Cosmos Festival on Oct. 27

Last month, my husband and I visited a local cosmos flower festival.  It was our third time.  Every year they offer various foods in cheap price as well as a beautiful scenery of cosmos flowers.  We really enjoy attending them, so I would like to share about our memories of the said event. 

How did I get to know about the festival?
One day in October 2011, I found an interesting advertisement flyer (or leaflet) delivered with our newspapers.  It was about a "cosmos flower" festival held by a local religious group.  The place was  located within a 5-minute drive from our house.  At first I imagined various negative things.  If I visit there, maybe someone will ask me to join their organization, as one of their believers, or someone will ask me to donate some money for their religious activities in the future.

Though I was afraid of being asked of such things, I still decided to see the place.  The venue was close to our house anyway, and I didn't have anything special to do on that day.  I went there by bike.   

My first visit to the festival in October 2011
On my first visit, I noticed that there were many instant shops in the area.   I went closer to check them and found their food prices low compared with the shops in another festivals.  I bought something to eat, and ate them on the bench.  They tasted nice, and I liked them.  Then I went into their building for bazaar.  I had to write my name and address before I entered the building.  I saw many people who seemed to belong to their religious group but none of them told me about religious things.  They were nice so I felt relaxed, and I thought it was a good decision to visit the festival.  I was also impressed by the pink color of the cosmos flowers.

My second visit to the festival in October 2012
Last year, I had to work until 1:00 p.m. on the date of the festival.  I was thankful of them for sending me an invitation, so I visited there with my husband after work.  Unfortunately, many of foods were already sold out, and we couldn't find much to eat.

My third visit to the festival in October 2013
This year, another invitation was delivered to us, and my husband and I were looking forward to that day.  I asked my husband not to eat breakfast because the festival will begin at 10:00 a.m., and we can find many kinds of foods at the festival.   

We arrived there at 10:40 a.m. as we expected there were plenty of foods in that early hour.  My husband tried to buy something upon arrival, but shop owners told us to wait until 11:30 a.m.  Their foods were ready, but they were told to start selling foods at 11:30 a.m.  Like a small child, my husband shouted to the shop owners, "I am so hungry that I can't wait that long!!!!"  He behaved badly while other customers stayed calm.  I was embarrassed and went to another area to avoid him for a while.  He sat on the bench and waited patiently.  

On the opening, we rushed to shops and we were the first customers.  It's called "All Japan Umaimon Matsuri," meant various kinds of food festival from different parts of Japan.  I thought it was  exaggerated because there were only ten shops in all, nonetheless it was a good chance to try various dishes in low cost.   Anyway, the pictures below were taken last month.

      French fries and sweet potatoes fries were ready on their stall when we arrived at 10:40 a.m.

                                                                  Roasted Cabbage
How to make roasted cabbage?
Just imagine how to make hotcakes.  You may prepare some flour, sugar, milk, egg, and water.  First, mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. After that, heat the frying pan and when it is heated, put some oil. Then, roast the mixture in the frying pan. When it's done, you may spread it with butter, honey, or maple syrup.
In making cabbage roast, we prepare some flour, sliced cabbage, egg, and water.  We don't need any sugar and milk. Firstly, we mix all of the ingredients. Then, we roast the mixture in a flying pan.  When it is done, we usually spread it with sauce, and sometimes a bit of mayonnaise.  It depends on the person's preference.

                    Sweet bean soup with rice cake (my favorite for winter season).

                          It's hot and makes our body warm. 

 I usually eat it after doing house hold chores.

                                                                       Soy sauce noodle
(It can often be eaten in Mie Prefecture, it is rare to be eaten in Hyogo Prefecture where I live.)

 

                                                                Fried Big Gyoza

 

                                             Yakisoba noodles (my husband's favorite)
                                              This looks like a pancit in the Philipines.

 

Roasted chestnuts

Yuba 

The taste is thicker than tofu.

It's smooth like puddings, but not sweet as much.

 

We became full around noon.  Before leaving, we took the photos of cosmos flowers.  

I like them because these kinds of pastel colors make us happy.

 

 

Every year, I send them a thank you letter.  I hope they will invite us again next year.

One day bus tour to Daisen & Hiruzen (2)

We live in the south part of Hyogo where leaves have not turned red or yellow yet.  But visiting the north part which is colder, leaves have already turned to red or yellow.

I took these pictures while I was on the bus which was moving, so this picture is blur.  But I guess you can see the leaves turned yellow for this season.  The road is like a tunnel made of leaves. 

Whenever we are on the mountain, weather suddenly changes.  One time it was strange, when we visited there it was raining and suddenly we saw the sun shone on the other part of the area. 

We were lucky to be able to watch Daisen mountain from the bus windows.  The bus driver moved slowly so that we could take pictures.  The road is called "Daisen Sky Line," and it's famous because of its estatic nature landscape of terrain.

