計算

　お盆は旅行に出かけるため、今週末に帰省します。レンタカーの運転はちょっとドキドキしますが、エリックとのドライブを楽しめたらいいなと思います。3日間のレンタル料＋保険料＋碧南までのガソリン代＋高速代の総額は、二人分の新幹線代よりも高くなりそう。移動手段は、目的によって上手く使い分けたいものです。

Calculation
Since Eric and I are traveling during the Obon period, we are visiting my parents this weekend. We are not used to driving a rental car and feel a bit nervous, but it will still be a fun event. It costs more to drive to Hekinan, when we add up the rental fee and the insurance fee for three days, the gas and the toll fee, than to use the bullet train for the two of us. We should choose transportation carefully depending on what our purpose is.

お盆 = Obon: August 13th, 14th and 15th are the three days in which the Buddhists hold a festival to recognize ancestral spirits
ドキドキ = dokidoki: “thump, thump” – a noise to describe racing heart when nervous or excited
ドライブ = doraibu: driving
目的 = mokuteki: purpose (s)

大暑

　梅雨が明け、とても暑くなりました。昨日は暦で大暑だったということです。エアコンがなくては頭も身体もまともに働きません。なんとなく家事もおろそかになってしまう今日この頃です。

＊今日の天気
晴れ
最低気温27℃　最高気温34℃

Big heat
Once the rainy season ended, it became very hot. According to the Japanese calendar, yesterday was Taisho, the big heat day. Without an air-conditioner, my brain and body do not work properly. I am afraid that I have not been doing house keeping very well for this reason.

*Today’s weather
Sunny
Hi 93F, Lo 81F

暑い = atsui: hot
暦 = koyomi: calendar
エアコン = eakon: air-conditioner (s)
家事 = kaji: house keeping

USJ体験

　仕事の関係で、フランス人の母娘をUSJ（ユニバーサル・スタジオ・ジャパン）にお連れしました。実は私も行ってみたかったテーマパークだったので、ラッキー。ローラーコースターは苦手なお母さんと私を尻目に、13歳の娘さんは一人で次々制覇していきました。

写真：ランド・オブ・オズのステージで開かれたショーの一場面。

Experiencing USJ
I took a mother and a daughter, who came from France, to USJ (Universal Studio Japan) as a part of my job. Honestly, it was a theme park I wanted to go to myself and I felt so lucky. The thirteen-year-old daughter conquered roller coasters one after another, leaving her mother and me on the ground.

Picture: A show on the stage in Land of Oz.

フランス = furansu: France
実は = jitsuwa: honestly
13歳 = jyu-san sai: thirteen years old
娘 = musume: daughter

Cassadaga

　雨降りのうっとうしい日が続いています。こんなときに思い出すのは、NY州西端の田舎Cassadaga（カサデガ）にある義父母の別荘。緑に囲まれ、夏でも涼しくて、食事はポーチでいただくのが習慣でした。今すぐにでも行きたいなぁ。

写真：ポーチの外には、鳥の餌を吊っています。去年の7月中旬に撮影。

Cassadaga
It has been rainy and gloomy for a while. I miss Eric’s parents’ summer house in the west end countryside of New York State, especially in this season. Surrounded by green, still cool in summer, we used to have meals on the porch. I wish I could go there right now.

Picture: They hung bird-feeders outside the porch. This was taken in mid-July, last year.

うっとうしい = uttoushii: gloomy
緑 = midori: green
涼しい = suzushii: cool
鳥 = tori: bird (s)

日本の食材２ 枇杷

　職場のおすそ分けで枇杷をいただきました。キウイより一回り小さい実は、酸味がなく優しい甘さです。日本には「桃栗三年柿八年」という表現があり、これは「何事も成果が出るまでに相応の年月がかかる」という意味です。これに「枇杷は早くて十三年」と続くという説もあるそうですが、この部分が正しいかどうかは定かではありません。

Japanese Food 2 - Loquat
I was given some Biwa (loquats) at work. These fruits are smaller than kiwis and taste mildly sweet without any acidic flavor. “Three years for peaches and chestnuts, eight years for persimmons” is a common expression in Japan, which means “it takes a certain time to get a result.” Some people continue with “thirteen short years for loquats,” but I am not sure about this latter part of the expression.

小さい = chiisai: small
桃 = momo: peach (s)
栗 = kuri: chestnut (s)
ある = aru: to be, to exist

女友達

　学生時代からの女友達と久しぶりに会いました。三宮駅で待ち合わせてカフェでランチ。昔一緒に行ったお店で再びお買いもの。最後は神戸北野ホテルでお茶をしました。もともと関西出身の彼女とこうして会えることも、神戸で暮らす楽しみのひとつです。

Girlfriend
I saw a girlfriend from my college days after a long absence. We met up at Sannomiya Station, had lunch at a café, and went shopping at a store to which we once went together a long time ago. Then we had some tea at Kobe Kitano Hotel at the end. Seeing her, someone who is originally from this area, is one of many things I can enjoy in my Kobe life.

女 = onna: female
駅 = eki: station (s)
買いもの = kaimono: shopping
お茶 = ocha: tea