Summer Adventures: Rebun

On Friday, we headed out to Rebun island, near Wakkanai.

金曜日に礼文島へ行った。

We could see Rishri.

利尻島が見えた。

Us on the ferry. 

フェリーを乗った。

We walked past this temple and thought it was pretty.

歩く中にこの寺を見た。

The ocean was a really pretty color.

海はとてもきれい。

This was our five-year friendship anniversary.

5年間の友達の記念日。

At the Momoiwa Observatory.

桃岩から見た。

The view was gorgeous.

眺めがきれい。

I like the little white flowers.

白い花はきれい。

We’ve been friends for 5 years.

5年間の友達。

Pretty purple flowers.

きれいむらさきの花。

White flowers and the view.

眺めと白い花。

Love the blue and white.

この白いと青いが大好き！

L took a photo of me taking a photo.

私が写真を撮る中にLは写真を撮った。

C and I.

私とCちゃん。

It’s so darn pretty!

とてもきれい！

Interesting road.

面白い道。

The Motochi Lighthouse.

元地灯台。

We ended at this movie set.

最後にこの映画の所へ行った。

You can see Rishiri!

利尻が見える。

The playground and Rishiri.

遊び場と利尻島。

L and the small children who were in the movie.

Lちゃんと映画の人。

The picnic tables.

ピクニックの所。

Taking the bus to the ferry terminal (so we can go to the onsen).

温泉へ行くのためにバスでフェリーのターミナルへ戻った。

On Japanese ferries, you sit on the floor.

日本のフェリーにここに座る。

The view from the ferry was so pretty!

フェリーからきれい。

We were all cold, so we went for ramen after we got back. My bowl was almost as big as me.

寒かったから、ラーメンのレストランへ行った。私のはとても大きい！

Our 5 year friendship dessert.

5年間の友達の記念日のデザート。

A new word

I was driving to work today and I spotted the following kanji on a flag: 山火事注意

I knew all the kanji, but not what they meant together. The last two (注意 - Chuui) mean caution and are currently my favorite kanji because I can read them and find them everywhere*. The three before them mean: mountain (山), fire (火), and thing (事). So be cautious of mountain fire things?

While I liked that translation, I was quite sure it was wrong and very much wanted to know what they had paired with my favorite kanji.

Giving it my own translation seemed to work well because when I made it to the office and sat down at a computer, I was able to look it up. I typed in the readings for all of those things to get each kanji within the word (it's like a compound word in English - textbook, crossroad, backpack, etc).

What did it say? According to jisho.org, it means brushfire. So be cautious of brushfires. Makes sense.

Today I learned a new word and all because I gave it some crazy translation to remember it long enough to get to a dictionary to find it. Both definitions are now stuck in my head.

Guess what happened on the way home from work this time? That's right, I found it on several more signs, but I previously hadn't known what it was.

I like learning new words.

*Everywhere in this case includes (but is not limited to): my shower door handle, my toilet seat, my microwave, my stove, train doors, road signs and warning labels. It's fun because I see these two hard kanji that I'd probably make a mess of if I tried to write them and I can read them!