. I am a pretty big fan of the Persona games, having played a bit of P2: Innocent Sin, P3 and P4. So of course watching her play would only make me want to play it myself. So I ended up buying the English version (so that I could understand the story better), and I have been hooked since. The gameplay is usually pretty involved in the Persona series, involving battling to level up, forming relationships, and just getting through school life. I usually play through games on normal difficulty, but for the sake of ease (and less frustration), I have been playing on easy mode. I don't think it affects the game too much, aside from the difficulty of the battles. Anyway, the timing couldn't have been worse for starting the game. I have a big test I should be studying for, plus with summer time coming, it will be very busy soon! I hope I can manage everything!  

We’re on the cusp of summer now, and I’m really enjoying the warm weather! It feels so good to be outside! I know that it will be hot soon, so I plan on being out and about as much as possible before then. There’s just one problem: the bugs! I think that last summer the Japanese bugs didn’t recognize me as food yet, so they left me alone. They are now making up for lost time! After the Summer BBQ and a picnic in Marugame last weekend, I ended up with eight huge bug bites. They feel better today, but the last couple of days have been uncomfortable. I also wonder what kind of bug bit me. I know that they were probably mosquitos, but in America my mosquito bites didn’t swell to the size of pennies! Maybe I’m reacting differently because it’s a different type of mosquito? Oh well. I’m willing to suffer some itchiness in order to explore the beautiful Japanese countryside.  

Hello!

I mentioned last week that I would be writing about some etymologies of words. Etymologies (eh-tuh-mo-low-gee-s) is a word that means the history or meaning of words. This week, I want to talk about a great English word that can be used in lots of different places.

The word “Phony” is used as a way to call something false or untrue. Like “This ring isn't made from real gold. It's a phony ring.” Phony is a word that can be givent to both objects or people.If someone tries to lie to you about something, feel free to call them a phony.

The word phony comes from a British slang term. Slang is a word or phrase that is very casual and usually only used by a certain group of people. The word “Fawney” means fake gold jewellery, something that pirates would try and pass off as real when they were selling them to store owners. The word later got changed from a “Fa-” sound to a “Pho-” sound because of the pirate accents!
  

Pictured above is one of my favorite people in all the world. He is a hip-hop artist of the highest caliber. Famous for several things, but most recently he has been recognized for having the “highest vocabulary” in hip hop ever. He came up (came up=became famous) in New York’s underground scene alongside the likes of El-P, Camu Tao, Cage, Cannibal Ox, C-Ray Waltz, and many more. He made up half of the legendary duo of himself and El-P as well as composed perhaps the definitive anthem of the underground scene of his time, a track titled “Daylight.” Its chorus is simple:
“All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day
Put the pieces back together my way”
I met the guy once after a concert in Oakland. It was a small venue and he was playing songs from his latest record, which in my opinion not as great as his previous work, so the concert was not as great as I had hoped. But the guy was so cool to meet, very down to earth and open. He took some pics with me, though I’ve lost them. It was just nice to see him up close and to actually talk to him a bit.
Additionally, he looks like my younger brother!
Go YouTube him pronto (right away)!

It’s a beautiful thing, to my people who keep an impressive wingspan, even when the cubicle shrink.
- Aesop Rock  

I'm not too picky when it comes to food. I'll pretty much eat what's in front of me. Although, sometimes, like everybody else, I get cravings. I think everyone can use a good serving of french fries from time to time. I happened to be at a festival, so finding them was easy. Of course, french fries are synonymous with happiness. So, all I could do was smile.

  

I made some Greek food this past weekend. Sometimes I get bored cooking the same things week after week. I know how to cook many things and sometimes forget that I know some recipes. I was thinking about my travels abroad and remembered some yummy food I ate on a trip to Greece. I decided to make it since it had been a while since I last cooked or ate it. The dish is called Souvlaki and Tzaziki. Souvlaki is chunks of meat on a skewer with veggies. Tzaziki sauce is yogurt based with dill, lemon juice, and cucumber for additional Mediterranean flavor. It took a while to prepare but it was definitely worth the time and effort.  

I recently participated in a tug-of-war competition in Marugame-machi. It was so much fun but so much more difficult than I had imagined. Although our team only won 2 out of 5 matches, I had a blast. The whole event was put on my Marugame-machi and it included food, drinks, and just good ol’ fashion fun. I am really glad I was able to join in on this activity.


  

I was really excited to go to Miyajima, I hadn't been there before. I was also super excited to be able to go with my father! We woke up early, and climbed aboard the ferry. There were so many people! The ride was very fast, and the water was such a pretty blue! We walked with the crowd along a very pretty street, with buildings on one side and the ocean on the other. I was most excited to see the giant floating Torii gate! It is such a famous landmark in Japan, and I had seen many photos of it before, but it was amazing to see in person! We spent a lot of time looking at it from many different angles. WE also found this man who had a monkey! My dad decided he had to have a picture with the monkey. She was really cute!



Then we took a cable car up to Mt.Misen, a famous mountain on Miyajima. There was a really nice lookout area where, if the weather is clear enough, you can see the mountains on Shikoku! I was a bit sad it wasn't clear enough. It would have been so cool to see Mt. Ishizuchi from Miyajima! We went back down the mountain in the cable cars, picked up a few souvenirs, and went back to the mainland. We then found Hiroshima station and came back to Kanonji. What a long day!