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Today the wind blew away the clouds and
we got some sun. It was enough to dry up
the leaves, so I was able to clean up some
of the back yard. The garden is still too wet
to work in. I have organized my seeds. Next
week I will try an experiment and plant onion
seeds to start inside. I have always bought
sets, but the seeds are so much cheaper.
We normally have the sweet corn in the north
patch, but last year decided to mix it up. We put
the tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and squash
there, and the corn in the main garden. It is
still too wet to start cleaning up the garden.

Rain is forecast for the next couple of days.

Also, the first sign of Spring, some flowers
coming up under my birch tree!

David & Toni

The beautiful season that comes once a year
is almost here. Yes, it is Cherry Blossom
time again. Every spring is a time to enjoy
the nature of Japan. I'm already excited.

外国にも桜の木がありますが、
日本の桜は格別きれいです。
Christinaにもこの日本情緒が
１０年経って分かってきたようです。

Each morning while exercising I view the
trees. The buds are getting bigger.
The color of the buds is becoming a deeper
brown-pink color. After living in Japan for
10 years I feel a better understanding of
the sakura trees. Nowadays I can
understand their small changes and see
how early or late they may bloom. The buds
tell a story of when they will blossom into
flowers. The celebration for spring this year
is another picnic at the local temple.
The enchanting brick path leading down to
the famous local temple will be a time for
my husband and I to reminisce
(think about past cherry viewing).

buds=蕾
enchanting=非常に美しい
brick path=煉瓦の小道
reminisce=思い出話をして楽しむ

芸能人を見たわけではないのですが、
「亀梨来たよ！」と言って呼び込みをする
おばちゃんがいました。
日本人より旬の芸能人を知っているのは
ハワイで日本人相手に商売をする方達かもしれません。

Waikiki is full of Japanese celebrities. A student
told me that in early January all fourteen members
of Exile were here. Also, many big stars attended
Ito Misaki’s lavish wedding last year. Another
student told me he saw Matsuzaka drinking a beer
alone in a Japanese restaurant. I've spotted four
Japanese celebrities in Waikiki so far. I saw the
tall guy from Dacho Club on Waikiki beach with
two guy friends and two young girls. (Not his wife.)
I saw the black guy from the Softbank commercials
walking along Kalakaua Avenue with a young
Japanese girl. I saw Umemiya Anna on the night
before the Honolulu marathon. And finally, I saw
Katsumata in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center,
wearing, of course, shorts. In America, the media
often divides celebrities into three categories:
“A-list,” “B-list,” and “C-list.” “A-list”
celebrities are people like Brad Pitt, Michael
Jackson, and Julia Roberts. “B-list” celebrities
are usually TV actors or actors that play supporting
roles in movies. “C-list” celebrities are reality
show stars or low-level comedians. Here is my
ranking for the four Japanese celebrities I saw.

Katsumata: “B-list.”

Umemiya Anna:
She was “A-list,” I think, but now “B-list.”

The black guy from the Soft Bank commercials:
“C” but in the future maybe “B.”

The tall guy from Dacho Club:
Definitely, no doubt, 100% “C-list.”

旅行英会話なら英会話ベラ

最近、自分のための時間を持てていますか？

先日、４月のグループ新規開講に向けて
グループを受講されている生徒さんに
カウンセリングを行いました。
そこで出てきたご意見ですが、
「仕事が忙しくて、ベラに来るとほっとします。
だから、このペースでずっと続けていきたい。」

ベラは他のスクールさんにはない、まったり
落ち着き感があるそうです。
もっと受講しろ！教材を買え！バシバシ！
という緊張感がなく、それが良いんだそうですが
お忙しい方にこそ、ベラで自分の時間を作って頂きたい。
ご自分のために、英語力を磨くのも良し、
外国人と楽しく会話するのも良し、
英会話を習っている自分に惚れるのも良し。
いつも顔を合わせる生徒さんと交流するのも良し。

ベラでは忙しい方にも通いやすく、良心的な
システムでお待ちしております。

Have you ever had the time of your life?
Having the time of your life means
having the happiest experience or
the best time. Recently, my husband and
I went to Australia and we had the time
of our life. We ate excellent quality
seafood and enjoyed beautiful beach walks
and saw gorgeous Australian animals.
We also had the time of our life with family
members - singing, laughing, playing games,
eating and talking together. There is
something very special about sharing
wonderful memories with family members
who genuinely love, respect and care.

