ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

We are well in the month of December! The weather is getting colder and most people tend to look forward to hot chocolate, Christmas and/or holiday traveling. I'm one of the odd few that looks forward to holiday raffles! In America it's pretty common for a school or business to have a holiday raffle. What are raffles you ask? Raffles are an activity in which people buy tickets with different letters or numbers to win big or small prizes. Now I love partaking in raffles! I can't recall when I didn't try my luck at winning a prize. The only problem is? When it comes to raffles I'm rather unlucky. The only thing I have ever won in a raffle is a loaf of bread.

So when I saw that a convenience store was having a raffle for Disney memorabilia, I had to try my luck! I thought maybe I had a good chance of at least winning a key chain or a small glass cup since I'm an optimist. I expressed my excitement to the ladies at the cash register. They wished me good luck as I slowly picked a letter.

Not thinking much of it I picked up the letter C. Immediately the first cashier's face turned from contentment to shock. She let out a huge "SUGOI! (WOW!)" I looked at her in confusion and replied "Sugoi? Oh! Sugoi?!" The first cashier then told the cashier next to her my letter. Now it was the second cashier's turn to be overtaken with excitement. The second cashier let out another "SUGOI!" I am just standing at the counter wondering what in the world was happening. Did I just win something big?

The first cashier then brings out this huge Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. My jaw drops. The other cashier tells me this was a special prize because they only had one. She gently hands me the gigantic Mickey doll and I hug it and yell out "YATTA! (HOORAY!)" They all laugh and are delighted by the look of sheer joy on my face. I step outside with the Mickey doll, that is probably bigger than my big head, beaming with pride. Safe to say, I'm more than ready for the next raffle! Bring it on! I'm feeling lucky! Ha!

  

Normally I don't do any shopping for Christmas, but I think I might this year. I've been looking around for a few things, but I ran into the same problem as always... I have no idea what other people want!

In my family we just ask what the person wants. That is a great system, except when you kind of want it to be a surprise. Shopping is generally pretty fun, shopping for someone else, however, is very stressful!