英会話プライベートレッスン

Hello everyone, Anand here from Awesome English as always. ?What is supposed to be a blog about English will yet again turn into a blog about running that is written in English. ?But before we get into that, let’s talk about some sakura! ?It looks like they are finally out and approaching full form. ?I can only imagine what next week will be like in Shinjuku and Yoyogi. ?This season makes people a little flower mad to say the least. ?I have seen my fair share of sakura in the past 7 years, and at this point I actually enjoy watching people watch sakura than the sakura itself. ?Well I like that and the drinking too.

But I also like running through sakura. ?When I used to live in Katsuura I didn’t have a car so I was stuck running or riding my bike to school which often took me an hour and was often uphill. ?In fact, I became a bit of a local celebrity for doing it. ?While it was rather unpleasant during, say, typhoon weather, it was actually one of the best things about living in the country side. ?And when it was sakura season and the wind was just right, I would find myself biking home along growing rice fields and through waterfalls of cherry blossoms. It was a pretty hard life to beat.

Now things are different. ?Now when I run or ride my bike, it’s because I want to and not because I have to (this point is arguable, since I mostly run for training now). ?I don’t have rice fields and beaches to run through anymore, but I get to run through Minatomirai and along Yamashita park. ?It is especially beautiful now that the sakura are in bloom. ?It’s a little more crowded than I like, but it’s no less beautiful than the countryside.

People often think I am a little crazy for wanting to run all of the time, but it allows me to enjoy some really beautiful scenery while listening to my favorite music and getting some exercise.

What could beat that?

Until next time,

Anand

Hello everyone, Anand here as always with the weekly update. As things get warmer I have more drive to get out of the apartment, and I definitely made the most of it this week. My friends visited me over the weekend and I got to show them around Yokohama. Let’s just say we spent most of the time sampling Yokohama’s many fine bars and establishments. But the real main event, at least for me, was what we did the next day, after we (eventually) woke up and managed to crawl out of bed. We headed to World Porters in the afternoon for some good Mexican food and to watch a remake of one of my favorite movies, Robocop.

I have mixed feelings about remakes in general, and about Robocop in particular. For one, Robocop didn’t really need to be remade. The movie is already quite famous and popular. In fact, there was really nothing to improve over the first one. In fact, they always seem to remake movies that don’t have any problems. Why don’t they remake movies that were good ideas executed poorly? In any case, there seems to be a trend where they keep mining my childhood to remake movies instead of making new, original movies.

On the other hand, the plus side of the remake is that it makes more people aware of the original. Robocop is an 80’s classic, but most young people haven’t seen the original. Usually when movies of this type come out, the original get seen by an new audience as well.

Anyway, I saw the remake on Saturday, and it was…okay. It was a decent, kind of generic action flick. It didn’t have the cool violence and the personality of the original, and the movie seemed to really want to be a cross between Iron Man and Batman.

I would give it a solid 7/10 as a movie on its own but as a remake…well…

Hello there everyone! ?This is Anand with another update. ?It looks like Spring is finally out in a meaningful way. ?This is especially good for me, because I can actually start running in a t-shirt and shorts again. ?After having a ton of runs cancelled due to this year’s snowstorms I finally managed to participate in one of the runs I signed up for, in this case a half marathon in Kawasaki. ?For once I managed to get to the run with time enough to stretch and prepare which was good. ?On the other hand, I have barely done any running since December, which is bad. ?I suppose one cancels out the other. ?However there is one thing I didn’t take into account. ?Well, actually I was well aware of it, but I didn’t do anything about it. ?My shoes. ?As you might have read last week, my shoes were falling apart. ?I figured they had one more run in them before I retired them. ?However, that was a bit optimistic, because near the end of the race the sole basically fell off, essentially leaving me to run on one foot. ?I suppose with that in mind my pitifully slow time – 2 hours and 21 minutes – is not so pitiful. ?I do think that I need a miracle in order to make it through my 50k fun in less than a month.

There is one plus to all of this, however. ?I got myself a ridiculous pair of running shoes. ?Bright red, visible from Mars. ?They might be a bit much, but if I ever get sick of them I know that they will need replacing by next March anyway.

Until next time,

Anand Mohan

Hi there, Anand here as always. It looks like we are getting spring sunshine but winter temperatures. I wish Mother Nature would make up her mind. It seems like perfect weather to go running, but these days the nights get very cold or it just rains.

It seems I have a new problem when it comes to running, and it requires me to say goodbye to a good pair of friends. I was getting ready for my lunch break this afternoon when I realized the bad news. I looked down and saw my shoes – which I bought only a year ago – falling apart at the seams. I guess it only confirms what I was thinking of before – that my shoes were one their last days. They were pretty much flat at the bottom and seemed to soak through at every instance.

But I guess that happens when you wear a shoe basically every day for casual wear and then run mindlessly in your free time. In any case, it looks like I will have to shop for a new pair because I have a whole lot of runs coming up in the next few months.

RIP my Nike Frees.

Hi there everyone, hope you are enjoying yourselves. I am busy as usual, especially with April around the corner. As you may or may not know, on top of my duties at Awesome English, I also work at our company’s preschool, Sunrise Kids International School. It’s definitely different than teaching adults, but it can be a lot of fun. Of ?course adults are better at sitting down and really studying, but little kids pick up things really fast and can be a lot of fun to run around with. I guess one’s preference depends on the shape they are in and how silly they are. I happen to be in pretty good shape and I am also very silly, so it tends to suit me just fine. In addition, the environment at our preschool is really relaxed and laid back so the staff has fun as well.

Let me give you an example. Last week we did a lesson on sounds and hearing. Mr. Simon, who is another teacher here had the kids make some phones out of paper cups and string. The kids were amazed to experience sound traveling through a string! That kind of experience is a bit lost on adults (although I was impressed). As is our way, Simon and I managed to sneak in some time to play in the office as well. I am not sure what the Japanese staff thinks of us, but I can say it sure makes the day go faster. Here is us hard at work.

Until next time,