久々に小説を読んでみようと思って、芦屋市立図書館で偶然見つけた本をご紹介します。そのタイトルは『冷蔵庫のうえの人生』。くいしん坊の私にはとても興味深いタイトルで、手にとってみたら、イギリス人作家 Alice Kuipers 著『Life on the Refrigerator Door』を翻訳したものでした。
産婦人科医の母と15歳の女の子とのメモのやり取りが、1ページずつ綴られています。原書も読んでみたくなり、早速アマゾンで購入しました。原書の表紙（上写真）の方がずっとかわいい！ はじめに日本語で読んでいるので、簡単かな〜何て気軽に読んでみたらとんでもない、再度日本語訳も借りて読み返しました。何気ない日常の会話なので、日常英会話や友達との英語でのメールの勉強に役立ちそうです。
イギリス人作家 Alice は、乳がん撲滅運動のサポーターだとのこと。この翻訳本は『CLEA』や『FRAU』といった OL さん向けの雑誌で紹介されていたそうです。
Ashiya International Fun Run, in aid of UNICEF, was held last Sunday (11th April 2010). The sun shone and thousands gathered for a day of races (from 3km to half-marathons) around Ashiya-hama. I took part in the 10km race, and I am pleased, as well as being a little surprised, to say that I really enjoyed it. It was tough at times but I had been training for a few months, and with the help and encouragement of family, friends and Imagine's members, I was able to run the race in a fairly respectable time: just under an hour! Having had such a good time running 10km this year, I think I might try and go for the half-marathon next year. Watch this space.
ここのところお昼ごはん用にお弁当を作って出勤しています。外食は飽きてしまうし、あるいは食べ過ぎてしまうので、自分専用のお弁当は健康にもお財布にも優しいかな、なんて。日本の立派な文化のひとつとなっているので、「Bento」と呼んでもいいのではないでしょうか？
アメリカで日本のお弁当が人気なのだと最近テレビでも観たことがあります。たこウィンナー、卵焼き、うさぎ型りんごは、お弁当ならではの一品です。とても面白い動画を見つけたのでご紹介します。
何故か犬が英語でナレーションを務めていますが、お弁当の作り方がとても分かり易く紹介されています。野菜を半月切りにする／皮を剥く／卵でほうれん草を丸めるなど英語で説明するとき、とっさに出てきますか？ この動画を見れば、日本のお弁当文化を外国の方へ説明できるようになりますよ！ 英語の勉強に、またお弁当の作り方のお勉強に、ぜひご覧ください。
それにしても食べ物が目の前にあるのに全然食べようとしないプードルが、偉いなぁと関心するのは私だけでしょうか？
It has been a very busy six-months since Henry was born. In his short time with us, he has flown on aeroplanes, had a dip in the sea, attended two imagine* parties, and worked as a model, to name just a few of his activities. He has recently started crawling, which has brought him a great deal of pleasure, and a little bit of pain (he keeps banging his head - ouch!).
Another development is that he has started to take an interest in food. Mashed bananas or mangoes - yummy! Mashed apples or sweet potatoes - yuck! We are beginning to teach him sign language so that he will be able to communicate a little sooner. So, tapping the mouth means FOOD, one hand clapping is DRINK, and two hands together, next to the cheek, is BED, and a well-earned rest.
have a dip in the sea 海でひと浴びする
crawling ハイハイする
ouch 痛い
mashed すりつぶした
yummy おいしい
yuck ウエッ
a well-earned rest もらって当然の休息
It's the middle of December and people all over the world are busy writing Christmas cards. It's an important part of the festivities and a good way to keep in touch with people you don't see very often, but if English isn't your first language it can be difficult to know what message to write to English speaking friends. One thing to remember is that we usually include a New Year's greeting with the Christmas message. Some people write a long message, but most people have to send so many cards they only have time to write a short message.
Here is a selection of some standard messages from cards we have received this year:
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Season's Greetings
Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year
Special Christmas Wishes
May your Christmas and New Year Shine
Christmas Greetings
Any of these will be fine for a message to a friend, family member or colleague. Don't forget to write the name of the person you are sending the card to, and to sign it. For example:
To Imagine's members
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
From us all at Imagine
It's very difficult choosing a name for your baby; it's a big responsibility! A British newspaper published the top ten baby names in England and Wales for last year. Can you guess what they were? Any ideas? They were............ Olivia for girls and Jack for boys. I really like them both, but you can imagine in a few years time every classroom will have several Jacks and Olivias - a tricky problem for the teacher, I'm sure.
After a lot of discussion, my husband and I decided to call our baby Henry David. Henry was a name we liked very much and it's NOT in the top ten list - hooray! In the UK most people have a middle name. Sometimes it's the name of someone else in the family, e.g. a father's or a grandmother's first name, and sometimes it just makes a nice combination with the first name, like Rebecca Jane ;-). We chose David for both reasons and fortunately, our family and friends approved of our choice - phew! Check out the article for yourself:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/08/baby-names-popular-chart
Which name would you choose?
We are delighted to announce the birth of Henry David Price - or Henry for short. He was born in Ashiya Hospital on Tuesday 11th August, weighing 3552g. Henry and Becca are both fine, and doing well.
Many many thanks to all our friends, including all of Imagine's members, for their help and support. We really appreciate the kindness and understanding that everybody has shown. Henry is sure to be visiting Imagine from time to time, so hopefully you will have the chance to meet him for yourself soon.
I love trying food from countries I've never been to. It's a great way to visit new places without having to get on a plane. In that spirit, I've just come back from Sweden - and I can highly recommend it. We went to Ikea the other day, with great plans for buying a new coffee table. We couldn't find any furniture we liked, but the Swedish food store was great. We bought lots of foods we had never tried before, and had a Swedish feast. In the picture is some gravlax (a sauce made from dill which goes very well with salmon), smoked salmon (one of my favourite things), Swedish blue cheese, and pickled herring with dill (a Swedish speciality), all on dried bread flavoured with cardamom. It was delicious - I'll definitely be visiting Sweden again soon.
Some people love it, other people can't stand it but the rule remains the same: Christmas dinner is not Christmas dinner without Christmas pudding for dessert. This annual dish has a long list of ingredients including raisins, sultanas, currants and lots of brandy. It should be served with either brandy sauce or brandy butter and a sprig of holly on top for decoration. Sometimes, the cook will add some money to the mixture when they are making the pudding and if you're lucky, you might get a coin in your serving (but remember to eat carefully as you may end up cracking your tooth!). Finally, as the Christmas pudding is presented to the table, the lights are dimmed, more brandy is poured over the top and then lit with a match. The flaming pudding is then given a round of applause and then (at last!) it is time to eat. Yep - it's true, Christmas just wouldn't be the same without this funny little pud!
I can't believe how time flies! It seems like only yesterday when we were opening our school (in fact it was last March), and now it's nearly Christmas! It's been a great year. I've met lots of new people and made some good friends. Ed and I moved to Ashiya last May so it's been fun settling into a new city and a new routine. Ashiya is a very nice place to live, quiet but not too quiet! Also, it's in an excellent location - in between Kobe and Osaka and next to the mountains and the sea - perfect! Our family will be spending Christmas and New Year in Japan so we're looking forward to seeing them and showing them around. I wonder if it will snow soon? It would be so nice to have a white Christmas! I hope you all have a lovely break this New Year; relax, have fun and all the very best for 2009!
