There's a way.

Today, my husband and I totally enjoyed our children's sports day. My daughter used to be unhappy with participating in the sports day at school because she was always last in her race. Now that she can swim and belongs to a volleyball team, she seems to aim at doing her best in many ways. My active son was the second boy to achieve a goal in his race. It goes without saying that there was nothing better than to have lunch together.






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My active son was the second boy to reach the goal in his race.

I never took job-hunting seriously after leaving my job 6 years ago because my husband wanted me to stay at home and take care of our children. I've been happy with the arrangement. As a stay-at-home mother, I can be flexible for my family, and there is no need to feel sorry for my co-workers like I did when I took sick leave for my children. I have no boss who makes an ironical remark to me!
Having said that, I have another thing to think about. When I was a working mother, I never worried about juggling household expenses. Now that I can't earn money, I need to think about making ends meet.
I'm not going to looking for a job which will take an enormous amount of time and energy; however, it wouldn't hurt at all to get a job that would give me some pocket money. I've been studying two foreign languages, so I could do with some money.
Now, what can I do?


★　ネイティブの添削　★
I also don't have a boss who makes sarcastic comments!

I went to Alison's school to have a chat in English. I should've left 15 minutes earlier than usual, though, because today was so windy that I needed extra strength while riding my bicycle against the strong wind. I was nearly blown off sometimes! By the time I reached my destination, I was quite exhausted.


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I was nearly blown off several times!

Music and movies always help me a lot when I study English. "Titanic," "Anne of Green Gables," The "Harry Potter" books, "Amy Grant," "Phil Collins," "Celine Dion," I can't seem to cross any off! Now that I'm very interested in studying Chinese, I've been looking for Chinese music or movies that I can get into.
The other day, finally, I came across a beautiful song. I really like not only the voice but also the way of singing. Since I'm a novice Chinese student, I didn't have a clue what he was singing about; however, his (actually, I should say "their" because the singers are twins) voice could easily reach my heart. The duo has a gift, I should say. Here they are.





With their song, I feel that I can learn Chinese with fun! I'm curious about their other songs now, but I seem to have difficulty in getting one of those here in Japan...



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I really like not only his voice but also his way of singing.

I visited a Chinese teacher today and had one-on-one lesson for an hour. I didn't know much about Chinese yet, so I needed to take some time to understand what she was saying even if she used fundamental expressions. What made me confused a lot was Chinese pronunciations! I wondered how long I would take until I could speak Chinese without making any problems...



★　ネイティブの添削　★
I wonder how long I will take until I can speak Chinese without any problems.

My friends visited me for studying English together. Before opening our textbooks, we spent chatting away in English and I talked about one of my favorite singer-songwriters whose name is Shoko Suzuki, but none of my friends knew her name. Oh, my. She is talented at telling a story in her songs! I like her voice very much because it's filled with feelings of melancholy. When I'm listening to her songs, I feel like I'm watching a movie. With her music, I can easily imagine its scenes. There are many gifted singers in the world, of course, but in my opinion, Shoko Suzuki is one of the great story tellers.

Shoko Suzuki Best Collection (2005/03/24) 鈴木祥子 商品詳細を見る

While I was surfing on the Net today, I came across a familiar name on the site called "You Tube." Around 20 years ago, I happened to know an artist named Katsumi. I was astonished by his extraordinary vocal range. Soon after being into him, I learned that he was a huge fan of Freddie Mercury, who was a vocalist of the British rock band "Queen." Of course, I took into "Queen" as well. Music is fantastic. It has a power not only to get us to remember past events but also to give us strength. I rarely listen to any music in my life now, but of course, I'd like to have some time for it...once again.

CHANCE in the Seeds of Love (2008/11/19) KATSUMI 商品詳細を見る

テーマ : J-Music - ジャンル : Music

I visited a Chinese woman's place yesterday to get the details of her Chinese lessons, and today I spent an hour with another Chinese woman at a cafe named "anni panni." While being with them, I had no trouble in communicating each other because both of them spoke Japanese quite fluently. I tried not to use Japanese, but it was futile attempt.
I'm thinking about taking Chinese one-on-one lesson. I can learn it by myself, of course, but when it comes to Chinese, it seems to be very difficult for me to have motivation because Chinese hasn't been so much in my life yet. I'm interested in having a native friend. I guess that will be a good start.


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It's very difficult for me to become motivated because Chinese has yet to become a major part of my life.

I had lunch at home today after studying English with my friends at a local community center. I was too hungry to cook from the scratch, so I made use of leftovers in the refrigrator. You can call it "Kimuchi noodle." I suppose it doesn't look nice, but I can tell that it was quite tasted! Being a homemaker means that it's possible to be flexible. You might happen to see a housewife chatting with her friends in a top-notch restaurant, but don't get her wrong. She often has leftovers for lunch at home.


