Shunan English School Blog: 9月 2015

2015年9月22日火曜日

～アイルランド（ゲール語：エアル）～　（トレイシー講師）

トレイシー講師がこのお盆休みにアイルランドへ旅行に出掛けました。

日本からダブリンに降りたち、4日間エメラルド島を満喫してきたようです。初めてホステルに泊まったり、たくさんのきれいな風景や建物を見て楽しんだようです。夢にまで見たアイルランドの伝統や文化、風景に触れ、ますますアイルランドを好きになったようです。トレイシー講師がアイルランドの素敵な写真をたくさん載せてくれています。どうぞみなさんもアイルランドの風景をお楽しみください。

Éire

(Gaelic name for Ireland)

Hey y'all! It's Tracey! I hope that everyone had a great Obon holiday. What did you do? Where did you go? Wanna know what I did? I went to Ireland! :-) I spent 4 wonderful days traveling the " Emerald Isle "and I loved every minute of it. Shall I tell you all about it?

Before my four day tour began, I landed in Dublin with only enough time to eat dinner and sleep. I did not go sightseeing but it was ok because the main purpose of my trip was to discover the Irish countryside. I stayed in a hostel for the first time. It was an interesting experience but I think that I'll stick with hotels. :-) Here's a brief look into my trip.

Day 1

The day started as I met my tour group at 6:40 am at Dublin Hueston Station. We were scheduled to depart on the 7:00 am train. I was tired after flying for 15 hours the day before, but I was excited too! Once we boarded the train, we headed in a south westerly direction through the countryside of County Kildare, County Tipperary and County Cork. There was a dining car on the train and it was here that I ate my first full Irish breakfast (minus the eggs ..Yuck!). It was delicious! On the first day I went to Blarney Castle (and kissed The Blarney Stone) and the city of Cobh, where I visited St. Colman's Cathedral and the Cobh Heritage Center.

Next stop ... Killarney!

Irish Rail
アイルランド鉄道

Traditional Irish Breakfast
伝統的なアイルランドの朝食

Blarney Castle
ブラーニー城

Kissing The Blarney Stone
ブラーニー石にキス♪

Colorful Houses In Cobh
コーブのカラフルな家

St. Colman's Cathedral
コーヴ大聖堂

Day 2

After a great night's sleep and another full Irish breakfast, I began my adventure traveling the Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a 179 km long circular route in County Kerry. Every stop that we made along the way was beautiful and spectacular! It It was a great day.

Back to Killarney I go!

Dingle Bay

ディングル湾

Kells Sheep Centre

ケルズシープセンター

Caherdaniel
カアーダニエル

Sneem
スネアム

Killarney
キラーニー

Day 3
After dinner with the wonderful people I met on my tour, a great night in a local pub hanging with the natives, and ANOTHER full Irish breakfast, I was picked up from my hotel early to begin the next adventure. On the agenda was Bunratty Castle , the city of Doolin, the Cliffs of Moher, and The Burren. Day 3 was a good day.

Next stop ... Galway!

Bunratty Castle
バンラティ城

Doolin
デューリン

The Cliffs Of Moher
モハーの断崖

The Burren
バーレン

Galway (Eyre Square)
ゴールウェイ（エアスクエア）

Day 4

Alas, it was the last day of the Grand Atlantic Tour. As I walked to the train station, I took a few last minute pictures before I met my tour group. We headed out to Connemara, one of Ireland's Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) regions , to view the rugged countryside. The highlight of the day was visiting Kylemore Abbey (and the Victorian Walled Gardens), a Benedictine monastery that was originally a private home built in the 19th century. Our tour then headed back to Galway where I caught the train to Dublin. Like the beginning of my trip, once I arrived in Dublin there was only enough time to eat and sleep (in the same hostel ...) before catching my flight back to Japan the next morning. Although my time in Ireland was short, it was very rewarding. I only dreamed of seeing Ireland before but fortunately, my dream came true. Even though my visit was temporary, the memories will last forever.

