2008年5月アーカイブ

 Last week,
my mum and dad came to visit from England.

So me and my boyfriend had a busy
but fantastic time touring various places around Japan,
including Okinawa.

Okinawa is an amazing place.

It has a very different feel to the main island of Japan,
with its cuisine, people, culture, seasons.... and (okinawa)has stunning beaches!

I tried a lot of new foods,
like gouya, pigs ears and cheeks, sataandagi, chinsukou, and a citrusy fruit drink
that I can't remember the name of...

-vocab---------------------------------------
・various 　　　　　 いろいろな
・main island 　　  本州
・cuisine 　　　　　 料理
・stunning 　　　　 美しい
・cheeks 　　　　　 ほっぺた
---------------------------------------------

but my favourite by far was beniimo - the purple-sweet potato -

I tried so many varieties of beniimo
cakes and biscuits and even a beniimo icecream!

It was mega-delicious! ;P

The first day
we spent relaxing on the beach
of a nearby island called Tokashiki
- we sunbathed, snorkeled, climbed rocks and ate icecream
- and the weather was gorgeous (got a little tan hehe).

-vocab------------------------------------------------
・by far 　　　　 とても
・even  　　　　 ～までも、～さえ
・tan  　　　　　日焼けさせる
------------------------------------------------------

Then, since it was my birthday that day,
they had secretly booked an evening meal
in a restaurant that was built into a tree - ! ☆ ! -

and I had a surprise chocolate cake brought out by the waiters
with accompanying ‘happy birthday' ♪ music playing
throughout the restaurant (how embarrassing hehe)...

Then on the second day
we hired a car and adventured around the main island,
stopping at various places along the way,
including the churaumi aquarium and a beni-imo cake factory! :)

Then when we arrived back,
a family friend from England arrived and we met him at the airport
and continued with a busy few more days of touring Japan,
mostly nearer places like Kyoto,Nara and Kobe.

I took them to
Arashiyama, Kiyomizudera, Fushimi inari,
Nijo-jo, Osaka-jo, Nara, Kobe,
and introduced them to all the delicious Japanese foods
like sushi, ramen, okonomiyaki, Japenese-style burgers, nikuman,
traditional Japanese set meals, and ........ Onigiri!! ;P

-vocab------------------------------------------------
・since  　　　　　 ～だから、なので
・secretly          内緒で
・book              予約する
・accompany    伴奏して
・throughout      ～の至る所に
・embarasse     恥ずかしい

・hire                借りる
・traditional 　　  伝統的な
------------------------------------------------------

Last Sunday, my girlfriend and I went hiking in the mountains.

We travelled all the way to Mt. Takami, which is located(位置する） somewhere（どこか） in between Nara and Mie.

I have been hiking a few times before but this hike was by far（はるかに） the best of all!

If any of you have ever been there you will understand what I’m talking about.

Surrounded（囲まれた） by forest, we climbed up（登る） the mountain.

There was an amazing（びっくりさせるような） picturesque（絵のように美しい） clearing（森林の開拓地） that appeared（現れる） at certain（ある） points during the hike which displayed many amazingly（驚くほど） beautiful mountains in the background.

About half way up the mountain there is a breathtaking spot,where you can see for miles and view beautiful mountains and thousands of swaying trees（揺れ動く木々）.

We sat here for about an hour eating our lunch and enjoying the view. It was prefect!

The first hour and a half is a pretty good hike.

The incline（傾斜） in the mountain increases a lot, almost to the point where you need to use both your hands and feet to climb.

If you are daring（勇気のある） enough to challenge this steep （険しい坂） you will be greatly rewarded（報われる）

because just over the horizon is the top and the view is by far the most amazing sight I have ever seen.

If you are a hiking enthusiast（～に熱中している人） like myself, you will not be disappointed with the beauty of this place,

I promise you that! Amazing! Amazing! Amazing  ! That’s all I have to say!

