Pink things

The day was full of pink.

この日はピンクいっぱいあった。

I started my day with gooseberry jam, made by a friend.

朝食に友達を作ったのぐーずベリーのジャムを食べた。

I’ve never eaten gooseberry jam before, but it was delicious!

この前にぐーずベリージャムを食べたことないけど、とても美味しかった。

After that, I spotted this flower in one of my school’s parking lots. It was so pretty.

小学校の後にこの花は駐車場で見った。とてもきれい。

I love these kinds of flowers. They only bloom at my favorite time of year – the middle of summer.

この花が大好き。咲く時は大好きの時：夏の真ん中に。

Summer Adventures: Sunflowers

Unless something changes, I’ve just begun my last year in this town, so I’m trying to remember to take all the photos that I’m always too busy to stop and take.

多分今年は私の最後の年、この町に。　だから、「いつもこの写真を撮りたいけど、次回に撮ると」思う写真を撮る。

The sunflowers on the way to one of my small schools are one of those shots. Every year, along the highway between my house and the school, someone plants a huge field of sunflowers. I always think I’ll take a photo next time and then it’s raining or something. So the other day, I stopped for a photo.

このひまわりはいつもこの考えたの写真。毎年誰かこのぐらいひまわりがあるけど、いつも次回に撮ると思う。次回に雨を降ったり、忙し過ぎたりから、できない。最近写真を撮った！

I wasn’t the only one with this idea. While I was there several cars stopped for photos. Most of them stayed on the road, though, meaning not as good of shots.

私だけじゃない。たくさん車が泊まったけど、だいたい道から写真を撮った。

A few close-ups.

接写。

A line of sunflowers.

並びのひまわり。

Sunflowers are so gorgeous.

とてもきれいだった。

Summer Adventures: Day of Cafes

A couple of weeks ago, I had to go to Asahikawa for the day. I ended up eating breakfast and lunch at Cafes. 

2週間前ぐらい1日に旭川へ行った。朝ご飯と昼ご飯はカフェで食べた。

Of course, breakfast in Asahikawa had to include chai. 

もちろん、旭川で朝ご飯を食べたら、チャイを飲んだ。

For lunch, I went to a cafe a friend recommended and had their summer set. 

昼ご飯は友達のおすすめカフェで食べた。夏の定食を食べた。

Saturday adventures

On Saturday, I joined my super adorable 1st graders for a noodle-catching game. It was fun, but a bit difficult because my food isn't usually moving when I try to pick it up. 

土曜日に小学校1年生とこれした。楽しかったけど、難しい。だいたい食べる時に私の食べ物を動かない。

In the evening, I decided to ride my bicycle to the lake and have dinner. 

夕方に自転車で湖に食べに行った。

This was the view on the way. 

行く中にこれ見た。

My friend's mom has a restaurant at the lake and her curry was delicious. 

友達のお母さんのレストランは湖である。カレーは美味しかった！

Vegetable curry, so colorful!

野菜カレーは色いっぱいあった。

This was the sky when I got close to home. 

帰る時にこの空を見えた。

Yakiniku with my big ES

Last Friday, I got to continue my yakiniku-life and have a party with some of the elementary school teachers. It was a ton of fun.

金曜日に1週間に４回目焼肉した。大きい小学校の先生と。とても楽しかった。

Here’s all the food. Look at all the veggies!

食べ物いっぱいあった。そして、たくさん野菜があった！

Starting the barbecue.

始めましょう！

Two teachers I really like teaching with.

この2人は一緒に教えることが楽しいね。

They have eyes!

目があるよ！

Garlic chives. I don’t think I’d eaten these before, but they taste like garlic. I ate half the ones that were put on the grill during the first go-round.

この前に多分ニラを食べたことない。ニンニク味があったから、たうさんを食べた。

I waited a little too long in the fading light . . . should have taken a group shot earlier.

黒くなったから、少しピンぼけ所がある。

After it was dark, we played bingo. I was in the loud group, shouting at the teacher who was calling the numbers that they must be wrong because they weren’t our cards . . . I’m never in the loud group in Japanese.

