東京はカナダより寒い？

This week I was talking to a student who used to live in Hokkaido. I told her that I feel colder in Tokyo than I did in Canada. She said that she understood my feeling, and she is colder in Tokyo than she was in Hokkaido.

Of course, the temperature (温度）is much colder in Canada and Hokkaido, but the buildings and lifestyles (生活）are very different. My house in Canada had very good insulation (断熱材), double-pane windows (二重窓), and central heating (セントラルヒーティング). We used the car much more, so I didn't have to go out in the cold so much.

Sometimes I think I should go to Hokkaido or Canada for the winter so I can be warm!

Here are some phrases you can use for discussing the temperature. Can you say them in English?  If you write your answers in the comments of this blog, I will check them. このブログのコメントに答えを書いてくれたら、チェックします。） You don't have to use your real name　and more than one ｐerson (二人以上） can do it.

There are vocabulary hints below the quiz.

1.      今日の温度はー5度です。
2.      家に断熱材を入れてから暖房費が下がりました。
3.      体感温度によると今日の温度はー20度でした。
4.      加熱炉がないので客部屋にストーブを使います。
5.      室温は２０度です。
6.      温度がー40度になるとカ氏と摂氏が同じになる。
7.      温度計によると温度はー2度です。
8.      温度自動調節器を下げてくれますか。

1.    temperature
2.    insulation, heating bills
3.    wind chill factor
4.    furnace, space heater
5.    room temperature
6.    Celsius, Fahrenheit
7.    thermometer
8.    thermostat

Junkudo Book Sale, Autumn Leaves

Did you enjoy the long weekend? I had a great time. On Saturday, I went to Junkudo to buy some English books. Did you know they're having a 50 percent off sale (半額セール） until the end of November? All the English books are half price! http://www.junkudo.co.jp/081008shinjuku.html
After Junkudo, we were wandering around (ぶらぶらする）, and came across (見かけた) this autumn festival.

I thought this festival was wonderful (素晴らしい）. Children's entertainment can be really expensive in Japan, but the kids looked as happy as if they were at Disneyland.



We went to the Naritasan Temple on Sunday. The autumn leaves were beautiful.

A maple tree reflected (反射された) in the water.

The autumn leaves were at their peak in Chiba.

A five-story pagoda (五重塔)

A procession of priests (行進).

Five-color sunsets (五色の夕焼け）

  I just got back from my trip to Greece (ギリシア). Greece is a wonderful (素晴らしい）country with delicious food and friendly people, but the best thing about it is the sunsets (夕焼け).

 I've seen a lot of beautiful sunsets in Canada, Japan, and other countries, but they can't compare (比べられない）with Greece.

 This is the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea (エーゲ海). Many people say it has the most beautiful sunsets in the world, and I agree (賛成する）!


 The most impressive (印象的な） thing is that you can see five colors in the sun.

There are many beautiful old churches (教会） on the island. It's nice to watch a sunset sitting near these beautiful old buildings.

This is the old town of Napflio. We saw a really mysterious (不思議な） sunset here with strange shadows (日陰） in the sky.


Here's a translation quiz (翻訳クイズ）.If you write your answers in the comments of this blog, I will check them. このブログのコメントに答えを書いてくれたら、チェックします。）You don't have to use your real name and more than one person (二人以上） can do it. 

1. 夕焼けは何時かを知っていますか。
2. 太陽は五色に見えました。
3. ギリシアの夕焼けはどうでしたか。
4. 太陽は西に沈む。
5. 夕焼けは空を真っ赤にさせた。
6. ギリシアに行ったら是非夕焼けを見てください。
7. サントリーニでは世界で一番きれいな夕焼けが見えます。
8. こんなにきれいな夕焼けは見たことがない。

Going to Greece!

I'm going to Greece on July 16. I'm very excited, and I've been telling many of my students, but I almost always have to explain (説明する）what "Greece" means. Greece is ギリシア in Japanese. Many students have also never heard of Athens (アテネ）.

