Otto's blog

Dong Khoi Vietnamese Restaurant

6月

20日

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Yesterday I went to a nice Vietnamese restaurant in Iwakura, Aichi for lunch. It`s a bit far from Gifu, but not too far from where I live in Ichinomiya. My wife & I sat outside on the terrace, which was warm, but not so bad. The food was delicious, & not that expensive. I recommend it!

https://tabelog.com/en/aichi/A2302/A230201/23043474/

Grammar:
- not + too/so/that + 形容詞 = そんなに [形容詞] ...ない

Chicken Coop

6月

3日

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I made this chicken coop. I only have 3 hens, so it`s big enough, but I hope it is strong enough to keep out predators (捕食者) such as cats & weasels (鼬). Unfortunately I only had enough sheet metal to cover one side. The other sides are just wood. If I have enough time, I will try to strengthen the other walls.

Grammar:
- OK: ...enough + 名詞, ...形容詞 + enough
- WRONG: ...名詞 + enough, ...enough + 形容詞

Pet Chooks

6月

2日

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I bought 3 hens. A hen is a female (雌) chicken. A male (雄) chicken is a rooster. Roosters are not good pets because they are noisy; hens aren`t. In a few months I hope to get eggs from these hens, but now they are too young.

A student told me where to buy them. Thanks, Junko!

Vocabulary:
- 'chook' is Australian & NZ slang, = chicken

Killifish Puzzle, Higashiyama Zoo

5月

23日

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On Sunday, Teragoya kids, teachers & staff went to Higashiyama Zoo. We go every year, but in previous years, I didn`t notice this killifish (メダカ) section. I`m interested in killifish, so I wanted to look. I asked the kids in my group, "Are you interested in looking at killifish?" They said yes, so we looked inside. There were various displays, but they were most interested in this killifish internal organs (内臓) puzzle.

Natural English:
- 'be (not) + interested in + 名詞 / 動詞ing` is more common & natural than ' have an (/no) interest in 名詞 / 動詞ing', though both are correct.

Blackout

5月

19日

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There was a blackout (停電) at school today, caused by some kind of maintenance work outside. The traffic lights (信号) were off, so police had to direct traffic. It was chaos.

Pronunciation:
- In English, 'chaos' is pronounced 'ケイオス', NOT カオス

Resident Pheasant

5月

17日

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When I ride my bicycle to the east of my home, I look for the pheasant which lives around there. Recently I was lucky enough to see it. It tried to hide, but I got closer & managed to take this photo.

Vocabulary:
- 隠れん坊 = 'Hide & Seek'
- Seek = Search for = Look for (探す)
- In natural spoken English, we usually use 'look for', not 'search for' or 'seek'

Miyako Island Snorkelling

5月

16日

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During the Golden Week holidays I went to Miyako Island, in Okinawa. I went snorkelling everyday. Actually, when I go snorkelling, I only use goggles, but no snorkel. A snorkel is a hassle when I dive under the water to take photos of fish, which I did a lot.

This fish has many names e.g.Striped Surgeonfish, Lined Surgeon, Clown Surgeon, & Pyjama Clown.

Pronunciation:
snorkel: "スノーケル" (NOT シュノーケル)
snorkeling: "スノーケリング" (NOT シュノーケリング)

Spot the Animal

5月

12日

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While riding my bicycle near my house, I saw an animal next to the path, so I stopped to take a photo. Can you find it? If you can`t, please look in comments to find out what I saw.

Vocabulary:
find = 見つける find out = 聞込む, 聞き取る, 聞きただす, 悟る, 認識する

A Spot of Gifu Sightseeing

5月

11日

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During Golden Week, I did a spot* of sightseeing (観光) in Gifu. I rode my bicycle from Ichinomiya to Gifu, parked it at the bottom of Mount Kinka, then hiked to the top. There is a nice spot** on the roof of a restaurant there which has a great view. Although the weather was warm, I spotted*** this mountain in the distance which still a spot of* snow on it. After taking this photo (& eating ice-cream!), I hiked back down the mountain, walked in Gifu Park, then popped into the Eizo & Toichi Kato Memorial Art Museum - a nice, quiet spot** to relax & recover after my exercise.

Vocabulary:
- 'Spot' has various meanings, e.g. * a small amount ** place, location *** see, notice, find

Iwato Shrine Festival

4月

28日

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My local town festival was held last Sunday. At around 7:30am I went to see my son play drums in one of the floats (山車). He wore a 法被 coat & a 鉢巻 headband around his head. At that time it wasn`t crowded; some parents & festival staff were standing around, & vendors (的屋) were setting up (組み立てる) their stalls (屋台). However, at around noon I went again to look around, & it was crowded. At around 2pm, I joined around 50 other people in pulling one of the floats along the road by rope. That was fun.

Vocabulary:
'Around' usually means:
- about (くらい) e.g. around 6pm, around 50 people, around $100
- here & there (あちこち) e.g. look around, move around, run around
- surrounding (巡る, 巻きつける) e.g. around my neck, around the float