黒くなったの後にビンゴした。うるさいグループにいた。今回始まったけど。先生は私たちのビンゴカード以外番号が言ったら、私たちは「違うよ」と言った。

Yakiniku weekend, part 3

It was a long weekend, so I had Monday off. I was invited to a yakiniku (Japanese barbecue) party.

月曜日は休みから、焼肉パーティがあった。

M grilling something.

Mは料理する。

Y cooking oysters.

Yはカキを焼いている。

A birthday celebration

Yesterday, I celebrated my birthday with a bunch of friends. Some from town, some who live in other parts of Hokkaido.

昨日誕生日パティをした。

K brought Totoro onigiri.

Kちゃんととろおにぎりを作った。

R was one of the group who was cooking.

Rは料理した。とても上手！

A couple of group shots, we didn’t quite get everyone in them though.

皆の写真けど、２．３人いなかった。

Birthday dancing.

おどりした。

Here are the shots from various cell phones. Cell phones don’t take the best photos at dusk.

皆の携帯の写真。　黄昏に携帯の写真は難しい。

Lunch with elementary school students

On Wednesday, I got to have lunch with my 6th grade students. It was fun chatting with them.

水曜日に６年生と昼ご飯を食べた。一緒に話を楽しかった。

They’re building a new elementary school practically on top of the old one.　The kids got maps of the new building on Wednesday, it was interesting to see the new layout.

新しい小学校は建っている。生徒は新しい学校の地図をもらった。おもしろい。

They put the roof on the swimming pool. It will be swimming season, soon!

今すぐ泳ぐの時！

Summer is coming!

Today I found watermelon at the supermarket. You know what that means, right? Summer is coming! 

今日スーパーですいかが見た。びっくり！

It's only barely spring here, so these are definitely not local watermelon!

ここに春の最初から、北海道のじゃないでしょう。

It was too expensive, so I didn't buy it. But after growing up near super cheap watermelon, I always think Japanese watermelon is too expensive.

高すぎたから買わなかった。出身にすいかはとても安くて美味しいから、日本のすいかはいつも高いと思う。

Mom and Em visit Tokyo Disney Sea

This is the last in the series of Mom & Em's visit. The previous posts are these: Hokkaido, Kamakura 1, Kamakura 2, and Asakusa. Gotta finish posting before Mandie comes!

これはお母さんと妹の日本で旅行の時。前のは北海道と鎌倉１と鎌倉２と浅草。他の妹は今月来るから、その前に終わるのほうがいい。

We had planned to go to Tokyo Disney Sea the day before Mom & Em’s last day in Japan, but Em had a fever and needed rest, so we had a slow day in our far-too-small-to-spend-a-day-in hostel room.

Em hadn’t learned to swallow pills whole so the day was filled with finding things she felt up to eating, grinding pills with honey to make cough syrup and keeping her feeling ok.

The next day we got up and she was feeling much better, so we decided to see how she did at Tokyo Disney Sea.

We road their tram to the part of the park we wanted to get to and were amazed to find that even the handles were Mickey Mouse themed.

We made friends with Pluto immediately after our entrance to the park.

The weather was perfect for roaming Tokyo Disney Sea.

One of our favorite rides was one that soaked you. It felt so good on a hot Tokyo day with very high humidity.

Around lunch time, we ended up in the basement of Tokyo Disney Sea in the Mermaid Lagoon. It was fun capturing the movement of everything in the changed light and to get out of the hot sun for a bit.

The ceiling had fun reflective swirls all over it.

Time to use the flash so I can get the girls on that ride over there.

Smoking fish aren’t allowed on the ride.

Also, no dancing.

Finally a ride where we were able to snap a photo of mom on a ride.

Waiting for the magic carpet ride.

We got on!

The awesome, clothing soaking ride.

The Tower of Terror is in the background. Em was so excited to ride it, but it’s significantly less scary when the narration is in a voice you don’t understand.

Some brand-new Minnie ears watching a show.

Making a hamburger, Disney-style.

Bento Mikoshi and dancing festival foods.

The boat made for a pretty scene.

We stayed until the park closed, riding as many rides as we could. By the time we finally got back to the hostel it was just after midnight and we still hadn’t had dinner. Thankfully the hostel had a pretty good café open 24-7.

The next day Mom and Em flew out, and I began the count down till summer vacation (2 weeks later) when I would get to see them again.