We passed by so many mountain curves like what is shown in this photo below.  The tour attendant advised us not to read our map or any book while the bus was in motion because it will make us feel dizzy.  

 

 

Our bus headed to our next destination, Tottori Hanakairo Flower Park.  Please find my entry for continued story.  (Please click here.)

One day bus tour to Daisen & Hiruzen (1)

My husband and I visited Hiruzen in Okayama Prefecture and Daisen in Tottori Prefecture last Monday, November 4th.

The previous day, Sunday, November 3rd, was a national holiday, so the next day, Monday was a substitute holiday; and my husband had a day off from his work.  We took advantage of it and participated in a "one day bus tour." 

We live in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, which is located in the western part of Japan.  The picture below shows a map where we live.

 

Our bus departed in front of Himeji Station at 7:50 a.m.  We drove about 3 hours before we reached Yonago, Tottori Prefecture.  It was about 200 kilometers north west from Himeji.   

 

 

As well as some 15-minute short breaks, we had three destinations in this tour.

The first destination was Kanbano Taki Waterfalls in Okayama Prefecture.

 

We found a small shop on the way to the waterfalls.  They sell ice cream and sweet snacks.

 

 

We found this board some places.  It says "Please don't feed monkeys.  Our staff feeds them regularly, so you don't have to feed them any extra food.  Please refrain from eating while you are walking.  If they see you eating, they may take the food that you are eating.  And also please don't carry stacks, ice cream, and some fruit in this park."

 

 

They actually show the photos of the monkeys with their nicknames.  They also shows which is the boss and their age.

Unfortunately upon unboarding on the bus, it started raining.  Good thing that we brought an umbrella which helped us a lot not to get wet by the rain.

The road was slippery, so we walked carefully and slowly.

When we found a small waterfall, we started to get excited.

But when we reached and saw a bigger waterfall, more people got excited and interested with the scenery.

My picture below shows that I was tired after seeing and walking through the waterfalls. 

After watching the waterfalls, we rode on the bus and headed to the place where we will eat lunch. 

I was hungry and I was glad to see many kinds of dishes.

The place where we ate lunch was originally an amusement park.  We didn't have enough time to ride any of their roller coasters this time. 

 

Would you please correct my senteces below?  Thank you!

 

We had a chance to visit this amusement park back in May 2012, one and a half year before.

We stayed in a resort hotel for a whole week, and came here by electric bikes at that time.  (It was not motor cycles, but it was a bicycle with some electric power on them.)  There are some slopes around, and it was easy to go up the slopes.

Please click here to this continued story.

One of the Japanese largest flower parks in Totori

My husband and I participated in a bus tour yesterday.  I would like to share the colorful pictures herewith.  

 

Tottori Hana Kairo is one of the largest size flower parks in Japan.

 

Flowers made with birds' shape

 

                                          halloween pumpkin

 

 

These beautiful flowers are called "Salvia."   They were in full bloom when we visited Tottori Hana Kairo. It was like a bright red carpet of flowers.

 

Tottori Hanakairo Flower Park is one of the largest flower parks in Japan. The park is about 50 hectares in area with a variety of seasonal flowers at a 50 meters flower dome, a flowerbed on water and a European garden. Night viewing of illuminated flowers, called "Moonlight Flower Garden", is very popular. Moonlight Flower Garden is held on Saturday and Sunday from July to August, Christmas season, and summer vacation season.

The park was a filming location for the Korean TV drama "Athena: Goddess of War".

For a Lesson November 3, 2013

My dearest RareJob teacher,

I write my thoughts about daily life below.  I would like to use this as our lesson material today.  Would you please read and correct some grammatical errors, and give me some advices for word choices?

When I was working as a clerk in a company, I stayed in the office most of the time.  I was always busy preparing different documents which made my eyes really tired. Beacuse of that, I decided to try something different on weekends.  I began watching wildbirds and this kept me relaxed and made my eyes feel better too.

I rode my bike and visited a park nearby to get relaxed.  I felt comfortable surrounded by trees.  The green color eased my eyes.  It was wonderful because I was able to forget about my work and feel mother nature.  

While I was staying in the park,  I found different kinds of birds.  I observed them and I was eager to find their names.  I wondered that some of them might be migratory birds, so I am curious where they could be coming from, and where are they going next.

And what kind of food do they eat?  Do they eat nuts, small insects or worms?  Are they hervious or carnivious?  Do they move in a group or alone?  That was the way I began this hobby.

Winter is the best season to watch wild birds as we can find many types during the season.  It's cold early in the morning, but we can find more birds in the daybreak because they start moving from place to place to searching for something to eat at that time.

Sometimes I'm freezing when I wake up at around 7:00 a.m., so I warm myself by drinking hot coffee in the morning.  The day break is 6:30 a.m. at this time of the year, November.  I think it's a bit early early for me to go for walk before 7 o'clock. 

