As many of you know, I went to Europe with my family over the holiday vacation this year. My wife and I went to Rome, Italy, and met up with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend. We spent about five days in Rome and then my wife and I went to Seville, Spain (three days), Lisbon, Portugal (four days), and Frankfurt, Germany (one night). We had a great time!

Rome was interesting because it is filled with history. We saw the Vatican, which is the headquarters of the Catholic Church. It is filled with art from various periods of European history, and has some really interesting paintings and sculptures. We also saw ancient Roman ruins, such as the Colosseum and the Pantheon.

In Spain and Portugal we mostly relaxed and walked around – we didn’t make any plans or reservations except for one restaurant in Seville. It was great! We woke up whenever we felt like it, took naps, and ate when we were hungry. We saw a few sights, but spent most of our time relaxing.

Unfortunately, our flight back to Japan was delayed and we had to spend a night in Germany. Germany was nice and the food was good, but it was very cold and got dark at about 4:30.

We had a great trip! Our favorite country was Portugal. The people were very friendly, everything was very cheap, and the English level was extremely high. I recommend it!

Dave-sensei will be on Radio MOMO (79.0FM) with D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu on Thursday January 31st at about 5:40 pm. They will talk in English and Japanese about Setsubun and Groundhog Day.

1月31日（木）5時40分ごろにDave先生がRadio MOMOに出演します（DJは上別府千晶さん）。英語と日本語の両方で節分とグラウンドホッグデーについて話します。

http://www.fm790.co.jp/

On Saturday night we had NEO’s New Year’s party (新年会). Twenty NEO students got together with the staff (plus Tatsuki & Satoshi), so we had quite a large group.

We got together at Maihara izakaya by the Daianji intersection downtown. It was my first time there and they served some interesting dishes, like fried asparagus that looked like fried shrimp.

Our original plan was to stay at the restaurant for 2 hours, but we were all chatting so nicely that we were there for almost 3 hours! After we finished eating, we all gathered outside for a group photo.

Some people went home or someplace else, but about 8 of us moved on to another place, a small bar called Tiki Bar Headhunter. This bar is run by my friend “Guchi” and has a Polynesian theme. Guchi also makes delicious fruity cocktails.

By chance, there was a Jive Dance event going on that night. A group of people who enjoy 1940s - 1960s music, dancing and clothing gather there each month. One of the ladies grabbed me and asked me to dance. I’m not a great dancer, but I did take a dancing class way back in university, so I pulled out some of my old Jitterbug moves and had a great time dancing.

We all had a very nice evening and night. Thanks for coming out, everybody!

Click here to see more photos and videos from the party!

繁忙期に入りなかなかブログを更新する時間がありません。

そんな冬の今、連日空気はからっからに乾いていて、加湿器がフル稼働しています。室内は加湿器で潤せるでしょうが野外はそうはいかず、つい昨日自宅付近で火事がありました。黒煙が立ち込め、救急車に続いて消防車が何台も到着、上空にはヘリコプター。警察官も道路を閉鎖していました。狭い住宅地なので消防車が入れず、野次馬もわらわら。

あまりにも密集している地域で、すぐには鎮火できないので近隣の方は類焼が心配だったと思います。仕事から帰ったら家が無くなっていたなんて冗談にもなりません。

空気が乾燥するアメリカ・カリフォルニアでは自然火災が頻発しますが、これをwild fireと言います。

では「類焼」は？オンライン辞書では”catch fire”とありますが、それでは「火が付く、燃え始める」という意味も含んでしまうので日本語の類焼と全く同じようには使えません。”spread”「広がる」を使いますが、そうなるとfire spreads「火が周りに広がる」と表現します。日本語ではあくまでも「家が類焼する」と言い、家や建物が主語です。火が広がることに焦点を当てているのか、家がもらい火をしてしまうことに焦点を当てているのかですね。

ちなみに「野次馬」に対する英語があります。ですがこれまた全く同じ使い方ではありません。言語が違うので意味のずれがあって当然ですね。ｺﾀｴ rubberneck

NEOも今週1/8（火曜）からまたレッスン開始です。

そして大人の方を対象とした新年会New Year’s Partyを行いますが、場所が決まりました。

1/26（土）7:30～　　居酒屋ダイニング　前原　

場所：北区南中央町2-14　長瀬ビル1階

大雲寺交差点にあります。路面電車で大雲寺下車、徒歩1分。

https://r.gnavi.co.jp/4vfb0v680000/

飲み放題込み　4,100円

参加はNEOスタッフ込みで20名（生徒さん15名）で行う予定です。ご参加の方はNEO待合のSign up sheetへご記入下さい。

ここは私が友人と年末に二人忘年会をしに、同じ大雲寺交差点にある台湾料理の「士林夜市」に行く途中でふと見つけた場所です。こじんまりしていますが、雰囲気のよかったことと、女性オーナーが頑張っていらっしゃるとのこと、また岡山産のものを使っているとのことで決めました。

本当はもっと英会話らしくエスニック系を考えていましたが…

因みに、その台湾料理屋さんもかなり美味しく、台湾から材料が空輸されています。元々は台湾ご出身のお母さんが始めた居酒屋で、スタッフも留学生さんたち。台湾中国語が飛び交っています。私も勇気を振り絞って拙い中国語で会話をした年末でした！