American Football アメリカンフットボール

It's been a long time since I watched a game of American Football, but Autumn always makes me think of it. American Football has been described as chess played in real time by gladiators in suits of armor. I think that's a pretty good description of it and it explains why I find it fascinating and exciting. I'm sharing the basics of American Football with students at Elementary School this month, I hope everyone has fun!

アメリカンフットボールの試合は何年か見てないが、毎年、秋の頃懐かしく思ってくる。アメリカンフットボールは「鎧を着ているグラディエーターがレアルタイムでするチェス」というように説明されたことがある。その説明の中で私は面白いと思う理由がある。今年の11月は小学校でアメフトを紹介している。生徒の皆が楽しめたらいいなと思っている。

Study Every Week - 毎週勉強する

I took the N1 level Japanese Language Proficiency Test for the second time on July 8th.  Before I took it the first time I had spent a lot of time studying the 2000 daily use kanji.  Before I took it this time I spent a lot of time reading real Japanese documents, books, and newspapers.  I'm not sure if I passed it or not, but that's okay.  The test gives me a good reason to keep studying Japanese every week.

七月の八日に二回め日本語能力試験のレベルN１を受験した。一回目を受ける前に常用漢字の勉強でたくさんの時間を費やした。二回めを受ける前にたくさんの時間を本当の日本語の書類や本や新聞を読むのに費やした。受かったかどうか分からんけんど、どっちにしてもいいや。試験は毎週勉強する刺激になるきね。

Trains!

Trains.  We don't have a lot of passenger trains in the USA.  The ones we do aren't very convenient.  The first time I road a train was in Italy, the second was in Tokyo.  It wasn't until after that that I road a train in the USA.  I didn't understand them well at first and I was totally afraid of exploring by train.  I'm used to navigating by compass direction and landmarks, so getting on a train and popping out who knows where was quite a difficult transition.  But I've finally (after 5 years) made that transition, and now I've started enjoying exploring cities in Japan by train.  I recently covered most of Osaka and Kobe and am looking forward to taking another shot at Tokyo!

レールでの探険。アメリカは旅客列車はあまり多くない。あるのはあまり便利ではない。初めて電車や列車に乗った時はイタリアへ旅行しに行った時、その次は東京で。その外国での経験の二つの後で、初めてアメリカで乗った。最初はよく分からなくて知らん場所に行くのが怖かった。方角と山みたいな目印でどちらへ行ったらいいか分かるけど、電車や得に地下鉄に乗ってその方角が完全に分からなくなってどこに出たかよく分からない。でも、5年間の練習でやっとなれてきたから、最近大阪と神戸を列車で楽しんで探険できて、8月にもう一回東京でトライしてみようと思っている。

Breaking out of the Bubble

Breaking out of the Bubble

When living abroad there is a tendency to create a cultural bubble or shield around yourself.  Especially in the beginning, the new culture is scary, difficult, and easier to avoid than embrace.  You might spend your time reading books from your native language, talking to other foreign friends, and buying groceries you already know how to cook.  The problem is you're missing out on all of the wonderful culture surrounding you.  Still, even after years of living in a foreign country that culture bubble can reappear.  Sometimes I have to remind myself to go and try something new, get out of the house, or make a new friend.

バリヤーを倒す

外国に住む人はよく文化のバリヤーを作ってしまう。とくに始めての頃、新しい文化が怖い、難しい、対処するより避けるほうが楽。例えば、母国語の本を読んだり、母国語を話す人と会話したり、知っている食べ物ばっかりを買ったりするかもしれない。問題はまわりにある素晴らしい文化に参加していないこと。数年間外国に住んでも、そのバリヤーが戻ることがある。時々新しいことを体験したり、わざわざ家から出かけたり、新しい友達をつくったりしなければならない。

Saruta Cave Adventure

猿田洞の探険

夏に涼しい所に行きたいよね？川とか海などの所。今年、私がまた違う涼しい所に行った、洞窟の中へ。実は猿田洞はこれで二回目だった。今回小学生と一緒に抜けたから、子供の楽しみで一回目よりもっとおもしろくなった。龍が洞も抜けたことあるので、残りの伊尾木洞抜けたら満足になると思う。

Everyone likes to visit cool places in the summer right?  Like rivers or the beach.  This year I went to a cool place of a different variety, into a cave!  This was actually my second trip into Saruta cave.  This time I went with a group of elementary school students though, and since kids love caves and scary dark places, it made my trip all the more fun.  I have also been through Ryugadou so the only Kochi cave I have left that I want to visit is Ioki cave in Aki.

