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。

The Art of Making Sushi!

～寿司はアート(ミッシェル講師)～

　
　寿司が大好きなミッシェル講師。アメリカにも寿司屋はありますが、日本の寿司屋とは、ネタの種類やメニューも異なっています。日本で、たくさんの寿司屋で食べた経験のあるミッシェル講師、何と今回は、手作り寿司にチャレンジしました！プロ顔負けのミッシェル講師の握り寿司、作り方のコツを英語で学習して、皆さんも手作り寿司にチャレンジしてみませんか？
　

Hello everyone!

Do you like sushi? Most people who come to Japan are big fans of it! In America, there are many Japanese restaurants that serve sushi - but as you might imagine, the menu is a little different than usual. Salmon and tuna are popular, of course, but octopus, squid, and sea urchin are hard to find. 

In Japan, I often go to sushi restaurants (my favorite is Kappa sushi!) and try many types. Recently, however, I wanted to try to make it myself!

On the outside, sushi looks very simple and easy to make. But I've heard there is a secret art to preparing it, and that sushi chefs must train for many years before they are considered professionals. So I studied hard before attempting to make sushi, everything from the way to slice the fish to the recipe for perfect sushi rice. 

First, I sliced the fish. This is yellowtail, or buri. It doesn't look so pretty yet.... 

まずはネタを薄く切ります。鰤"yellowtail"です。

Then I made the rice in a rice cooker. I added sushi vinegar and a little sugar, and it smelled delicious!

When it was time to make the sushi, I prepared a bowl of water with a little vinegar in it. I dipped my fingers in the water, and started to roll the rice in my right hand. To make the shape of the sushi, I pressed the sides and ends of the rice ball in my palm until it formed a rectangle with the sushi laying on top.

Did you know that the trick to making delicious sushi is speed? If you hold the fish too long, the heat from your hand will warm up the fish, and it will spoil quickly. So after a few practice tries, I had to work fast!

サーモン"salmon"、鰤"yellowtail"、鯨"whale"のお寿司が並びます。

二人前、こんなにたくさん出来ました。

This is the final result! I made a lot of sushi for two people, and we even had some sashimi left over! It was SO delicious! Can you recognize the three types of sushi? If you guessed salmon, yellowtail, and whale, you're correct!

So, what do you think? Would you like to try some of the sushi I made? I'm sure you'll like it!

Until next time,

Michelle

Hooray for rainy season!

～梅雨を楽しむ(テイラー講師)～

　
　梅雨というとジメジメした悪いイメージをお持ちの方が多いかもしれませんが、テイラー講師は、暖かく、気持ち良い風の吹くこの時期が大好きです。雨は地を肥やし、草木は色づき始めます。雨の音を聞きながら読書や紅茶を楽しむ時間も良いですが、空気が澄み渡り、雲がたなびく様子も素晴らしい"amazing"そうです。皆さんも梅雨を楽しんで下さいね。


Hooray for rainy season! It's such a nice time of the year.

The weather is warm but not hot, and we often have a pleasant breeze.

Evenings are cool and comfortable.

All the rain nourishes the plants, so this is the most lush time of the year when the landscape overflows with a vibrant green.

Sitting inside and watching or listening to the rain while reading a book or enjoying a cup of tea is pretty wonderful.

Plus, after it rains, the kousa is cleared away and we have a sharp, vivid sky full of amazing clouds and clean, fresh air to breath.

I live in Hofu, which is a really beautiful city. Here are a few photos I've taken with my phone over the the last few weeks since rainy season started.

 The Saba River　佐波川

 My family's rice field after planting rice
田植えを終えた水田の様子

 The start of sunset from the YouMe Town roof
教室のあるゆめタウンの屋上から見た夕焼け

The same sunset, about ten minutes later
段々と日が暮れていきます。

Hope you all enjoy the rainy season! Taylor

World Cup Fever - Mel

～盛り上がるワールドカップ(メル講師)～

メル講師の故郷イギリスはサッカー大国のひとつです。普段は穏やかな国民性のイギリス人も、ワールドカップになると大騒ぎ！試合をテレビで見るために有給休暇を取得したり、社内で皆で観戦することもあるそうですよ。皆さんも日本代表だけでなく、是非イングランド代表も応援して下さいね！

It is the world cup again and the world has been gripped with World Cup Fever!
England loves the world cup.
We watch it and get very excited.

盛り上がるイギリス人サポーター

English people are very sensible and boring. We go to work early, work unpaid overtime and are famous for being unemotional BUT during the world cup we go crazy.

Many people in England take paid vacations during the world cup so they can stay home to watch! Offices in England set up television screens so we can watch the football as we work.

職場にテレビを設置し、勤務中に試合を観戦することもあります。

We also decorate our streets and homes.
The world cup is like Christmas!

クリスマスのようにW杯中、家を装飾することも！

English people know that England will not win the world cup but we love to watch and see if we can beat Argentina!

GO ENGLAND!!