In fact, I walk about 30 minutes at around 10 a.m. these days, and find 5 or 6 kinds of birds at best.  But yesterday, I had some other errands outside beore 8:00 a.m.  I was lucky because of being able to find as many as 10 types at that time.  Maybe it's better to try to start walking around 8:00 or 8:30 a.m.  It will make me feel lucky to find more birds.

I also would like to find their scientific names in my birds' book later.

 ----------------------------------------------------------
For the part below was corrected by another RareJob teacher already.  Thank you!

I try to avoid watching TV news very often because they broadcast the casualties of the typhoon which hit last month in eastern part of Japan.  I learned more than 30 people died, and houses were destroyed.  Some people are still missing.  It makes us so sad.  I guess it is important to make some measures to avoid repeating the natural disasters.  I would like some experts to study about them immediately.

I live in the western part of Japan and I am very thankful that my family and I are safe.

I notice that there are too many TV shows that are still featuring those tragedies including the big earthquakes and tsunamis which hit eastern part of Japan on March 11, 2011.   Up to this date, TV programs continues to report about the victims and how they cope up with the tragedy especially for people who lost their loved ones and their properties. 

I regularly meet my doctor, and one day I said I have been feeling sad.  He advised me as follows;

"Please refrain from watching many TV programs regarding these kinds of tragedies (such as a scene from big earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons).  Information about natural disaster is one of the ways for people to better understand the situation and will help them to become prepare all the time.  I guess it is important to know the facts however many of the TV programs are emotionally involved on the lives and experiences of the victims. 

By repeating watching them,  your brain conditions you that you are one of the victims.  We live in the western part of Japan, and we actually stay away from the disastrous area, and we are lucky this time.  It makes you feel you were there, and it makes you becoming depression.  Actually many patients are coming to our clinic after watching many tragic scenes on TV and became sad.  They eventually have some symptoms of depression, and they ask some prescription.   It's not very good."

The western part of Japan, where I currently live offers a variety of festivals happening almost every weekend during this season.  I prefer watching TV news and programs featuring these traditional joyous events.  I hope we could be informed in advance the schedules of these events so that we can visit and participate some of the festivals.  These events bring happiness in our lives.  I am looking forward to watching these programs on TV.

Happy birthday!

Dear Letha,

Happy birthday!  How have you been since you sent me an email last spring?

I think I wrote to you last April.  Here is my update.

With my doctor's advice, I quit working in May of this year.  I have been relaxing at home since then.  I started taking Online English lessons at RareJob last August.  RareJob is a Japanese company which has a variety of Filipino tutors who have excellent command in English and full of hospitality to Japanese students.  I take one lesson every day, and I enjoy the lessons.

I am fine now.  But I have some problems with my nerves which is just a small matter.  My doctor says my parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves don't work well.  In fact, my body cannot tell how exhausted I am.  I always feel tense and cannot relax.  I keep on working for hours without taking a short break.  I have been to a small clinic nearby for these 5 years, and my doctor prescribes Chinese herbal medicine every month, and I feel relaxed with the medicine. 

I may have written this to you before, my husband retired from his work on March 2012.  He retired at the age of 60.  He stayed home for 6 months doing almost nothing, and I got tired of being asked to do everything such as make coffee, prepare meals three times a day every day.  So to avoid him, I started working in July 2012.  I worked 4 hours, five times a week, as a caregiver trainee at an elderly home in my neighborhood.

I really enjoyed it, but I thought the job was too strenuous for me.  As my doctor knew about my conditions, autonomic dysfunction, I told him about my job in the elderly home.  He said he doesn't recommend me to keep working in the elderly home.

My husband stayed home for a while, but he got bored finally.  So he started working as a part time employee in November 2012.   He still continues working as a teacher in a local junior high school.

One day in the middle of May, I felt an intense and sudden pain on my right abdomen.  I thought I could not perform the chair-to-bed transfer as a caregiver at that time, so I explained to my colleagues about my condition, and asked them to do it on that day.  They accepted my request, and I didn't do it.  I felt sorry for them, but I was honest because if I did it under such pain, I may fail to do it properly and an accident might happen.

The next day, I was scheduled to work from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the elderly home, which meant I had free time in the morning.  I rushed to a big hospital at 8:00 a.m., which is 40 minutes by bike. 

The hospital opened at 9:00 a.m. and I was called in to a physician's room at first, and I spoke to him about my condition.  He asked his nurses to check my body temperature (38 degrees), measure my blood pressure (150/78), and take some of my blood.

After some minutes, the physician called me in to his room.  He also asked a surgeon to come in.  Both doctors discussed for a while, and then I was asked to be CT scanned, and had my echo done.

