Hello! Welcome back from Obon vacation. The Fulvio family went to Florida for vacation. I will write about that in another blog post. In this post I would like to talk about RJ-sensei.

RJ was a teacher at NEO from 2009-2014. Last year, he moved from Okayama back to his hometown of Daytona Beach, Florida. This year, he moved close to Orlando, Florida. 

We went to Disney World in Orlando, so it was a great chance for me to meet up with RJ again. My younger brother, Michael, and I met with RJ downtown and we went out to some (many) bars and restaurants.

RJ is enjoying his American life. He has joined a dancing group and is slowly learning some Latin dances. I was happy to see that he is doing well for himself!

Dave-sensei was on "Let's Enjoy English" on Radio MOMO (79.0 FM) last week. Dave and D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu talked about summer in America and Japan. Click the button below to listen. 

遊園地が苦手な私はUSJなど行こうと思っていませんでした。でも、デイブが二枚のUSJのチケットを持っていたんですが、期限切れになりかけていたから使えないというので、私がもらいました。いいチャンスをもらった！

アメリカのユニバーサルにも行ったことはないんですけど、家族と一緒にディズニーワールドには行ったことがあります。そこは飾りからして精密な部分までデザインが凝っていて、どこを見てもテーマが感じられます。幼いながらも、そこは印象的な場所でした。

USJもその感じで、想像以上でした。私はハリーポッターを見たり読んだりしていないのに、そのパークがとても良かったです。乗り物のアトラクションだけではなく、周りの風景がまるで本物のハリーポッターの世界のようでした。

ほかにも素晴らしいアトラクションがありました。ジュラシックパークの「Flying Dinosaur」という新しいジェットコースターはとても怖かったけど楽しかったです。映画に基づいて作られたウオーターワールドというパフォーマンスもとてもスリリングでした。

USJのハロウィーンも楽しいと聞いたんで、また行きたいと思います。

I was talking to Manami the other day and she mentioned that she was in her seventh month of pregnancy, and so I said, “Wait, aren’t you due in October?” She said yes, so this was her seventh month.  I was very confused, and so was she.  However, we eventually figured out that in Japan pregnancies are said to take 10 months, while in the US pregnancies are said to be 9 months.

Why are they different? It depends on how you count the time.  A pregnancy for humans lasts about 40 weeks, or 280 days.  If you think that a month lasts 28 days then that is exactly 10 months. However, if you think that a month lasts 30 or 31 days (and 28 for February), as they do on the calendar, then a pregnancy would last 9.2 months (280 total days of pregnancy ÷ 30.42 average days per month). A lot of people in the US consider a month to last 4.5 weeks, which would be 40.5 weeks of pregnancy over 9 months.

Both systems are correct, it just depends on your definition of what ‘a month’ is.  Something to keep in mind as you travel out of the country.

Here is a good video in both English and Japanese that talks about the difference (1:12):

Hi everyone,

As you know, our beloved Manami is leaving us to raise her soon-to-be born son and Ryo has come in to take over for her.  We're going to have a welcome/goodbye party for them on Saturday, September 1st.  We would love to see you all there!  Please sign up in the lobby at NEO or give us a call so we can put you on the list. Details below:

Manami先生が8/31(金)を以って退職となります。

4年半一緒に頑張っていただきました。感謝以外の言葉がありません。新しくやってきてくれたRyo先生を含めての歓送迎会です。

始まって1ヶ月、がんばってくださっています。

9/1 (土)　7:00 ～ 9:00 pm

場所：Yakiniku 七輪焼肉　岩勝(田町店)

　　　岡山市北区田町2-14-4　

費用：飲み放題込　4,300円

アクセス：シダックスを西川に向かって徒歩30秒 。

　新西大寺町筋駅から257m。大きな提灯が目印。

電話：086-201-1059

Dave-sensei will be on Radio MOMO (79.0FM) with D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu on Thursday July 26th at about 5:40 pm. They will talk in English and Japanese about summer activities in America and Japan.

5月24日（木）5時40分ごろにDave先生がRadio MOMOに出演します（DJは上別府千晶さん）。英語と日本語の両方で夏について話します。

http://www.fm790.co.jp/