Slán ...
(Goodbye in Irish)

Kylemore Abbey
カイルモア修道院

Victorian Walled Gardens
ヴィクトリア朝城壁庭園

THE END !!
終わり！

2015年9月9日水曜日

Matthews Tokyo Obon

～東京でのお盆休み～(マシュー講師)

初めての日本のお盆休みでマシュー講師は東京を訪れました。何かおもしろい変わったものを見つけに、そして友達に会いに行きましたが、何か見つけることができたのでしょうか。靖国神社や原宿など有名どころをいろいろと回ったようです。その中で心休めるところを見つけたようですね。数年前に訪れたときといろいろと変わっていて、また新しい発見もあったようです。みなさんも何度も訪れたい場所ってありませんか。

Hi everyone.

This was my first Obon in Japan and also my first chance to get away from Yamaguchi. Hofu is a great city to live in, clean, quiet and the people are friendly but it’s very normal; so I decided to head to Tokyo to find as many weird and wacky things as possible and to meet some friends.

During this visit I focused on the Shibuya, Minato and Chiyoda areas of the city. Visiting such attractions as Akihabara, the Imperial gardens, the Yasukuni Shrine and Harajuku.

Harajuku is a great area of Tokyo, there are lots of interesting shops that sell lots of different niche products and the people and the environment are very friendly. I was lucky to see a big group of Harajuku girls they were very colourful and stood out against the crowd, in my opinion to spend that much time making yourself look that colourful is impressive.

原宿にいた女の子

Considering that the bright, noise streets of Harajuku are only about 10 meters from its entrance it seems hard to believe that the Meiji Shrine is as quiet as it is. The shrines grounds are one of my favorite places in Tokyo clean, quiet and very green it is quite easy to forget that you are in the largest city in the world when you’re walking the tree lined paths of the shrine. One of my biggest regrets of the trip to Tokyo was that I didn't get to spend more time at the shrine but considering it took me about 2 hours to walk around the circumference of the grounds and I only just managed to leave before they locked the gates for the night, I think I can be forgiven.

Chiyoda is an impressive area, although I visited the area in 2010 I still find the Imperial Gardens an incredibly impressive sight. The contrast between the tall narrow spaces of the Tokyo streets and the wide open spaces of the Imperial Gardens is impressive enough in its own right but to have that reality thrust upon you by the very defined boarder between the two makes the whole experience almost surreal.

All in all whilst I had a great time in Tokyo and met some lovely people I and my wallet is glad to be back in Hofu. The big city is very nice to visit but I think I would have some reservations about living there.

友人と

～ルネッサンスフェスティバル～(アリスン講師）

９月に入り段々と涼しい季節になってきました。アリスン講師はこの季節なると故郷の「ルネッサンスフェスティバル」というお祭りを思い出すそうです。それは歴史的なお祭りで、ヨーロッパのルネッサンス時代を祝う祭りのようです。アメリカにいながらヨーロッパの歴史を味わうことができる興味深いお祭りですね。みなさんはどんなお祭りに興味がありますか。

Hello, readers! This is Allison writing. September has started and the weather is beginning to cool off; the chilly nights hold the promise of the autumn to come. The cool weather has got my mind turning to the autumnal activities in which I would be engaged in were I back home. I am from Maryland, USA, and in September one of the most popular events is our state Renaissance Festival. It is a historical festival, celebrating the Renaissance period in European history. I have gone every autumn since I was in middle school and find it to be great fun. There are always many local artisans displaying traditional crafts, such as woodworking, blacksmiths, pottery, leather goods, musical instruments, clothing, and so on. Many booths offer delicious foods, such as turkey legs, candied nuts, cheesecake-on-a-stick, and local honeys. Many forms of entertainment are offered as well: you can watch actors put on comedy skits, live music and dancing, jousting, or get your face painted.