Earlier this year, I went with my family to The Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya:
http://jp.bloguru.com/otto/232181/toyota-technology-museum
We listened to a talk about cotton & we were given some free cotton seeds. When we got home, we planted (植えた) them. I watered (水をやった) them often. They grew quite well, & finally produced fluffy ( フワフワ ) white cotton. I was pleased & my kids were excited. What a cool plant!
Now I`m researching how to spin the cotton so I can use it.
Vocabulary:
- plant (名詞) = 植物 plant (動詞) = 植える
- water (名詞) = 水 water (動詞) = 水をやる
Recently my parents visited Japan. I took some time off work & took them to Takayama. We took the train there. It takes about 2 and a half hours from Nagoya.
We took a walk everyday. There are a lot of nice things to see in Takayama - temples, traditional buildings, mountain & river views, etc. I took this photo of a rickshaw (人力車), but we didn`t take a rickshaw anywhere.
It was lovely & sunny. Unfortunately I didn`t take a hat, so I got a little sunburnt.
Vocabulary:
- "take [took]" has a lot of meanings in English, e.g. 休む, 連れて行く, (時間が)かかる, 撮る, 乗る、持って行く, (薬を)飲む, and more...!
Before buying this toy car, I weighed up (considered & compared) the pros & cons (good & bad points):
Pro: only ¥50................................Con: My wife will still say, "a waste of money!"
Pro: My kids will play with it..........Con: My kids will probably break & lose it
Pro: Hatchback opens..................Con: Doors don`t open
Pro: Wheels in good condition......Con: Paint in bad condition
Finally, I looked at the bottom. It said "Made in Macau." That`s interesting! And `interesting` is a pro.
The pros outweighed the cons. I bought it.
There were more than 100 kids at our school`s kids halloween party on Sunday - great! There were a lot of cool costumes.
This year there has been a lot of Star Wars-related stuff (= things) on the Disney channel that my kids watch, but my kids didn`t understand what it was about. So I rented the DVDs of the original three movies. After that, of course they (& I!) wanted to wear Star Wars-related costumes to the halloween party.
There will be a new Star Wars movie in cinemas soon - do you plan to see it?
By the way, there`s going to be an adults halloween party at our Gifu school this Saturday - please come! http://jp.bloguru.com/teragoya-gifu/251404/2015-10-17
Grammar:
- Now: There is/are...
- Past: There was/were...
- Until now: There has/have been...
- Future: There will be.... / There`s going to be...
On the weekend I went camping with my family in Tsuruga, Fukui. I wanted to camp on Mihama Beach, but I noticed a sign which said `No Camping` so we went to this mountain campsite instead:
http://www.city.tsuruga.lg.jp/about_city/news_from_facility/gaibu_shisetsu/shizennoie/nosakaikoinomori.html
It was not far away, so I was happy. My kids saw a snake, so they were happy, and the campsite was free, so my wife was happy. I want to go there again, but not this year - the nights are getting cold now.
Grammar:
- "What does the sign say?" "It says there are snakes around here" = 「何て書いてある？」「蛇が出るって書いてあるよ」
On Monday my wife & I went to Ena. It`s famous for 栗きんとん (a kind of chestnut dessert) and Oi dam. The weather was good. We had a nice, relaxing time.
Vocabulary:
- Maybe you`ve heard people (e.g. in movies) say "Dam!" when they`re angry or surprised. But that`s a different word, spelt `damn`, not `dam`. It`s kind of rude, so be careful about using it yourself.
誰かに怒る時「Dam!ダム！」と言います。映画などで聞いたことありますか？あの単語の本当の綴りは"Damn"。ご自身で使う時は気をつけてください。
While looking at dinosaurs in Yanagase in Gifu (http://jp.bloguru.com/otto/249138/yanagase-dinosaur-display), I noticed (見かける) a new Okinawan-theme restaurant. We decided to have lunch there. I ordered Okinawan-style `souki soba` noodles. It was delicious. I decided not to drink Orion beer. I noticed they had root beer, so I ordered that instead (代わりに).
Sorry, I don`t remember the name of the restaurant, but if you look for it in Yanagase, or ask somebody there, I`m sure you can find it.
Grammar:
- decide [not] to 動詞 = 動詞[ない]ことにしました
Last weekend there was a free display of large dinosaur models in Yanagase in Gifu. I took my kids to see it. They really enjoyed it, though my younger son was a little scared. There were about 10 dinosaurs. The biggest one was Tyrannosaurus rex. It was pretty scary, especially when it opened its mouth. Some kids cried.
Vocabulary:
- I wasn`t scarED. My son felt scarED. Were you scarED?
- It was scarY. The dinosaurs looked scarY. I saw a scarY poster.
Occasionally I see wild (野生) weasels in Japan. Recently I saw one in my garden, so I quickly got my camera & took a video.
I wrote a poem (詩) about it:
Weasel in my Garden
A weasel in my garden! Outside, just there!
I stopped moving. I stopped to stare.
I wanted to know why it came to my garden,
But it ran off as soon as I said, "Pardon..."
庭にイタチがいた！すぐそこに！
私は、動くのを止めた. 私はじっと見るために止めた
なんで、イタチが自分ちの庭に….
でも「すみま…..」と声をかけようとしたら逃げていってしまったよ
Grammar:
- start running = start to run = 走るのを始める
- stop smoking = タバコをすうのを止める stop to smoke = タバコをすうために止める
I was watching my son play soccer and I noticed this car behind a building nearby. I think it has been there for a long time, because not only is the car rusty (錆び錆び) , but the wall behind it is rusty too!
I don`t know what kind of car it is. I guess it`s from the 1940s.
Vocabulary:
- rusty = 錆び錆び OR 腕が鈍る / 腕がおちた, so: "I lived in America & used English everyday, but then I moved back to Japan, and now my English is pretty rusty."
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birdy 
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