Surprisingly I was diagnosed with ileocecal diverticulitis.  I was immediately asked to be confined for a week.  It was my first experience to be hospitalized and I was really shocked.

I came there by bike, and I parked my bike at a shopping center next to the hospital, and I was scheduled to work in that afternoon, and I had do some errands at home, how could I possibly be hospitalized so suddenly?

On the other hand, the doctors and nurses were so surprised at my actions, how could I get there by bike under intense pain, and some fever, etc.  "And you are still trying to work in the afternoon?
Are you crazy or workaholic?  Are your nerves working alright?  Generally, we take some rest under such conditions."

As a result, I made a call at the elderly home, and I took a day off.  In fact, I couldn't come back to my place until 4:00 p.m. because I had some nutrition by IV.  

I strongly requested that I should go back to my place on that day, and the surgeon eventually allowed it.  But he advised me that I must not have a meal for a while, and go back to the hospital the next day.  With a promise, he allowed me to go back that day.

When I returned home at 4:00 p.m. by bike, I was scared and packed my daily necessities.  I didn't like to stay at the hospital for a long time.  When my husband returned at 7:00 p.m., I told him all about it in the hospital.

He shouted "Why were you concern so much about your work, and came back from the hospital by bike.  You were supposed to be confined at the hospital now.  You must go there tomorrow morning.  I'll have a day off tomorrow, so that I can take you to the hospital." 

I said, "No, you will have your classes tomorrow, so you must attend your classes."

So the next day, I went to hospital by bike.  Then I met the surgeon again.  He said "Are you now  ready to be hospitalized?" 

I said "I came here by bike but I packed everything in my bag and left the bag in the entrance of my house so that my husband can bring it here later, just in case." 

I was hospitalized and was NPO (nothing per orem) for a week.  It was the worst thing in the hospital.  The doctors and nurses and other staff members were nice to me, and I really appreciated their work.

My husband is a typical, traditional Japanese husband, and he asked me to stay home instead of going out to work.  Nowadays, I try to clean our house and prepare supper.  I am glad that my husband works at school in the daytime. 

I take online English lessons in Rarejob everyday.  One lesson is 25-minutes.  This is good because I have an opportunity to speak to someone in the daytime.  I have some friends to talk to.  But if I go to see them, I have to go to Himeji Station at first, which takes about 15 minutes.  The bus is available only every hour, so it takes a lot of time going, chatting, and coming back. It would be good for sometimes, but I don't want to do it very often.  I prefer to stay at home and relax. 

Well, I guess I wrote about what's happening in my life recently.  I hope you'll have a wonderful birthday celebration with your family.

Love,  

Oct. 21, 2013

When I was working as a clerk in a company, I stayed in the office most of the time.  I was always busy preparing different documents which made my eyes really tired. Beacuse of that, I decided to try something different on weekends.  I began watching wildbirds and this kept me relaxed and made my eyes feel better too.

I rode my bike and visited a park nearby to get relaxed.  I felt comfortable surrounded by trees.  The green color eased my eyes.  It was wonderful because I was able to forget about my work and feel mother nature.  

While I was staying in the park,  I found different kinds of birds.  I observed them and I was eager to find their names.  I wondered that some of them might be migratory birds, so I am curious where they could be coming from, and where are they going next.


And what kind of food do they eat?  Do they eat nuts, small insects or worms?  Are they hervious or carnivious?  Do they move in a group or alone?  That was the way I began this hobby.

Winter is the best season to watch wild birds as we can find many types during the season.  It's cold early in the morning, but we can find more birds in the daybreak because they start moving from place to place to searching for something to eat at that time.

Sometimes I'm freezing when I wake up at around 7:00 a.m., so I warm myself by drinking hot coffee in the morning.  The day break is 6:30 a.m. at this time of the year, November.  I think it's a bit early early for me to go for walk before 7 o'clock. 

In fact, I walk about 30 minutes at around 10 a.m. these days, and find 5 or 6 kinds of birds at best.  But yesterday, I had some other errands outside beore 8:00 a.m.  I was lucky because of being able to find as many as 10 types at that time.  Maybe it's better to try to start walking around 8:00 or 8:30 a.m.  It will make me feel lucky to find more birds.

I also would like to find their scientific names in my birds' book later.------------------------------------------------------

I walked to a pond in my neiborhood this morning.

I came back home at 10:10 a.m. to be ready for our lesson starting at 10:30 a.m.

I still had some minutes, I wrote a short strory what I saw this morning.

I saw three male ducks named Kogamo, Anas crecca,  in the pond.

I found five of them when I walked there last Saturday. 

I wondered where the other two went.

lesson feedback
use italics for scientific name
(Anas crecca)
open and close parentheses
parenthesis --> singular
parenthesis --> plural
10 or more ---> numerics
less than 10 --> spell out
10 people are here. ---> Ten people are here
binoculars