I'm going to stay in Greece for two weeks, and will visit Santorini, a beautiful Mediterranean （地中海）Island that has many beautiful white buildings, and is said to have the most beautiful sunsets (夕焼け）in the world. We're also going to visit an old resort city called Napflion, and go to Sparta. At the end of our trip we'll visit Athens. I hope to have some nice photos to show you when I get back.

Here's a quiz about some famous cities and countries that are different in English and Japanese:

1. ウィーン　
2. オランダ　
3. スイス　
4. タイ　　　
5. トルコ　
6. ドイツ
7. フィレンツェ　
8. ベネチア　
9. ベルギー　
10. ミュンヘン　　　
11. ローマ　

Can you say them in English? The answers are in the comments.

日本での外国人の結婚（その2）

 I got married in April, and my marriage has been very happy so far, but sometimes, an international marriage can be difficult.

 My wife is Japanese, and she sometimes uses English in her job, so she was hoping to go to England for a two-week English study program. She applied (申し込んだ）for the training, and so did some other people in her section. It was popular (人気) because the company subsidizes (補助金を出す）100 percent of the cost.

 Last week, her boss told her that she was rejected (断れた）because she is married to a foreigner (外国人）. She was really shocked because we never use business English at home! Anyway, I hope she doesn't regret (後悔） the marriage.

 By the way (ちなみに), I noticed that a lot of people make mistakes (間違える） with the words "marry," "married," and "marriage".
 To say "結婚する" use "get married",  not "marry" or "marriage".
例： ○We are going to get married next month.
例： ×We are going to marriage next month.
例： △We are going to marry next month. (形式言語)
 "Get married with" is unnatural (不自然）.
例： ×I got married with her last year.
例： ○We got married last year.
 "Marriage" is 結婚.
例： ○They have a happy marriage.
"Married" is 結婚している
例： ○They have been married for ten years.
例： ○He is a married man.

-Ed
 

My favorite temple - 愛宕念仏寺

Did you have a good Golden Week? Mine was great, but it was too short! I went to Kyoto and visited Ohara and Arashiyama. I really like Arashiyama, because it's home to (～の所在地である) my favorite temple in all Japan.

 It's called Otagi Nenbutsu-ji. It's near Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, but it's not famous, so it's never crowded. It's very quiet and peaceful, and there are about 1200 beautiful buddhist statues (仏像） there.

 They are called rakan, and they are the disciples (弟子） of Buddha (釈迦様）. They are different from ordinary (普通の） Buddhist statues because they are really funny and cute.

 Many of them were carved （彫られた） by amateur carvers (彫刻家）. Some are holding cats, some are playing music, and others are drunk (酔っ払い）!

 If you go to Kyoto, I really recommend (進める） this temple! The website is at http://www.otagiji.org/.
 Here are some other photos from my trip:

A snack maker in Ohara.

A lantern in Arashiyama.

Souvenirs (お土産） in Ohara.

A Buddha statue in the Sanzen-in Temple in Ohara.
-Ed

日本での外国人の結婚（その１）

 Last year, I got engaged (婚約した). We hoped to get married last year, but we were very busy, so now we are trying again. We  are  planning to get married soon (すぐ結婚する予定である）, but it is very complicated (複雑） for a foreigner (外国人） to get married in Japan.
 Did you know that a foreigner has to get an affidavit (供述書) from the embassy (大使館） to prove (証明する） that he or she is not married in his or her home country (祖国)?
 I called the embassy many times, but it took a long time because you have to listen to recorded messages (録音した伝言） in three languages (English, French, and Japanese) and then leave a message (伝言を残す) so they can call you back. It took 2 weeks (二週間掛かった） to get an appointment, and I had to pay 5500 yen!
 I was kind of shocked because they just gave me an A4 paper with a rubber stamp (ゴム印).
 Now my fiance has to change her certificate of residence (住民票） to Tokyo, because she is originally from Osaka.
 I am really excited about getting married, but I never realized (気づく） how difficult it is!

