ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

My friend took me to a very fancy Chinese food restaurant. There were 9 courses in all. I was told that it would be hard to eat everything, but I tried! We ate these foods:

Salad
Steamed dumplings
Fried Chicken
Shrimp
Clam Chowder
Egg and pork
Mabo Tofu
Fried Rice
Dessert



I was too full by the time we got to the 7th course. I can't even tell you what the rice tasted like. My friend asked "what do you want to eat tomorrow?" I couldn't imagine being hungry then!  

With the new year coming up, I hope that I am able to do more exploring in Japan. Since I've arrived in Japan about a year ago, I have been very busy handling matters both in Japan and back home in the United States. This had left me with very little time to truly enjoy the beauty that Japan has to offer.

Things have started to wind down a bit for me on the American end, and that should leave me with more free time and resources, which would enable me to be more adventurous this year.

Hopefully, I'll be able to blog about have exciting excursions very soon.

Here's to every year being better than the last!  

Happy New Years 2021 to each and everyone! All around the world people in most countries celebrate with fireworks. In America we watch the ball drop and watch the fireworks. Families get together and celebrate together, reminiscing the year that is ending. However, many places in the world will not be celebrating this way and with fireworks this year. So I am going to light off the fireworks over Tokyo and Japan here in my post. I want to celebrate and welcome in a new year. A year of hope....  

Currently I am on vacation from work until after New Year's, and I have been trying my best to be productive, but some days it is not so easy. Last week, I received the Japanese textbook from Amazon Japan. The title of the book is Basic Japanese, and it is written by two linguists, which is pretty cool.

The book only has ten lessons, so I plan on working through those at a reasonable rate of one lesson per week before starting on the two Japanese university textbooks from the States that I have. I am hoping to obtain at least a survival level of japanese after completing this Basic Japanese book, after which I figure that my trips to the convenience stores and shopping centers won't be as anxiety provoking for me.

So far I am on lesson 2/10 in the book, and have begun to make flashcards via the Anki app. Language updates will be posted via future blog posts.



  

The years almost over. This is a great opportunity to sit and reflect on how the year went. There are a lot of little things I'd like to change this year. I'm currently trying to come up with some New year's resolutions. New year's resolutions are things I want to change in the next year. I'm thinking maybe I'll try to learn guitar or or study Japanese more, maybe I should run more often. But I suppose, New year's resolution can be more than one thing. What about you, do you have a New year's resolution? I know I'm going to keep thinking about mine cuz I have a few days to figure it out.


  

Some of the best Udon I've ever had. It was chilled udon and they added ice made from the soup concentrate. As it melted it added my soup to the bowl. Truly incredible.

Feelings on tea really changed that day. Absolutely beautiful dorayaki. I gobbed them up like doramon.


  

The year 2020 was meant to be a year of change and adventure for most. Little did we know that the year would turn out the way it did. It was a challenging year for the world, but with 2021 quickly approaching, I want to take a moment to appreciate what all 2020 accomplished. Families started becoming families again. The Earth began to heal. A new found respect for nature was established. People started to understand the conveniences they were taking for granted on a day to day basis. These are but a few of the good things that came from the chaos.

As we move into the year 2021, I hope that the world begins to build upon what they have discovered. I'm dubbing 2021 "A Year of Progress." So much will happen for me, personally, in the new year. I'll be studying to take my licensing exams in June and December, I'll be planning a future with the man I love, I'll be building my resume in the world of Aerospace and Aviation, I will apply for Graduate School to further my education with a MS in Space studies and a PhD in Aerospace Technology, I will work toward making the connections I need to begin reaching and accomplishing my dreams, and so much more. There is so much to look forward to in the coming year, and I don't want to just stand still... I don't want the world to stand still. There is so much we could change and continue changing to make the world a better place.

Never stop moving. Progress your 2020 discoveries! We have this life that we will remember, and no other. Make the most of it!

