英会話プライベートレッスン

Hello everyone! ?Anand here as usual. ?Hope you guys are enjoying the cool weather! ?As always, I tried to make the most of the weekend, this time by meeting up with some friends from Canada. ?When I was in Canada I studied Japanese for 2 years. ?In that time I met lots of Japanese people and lots of Canadians studying Japanese. ?Though we are all over the world now, when we can we try and have a reunion or two. ?We had a small reunion of four on Friday, and with my friends visiting Japan, we figured Japanese food was the best option. ?So we all went to nice, hidden little izakaya in Shibuya, thankfully away from all of the hustle and bustle. ?It’s amazing how much has changed since I have left Canada, but it’s amazing how much has also stayed the same. ?My friends still live in the same place, and although their son is a little older, they look the same as when I left Canada. ?It’s wonderful to get to see my old friends again – the only sad part is when they leave. ?They are reminders of what I left behind six years ago, and sometimes I miss it greatly.

See you next time,

Anand Mohan

Hello everyone! ?Anand as always! ?I have been a busy guy these last few days. ?This weekend I made my grand return to running with 4 laps around the Emperor’s castle. ?Despite some sore knees and a slow time, it was a refreshing run. ?The last run I did was at the beginning of September. ?It was a 15k run in 35 degree heat. This 20K was much easier and much more fun. ?That said, for once my blog doesn’t have anything to do with running.

As some of you know, in addition to Awesome English I teach at Sunrise Kids International School, our preschool in Yokohama. ?In fact, just recently I was promoted to head teacher. ?I guess hard work pays off! ?In any case, I am very proud of the work I do at our school. ?Last week our theme was “Going on a picnic.” ?In our afternoon class, I taught the kids different ingredients and different flavors when it comes to making a sandwich. ?Then we made some toy sandwiches with paper, foam, felt, etc. ?It was good fun, and even now the kids want to make toy sandwiches. ?But that doesn’t compete with what we led up to. ?The kids got to make their own real sandwiches! ?By the time we were at the real sandwiches, the kids knew how to ask for sandwiches, how to pass ingredients and how to describe their tastes. ?The progression of a lesson is very important. ?When it goes well, they make for great memories – both for me and the kids.

Until next time,

Anand

Hi guys, it’s Anand as always. ?Hope you all stayed dry during the typhoon! ?To be honest, this one was pretty tame. ?Just a lot of wind and a bit of rain. ?A good day to get some studying done! ?Thankfully it didn’t stick around for the whole long weekend though. ?I managed to sneak in some good times on Saturday night. ?Thanks to a friend of mine, I came across a craft beer festival at Osanbashi Hall. ?All you had to do was pay 5000 yen and you got a neat beer tasting glass and access to all the beer you could stomach (albeit in small amounts). ?What was amazing to me was that some lines were almost empty whereas some had these ridiculous queues. ?At times like this you can see the difference between Japanese people and foreigners. ?Me and my foreigner friends hunted for the shortest lines in order to access the most beer possible, whereas the Japanese festival goers were content to join a ridiculous line to get a mouthful of beer that someone told them was exquisite. ?I’ll never understand it, I guess. ?Well as I hinted at earlier, my goal was to try as many different beers (and there were over a hundred) as possible. ?And to be honest, the vast majority of them were great. ?I got to sample Weizen from all over Japan. ?Funnily enough, in the end Yokohama brewery makes the best Japanese white beer! ?Anyway, if you ever get the chance, I recommend this event to everyone and anyone who like as good beer. ?And if you can manage to hold on to it, you get to keep the tasting glass!

Until next time,

Anand

Hello there everyone! ?Anand here as always. ?Hope you are enjoying the cool weather, and I hope you are all staying dry in the rain. ?Monsoon season is here, which does suck. ?On the other hand, Japan was just given a piece of good news. ?I am sure you know it already unless you have been living under a rock. ?And that news is as follows. ?The Olympics are coming to Japan in 2020! ?We should all be happy, right?

I know lots of Japanese people are celebrating, but my reaction is one of utter apathy. ?To be honest, I don’t have a TV at home so I can’t watch the games anyway. ?And…when the Olympics finally do come to Tokyo…I will be 37 years old! ?I don’t really like the idea of being “old” and watching Olympic athletes being better than me.

And, as one of my friends pointed out to me, the Olympics are a great time for Japan to show its recovery from the Fukushima disaster and the Tohoku earthquake, but…where is the money going to come from? ?There are still tons of people who are homeless and others who are still trying to put their lives back together who could use the money that will go towards construction of stadiums and training facilities. ?So while the Olympics are a great and positive thing, we still have to think of their impact both good and bad.

Hi there everyone. ?Looks like summer hasn’t quite finished yet. ?We are still getting some ridiculously hot weather. ?So naturally I thought that it would be a fine time to go on a run. ?A long run. ?Considering that I haven’t done a long run in long time, any kind of running would have been quite the task. ?But on Sunday the temperature was about 35 degrees outside. ?Not only that, it was nice and early in the morning. ?Not only that…I kinda forgot I had signed up and gone out drinking the night before. ?Clearly my judgement is a little off these days. In any case, the race went as you could have expected. ?I was dying the whole way from both heat and a hangover, but through some miracle I managed to run the whole way. ?I guess I have enough good in the bank to keep myself alive, but just barely. ?However, since I was fully aware that I could not perform well, I decided to take a few shots along the way. ?The route took us from Yotsuya to Asakusa, meaning we got some nice shots of the Sky Tree and Sensoji. ?So while I may have taken a few years off of my life, I think it was worth the effort.