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.
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
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'
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)
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
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
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
Poor girl - the shadow makes her look like a koala! Poor me - I missed my chance to cross the road while taking this photo.
Vocabulary:
- 'poor' usually means 貧困 or 下手 , but here it means かわいそうな
Right next to our school is an expensive boutique. Right outside it was this fancy Lamborghini. Right away, I got my camera & took a photo.
What do you think of it? Actually, this is not my kind of car. I prefer older, classic cars. Also, the driver`s seat is right down near the ground. It must be difficult to get in & out of this kind of car.
Vocabulary:
- 'Right' has various meanings e.g. 右, 正しい, 権利 but 'right + 前置詞' usually means 'ちょうど___' or 'すぐ___'
I got a new car. It`s longer, higher, & roomier (roomy = 手広い) than my previous one. Now, with these Star Wars decals on it, it`s way geekier too.
I bought them on ebay ( http://www.ebay.com/ )
Vocabulary:
- 'way ___er' = much ___er e.g. Australia is much bigger than Japan, but Japan`s population (人口) is way higher than Australia`s.
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