ナジャのブログです。TOEIC等で頻出の単語があります。ぜひ読んでみてください。

（Because) Jamaica is a developing country（発展途上国） I am aware of（わかる） the effect（効果） global economics（世界経済）have on developing countries such as southeast Asia（東南アジア）, Africa, Latin America（ラテンアメリカ）and the Caribbean（カリブ諸島）.

Recently(近年） there has been an increase（増加する） in food prices all over the world, especially（特に）corn（とうもろこし） and wheat（小麦）, and as usual（いつものごとく）it is the poor countries that suffer（苦しむ） the most.

In Mexico, Haiti, and Egypt there has been as much as a doubling（倍増） in price for rice and bread. This has resulted in families having to skip a meal（食事を抜く）.

But surprisingly（驚いたことに） this can easily be avoided(避ける）.

Currently（現在のところ） there are six billion（60億） people on Earth,and if we all ate like Europeans and Japanese,we would need more than two-and-a-half planets'（惑星2．5個分） worth（値する） of food to support us.

Can you believe that, almost 3 worlds!!!!

So what can we do? The answer is simple- EAT LESS!!! As countries get richer people eat more than what is necessary（必要以上に）, and become more wasteful（無駄に使う）; a lot of food in Japan is thrown away（捨てられる） because of slight（わずかな） blemishes（傷） in the supermarkets and restaurants.

Also we can eat smarter（より賢く）, for example in Japan, people eat about 25% of the world's stocks（在庫） of tuna（マグロ）.　The tuna themselves（マグロ自体） eat a lot, it takes（要する） around 4kg of small fish to produce（生産する） 1kg of tuna.This is not sustainable（持続する）, if we continue eating so much tuna eventually（いつかは） there  won't be enough fishes in the sea. So the smart（賢い） choice would be to avoid buying tuna.

Of course at first cutting back（減らす） and changing our diets（食生活） will be difficult.

I love fried chicken the same way（～と同様に） Japanese love tuna sushi, but our children's future depend on（～にかかっている） us so I will change because if we continue eating the way we do（私達がしている食べ方） there might not be（いなくなるかもしれない） a future for them（子供たち）.

"We did not inherit（引き継ぐ） the world from our forefathers（ご先祖）, we borrowed it(the world) from our children"

(Famous Native American Quote（引用文）)

最後の引用文の意味はご興味あればナジャに聞いてやってください

Hi Everyone!

For Golden Week, I went on holiday to Malaysia.  Malaysia is an amazing country, and I encourage everyone to visit there.  For the first 5 days, I stayed in Penang.  Penang is the “cultural and cuisine” capital of Malaysia.  It also has some of the nicest beaches in Malaysia. 

For 2 days I stayed in Georgetown, which is the downtown area of Penang.  Georgetown is famous for hawker stalls, which are basically stands that you buy your food from and then eat at a table on the sidewalk.  This is where you can sample many of the famous Malaysian dishes, and watch people as they walk by.  Also, Georgetown is famous for its cheap markets for buying food, clothes, antiques, etc.  There were also many wonderful architecture to look at while walking around, including mosques, old European style houses, and temples.  Georgetown also has a great China and Indian town.  It was great to be walking around the Indian town and hearing lots of Indian music blasting out from the shops. 

For the next 3 days I stayed on Batu Ferringhi, which is the beach resort area of Penang.  The beaches were beautiful, and the weather perfect.  I stayed at a resort and basically just swam all day, then went out at night to hang out at the hawker markets.  The resort was a great way to relax after staying in Georgetown. 

For the last 3 days, I stayed in Kuala Lumpur, which is the capital of Malaysia.  I stayed very near the famous KLCC, which is the Kuala Lumpur City Centre.  This is where they have the tallest twin tower buildings in the world – the Petronas World Towers.  Inside the towers there is a huge shopping mall, which has many famous designer shops.  I also visited the many famous temples and night markets that Kuala Lumpur has to offer.

All in all, the best place (other than Japan) I have visited so far.  If you get a chance, please visit Malaysia.  You won’t be disappointed!

Gerald E. Love

Head Teacher