A Hamster Resurrection (ハムスターの復活）

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been a long time since my last blog entry.

I have another hamster story.

It has been very cold recently and so Chu has been spending almost all of his time keeping warm in his コタツ(暖かいコタツに引篭もっている).　 He only comes out to eat, chew on things（かじる）, and sometimes run around on his wheel（ホイールで走る）. But he ussually comes out when he hears me cooking(料理をしている音を聞くとだいたい出てくる), because I give him vegetable scraps（野菜のくず）. His favorites are spinach stems（ほうれん草の茎, carrot skin（人参の皮, and peanut shells（ピーナツの殻).


The other day, I was cooking in the morning and he didn't come out of the コタツ, even after I opened the door and put some vegetables in his bowl（かごを開けて、野菜をあげても出てこなかった). I then noticed that the kotastu had become unplugged(コタツのプラグが抜いていた), maybe for a few days. I got worried so I opened up the コタツand found him all curled up and not moving（丸めて、動いていなかった）.

I picked him up and still no reaction（反応がなかった）. His body was very cold too, so I was sure he was DEAD. I felt bad, so I put him back in the コタツ, plugged it in, and went to work.

I was thinking about what to do with him all day at A to Z and starting to plan a hamster funeral（ハムスターの葬式を考えていた） and final blog post.

After I got home from work I got out a paper towel and a small box to dispose of the body（死体を始末する）, but then I noticed that all the vegetables I had given him were gone. When I opened the cage and looked in the コタツ he came running out, healthy and very hungry（コタツの中をのぞいたら、元気いっぱいで出てきた）. I was relieved. (ほっとした）.

I searched the Internet to find out what had happened. It turns out that hamsters don't hibernate(普通の冬眠はしない）, but if the temperature drops below 10 degrees（温度が１０度以下まで下がると） they will become torpid (無気力、無感覚). Being torpid means that they have no energy, their body slows down and they stop moving. It can be dangerous if it continues for too long, but a short time is natural.

So that is my hamster story.

Has anyone else every had a torpid hamster?
Does Chu deserve a new name or an award for his death-defying (死に挑むような) miracle (奇跡）?


Let me know what you think.

Derek

Two Londons

When people ask me, "Where are you from, I usually say "Toronto," but it's not true. My hometown is actually (実は） about 2 hours by car from Toronto. It's called "London", but when I  say "I'm from London," people usually think I'm English.
 London was named after London, England, and we have a "Thames River," "Blackfriar's," "Picadilly," etc. I guess that a lot of British people came to Canada and were homesick so they gave things the same names.
 London isn't very famous, but it is a nice city to live in. One reason is that it has a lot of trees. In fact (実際に), its nickname is "the Forest City." I've heard that it has more trees per capita (一人当たり） than any other city in North America.
 I don't know if London is very exciting to visit, but it might be a really nice place if you like shopping. London is a well-known test market (テストマーケット、試験市場) in Canada, so you can buy a lot of new products (新製品）.  Also, there is a famous shopping area called "Richmond Row" in the downtown area. It has a lot of really nice boutiques and cafes, and there a lot of old, beautiful houses and buildings.

-Ed

Canadian Winter

 When I lived in Canada, I didn't like snow very much. I hated getting up early (早く起きること）to shovel snow (雪掻きする), and I felt nervous (緊張する）driving on the icy roads (凍った道路).
 This year, when I went back to Canada for my winter vacation, I really enjoyed the winter. It was really nice to take a stroll (散歩する）in the snowy woods (林）near my house.
 This is my fiance enjoying snow shovelling. My father and I were very happy that she enjoyed shovelling snow, because we hate it!

This is my neighbor's house. It looks really beautiful in the snow.

 We also went to Niagara Falls. The temperature (温度） was -15, but the falls are really beautiful in winter because the trees were covered with frost (霜) and the rocks under the falls were covered with ice (氷）.

I was surprised to see these birds in the winter, because usually they fly south much earlier. Do you know what they are? If you do, please leave your answer in the comments.

-Ed