We all look up together

We all look up together when the sky puts on a show for us.  Maybe I've only noticed more since coming to Japan, but when we watch a solar or lunar eclipse, or the transit of Venus across the sun, or a meteor shower, or just stare into the sky and admire the beauty out there, we do it as humans.  As the astronauts from the International Space station have said, you can't see Earth's conflicts or peace from space, only a beautiful and fragile oasis.

我々一緒に上をみる。もしかしたら日本に来てから気づいたかもしれないが、月食や日食・金星の日面通過・流星群とか、空と星を眺めて、「わあ、きれいだな」と思う時、それは人間として、皆が同じ。国際宇宙ステーションの宇宙飛行士が言った通り、宇宙から見ると地球の争いなどが見えない、ただ地球が美しい、脆弱なオアシスにしか見えない。

Irazu-yama

Over Golden Week I went to Irazu-yama.  Irazu-yama is the where the Shimanto river starts.  I was wondering exactly what the "source" of a river looked like.  As it turns out, the sign post is at the convergence of three small streams.  I get the feeling that doesn't work for all rivers, but it was cool to see the "source" anyway.  I was planning to go to Ioki cave in Aki-shi as well, but I caught a cold and decided to stay in instead.

ゴールデンウイークの間に不入山に行った。そこで四万十川が始まると言われる。源流というのはどんな感じだろうなと思っていた。着くと三つの小さい小川が集まる所だった。すべての川は同じような源流があるような気がしないけど、結局おもしろかった。安芸市のいおき洞へも行きたかったが、かぜを引いちゃったからやめた。

Matsuyama Bound!

お正月の大勢の人がもう帰った後で2日間に松山へ行った。そのタイミングはぼっちりでちょうど安い旅館も道後温泉も空いてきた。行くのは長くないけど、山を越えるとすぐ冷やくなったような気がした。日本では道後温泉が夏目漱石の坊ちゃんという小説で有名と聞いたが、私はジブリの千と千尋の神隠しというアニメをみて、そのなかに出る温泉は道後をもとにして描かれたと聞いて興味を持った。本物の道後温泉を見ると宮崎駿の作った温泉のインスピレーションをはっきり分かった。短い旅行でとてもよかった！

I went to Matsuyama for two days after the big New Years crowds had already left.  This turned out to be great timing, as both Dogo onsen and a nearby cheap Japanese inn weren't crowded at all.  It didn't take long to get to Ehime, but it felt as though the temperature dropped significantly as soon as we passed over the mountains.  In Japan Dogo onsen is mostly famous from Natsume Souseki's famous novel, Botchan, but as for me I found out about it upon hearing that the onsen that appears in Miyazaki Hayao's famous anime Spirited Away was based on Dogo.  Upon seeing the onsen for myself, Miyazaki's inspiration was pretty obvious.  Overall it was a really great, short trip.

添付のビデオは道後温泉の前に雪が降っている。

A Dream

I had a dream last night that the leaves on all the trees were colored like treasure and jewels, red rubies, glimmering golds and ambers, and brilliant oranges.  But they were falling off the trees too fast!  Every second dozens more leaves fell.  I wanted to take a picture of how beautiful they were, but I couldn't get my camera in time.  When I saw the ginko tree behind the village office this morning I remembered the dream...  I think winter might be coming fast.

昨夜、紅葉の夢を見よった。葉っぱが金の様な黄色とルビーの様な赤、そして鮮やかな橙色だった。でも木の枝からこじゃんと速く落ちてしまいよった。一秒ごとに何十枚も落ちた。美しい紅葉の写真をとりたかったけんどカメラを出すのは遅すぎた。今朝、役場の裏のいちょうの木を見た時その夢を思い出した。。。冬が早く来る様な気がするがよ。

Halloween

October is the month for Halloween!  For Americans this means pumpkin carving, costume wearing, and giving candy to trick-or-treaters.  The sad story of the Japanese youth that was murdered at Halloween is a reminder of how difficult people of other cultures can be to understand sometimes.  Halloween is a time for fun in the USA, but not everyone wants to participate, or play nice.  We typically follow the custom of turning our lights on and decorating our house if we are okay with trick-or-treaters coming by on Halloween Night.  If a house's lights are off then that's seen as a "no-go".  Many parents only take their children to their friends and families houses, just to be safe.  For adults we often go to costume parties like the one at Hirome-ichiba, and show off our creative costume making prowess. Happy Halloween, stay safe!

Hiroshima

I finally made it to Hiroshima in August.  Since I went to Nagasaki in August of last year I finished a personal pilgrimage.  Both Nagasaki and Hiroshima are beautiful cities and both seem dedicated to peace.  I hope the people of the rest of the world will one day appreciate that dedication and realize how much peace matters.

