Last week, one of my students asked me what I was looking forward to the most when I go back to visit the US this month. It will be my first time home in 5 years, so it’s a good question. It took me a minute to come up with a good response.

The obvious answer is my family – I’m excited just to be at home with them for a couple of weeks, so I didn’t plan any big road trips. However, we will be spending a few days in New York City together, and there’s one big thing I’ve never done there before: a live jazz show.

The reason I’m excited about about this show in particular is that the musician is from Okayama! Her name is Kyoko Oyobe, and she’s been working as a jazz pianist in New York for quite some time. Her quartet is playing at a place called Cellar Dog, and we’ll be there to see it.

Hopefully I’ll have some good stories to share when I come back to Japan!

Hello December！

2023 is almost over.

Are you ready to welcome 2024? 

I'm not ready yet though...

Do you ever do any type of exercise?

I hardly ever do any at home, which has caused a lot of trouble...

今年も残すところあと1か月となりました。

今年は体調を頻繁に崩してしまったので、来年は健康第一で過ごしていきたいと思います。

皆さんは運動をされたりするでしょうか？

私はあまり（というより全く...）しません。

1週間に1回実家で Wii fit というゲームを使い運動（らしきもの？？）をしていました。

先週、レッスン内で運動習慣について話す機会がありました。

「社会人ってあんまり運動する時間ないっていうし、皆さんきっと私と同じくらいの運動量に違いない！」と思い、お尋ねするとびっくりな答えが返ってきました。

私「How many steps do you take in a day?」

Sさん「more or less 5,000 steps?」

Yさん「About the same!」

Sさん「So do I~」

私「What...?」

Sさん「How about yours?」

私「Ah.. I don't check how many steps I take a day, so I don't know!」

Sさん「Bring your phone and let's see how many you do！」

私「」

To MY surprise, I take the fewest steps in class...

Sさん「日曜全然歩いてないが！」

Sさん「日曜36歩ってどういうこと？」

Yさん「動いてなさすぎじゃない？！（爆笑）」

私「これはまずい...」

レッスン内で動いてなさすぎの私のために、1日の目標歩数と達成できなかった時の罰ゲーム（しんどめのスクワット20回）決めてくださり、お尻を叩いてくれる生徒さん（というより私のパーソナルトレーナーのようだ...）、ありがたすぎるなと感じた1日でした。

Let's be healthier！！

＜おまけ＞

One of our cute students gave me such a nice gift for Halloween!

It’s honor to have her as our student!

Dave-sensei was on "Let's Enjoy English!" on Radio MOMO (79.0 FM). Dave and D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu talk in English and Japanese about amateur radio licenses. Click the button below to listen.

Dave-sensei will be on Radio MOMO (79.0FM) with D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu on Thursday, November 30th (today!), at about 5:40 pm. They will talk in English and Japanese about amateur radio.

11月30日（木）5時40分ごろにDave先生がRadio MOMO (79.0FM) 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アマチュア無線について話します。

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

先日ポーランド料理に触れる機会がありました。ポーランドは私の中で訪れてみたい国のトップ3です。以前に外交官の杉原千畝さんのことを知る機会がありポーランドに興味が湧いたのですがその前からドナウ川に沿った国々を旅した本を読んでいて、東欧に行ってみたかったのです。

ポーランド人のM氏は英語も日本語も堪能。そればかりか他にもドイツ語、イタリア語、スペイン語、もしかしたらインドネシア語もいける？という多彩ぶり。侵略を多くされてきた国民は概して語学に堪能になると言われていますがそれを体現したような方で、それはもう優秀でした。日本人の外国語に対する鈍さはこういうことと繋がっていると思われます。

そして私の余計な気づき。M氏の日本語の堪能さにはこちらも舌を巻くような表現を使ったりと感心するばかりなのですが、指示代名詞だけはどうしてもネイティブレベルにあと一歩なんだ…と思ったのです。

彼だけでなく、先日見たテレビに中国ご出身のお偉いコメンテーターさんがいらっしゃいましたが、その人でさえもです。日本語が超絶堪能だったのですが、やはり指示代名詞の使い方が日本語ネイティブではないんです。

指示代名詞とは「こそあど」です。

これ　あれ　それ　どれ

この　あの　その　どの

その中で一番難しいのが「それ　vs. あれ」です。日本語ネイティブだと気づかないものですが日本語を教える際に気づかされます。ご興味のある方は是非調べてみて下さい。