英会話レッスンなら英会話ベラ

For the past few days, we've been having
bad weather. It rained very hard one day
and it's been kind of cold, especially in the
mornings and evenings. Sometimes, the sun
comes out but then it disappears again.
For the first time since I moved here six
months ago, I've been forced to wear my
Uniqlo fleece on my way to work. I see
that Japan has been very cold recently
—snowy and windy—so I guess I shouldn't
complain. But people love to complain
about the weather. It's the best topic for
small talk. Almost every morning my
manager comes in and says, “Oh my God,
it's so cold. It's freezing,” but she's wearing
a sleeveless blouse and then tells me about
the barbeque she is going to have this
weekend, at the beach.

キム・ヨナ選手のスケートは完璧で
見ながら「Oh, Wow!」という言葉しか
出てきませんでした。
日本のライバルですが、素晴らしい演技でしたね。
浅田真央ちゃんも、ちょっと失敗しちゃいましたが
頑張った！！
でも残念です・・・。
まだ若いし、次回は金メダルを取ってきて！

そして、４日前にお母様を亡くした
カナダのロシェット選手も、すごかった！
安藤選手もミスがなくて、とてもハイレベルな戦い。
女子とは思えない技術の高さですね。
４年後の熱い戦いにも期待しましょう。

開会式も、ラウンジの大画面で
生徒さんと一緒に楽しみました。
「家のテレビよりずっと良いので、
オリンピックはベラで見たいです。」
という声も、生徒さんから頂きました♪

オリンピックの感想を英語で話しながらレッスン！
「英会話ベラ」

Over the New Year holidays, some burglars
drilled a hole in the wall of a jewelry store in Ginza.
They stole 200 watches worth about
￥300 million (300,000,000円)! Five people were
arrested in Hong Kong soon after.

Here in Shinjuku, a man went to Tiffany and
tried on four rings worth about ￥16 million (16,000,000円).
Then he ran out of the store wearing the rings!
A female Tiffany employee chased him,
but she couldn't catch him.

steal 盗む
jewelry 宝石類
burglar 泥棒
worth 価値がある
arrest 逮捕する
chase 追いかける

英会話レッスンなら英会話ベラ

Recently there was snow falling so gently outside
my apartment! Did you know that many of my
Australian friends have never seen snow? It is sad,
but true. So every time it snows in Japan I am
always excited. The little things in life make me
happy. I think it's important to appreciate the little
things. Appreciating little things in life makes a
person happy. Unfortunately, when it snowed
recently there was no chance to take pictures.
But I did write an e-mail to my 11 year old niece
about the snow. She has never seen snow in Australia.
I just hope it snows again soon so I can take
pictures for my niece!

Appreciate=value something highly, be aware
of something or recognize it and be grateful about it

英会話レッスンなら英会話ベラ

Recently, I've been teaching my wife how to drive.
She drove in Japan so she isn't a complete beginner.
She's doing very well, but a few times I was afraid
for my life. Driving in Hawaii is not so difficult.
Most drivers are very kind and courteous.
They let you cut in front of them or they slow down
when you want to merge. My wife just needs to
get used to driving on the other side of the road.
Since we don't have family here or friends that
can babysit, we have to take our two, small sons
with us. The older one is four years old and
the younger one is a year and a half. Usually,
when I drive, they are very noisy in the backseat:
they sing along to the children's CD playing on
the car stereo, they grab and hit each other and
my older son points at things out the window
and asks many, many questions. “What's that?”
“What does that say?” “What bus number is that?"
and so on. But, when my wife is driving,
they are completely silent. I don't hear a peep
coming from the backseat. I think they are very
nervous, like their father sitting in the passenger seat.

