2,100 Kilometer Motorcycle Tour and Mt. Fuji

～周南から東京２１００Kmバイクの旅（マイク講師）～

マイクが周南から東京までバイクで旅をしました。
途中富士山に登ったり、下田のビーチに立ち寄ったりと楽しいお盆休みをすごしました。みなさんはどのような夏休みをすごしましたか？

Hello Everyone,

Its Mike and for my Obon vacation I went on a 2,100 Kilometer motorcycle tour from Shunan to Tokyo and back. I left Shunan on the night of August 8th and rode my motorcycle for 20 hours. I arrived in Tokyo on Saturday evening.

Also, I climbed Mt. Fuji. I started at 7:00pm and climbed all night until I reached the top for sunrise. The view was amazing. Have you ever climbed Mt. Fuji?

富士山頂上からのご来光！

Also, I went to Shimoda Beach. I went snorkeling and enjoyed swimming in the warm water. At night we slept in a tent on the beach. I LOVE ADVENTURE !!!

下田ビーチで海水浴！

Pronunciation Challenge

～発音練習にチャレンジ！（マイク講師）～

　日本人が苦手なr と l の発音の違いを、下記のエクササイズで練習しましょう。プリントをダウンロードして、まずは上のトラックを使い、違いを聞き分けてみましょう。何回か練習した後で、二番目のトラックを聞いてみて下さい、マイク講師がそれぞれどちらの単語を読み上げたか、聞き取ってみましょう！

Hello Everyone,

Its Mike and I want to share a pronunciation exercise with you. First CLICK HERE
and download the exercise document. It is a pronunciation exercise for /r/ and /l/.

Second, listen to me pronounce the words in Column 1 and 2 a few times.


After you Listen to "Pronunciation (Reading Column 1 and 2)" a few times listen to the track below. I will select words from Column 1 or 2 and read them. Try to guess which words I am reading. Also practice reading the words yourself.

～夏休み、神戸の旅（レスリー講師）～

　夏休みを利用して、車で神戸旅行に出掛けたレスリー講師。姫路城、神戸牛を堪能、そして大好きなパンダに会いに動物園にも足を運び、忙しくも充実した休暇を過ごしたそうです。皆さんは夏休みをどのように過ごされましたか？

Hello Everyone!

I had a very busy, but very fun Obon vacation. I drove to Okayama, Himeji, and Kobe.

I heard that Himeji Castle has been under construction for a long time, but luckily they recently took off the scaffolding so I was able to get some good pictures. 

長らく工事中だった姫路城ですが、ちょうど工事が終わって全貌が見えました！

I really enjoyed Kobe! It's one of my favorite cities I have visited so far. I splurged on a nice lunch of Kobe beef that the chef cooked in front of me. It was very delicious :) I also found out that Kobe has a panda at their zoo, and pandas are my favorite animal! I was lucky enough to see the panda eat and do a little walking around.

目の前で神戸牛を調理してもらう、贅沢なランチ♪

王子動物園で大好きなパンダを見ました！

On my way back from Kobe, I stopped at "Rabbit Island"/Okunoshima, so I could feed and play with the many, many rabbits. They were very cute and friendly :)

神戸の帰りにうさぎの島、大久野島へ行きました。

I hope you had a wonderful vacation!

Leslie

Picking weeds in the Rice Field

～田植えに挑戦！（ショーナ講師）～

　皆さんは田植えをしたことがありますか？ショーナ講師は週末、マイク講師と共に知人の稲田を訪れ、田植えのお手伝いをしました。暑い中の作業は大変でしたが、仕事の後の昼食の味は格別だったに違いありません。

Hello everyone, this is Shauna.

Last weekend I went to pick weeds in an organic rice field with Mike. Have you ever picked weeds in a rice field? The rice field was located in Hirao, near Yanai. It was the rice field of Mike's kayak teacher, Koji Hara. It was very hot but also a lot of fun. The rice is still young so it was not very tall.

まだ背の低い稲を植えていきます。暑かったですが、楽しい作業でした。

In the picture, Mike decided to wear his motorcycle riding clothes so he could be protected from bugs. He said it helped prevent bug bites but it was very hot.

虫よけにモータバイク用の服を着たマイク講師、暑そうです。

After two hours of picking weeds we had some great lunch with Koji's family. All the food was tasty and also very healthy.

お手伝いの後はヘルシーで美味しい昼食を頂きました。