昔読んだ小説か何かでこんなくだりがありました。ある事件の容疑者の男性の話になりました。その場にいない容疑者男性のことを、とある女性は「あの人」と言ってしまいました。そこには深い意味あり。

その「あの人」と言う女性にとって、「あの人」は必ず面識がある人になります。話題に出ただけの人で、知らない人であれば本来は「その人」と言うのです。

ですがその女性はうっかり「あの人」と言ってしまい、つまり「＝私の知っている人」と暗に言っているのと同じです。その結果、この女性は容疑者の男性の共犯であることがバレてしまったのです。

英語にしたらあれもそれもthatです。うーん、言語間の違いです。

During the Neo break, my mother and brother came to visit. My mother has visited Japan a few times, but it was my brother’s first time to come to Japan. We travelled around Osaka, Kyoto, and a little bit of Okayama. It was a busy week, and there were a lot of crowds due to the 3-day weekend. But we had a good time.

They spent a few days in Tokyo to begin with, then I met them in Osaka after. Even though I was energized and ready to do many things they were already quite exhausted from their time in Tokyo. A lot of the first day ended up with us shopping and exploring around the Namba area. That night we went to a restaurant / bar near our hotel and had a long catch up about many things. The next day was a lot busier.

 We went to Universal Studios Japan (USJ), and though it was the day before the long weekend, the tickets had sold out. I had never seen so many people there before, it was crazy. Despite it being November, the Halloween event was still going on too. There were big crowds throughout the day for the Halloween shows, and in the early afternoon there was a great parade where the performers danced with the spectators. We managed to go on many rides throughout the day. We especially wanted to go on the Spider-Man ride as it will be closed early next year. Luckily, we managed to get in at a good time and the queue wasn’t so bad. At night was when the zombies came out, and the park shifted to a much scarier atmosphere. The zombies would try to scare guests, but every once and awhile music would start playing and suddenly they would all dance. It’s a big trend in Japan right now, and probably one of the reasons tickets had sold out. By the end of the day, we had spent about 13-14 hours there and so we were exhausted.

But our trip was far from over. The next day we went to Kyoto. Since the long weekend had begun, there were huge crowds of people. We immediately ran into a roadblock as there was nowhere we could store our bags. We had a lot of luggage, and this caused us frustration. After a while we luckily did manage to store our bags somewhere, but we had lost a lot of time. With the daylight we had left we went to the Nishiki market and Kiyomizu Temple. My family found a lot of the shops at Nishiki appealing, and me and my mother bought new phone cases based on famous traditional Japanese art. We arrived at Kiyomizu only 30 minutes before it closed, and while I was confident there would be less people at that time, I was very wrong. The area was still full of crowds. That night we finally got to where we were staying. It was a small house in an old traditional district. It was very cool and cozy, and certainly nicer than a regular hotel.

Our second day in Kyoto took us to many places. First, we went to a temple called Rurikoin. We had to book it. The pictures looked incredibly beautiful, though we were a little early for the autumn leaves there. After that we crossed to the other side of Kyoto to visit Arashiyama. It was my second time there; my first visit was during an autumn event at night. This time I experienced the area during the day. Despite the crowds, we managed to find a rice bowl restaurant to eat at that had a short wait time to get in, then headed towards the famous bamboo forest. Near there, we got on the torokko train. The torokko train is a scenic train ride through a beautiful mountainous area. Once again, it was a little early for the autumn leaves, but it was still pretty.

The next day was our last day of sightseeing together. Before we left Kyoto, we went to Nijo Castle. We had some spare time so I thought it would be a nice place to take them before we left Kyoto. Even though I have been there several times, I’m always amazed that someone built such an amazing structure so long ago. Some of the details in the castle are unbelievable. Later that day we came to Okayama and headed over to the Bikan District in Kurashiki. My mother wanted to visit a store dedicated to animal goods (particularly cats) that we visited last time she was in Japan. My family were also very interested in the denim goods being sold there. It was night by the time we arrived, and we were surprised to see a local jazz festival being held. A band was playing on the bridge in the middle of the district. It was a very cool and chill atmosphere to see.

The trip wasn’t all perfect, however. Besides the crowds, the exact time they visited Japan the temperature decided to rise again. It was surprisingly hot during the entirety of our trip. My family didn’t believe me that it was unusually hot for November. The trip overall was fun, just very busy and tiring. Hopefully I will get to visit my family back home sooner than later.