Tomorrow, June 1st, Dave will be on Radio MOMO (79.0 FM). He will be on with D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu in 「Let's Enjoy English!」. The program is about 15 minutes long. Chiaki and Dave will practice some basic English conversation talking about people's personalities.

Date: June 1st (Thursday)

Time: ～5:40 pm

Station: Radio MOMO - 79.0 FM

レディオモモのホームページ

In class, we often talk about our favorite movies, TV shows, and music. I always tell people about my own favorite movie, The Iron Giant.

The Iron Giant is an animated science-fiction movie from 1999. Put simply, it’s the story of a boy who befriends a giant robot. The robot fell from space, and at first no one really knows why it’s there.

The setting is in America in the 1960s, at a time when the U.S. and the Soviet Union had a very tense relationship. Many people think the Iron Giant is some kind of weapon, and they don’t trust him. But the boy, whose name is Hogarth, helps the Giant hide and keeps him safe.

I don’t want to say exactly what happens in the movie, because I hope you’ll watch it yourself someday!

When I was a kid, I loved this movie because it had action and adventure and, of course, a giant robot! But I still love it now because it’s a story about friendship and sacrifice, and about doing the right thing.

Some facts about this movie:

1. The voice of the Iron Giant is Vin Diesel, who you might know from the Fast and the Furious (ワイルドスピード) movies.

2.  The director was Brad Bird, who later directed Pixar movies The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

3. The movie was not popular when it was first released, but gained a cult following later.

Vocabulary:

befriend - ～と友達になる

the Soviet Union - ソビエト連邦

tense relationship - 緊迫（きんぱく）した関係

sacrifice -　犠牲

do the right thing -（人として）正しい行いをする

cult following - 一部の熱狂的なファン

I’ve recently started playing golf again.  I used to play golf four or five days a week when I lived in Ohio, in the US, but I completely stopped playing when I moved to Japan.  A couple of weeks ago I went to a driving range in Konan, near the airport, and hit balls for a couple of hours.

I am happy that I still remember how to swing a golf club, although I am pretty rusty (腕が落ちる). 

My wife is also interested in golf, and one of her coworkers gave her a set of clubs to practice with.  I’m jealous of her clubs, so I think I may pick up my clubs (which have been sitting in my parents’ basement for the past six years) when I go back to the US next month.

It’s nice to pick up an old hobby that I haven’t done in years.  I think many Americans have a similar feeling when they come to Japan and have to start riding a bicycle again. Less than 4% of Americans ride bikes to work, so most Americans who come to Japan haven’t ridden a bike since they were children.

Have you ever quit a hobby and then started it again years later?

お気づきの人もいらっしゃるかもしれませんが、NEOのロビーにある掲示板には今年このカレンダーを使っています。

犬のイラストが載った可愛いカレンダーで、毎月めくるタイプであるため、毎月色々な犬のイラストが楽しめます。このカレンダーは収益の一部が「引退補助犬を支援する会」へ行くようになっています。

今月5月は実は倉敷をイメージした街並み。そこにはこの写真の犬たちが描かれていますが、このイラストを描かれているのはニュージーランド在住の日本人女性です。

この中に柴犬がいますが、生徒さんのT子さんの愛犬Kくんです。

旅行好きのT子さんはわざわざこのNZ在住の日本人イラストレーターさんが住んでいるFarmまで訪ねに行かれたこともあり、あたたかい交流があります。単にT子さんがイラストレーターさんを訪れるのではなく、日本で販売されているペット用品をお土産として持っていき、逆にFarmでNZらしいお食事のおもてなしがあったり。

実はこの柴犬Kくんは去年病気で亡くなってしまいました。私も動物が大好きですが諸事情で飼えないため、かなり頻繁にKくんに会わせてもらい、穏やかなKくんに癒されてきました。

そのK君を今月はこのカレンダーで見ることができます。6月をめくるのはなんだか忍びないものです。

Last Sunday we had a lemonade party at Futsukaichi Park (二日市公園). We tried to have the same party last year, but it rained and we had to cancel. This year, about 40 people came to the party.

We cut and hand-squeezed about 50 lemons.

Nick-sensei had a secret recipe for regular lemonade and pink lemonade.

We played a lot of games with the kids:

We had a sack race.

Water balloon tossing contest

Super ball scooping

Watermelon smashing

It is not watermelon season yet, so we had to buy a gift watermelon...

Everbody enjoyed eating the watermelon.

The weather was nice, not too hot and not too humid. We all had a great time!