To 2021! A year of Progress!

Thanks for reading, and as always, I hope you have an amazing day! Happy New Year!

Leigh  

Since my best friend is Australian, I've been learning about all kinds of different foods. We playfully fight over what something is called.

She showed me a traditional Christmas pudding from Austrailia. It was surprising to see how little it is like American or Japanese pudding! Christmas pudding is sort of like a cake, with custard or an icing on top. It's steamed when it's made, not baked like a cake.



To compare it to American pudding would be strange too! American pudding has a yogurt or whipped cream consistency. It's similar to chocolate mousse.



Many countries call different things a pudding, but they all taste good to me!
  

As we make our way further and further into the holiday season, I have been having talks with my students about their holiday traditions, more specifically their Christmas traditions.

In many of the discussions, we talked about the colors in which they decorated their Christmas trees. I found that most of my students said that they always decorated their Christmas tree with red, green, silver, and/or gold ornaments. This isn't surprising though because these are the traditional Christmas colors and that's really all you see available in most Japanese stores.

In my family though, every year we decorate the tree a different color and I think this is pretty common in the States. When you go shopping for Christmas tree decorations in America, you will see a wide array of colors. It can be a bit overwhelming actually. Despite that, I think having so many options helps to personalize the Christmas experience for you and your family.

Overall, I think that seeing so many varieties and renditions of Christmas trees as you visit family and friends during the holidays is just a big part of celebrating this season in America.  

Christmas Day is finally here and all the preparation has been done! The highlight of the day besides the coming of Santa Claus- Christmas Dinner with family and/or friends.

I always prepared the holiday favorite, a prime rib roast! However, here in Japan, I have been told by all my students, that Kentucky Fried Chicken is the holiday favorite. I love their chicken, but in America I usually get it for the Fourth of July picnic!! I also am told that a beautiful Christmas cake is important too, and surpases the Christmas cookie here in Japan on the "Favorite list"! I would make a Christmas cake too, but also pecan, pumpkin and apple pies....and leftover cookies that Santa and his reindeer didn't eat!!

Whatever is on the menu, the most important thing is to enjoy it with family and friends! It is one of the biggest reasons for the season!! AND have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!


  

This week begins the start of our two week vacation, which I am REALLY hoping will include a game of Dungeons and Dragons with the people I've talked to about it.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be running a few parts of the Lost Mines of Phandelver for the new players at my table. Luckily I have gone through this prewritten module a few times, so any prep time on my end is drastically reduced. But since the Lost Mines will not be the main setting of the campaign, I do have a lot more extra prep work to undertake with regards to the main setting. I am HIGHLY considering running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

Since both the Lost Mines and Waterdeep: Dragon Heist take place roughly in the same area geographically, the main problem to be solved on my end is to find a way to lead my characters to Waterdeep after completing the parts of the Lost Mines.

Time to crack open the books of the two modules and see what I can do!

Also, I'm absolutely stoked to be able to play again! :D



  

Christmas Is almost here! Are you going to do anything fun? I know I am. I'm going to go camping this year! I'm super excited we're going to camp on the ocean! it'll probably be a little cold but the fire will be warm.


  

Ya wanna talka dino? I wanna talka dino.



They're great. They're big. They're not as common as they once were. It was fun seeing big bony boi's and rock bois.

Birds used to look pretty different



One day you might be a rock.  

It's that time of year again! Christmas time! It's a wonderful time of year where not only do you get to spend time with family, but the atmosphere of the world changes. Peoples attitudes change and the world becomes a little more happy and a little more peaceful. Christmas is my favorite holiday, not for the gifts, but for the memories. I haven't had a chance to spend a Christmas with my family in almost a decade, so I am really looking forward to Christmas this year! It will be a super long drive, but it will be 100% worth seeing my family. I haven't seen my family in about 1.5 years, and my father in nearly 3, so this will be a treat. I love them and miss them so.

