Golden week in Kansai

I spent 4 days travelling around Kansai in Golden week.

I went to one of my favorite places to take pictures: Fushimi Inari.

I love all the red gates (torii)  lined up the path. There are so many they just keep going.

Near the entrance of the area they always cook sparrow (Suzume 雀 ) on a barbecue. It’s interesting but I don’t think I’ll try it. Anyhow, it was a great trip.

Nik

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

Part 7

Story

Kathy had wanted to start her own dessert shop ever since she visited one in Paris a few years ago. Since that trip she’s been practicing making all kinds of desserts. She’s tried making everything from Italian Tiramisu to Guava ice cream from South Africa. Now, she’s very confident in her ability to make great desserts.

Vocabulary

Practice (verb); the customary, habitual, or expected procedure or way of doing of something.

Examples

  1. I practice the piano every day.
  2. I really need to practice my English pronunciation.
  3. Q. Have you been practicing parking? Your driver’s test is coming up.

Confident (adjective); feeling or showing certainty about something.

Examples

  1. I’m not so confident in my public speaking abilities.
  2. I’m confident the party will go well.
  3. Q. Are you confident that the experiment will work?

Nik

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

Part 6

Story

Kathy and Samantha have been talking about expanding their chocolate cake selection for some time now.

They were looking for a part timer to help out around the store. They were also hoping to find someone with some knowledge of cake baking that could contribute by adding to their dessert line up.

Vocabulary

Expand (verb); become or make larger or more extensive.

Examples

  1. We are hoping to expand our stores into Asia by next year.
  2. That shopping mall is expanding and adding apartments.
  3. Did you know that a lot of English Premiership football clubs are expanding their stadiums?

Contribute (verb); give (something, especially money) in order to help achieve or provide something.

Examples

  1. I want to help contribute something to the project.
  2. Let’s all contribute ten dollars to the bosses gift.
  3. Did you contribute to the design of the web page yet?

Nik

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

Part 5

Story

As Kathy finished up on the phone her associate Samantha walked into the shop.

“Morning Kathy! How’s everything? I hope you don’t mind but I took the initiative and scheduled the interview with that new girl for tomorrow.”

“Morning Sam. Yeah everything is good. Okay that’s great. What time is she going to come by?”

“I told her to come here at 2 pm. I hope she’s good. Her knowledge of baking seems good and her recommendations are of the highest quality.”

Vocabulary

Initiative (noun); the ability to start things on your own.

  1. I took the initiative and ordered next week’s supplies.
  2. Please take the initiative and get the project started.
  3. Q. Are you good at taking initiative when things need to be done?

Quality (noun); the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind.

  1. That Whiskey is of the highest quality.
  2. Honesty is a desirable quality.
  3. Q. Do you think Louis Vuitton bags are good quality?

Nik

Daily dose of cute 面白いビデオ

 Here is your daily dose of cute!

Which clip is your favorite? (The girl trying to hula hoop without the hula hoop made me laugh.)

For students, “dose” is usually used when talking about medicine. An example:

“He took a dose of cough medicine.”

Minimalism ミニマリズム 映画

Yesterday I finished watching an interesting documentary called Minimalism.

Here’s a link to the movie on IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3810760/

The guys that made the movie have a website:

http://www.theminimalists.com/

Here’s how they describe minimalism:

Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from overwhelm. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom.

That doesn’t mean there’s anything inherently wrong with owning material possessions. Today’s problem seems to be the meaning we assign to our stuff: we tend to give too much meaning to our things, often forsaking our health, our relationships, our passions, our personal growth, and our desire to contribute beyond ourselves. Want to own a car or a house? Great, have at it! Want to raise a family and have a career? If these things are important to you, then that’s wonderful. Minimalism simply allows you to make these decisions more consciously, more deliberately.

Well I thought it was pretty interesting. Check it out if you have a chance. If any of you have Netflix, you can watch it (with Japanese subtitles) there.

Nailed It!

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

Part 4

Story

Kathy and her friend opened ‘La Maison de Chocolat’ in a pretty trendy neighborhood. They became popular quickly. Their customers were typically women in their 30’s and 40’s who were looking to buy something special for their parties.

Vocabulary

Trendy (adjective); very fashionable or up to date.

Examples

  1. Crocs were very trendy sandals a few years ago.
  2. People say that Naka Meguro is a trendy area in Tokyo.
  3. Do you remember when Tamagotchi was popular ?

Customer (noun) a person who buys goods or services from a shop or business.

Examples

  1. A line of customers were waiting to get into the ramen shop for lunch.
  2. A few customers commented on how good our cakes were.
  3. Do you know how many customers came in yesterday? A. We served around 220.

P.S. A customer is defined as ’someone who buys goods or services from a store or business.’ A client is also a type of customer. In business, the two terms are often used differently based on the types of relationships built. Customers are generally people who come to you mainly to buy products or services you supply. Clients buy your advice and solutions personalized to their particular needs.

Nik

Chidorigafuchi Hanami 千鳥ヶ淵 花見

Yesterday Dave and I headed to Yasukuni Shrine to see the cherry blossoms.

Across the street from Yasukuni Shrine, I’d always seen lines of people waiting to see the cherry blossoms at Chidorigafuchi, but I’d never actually walked through the area myself.

Well yesterday, after fourteen and a half years in Japan, I finally did it.

Here is a selfie!

Hawaii ハワイ

I wanted to share a quick photo of my trip to Hawaii back in February.

Here is a photo of Don, Ryan, Dave, and I. It was really great getting to see Ryan after over a year.

Can anyone spot what’s funny about this photo?

Well, three out of the four people in it are wearing Hawaiin shirts! I guess I didn’t get the memo! Ha ha!
(“I didn’t get the memo” is slang for “No one told me.”)