Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the weather starting to heat up a bit. Because it’s not as cold, this has made me want to venture out and go on a few more walks lately. One spot that I keep going back to is actually really close to the Furokita Campus! The canal over here has SOOO many big fish! And they swim up to you! Someone must feed them regularly because I can tell, they see people and know it’s time to eat. I like to take a moment and watch these fish from time to time. It’s a very peaceful part of my day and so cool to see.

Any spots like this you enjoy going to around where you live?

See you in class soon!

今年の東海地方の梅雨入りは

観測史上2番目の早さだったようですね。

雨の多い、嫌な時期になりました。

手洗い、うがいはもちろんですが

食中毒にも気を付けなければいけませんね。

みなさんこんにちは。

最近は雨がよく降りますね。梅雨は一年で一番苦手な時期です。雨自体はむしろ好きな方なのですが、このムシムシ、ジメジメはどうしても耐えられません。服も何を着ればよいのかわかりません。汗っかきな自分はちょっとでも着こむと汗が止まりません。ただ薄着で出歩くと冷房がものすごくかかっている店もあるので、お店に入ったりするとすぐお腹を壊してしまいます。なんとかならないですかね。

東南アジアの国のイメージは、熱帯でもっともっとジメジメしている思いませんか？僕は思っていました。そんなことないです。日本の方がジメジメしていると僕は思います。雨の量は圧倒的に向こうの方が多いですが、不快感は日本の方が上だと思います。それぐらい日本の梅雨はジメジメしています。梅雨だけは本当に苦手です。。。

I’m very interested in most crafts and have tried my hand at them to varying degrees of success. But I’m currently on a sewing kick, so let’s talk about that!

I love consuming sewing content on TV and online. My mother, sister, and I used to love watching this show called Project Runway, where contestants would compete to sew these jaw-dropping outfits under ridiculous time constraints and sometimes utilizing ridiculous materials in place of fabric. We owned a sewing machine and serger, and my mother had some experience making articles of clothing, but none of us were fashion designers or tailors in the least. It doesn’t mean I didn’t dream of sewing, though…

On occasion, I would sew small items in America. I hand-sewed some plushies for my sister. I remember hand-sewing cute, little hamster plushies when I was very young for whatever reason. Later on, I took some classes and watched a lot of YouTube videos. That’s when I started learning how to make actual clothing. Clothes are a much bigger, more expensive project than my previous endeavors, by far, but I’ve really been enjoying the challenge. In the sewing class I took, I sewed a pair of ill-fitting pajama pants, for instance. I learned a lot from that experience and I desired to tackle a pencil skirt next. I even bought a pattern and fabric for it! But I was never quite brave enough to actually cut the fabric and make the skirt, unfortunately…

Since moving to Japan, I’ve bought my own sewing machine and attempted to tackle sewing projects a bit more. I’ve made masks and 18th century Georgian stays and repaired damaged clothing. There is absolutely no consistency to be found in my choice of projects, haha. However, I live alone in Japan, so sewing is a far more solitary activity now than it was back in the US. I text-bomb my family constantly throughout the process, but it’s not the same as bothering people about it in the moment.

Luckily for me, my sister has given me a companion to bother at all hours: a stuffed octopus! I call her Lady Squish.

She’s so cute. She’s reversible, too. I usually have her on “angry” to motivate me to sew some more! But she can also reverse to “happy” when I finish a sewing project. I’ve got her perched on top of my sewing machine, and I couldn’t be happier. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to sew her a friend to also glare me into actually finishing my projects…

みなさんは子供の頃、蝶々を捕まえて遊んだりしていましたか？

自分はキャンプ場に行くとよくトンボに後ろから忍び寄って捕まえていた記憶があります。

ところで我が家の庭には、一本のミカンの木があります。

その木に登り、子供たちが何やら捕まえていました。

鋸で枝を切り虫かごに入れ、蝶々が出てくるまでを観察しようという流れになりました。

ある朝、一つの幼虫が蛹になりかけで枝から落ちてしまっていました。

これは幼虫の死を意味しています。虫の世界も厳しいですね。

虫取り網をもって蝶々を追いかける子供の姿は、いつの時代も変わらないものの一つではないでしょうか。

それでは、雨季ならではを楽しみながら英語も頑張っていきましょうね！