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

今回から新しい講師のCraigを含め
ベラらしいアットホームなパーティになりました。
ご参加頂いた皆様、ありがとうございました。

今回も講師達が色々料理を作ってきてくれました。
料理自慢のJoshuaはシチューとパイ
RyanがSpinatch Dip
Craigがサモサ
Christinaがアップルパイ。
ベラの講師達は料理が得意で、美味しい料理の
レシピには目がありません。
もちろん他にも１階にあるレストラン「華善」の
唐揚げやオードブルなども堪能して頂きました。
飲み物もビールやカクテルから
美味しいワインもご用意しました。

毎回恒例、チーム対抗トリビアクイズで
盛り上がり、他の生徒さんともうち解けたようでした。
ビンゴでは先着１０名様に景品が♪

最後は全員で記念撮影。
去年より人数は少なめでしたが、とても
良い雰囲気で皆さん楽しめたとご連絡を頂きました。
ありがとうございました！

今回は参加できなかった方も
来年は是非ご参加下さい♪

イベントも楽しい英会話ベラ

Christmas greetings to everyone from
the Bella staff. The count down has begun.
Children and adults are counting down the
days until Christmas day! It is an exciting
time of the year for everyone. There are
parties to enjoy with co-workers and friends.
Buying presents for family and close friends
gives me a lot of happiness. But there are
some interesting comparisons to make
about Christmas celebrations.

comparison=比較

For example, in Australia and New Zealand
people often have parties outside because
it is beautiful and hot. But in America and
Canada people love to celebrate Christmas
inside because it is usually very cold or snowing.
Have you celebrated Christmas in an unusual way?

My most unusual Christmas experiences have
all been celebrated in Japan. One year I
celebrated Christmas in my apartment with
my husband and we cooked two delicious
lobsters together. It was fun. Bella staff wish
everyone a very happy Christmas time.

英会話レッスンなら英会話ベラ

In the Tokyo area, the mountains, forests and
parks right now are covered in beautiful red,
orange, yellow, brown and green trees. Yes,
now it is time for autumn leaves and
the best time to see them in this area is until
the end of November or early December.

I went to Mount Takao yesterday to go hiking
and see the changing leaves. Many people of all
ages were there taking photos of the bright red
Japanese maple leaves and golden
yellow ginkgo leaves. Mount Takao is
in Tokyo, so it doesn’t take long to get there.
The mountain is also easy to climb – You can
ride a cable car or chairlift halfway up if you like!
There is also an interesting temple and monkey
park on the mountain. Souvenir shops
were selling momiji manju, ginkgo nuts
and other food.

Other famous places to see autumn leaves near
Tokyo are Nikko, Hakone, Kamakura or around
the Fuji five lakes. Some places in Tokyo also
have beautiful trees, like Yoyogi Park and
Rikugien near Komagome station, or if you
walk along Icho Namiki, a street connecting
Aoyama Dori and Meiji Jingu Gaein, you can
see 146 magnificent ginkgo trees
which were planted during the Taisho period.

What’s your favorite place to see autumn leaves?

autumn leaves 紅葉
Japanese maple　モミジ
ginkgo イチョウ
souvenir お土産
ginkgo nuts ギンナン
Taisho period 大正時代
magnificent 素晴らしい, 堂々たる

英会話レッスンなら英会話ベラ

Hello everyone,
We are David and Toni Drouhard. I (Toni) am Joshua's cousin.
Dave and I are 55 years old and we have two children,
a boy 29 and a girl 28. We live about 10 miles southwest of
a small town in Washington State.
We farm about 600 acres; 400 acres we own and the rest we
rent (Dave is a lifelong farmer). I have 11 hens, 2 roosters,
2 cats and 1 steer (belongs to a friend).

We will be writing soon...
Dave and Toni

マンツーマンなら留学準備のレッスンも「英会話ベラ」

It's that time of the year again - the cold season.
Everyone is starting to sneeze, cough and sniff
on the trains.
So what can you do to keep healthy?
Eat garlic.

I know many Japanese don't like the smell of
garlic or the strong taste. But garlic is famous
for fighting against colds. If you can't bring
yourself to eat garlic or cook it, then try honey
and fresh ginger. Boil the kettle and　finely chop
up some ginger, place it in the bottom of your
cup and add at least one tea spoon of honey.
The honey should help soothe a sore or scratchy
throat. The ginger should help fight to keep your
body warmer and acts as a natural medicine
against colds (just like garlic). The Chinese
natural herbal doctors have been using these
ingredients for centuries. Chinese natural medicine
is now becoming popular again. I promise you,
I do practice what I preach here. Every Saturday
evening I cook garlic for my dinner. Every morning
I have honey on my warm cereal. And ginger is
regularly used for both meals and drinks.
Try them all!

Can't bring oneself to=〜する気になれない
ingredients=材料
Practice what you preach
=諺で「人に説くことを自分でも実行しなさい。」
=Do what you say, not just talk about it

楽しい英会話なら「英会話ベラ」