Summer

Yosakoi is here! It really is summer in Kochi isn't it?  I've been going to the rivers and swimming, and enjoying the water on these hot days.  One weekend in late July I went with some other Yakuba employees to Sasagamine to do "Sawa-nobori", a Japanese adventure sport involving swimming, hiking, climbing, and waterfalls!  I'm going to be enjoying Yosakoi this week with a friend from Tokyo who has come to see the festival.  Another ALT I know from Sasebo is coming to dance as well.  Everyone, stay cool and drink plenty of water!

JLPT

I took the Nikyuu of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test at the beginning of July.  I will get the results in September.  The first two sections, language knowledge and reading comprehension were just out of my reach.  I doubt I scored many points at all there, but I did quite well on the listening comprehension.  Unfortunately, I'm fairly certain I didn't pass.  Actually, I wasn't expecting to pass.  I only took it this time for practice and to see what I needed to spend time working on for next time!  Do you have anything you're studying or working on?  Keep it up!  We'll pass next time!

Karaoke

As planned, during Golden Week I hiked Yokokura-san and Kokuzo-san.  I'm making good progress in my plans of hiking all the mountains with trails in Kochi Prefecture.  In other news, I've been trying to learn more Japanese songs to sing at Karaoke.  I sing a lot of English songs and especially like Disney, but I want to branch out.  So far I've been trying to sing 上を向いて歩こう, 夢の中へ, 残酷な天使のテーゼ, and 初めてのチュウ.  夢の中へ aside, these are all songs I've heard my Japanese friends or other ALTs sing several times.  I don't listen to a lot of Japanese music, but I want to practice.  So if you have any recommendations please tell me!  Easy to sing songs with catchy rhythms are probably the best.

予定どおりゴールデンウィークの間、横倉山と虚空蔵山を登った。高知県のすべての歩道ある山を登る予定が順調だ。他のことでは、最近カラオケ行く時、もっと日本語の歌を歌えるようになりたいと思っている。ディズニーなどの英語の歌はよく歌うけど、広げたいと思っている。今まで歌ってみたのは「上を向いて歩こう」、「夢の中へ」、「残酷な天使のテーゼ」と「初めてのチュウ」だ。「夢の中へ」以外は日本人の友達か他のALTが何度も歌ったから、ちょっと分かってきた。私はあまり日本語の音楽を聞かないけど、練習したい。だから、おすすめの曲があれば、ぜひ教えてね！簡単な耳に残るのは一番だと思う。

The ways I exercise 私の運動の仕方

Photo Credit to Mr. Yamamoto at Stone 0.

写真はStone0の山本さんが取ってくれました。

Photo credit to: Tetsuji Okabayashi.  

写真は岡林哲司さんが取ってくれました。

I love exercise.  Like many Americans I like many activities: hiking of course, swimming, jogging, biking, bouldering, doing body weight workouts, surfing, and yoga.  I recently learned how to breathe properly when swimming the crawl, since then I've been going to the Shie and other swimming pools to practice.  So far in Kochi I've hiked Ishizuchi-san, Kajigamori, Naruyama, and Otakiyama.  I plan to hike Yokokura-san and Kokuzo-san soon.  I also hiked Mount Fuji while I was in Tokyo, though I didn't enjoy hiking up the crowded, volcanic rock trail very much.  I started bouldering since I came to Kochi and go to a gym in Kochi called Stone 0 once every few weeks.  How do you like to exercise?  I'm interested in trying new things so please tell me!

 私は運動が大好きだ。多くアメリカ人のようにたくさんのことが好きだ。その中からハイキングはもちろんで、水泳もランニングもサイクリングもボルダリングも体重での筋トレもサーフィンもヨーガもする。この間クロールをちゃんと泳げるようになってから、よく高知市の市営とか、ほかのプールに泳ぎに行っている。今まで高知県内では石鎚山とかじが森と成山と大滝山に登ったことある。これから横倉さんとこくぞう山に登るつもりだ。そして、東京にいた時富士山も登ったんだけど、込んでいて火山の石ばっかりの歩く道はあまり好きではなかった。高知県に来てからボルダリングを始めて時々「Stone 0」というジームに行っている。あなたはどんな運動が好きですか？新しいことに興味があるので、教えてくださいね！

Staple Foods 主食

One of the main things people I meet in Japan don't realize is how different our food culture is.  Most people assume that instead of rice we eat bread, and have it with every meal.  And kids are shocked that things like miso soup are hard to come by except in specialty stores in America.  The idea of staple foods has kind of faded from American culture.  Part of this is because of the variety of different cultures that joined together in America which brought staple foods like potatoes, corn, wheat, and rice together.  If there's anything I could say was a staple food for me it was sandwiches, my go-to food for lunch because of the huge variety of breads, cheeses, meats, and vegetables that are made sandwich ready at our grocery stores.

