Do you like fleamarkets? Some people don`t like them, but I find* them interesting. You can see things that you don`t normally see in shopping centres. Also, if you`re lucky, you can find** a bargain (買い得).
These are my finds*** from a fleamarket in Gifu last weekend: a toy car (¥100), 2 children`s books (¥50 each), a silk necktie (¥50), & a towel with a picture of a sumo wrestler (¥800). The car is for my collection, I gave the books to my kids & I will give the towel to a family member as a present.
Vocabulary:
- *find (動詞)= 思う, 分かる
- **find (動詞) = 見つける
- ***find (名詞) = 見つけた物, 拾い物, 発見、戦利品
On Saturday there was some kind of festival at Kogane Shrine in Gifu, near our school. As you can see, participants were carrying a 'mikoshi' - a kind of portable shrine, and they were wearing 'happi', a kind of traditional decorative coat. Have you ever worn a happi? I haven`t, but I hope to have the chance one day - I think they look kind of cool.
Grammar:
- a kind of 名詞 = 名詞の種類
- some kind of 名詞 = 名詞の種類 (何の種類か分からない感じ)
- kind of 形容詞 = けっこう、ちょっと形容詞
In some shops, you can`t take photos, but I was surprised to see this sign at a Daiso 100yen store. It says that if you want, you can take photos of things in the store & post your photos on Instagram, Twitter, etc.
So I took a photo - of the sign!
Grammar:
- すみませんが、こちらは撮影禁止となっております = I`m sorry, but YOU* can`t take photos here.
- この店舗ではお値打ちなものが買えます = YOU* can buy cheap things in this shop
- * You = 誰でも (not あなた)
This children`s book is about four puppies (子犬) who keep* digging holes under a fence and escaping. Their mother keeps* making signs telling them not to dig holes under the fence anymore.
I don`t have puppies, but I keep** chickens. Soon it will be spring & they will eat the new leaves on my blackberry plant, so I put yellow fencing net around it to keep*** the chickens out, and keep*** my blackberry plant safe. Then my kids and I made a sign like the one from the book.
Vocabulary
*keep + 動詞ing = 〜し続ける
**keep + 名詞 = 飼う
***keep + 名詞 + 前置詞 / 形容詞 = 名詞を〜に保つ、名詞を〜にしておく
On my way home from Nagoya on Sunday, I got off the train at Konomiya Station and made my way to Konomiya Shrine to check out the naked festival (裸祭). It was difficult to take a good photo because there were a lot of people & police in the way. Standing around naked in winter... it looks like a good way to catch a cold.
By the way, the reason I went to Nagoya was to see an art exhibition:
https://en.bloguru.com/otto/343190/2019-nitten-exhibition
Vocabulary:
- On my/your/the way... = 行く途中
- In the way = 邪魔をする、行く手を塞ぐ
- Make my/your way... = 目指す
- By the way = ところで
- A good way (to...) = (...のは) 良い方法
I like* chocolate & I like tins (缶), so my wife correctly guessed that this would be a good valentines gift for a geek like** me. I like that the chocolates are shaped & wrapped to look like*** sardines (鰯). That`s funny.
Vocabulary:
- *like = 好き
- ** a geek like me = 私ようなギーク
- *** look like = 似ている,
On Sunday I went to the annual (= every year) 'Nitten' Japan Fine Arts Exhibition at The Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in Sakae. I took my young daughter, but she got bored quickly. Also, she was impatient to eat ice-cream; I`d promised her beforehand that I would buy her one, so afterward, I quickly bought a few postcards (can you guess the two that my daughter chose?) then we went & ate ice-cream nearby.
Vocabulary:
- beforehand = (何か) する前, あらかじめ
- afterward = (何か) したから
- nearby = (何処か)の近い
Here is a post on Gifu Channel`s website about the visit to Teragoya a while ago* by three SKE48 members:
http://backnumber.zf-web.com/tske48/p1812282715
In a while**, the video will be available on Gyao (https://gyao.yahoo.co.jp/). I`ll let you know when it`s there. While*** you wait for that, how about watching my Youtube videos for a while****? (I`m sorry that Tera-chan is not as pretty as SKE48 members...)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3SckO780YDy43cZhP9UBlQ/videos
Vocabulary:
* a while ago = しばらく前
** in a while = もう少ししたら
**** for a while = しばらくの間
*** while = 〜する間
I made this end table, using some of the wood I gathered at Biwa Lake a couple of weeks ago. It`s just wide enough to put our printer on, but narrow enough to fit in the gap between the sofa & a large cabinet in our living room. Also, it`s just the right height for a rubbish bin (ゴミ箱) to go underneath, & the drawer is just the right size for some A4 paper & spare ink cartridges. Finally, my wife judged that it looks nice enough to keep in the living room.
Grammar:
- ...just the right + 名詞 (e.g. size/length/height/amount/etc.) = 丁度いい
- ...just 形容詞* + enough (*e.g. wide/big/long/etc.) = 辛うじて
I took this photo in December but I forgot to stick* it on my blog - they`re nengajo that I made with my my kids. Instead of printing directly onto the postcards, we printed our design onto origami paper, then stuck** the origami paper on the postcards.
Vocabulary:
*stick = put (casual/informal English)
**stick 現在形, stuck 過去形 = 張る
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