Otto's blog

New Logo, New Signs

10月

30日

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Today at our Gifu school, workers put up* new signs with our new company logo. What do you think? Unfortunately I haven`t received new business cards with the new logo yet, so I have to put up with** using my old ones a little longer...

I hope the sign attracts (引く) lots of new students!

Vocabulary
* put up = 立てる, 掲げる
** put up with = 我慢する

Postcard Postscript

10月

11日

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I bought some old postcards at a fleamarket last Saturday. Like me, they are old, discoloured (日焼け) & devalued (値下げされた). However, I like this colour for painting pictures on. This is a painting of the view from my room when I was in hospital recently for a minor operation.

P.S. - I sent this postcard to my brother.

Vocabulary:
The prefix (接頭辞) 'post-' may mean:
1. after (後) e.g. postscript/P.S. (追伸), postoperative (術後), postpone (延期する)
2. 郵便 e.g. postcard (葉書), postbox (郵便ポスト), post office (郵便局)

Fleamarket Bargains

10月

5日

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Today there was a fleamarket* in Gifu, near my school. I bought a few things - the towel was only ¥300 - a bargain (お得)! The kobito-zukan characters were only ¥50 for the lot** - another bargain!! The car was even cheaper - only ¥10 - what a fantastic bargain!!! Finally, the old postcards were ¥500 for 6 . Is that a bargain? Hmmm... maybe not.

* a flea is a kind of insect (蚤) - in the past, old clothes sold in fleamarkets sometimes had fleas
** the lot = まとめ, everything

2 Fish, 1 Wish

9月

17日

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My kids caught these 2 fish in Australia. The bottom one, about 25cm long, is a 'Gunther`s Wrasse'. The top one was about 30cm, but I don`t know what it is. I wish I knew... Can you help? Do you know this fish?

Grammar:
- "I wish + 主語 + 過去形動詞 (NOT 現在形)..."

My Teragoya Marche Display

9月

9日

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These are the items I made for our school fair on Saturday. They are all made of recycled wood. By the end of the evening I had sold all of the plant boxes, a few of the butterflies, and two of the cars. I asked the man who bought the red car, "Do you have a son?" He said, "No, it's for me - I like it!"

Grammar
- 'made in...' + place/country
- 'made by...' + maker (person/company)
- 'made for...' + buyer/user
- 'made of/from...' + material e.g. wood

Would You Like a Wooden Car?

9月

6日

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I made these wooden cars for our school fair tomorrow evening:

https://jp.bloguru.com/teragoya-gifu/355833/instagram

Are you free* then? Please come take a look at them & other things that I made. They will be for sale (sorry - not free**!).

Vocabulary:
* 暇
** 無料

Remote & Relaxing

9月

4日

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I spent a few nights on this remote farm with my two sons & two older brothers. It`s about 5 hours west of Brisbane by car. We saw a lot of native wildlife e.g. kangaroos, wallabies & emus, and at night the stars were very bright - we could see the Milky Way (天の川) clearly. Every day we cooked our meals on a campfire next to this shack (= small, basic house). We all had a great time.

Vocabulary
- remote = 遥か, 人里離れた remote control = リモコン*
* テレビ などを 離れたところから操作する

Deep-fried... What?!

9月

3日

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On the way out bush* we stopped at a small town called Oakey for lunch. My first son chose this to eat. What do you think it is? It`s deep-fried... No, not chicken. Not potato. Not kangaroo. The answer is in comments.

Vocabulary
- *In Australia & Africa, "bush" can mean the remote countryside.
- deep = 深い, deep-fried ___ = 揚げ物, pan-fried ___ = 炒め物

Pair of Holdens

8月

31日

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In Australia I saw these two old Holdens. Holden is an Australian car maker. Oops - I mean WAS; Holden closed its last production plant in 2017.

The top one is a 1966/7 Holden HR. The brown one is a 1969 Holden HB Torana. Which one do you prefer? I think I like the bottom one more.

Grammar
- "Which one...?" "...the top/brown/old/cheap one."

Brisbane Ekka

8月

30日

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Every August in my hometown of Brisbane there is a big festival called the 'Ekka' (short for 'Exhibition'). There are lots of displays, activities & events. My favourite event is the wood-chopping (the photo in the centre) - it`s very exciting to watch.

We also fed farm animals, rode bumper cars, and saw horse-racing & monster-truck displays in the main arena. Of course we ate a lot of junk throughout the day! We had a lot of fun.

Natural English:
'A lot of ___' and 'Lots of ___' mean the same, but 'lots of' is more common in casual spoken English, so 'lots of' was one of my kids` favourite phrases when they spoke English in Australia e.g. "Wow - lots of chickens!" "Yay! Lots of candy!" "Oo... lots of dead kangaroos!" (on a country road).