Do you like Christmas? What is your favorite part of Christmas?

Thanks for reading, and as always, have an amazing day and Happy Holidays!!!

Leigh  

Last week, my friends and I went to an entertainment center. I tried a lot of different sports there. Batting cages, pitching, and a driving range. I'm not good at sports, so I don't really like trying them. But I was playing with my friends, so it was just fun!

I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed tennis! A lot of my students play tennis, and I didn't really see why. But after playing for a little while, I got into it! I kept hitting the ball too high, and to the left. And we spent a lot of time chasing after the ball.

I found that it was a surprisingly good way to exercise. I think I'd like to do it again!  

I never would have imagined that my first year getting really dressed up would be in Japan. Even though I've only just started buying Christmas clothing items, I already have a pretty wide array of items to pick from.

My initial problem was not having any Christmas clothes to wear. My new problem is having too many options. I'm really having trouble deciding what to wear and when.

I really want to take full advantage of all of my Christmas accessories as they are items that I can only wear during one period of the year. With that in mind, don't be surprised if you see me in a variety of different Christmas getups.

'Tis the season!
  

On my count down to my favorite holiday of Christmas, my "to do" list is getting shorter! I have the Christmas tree up and the Christmas cards mailed. Now it is time to make the cookies!!

I don't make them any earlier than the week before Christmas because I want them fresh for Christmas and they would all be eaten before the BIG day got here! I need enough made for gift giving and to leave out for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas eve. I have to start a week ahead of time because I make so many different kinds and need so many cookies! When I give a gift, I like to give a sample of at least 6 different kinds, just like in the picture I selected.

The BEST part about making cookies is sharing the time with the kids and family. They all help, especially with the "supervising" and the decorating. However, they help best with the EATING!!!  

As you can probably tell from my last post, there is a common theme emerging from them: Dungeons and Dragons.

I've decided to center my blog posts around this amazing game, because to be honest, it is something that I can easily write about given my level of obsession and interest in it. And I truly mean that when I say that I'm obsessed with it; I actively consume hours of actual play podcasts, interviews with creators, and video series per week. When I'm not actively listening to a D&D podcast, I'm usually thinking about my next campaign idea or going over the outline of what I want to happen in a future session.

So, let's get back to and discuss the central point of this particular blog post, and that is to briefly outline some of my ideas for the upcoming campaign I mentioned in my previous post. It's always good to start off your campaign with what's called a Session Zero, where you layout your expectations for where things will go and also get player feedback (like if they want more role-playing and less combat), help your players create characters, and you can even run a small instructive scene that involves roleplaying and combat to help the truly new players begin to understand the game.

For my Session Zero, I am thinking of running a few parts from the beginning of prepared module called Lost Mines of Phandelver. The opening of this module is very effective for helping new players (as I've found from experience), because it involves a variety of different types of situations you may find yourselves in as players and things are not very complex.

So, for my next blog post, I'll discuss more in depth about my Session Zero

The picture below is one that I took on the way to work one day, and the natural beauty combined with the human built environment caught my attention



  

In America Christmas chicken is under normal tradition. I always had ham growing up. But it wasn't just normal ham, it was Honey baked Ham. Honey baked Ham is sweet and delicious. We always had our honey baked ham with scalloped potatoes. Then for dessert we'd have cookies. Yummy!




(Not my photo)
  

I went on a big trip in October and am already missing the open road. I drove a lot. Almost 1000km in about 8 days. I scuba dived and did a lot of things I didn't think I could ever do. I'm really grateful for the opportunity that not everyone has to travel and be safe.

The entire trip I kept track of the people I spoke with. In the whole trip I spoke with maybe 60 people, and the rest was alone. It was a good change of pace and my mind changed a lot.

some food pics just to get them out of the way.

fire roasted fish by the river. (Kazurabashi かずら橋）

Local Tokushima specalties (iya valley 祖谷渓)

And of course a lot of great Kochi fish