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Most likely, She will often eat leftovers for lunch at home.

I seem to catch a cold from my daughter... She had a slight fever the night before last. I have a runny nose, a fever, and a terrible headache. I need to take a rest today.


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I seem to have caught a cold from my daughter.

I went to a cafe shop today to get the detail of Chinese lesson because I've been interested in learning Chinese for a long time. I heard that we could have various foreign languages there, such as Chinese, Russian, Tagalog, and Korean. The best thing about the lessons, I thought, was we could learn from female teachers. One of my friends used to take Chinese lesson there, and she said to me that she totally enjoyed spending time with her teacher.
When I went into the shop, there was a young lady talking with staff. Although I thought she was a customer, it turned out that she was teaching both English and Chinese. She also spoke fluent Japanese! I could communicate with her in Japanese without any problem, but I tried English.
The more we had a chat, the more I wanted to study Chinese. I tried speaking Chinese, but I had difficulty making myself understood. What I need is to practice. I'm thinking about taking her lesson now.

I visited Alison's English class to spend an hour speaking English in this morning. I had made up my mind to ride my bicycle, so I left my home 20 minutes earlier than usual. Looking at a map last night, I found a good route for cycling and I thought it would take 30 minutes to get her place.
Sunny, warm and cool breeze. Okay, let's get going! Everything was perfect until I got to the halfway point. It took a while until I realized I was completely lost. I seemed to have missed a crossing to turn left somehow.
"Oh, my... Where am I?"
Although I had no sense of direction, I just kept moving forward. Getting over some too steep slopes to cycle up, I finally got to Alison's place. It took over 40 minutes. Exhausted, I went in her class and explained why my face was burning. After having a wonderful time, of course, I had to be back home riding my bicycle. I got home and checked a map again. It turned out that I was cycling as long as 15 kilometers. It was a bit amazing because I haven't been in the habit of exercising lately.

I studied English with my friends at a local community centre in this morning. On my way home, I passed by a noodle shop that I had been very wanting to try for months. Although the place looked old-fashioned, it had stood out for some reason. It looked a little bit shabby, but its parking lot was always packed! While thinking it over, I felt hungry. Okay, who can pass up this opportunity? I decided to have lunch alone there and went in.

I found out the reason why the noodle shop was always crowded. They served not only nice dishes but also quite comfortable atmosphere. When I paid for my meal, a clerk behind the cash register said, "Thank you for coming as always!" Although this was my first visit and I thought she knew it, too, I actually found it very cozy.


★ ネイティブの添削　★
They served not only nice dishes but also it had a comfortable atmosphere.

I often ride my bicycle to go shopping. It takes almost an hour to get back home, so I'd say it can be a good exercise for me who tend to spend most of the time sitting in front of my PC.
As usual, I went out for cycling. While I was peddling, there was the wind blowing against me. When I finally came back home, I was too tired to prepare lunch. Is it a good idea to skip it? I don't think so, but I don't want to move an inch!

Yesterday was Mothers' Day. I made a phone call to my mother living in Kumamoto because I know she feels happy with it. I might say "Like a mother, like a daughter." I'm not very interested in having presents from my family, so I couldn't come up with anything when my daughter asked me what was in mind as a present for Mothers' Day.
"I suppose you'll love these," my daughter said when she came back home yesterday. She was holding something green in her hands. They were...

My friends visited me today and we studied English together for over two hours. We were supposed to memorize some English expressions and words beforehand, but my preparation wasn't enough at all and I often stumbled through a recitation. It was an embarrassing experience. I humiliated myself because of my own laziness. I need to change my way of studying by the time we meet again.

My daughter has been playing volleyball in a team. She has just started joining them to have a trial, but I'm sure she'll get into the team because she looks very happy to play volleyball with her teammates. I've heard that children can learn very quickly how to play some ball games especially if they start playing by the age of 10. I think it might be true from my experience.
In my school days, I played basketball for over 6 years. When I was at junior high school, I already saw there was a big difference between novices and experienced players. Now that she is a fifth-grader, it's about time for her to play some court games.

My family and I have been in Kumamoto, my husband and my hometown, since yesterday. We have been staying at my father-in-law's place. My brother-in-law came back to Kumamoto with his family two days earlier, so we all went to a theme park called Aso Milk farm. The park had animal races which made our children very excited. After losing the race, we ate strong milk-flavored ice creams to cheer us up!


★Looks better!★
The park had animal races which our children found very exciting.