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 Leap Day and Dave’s birthday. Click the button below to listen.
Dave-sensei will be on Radio MOMO (79.0FM) with D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu on Thursday, February 29th (today!), at about 5:40 pm. They will talk in English and Japanese about Leap Day and Dave’s birthday.
2月29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うるう年とDave先生の誕生日について話します。
http://www.fm790.co.jp/
先日NEOの新年会を行いましたが、その際に写真を撮りました。NEOのHPに写真を載せたのを見て講師Marinaが呟いたことが私の興味を惹きました。写真を撮る際にピースサインをされている方が結構いらっしゃる、ということです。皆さんはどうでしょうか?
私はピースをしません。そういう習慣がないからです。ピースサインの始まりは検索して頂くとすぐに沢山出てくるので割愛します(英語で検索する方が沢山でます)が、写真を撮る際にピースサインをするのは日本人だけだ、海外では恥ずかしいなどなど書かれてあります。別にいいんじゃない?海外の人がしないからといって、日本人しかしないからと言って、悪く言われる理由はないでしょう。ただ、ピースサインをする心理を知りたくなりました。周りがポーズをとっている、それがピースサインだったからそれの真似をしただけ、というアンケート結果が多いようです。確かにシャッターが下りるまでの瞬間、ただカメラを見ているだけだと居心地が悪いでしょう。このピースサインはするかしないかだけではなく、どの位置にするかの方が多く意見が出ていました。ピースサインを顔の近くにするか、しないかで、年齢差があるとのこと!あれまっ、ピースサインそのものをしない私はどうしましょう。
顔に近い位置にピースサインを作るほどに年齢が若く、年齢が高くなるにつれてピースサインの位置が低くなり、胸元まで下がる、そして指の幅が狭くなり曲がっていることもあるそうです。確かに。
同じようにネイルをする女性の心理も面白いものがあります。お化粧やおしゃれをあまりしていない人でも、何故ネイルだけはこんなにビシッとしているんだ?と思うこともあります。ネイルは他人に褒められたいという心理もあるようですが、何よりも自分の視野に入りやすい爪がきれいであることによって自分を満たしてくれる、気分を高揚させてくれるそうです。私はズボラなので剥がれかけてきた爪のお手入れをするのが面倒で、ネイルはしません。が人の爪がきれいだとやっぱり目を惹きます。そして人種によって爪の形が違うのも好きです。
英語ではdo nailsやget my nails doneと言いますが私の子供の頃は「ネイル」とは言わず「マニキュア」と言っていました。「アベック」が死語で「カップル」と言う、それと同じようなものでしょうか。
記事の最後に載っていましたが、その女性のネイルを褒める男性が増えたと。うーん、ちょいとキモいわ、と感じる私はやはり昭和人間です。
Starting 2024 I did not really have any plan in mind of how I wanted to spend the next year, but one thing that quickly became clear is that it may end up being the year I go to the most live concerts in my life. While I did go to several concerts over the past few years, the pandemic made it harder and more expensive than it used to be.
I do not belong to any fan clubs; despite this I tried my chances at ticket lotteries for some of the biggest musicians in the country right now. I thought my chances of getting any tickets were low, but so far this year I have already managed to get chosen for a few. At the start of this month, I went to Fukuoka and saw King Gnu live at the PayPay Dome. I usually go to live houses, but it was my first dome concert. While I was very far from the stage, I still had a great time. And we had a perfect view of the entire stage, screen, and lighting setup as we were almost exactly in the center. Soon I will be going to see my favorite band FLOW here in Okayama, and they even have a special guest band Frederic who I am also a big fan of. And in April I will go to Tokyo to see Ado live at the Japan National Stadium. I did not expect to have so many concerts lined up in just the first few months of this year.
It is shaping up to be a lucky year for me, and I’m already interested in trying my luck at some other concerts and maybe even a music festival later this year. I can only hope this luck continues.
We had our NEO New Year’s Party for the first time since 2020. Because of the COVID pandemic, we didn’t have a party previous three years.
This year is the “Year of the Dragon”, so we decided that it would be appropriate to have Chinese food. The party was on February 10th, which was actually the day of Chinese New Year, but that was just a coincidence that we didn’t realize when we scheduled the party.
27 students and staff got together and enjoyed a delicious 9 course meal. The food was good and the company was even better. There was a mix of English and Japanese conversation and a lot of students were able to meet a few new people as well as enjoy spending time with familiar faces.
After the meal, about half of the members carried on to a second party at a bar downtown, where the drinks and chatting continued until the wee hours of the night.
Thanks for coming out everybody, we hope that you had as much fun as we did!
I recently learned about an antique furniture shop in Okayama called Kimidori. It’s in Bancho, near the big Tomato Bank. I’m usually not one to go antique hunting, but last Monday I had a chance to stop by and explore (actually, I was searching for a new computer desk, but that’s a whole other story).
The inside is divided into two different buildings, and one of them is an old, traditional warehouse. It’s surprisingly large inside, and absolutely packed with Showa-era furniture, dishes and silverware, and decorative trinkets.
It’s well worth a visit, even if you don’t want to buy anything. They even have a sign encouraging people to take pictures – so that’s exactly what I did.