Monday, December 11th

I’ve been looking for movies that are perfect for student’s English level.  I think these two are the perfect ones.  One is Toy Story 3.   The story is really touching.   It’s about an adventure of toys that accidentally get thrown away by their owner.  They have to somehow find their way home.  

The other one is called Tangled (塔の上のラプンツェル).  It’s also an adventure of a princess who has to find her way home.  The characters are really funny, especially the horse and the chameleon. 

In both movies, the characters are trying to find their way home and in the process, they grow as people (or toys).   I highly recommend it.  Check it out. 

touching 「感動的」

The story is really touching.   「話がとても感動的だ」

accidentally 「うっかり、偶然に」

The toys accidentally get thrown away.  (オモチャはうっかり捨てられた。)

somehow 「何とかして」

They have to somehow find their way home.  (何とかして家に戻る方法を見つけなければいけない。)

grow 「成長」

They grow as people.  「人間として成長する」

Tuesday, August 12th.

It’s year-end party season and all of the restaurants are crowded.  However, I would like to go to couple of restaurants before the New Year.  One is a restaurant in Marunouchi.  It’s called Horumon Hitsosuji.  (ホルモン一筋).  It’s a special store with special type of food.  They don’t have regular meat like Kalbi (カルビ).  They serve parts that people don’t usually eat.  In other words, they are Horumon specialty restaurant.  I love this restaurant because I really like Horumon.  I’ve only been there once so I definitely want to try going there again.  

Another restaurant that I want to go is called Showya.  It’s also a Yakiniku restaurant.  They serve regular type of Yakiniku but their tongue is especially excellent.  Also, their Bibimbap is awesome.  You must eat it when you go there.  

Speaking of Yakiniku restaurants, one of my students told me a really good Yakiniku restaurant in Gifu.  It’s in a place called Yoro. Yoro has a slaughter house in the area so their meat is really fresh.  There’s a road called Yakiniku Kaido.   This one street has a lot of Yakiniku restaurants.  My student just went to one called Takichi.  She said it’s the best Yakiniku restaurant she has been to.  She also said it was really reasonable.  I definitely want to go there!!!   Once I visit this place, I’ll make sure to introduce it to you in my journal.  

specialty 「専門」

In other words, they are Hormone specialty restaurant.  (つまり、そこはホルモン専門店です。)

slaughter house 「屠畜場」

Yoko has a slaughter house in the area.  (養老は屠畜場が周辺にある。)

Thursday, December 14

Today I received a nice Christmas gift from my students.  They are a married couple, and they are taking my private class on Wednesday morning.  They gave me a humidifier. It came with two Aroma Oils.   Actually, the wife is an Aroma, oil specialist.  She knows a lot about Aroma oil.  The two aroma she gave me smells really nice. 

As soon as they gave me the humidifier, I turned it on in class and used it.  Surprisingly, I felt the difference right away.  Our classroom gets really dry but since I’m in the class all day I had not noticed.   I guess most students felt that the classroom is dry, but I’m the type that does not notice things like that.  I guess my body does not have a humidity detector.  I bet my body was like a dried up raisin.  No wonder, my eyes and nose felt strange in class.  I was dried up!!!  

There’s one more thing I realized!   In summer I got a frozen shoulder.  I know the reason why I got it.  It’s the air conditioner!!  My shoulder is right under the air conditioner so literally, it became frozen!!!   I’m a little slow to realize things like that.  I should have figured it out sooner!!  

Humidifier 「加湿器」

They gave me a humidifier.  彼達は加湿器をプレゼントしてくれた。

detector 「探知機」

My body does not have a humidity detector.  (体に湿度探知機が付いていない。)

dried up 「カピカピ」

I bet my body was like a dried up raisin.  (恐らく、体がカピカピレイズンのようになっていた。)

No wonder 「どおりで」

No wonder my eyes and nose felt strange in class.  「どおりで、目や鼻に違和感があった。」

frozen shoulder 「四十肩」

In summer, I got a frozen shoulder.  (夏に四十肩になった。)

literally 「文字通り」

Literally, it became frozen shoulder.  （言葉通り肩が凍っていた。）

I should have figured it out sooner!!.  「早く分かれば良かった！！」

Saturday, December 15

I’m pretty careful what I eat.  I keep myself healthy by eating Bento called Anshin Bento.  This Bento is nutritious and low in calorie.  It’s so much better than eating oily food at restaurants.  However, I sometimes really crave for junk food.  Last night, I didn’t know why, but I craved for instant ramen.  Especially, I craved for Yakisoba UFO.  I usually never crave for such things. To tell you the truth, I think they taste really bad.  

Although I think that, for some strange reason I really wanted to eat it that night, so on my way home, I bought two UFO and two instant ramen.  I bought extras so whenever I have a craving, I don’t have to run to the convenience store.  I cooked UFO at 11 p.m.  and ate it.  

When I was eating it, I didn’t think it was good at all.  Actually, I was regretting eating it.   I couldn’t go to bed right away, so I stayed up until 1 a.m. for the food to digest. In the morning when I woke up I had a strange feeling in my stomach.  I felt that UFO was still in my stomach.    My stomach probably thought it was an alien invasion.  After all, it is UFO.  I’ll never eat UFO again so late at night.  Actually, I regret buying so many instant foods that I probably won’t eat.  I guess I’ll keep it as an emergency food supply.  

nutritious 「栄養豊富」

This Bento is nutritious. (この弁当は栄養たっぷり)

crave  「すごく食べたくなる」

I sometimes crave for junk food.  (たまにすごく体に悪い食べ物が食べたくなる。)

digest 「消化」

I stayed up until 1 a.m for the food to digest.  (食べ物が消化する一時まで待っていた。)

After all

invasion 「侵略」

My stomach probably thought it was an alien invasion. (お腹がエイリアンの侵略だと思ったのでしょう。)

After all  「何と言っても」

After all, it is UFO.   (何と言っても、UFOだからね。)

Emergency food supply 「非常食」