courteous=礼儀正しい、丁寧な

Greetings,

Today, we went for a drive. The picture (Heart Attack Grill)
is from where we had lunch. For more information,
go to youtube and type in 'heart attack grill'. It was
fun, half pound hamburger. We heard about this place,
and had other business in Chandler, so we ate there.
The hamburgers start at a half pound singles, and
go up to two pound quadruples! The fries are
cooked in lard, and that's all they have, hamburgers
and fries. To drink there is coke in old fashioned
bottles, Bud or Corona in bottles or water.
The fries are unlimited. Fun place.

pound=ポンド（453.592グラム＝12オンス）
quadruples=４倍
lard=ラード
Bud=バドワイザー（ビールの銘柄）

最近日本でも流行っていますね、特大サイズのバーガー。
ここではハーフパウンドから２パウンドまで！
とても完食出来なさそうなサイズですが
見るのはそれなりに楽しそうです。

After lunch we went to an olive factory. Nice
little shop. Lots of interesting flavored oils,
stuffed olives, wine, bread, candles, etc.
I picked up two recipes and the oils to
make them.

The three other pictures are from Usery park,
outside of Mesa, Arizona.
Hope you enjoy them.

Hope all is well,

T&D

Tokyo Dome recently held a four day
'Hometown Festival'
that combined many Japanese festivals from
all over the nation of Japan. One of the most
exciting features about the Hometown Festival
was the lantern performances. Watching men
balancing many lanterns on their shoulder,
head or their hip was awesome! Aomori
displayed a gorgeous Japanese doll float.
There were also hundred of booths with
beautiful Hokkaido furniture to either buy or
view. My husband and I tried some of the
seafood and sweets. We bought some unusual
Japanese pottery shaped in a delicate heart
shape. For my mother, I bought her two broaches
with some coral from the Japan Sea. The taste
of the Japanese food was a big highlight of
the festival. Hokkaido seafood was delicious!

combine=混合する
awesome=すばらしい、すごい（俗語）
=great

Boots are in fashion. All types of boots.
My favorite are the long, black leather boots.
Black leather boots match with most skirts
or dresses. But if you like wearing business
pants or cute pants then short ankle boots
can make them look extra good. Although
brown boots are in fashion, black boots are
the best buy because black never goes out
of fashion. I have four pairs of boots - one
brown lace up pair of boots, one long black l
eather type, short ankle black boots and
denim boots with laces too. Now is the best
time to buy another pair of boots as there
are excellent shoe sales. Some boots are
up to 20% off. Boots are the height of
fashion all around the world now.

in fashion=流行りの
best buy=一番のお買い得商品
go out of fashion=廃れる、流行らなくなる

Happy New Year for 2010!
How was your New Year celebration?
What did you do? I celebrated New Year's Eve
with my family. It was extra special to make a
traditional Australian Chocolate Ripple Cake
to share with the family members. It is one of
the easiest cakes to make, because it is made
from chocolate biscuits and cream with
crushed chocolate peppermint on top.
I want to wish you all a very healthy and happy 2010.

1/31まで「冬のキャンペーン」を行っております。
是非一度体験レッスンへお越し下さい。

今年こそ「英会話ベラ」で英会話を修得！

When is Boxing Day?
Boxing Day is on December 26th, the day
after Christmas. It is a public holiday in
many countries like Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, the UK, Germany and Hong Kong.
The USA doesn't have Boxing Day.

Do people fight on Boxing Day?
No! It was originally the day when wealthy
people gave money or gifts to the poor.
Now, Boxing Day has become just a day of
rest after Christmas. Many shops have big
sales on Boxing Day, so it's a good day for
shopping too!

Why is it called 'Boxing' Day?
Nobody is sure why it has this name, but
we know the name comes from the word
'box' (箱), not the violent sport!

Here are some possible origins of the name:

1. Hundreds of years ago, rich people gave boxes
of fruit to their servants on this day.

2. Servants carried boxes to work and their
masters put coins in them. On Boxing Day, the
servants opened the boxes and it was like a
Christmas bonus.

3. There were boxes in churches which
people put money in. On Boxing Day, the boxes
were opened and the money was given to
the poor.

4. People put their leftovers in
boxes after Christmas and delivered
them to their relatives who
lived far away.

I wonder which one is true?

public holiday: 公休日
wealthy: 裕福な
origin: 由来
servant: 使用人
leftovers: 残り物
relatives: 親類