Category Archives: Daily Sketch

self-portrait add-on paragraph

It’s been about a year since I started learning Japanese at NACOS, and I do feel like I’ve learned a lot.  I think my accent has gotten a little better (at least, Michiko doesn’t laugh at it as much as she did when I first started .), and I’m definitely better at thinking of sentences than I used to be.  I still have a long way to go, though, because I have a hard time memorizing vocabulary words.

I think it’s funny that the knowledge I’ve gained at NACOS seems to be shoving out the knowledge that I gained earlier in my life; for example, when I was little, I used "ga" to connect sentences that had a "but" between them, but now I tend to end the sentence and say "demo."  Also, this morning it took me half an hour to remember the word for bathroom, and practically the only thing I used to remember from my high school Japanese class was how to ask to go to the restroom.  (The other thing I remember from high school is how to say "McDonald’s" in Japanese.) Continue reading →

First Is The Worst; Second Is The Best!

I did canoe paddling in the 11th grade.  I usually sat in the second seat in the canoe, and I really liked that position, because I was in charge of encouraging my teammates.  I was also supposed to tell them when to paddle really hard in order to pass another boat.  Once, my coach told me to paddle in the first seat for a race.  I don’t like the first seat!  That person has to have a lot of endurance and willpower, because she sets the paddling speed and has to make sure that her tempo is very consistent.  Luckily,　right after the start of the race, our canoe flipped over!  We couldn’t get the canoe back quickly enough, so we got towed in.  After that, my coach returned me to the second seat.  I was happy about that! Continue reading →

An Unexpected Event
 
In 11th grade, I played my cello in a music competition.  I didn’t think I would win, so right after I finished performing, I went to my friend’s house.  Later that day, my cello teacher called my parents at home, and then my parents called me at my friend’s house.  My teacher had said that I  won a prize, but she was disappointed that I’d missed the award ceremony.    I received the prize at my next cello lesson.   I was very happy, because I hadn’t expected to win.

思いがけない出来事

１１年生の時、音楽コンクールで、チェロの独奏をしました。私はまさか入賞するとは思っていなかったので、演奏が終わるとすぐ、友達の家に遊びに行きました。その後、チェロの先生は、自宅の両親に電話をくださいました。そして、両親は、友達の家にいた私に電話をかけてきました。 Continue reading →

It was supposed to be a secret!

The first blanket I made was for my boyfriend’s birthday. I worked on it all summer, and I kept it a secret. Sometimes I worked on it at my grandma’s house. My boyfriend’s birthday is at the end of summer, so it turned out that he had to leave for college on his birthday. Before we celebrated his birthday, we visited my grandma. Since she didn’t know what his birthdate was, and since he was leaving that day, she thought that I had given him his present already… so she asked him how he liked his blanket! The surprise was ruined, but we didn’t mind too much.

　私が初めて編んだ毛布は、ボーイフレンドの誕生日のためのものでした。私は、それを作るのに夏中かかりました。そして、それは秘密でした。時々、祖母の家でも編んでいました。 Continue reading →

My grandmother is a second generation Japanese American. She’s around 85　years old. The other day, my grandma and I were watching a Japanese　television show. It was a show about an onsen. When I said "onsen" in　Japanese, at first she couldn’t understand what I was saying. When she　figured it out, my　grandmother said, "You sound like a Caucasian person!" I　said, "How rude!" My grandma is so naughty! My grandma just smiled though,　and we kept watching the television show.

おばあちゃん、私のアクセント、変だった？

　私の祖母はハワイ生まれの日系二世です。年齢は８５才くらいです。ある日、私は祖母と日本のテレビ番組を見ていました。それは温泉の番組でした。 Continue reading →