合った日本人のほとんどは食事の文化の違いはよく分からないことだ。よく思われていることはご飯の代わりにアメリカ人は主食でパンを食べることだが、本当ではない。子供らのショックは特別なアジア料理のスーパー以外味噌が買えないものだ。実は、主食があるという考え方はアメリカではだいたい消えてきた。理由の一部は色んな文化の人々（例えばとうもろこしやジャガイモや小麦や米の主食の文化）がアメリカに来て食事文化が交ざっている。自分ではサンドイッチが昼ご飯に主食のようによく食べていたが、本当の主食と言えないだろう。

Spring

I celebrated setsubun with my friend for the first time this year by throwing beans around and saying "Out with the demons, in with good luck!"  In America we have "Groundhog day" on Feb. 2nd where we watch a groundhog come out of its hole.  If it sees its shadow (because its a sunny day) it will go back into the hole and there will be another 6 weeks of winter.  If it doesn't see its shadow (because its cloudy) it will stay out and spring will come soon.  This year he didn't see his shadow.  I'm still waiting for spring though... I'm excited to enjoy spring this year, because last year I spent all of it working on the Tosaben Musical.

今年、初めて「福は内鬼は外」と言いながら豆撒きをして節分のお祝いをした。アメリカでは二月二日にグラウンドホッグデーという行事がある。グラウンドホッグというジリスの種類の一匹が穴から出る時を見るのだ。もしこのグラウンドホッグが自分自身の影を見たら（つまり天気のいい日だったら）穴に戻って冬がもう六週間続くと言われているが、もし影を見えなければ（つまり天気の悪い日だったら）穴からでたままでいて、春はすぐ来ると言われている。今年は影が見えなかったが、私はまだ春のいい天気を待っている。去年春の間はずっと土佐弁ミュージカルで春は楽しめなかった。今年は参加しないので、とても楽しみにをしている。

Culture Shock

I'm going home to VA for Christmas and New Years.  I haven't been home in a year and five months.  When I went home after studying in Tokyo for four months I had a major culture shock in the airport at Dallas, Texas.  I've never had a shocking culture shock in Japan.  I'm wondering if I will have much worse shock this time.  I'm looking forward to it anyway!

クリスマスとお正月の間にバージニアに帰ってくるつもり。一年と五ヶ月の間に帰ってない。東京で四ヶ月勉強した後で帰った時テキサスのダラス市の空港で始めてカルチャーショックを受けた。びっくりするショックは日本では受けたことない。今回帰る時もっとひどくてびっくりするショックを受けるかなと思っている。受けても楽しみにしている！

My Family

My family came to Hidaka in August.  My eikaiwa class treated us to a feast so big we couldn't finish it and danced Yosakoi for us as well.  I showed my family the Yosakoi festival, some waterfalls, the Niyodo river, Omura shrine, a kaiten sushi restaurant, an udon store, and Restaurant Kochi.  Mr. Yokoyama invited us to Karaoke at his store and Tasha's Ms. Yano helped my mom wear a yukata for the first time.  They had a great time!

八月に僕の家族が日高に来た。英会話教室のメンバー達がすごいごちそうをくれたのに家族は疲れて、全部食べれなかった。食べた後でよさこい踊りを踊ってくれた。帯や町でよさこい祭りを見せたり、仁淀川町の滝とか仁淀川とか小村神社などの好きな所に連れて行ったり、回転寿司やうどんの店やファミレスを紹介したりした。横山さんが私達をカラオケに誘ってくれて、お母さんがTashaの矢野さんに浴衣を着させてもらって一緒にカラオケを歌いに行った。本当に楽しかった。

Water

One of the reasons I love Kochi is the water.  There's water everywhere!  I've been rafting on the Yoshino river, surfing at Irino and Futami beaches, catching shrimp at the Niyodo river, slowly floating down the Shimanto river with friends, swimming under the waterfalls of the Yasui valley,  and bathing at onsen all throughout the prefecture.  There's so much water to enjoy!

一つの高知県の大好きなことは水です。水はどこにもある！私は吉野川でラフティングをしたり、入野浜と双海浜でサーフィンをしたり、仁淀川でエビを取ったり、四万十川で友達とゆっくり下って浮かんだり、やすい渓谷の滝の下で泳いだり、県内の温泉でお風呂に入ったりします。楽しめる水は高知県にだいぶある。