Friday, October 14, 2011

Photo Friday

Everyone, I'm really sorry that I didn't post photos last week! I try to remember but I have a lot of school work as well. I study a lot and I often go to schools to help or watch a school psychologist. Being in a school makes me really nostalgic for my time in Japan and I hope that after this we'll be able to return. Anyway, enough about school. Let's see some photos!

先週私は皆さんに写真を投稿しなくて本当にごめんなさい。思い出してみますが、たくさんの宿題もあります。よく勉強して心理学者を見る事か手伝う事のためによく学校に行きます。学校に入っているので、日本が懐かしくて大学院の後に日本に帰れるのが私の夢です。何しろ学校の事は足ります。写真を見ましょう!


Brian likes moss. It's one of the reasons why Ginkakuji is one of his favorite temples. He loves moss gardens and we've always said if we ever had a yard of our own we would put moss down instead of grass.

ブライアンは苔が好きです。だから、銀閣寺が大好きなお寺の一つです。苔庭も大好きで私たちは自分の庭を持ったら草せずに苔を植える予定です。


I love orchids, like most people in my family. My uncle grows many orchids in his green house. This is orchid is part of the Chicago Botanical Gardens, which is free and has many beautiful flowers (and not a lot of moss, poor Brian)

私は家族のほとんどの人と同様にオーキッドが大好きです。弟小父が植物館の中にたくさんのオーキッドを植えます。このオーキッドは無料でたくさんのきれいな花があるシカゴ植物園の一部です。(でも、苔が少ないです。可愛そう)

A seal at the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is also free. We went there with Brian's parents. The seal was hiding from me last time so I was happy I got to see it this time!

海豹は無料のリンコンパークズーにあります。私たちはブライアンの両親と行きました。先回は海豹が自分を覆って私は見えてよかったです。

On Monday and Tuesday we went to visit Brian's parents in Batavia. Brian's parents have a dog named Bandit. Brian doesn't like Bandit because he's noisy. Bandit likes Brian for reasons we don't know.

私たちは月曜日と火曜日にバタビアにブライアンの両親と訪ねに行きました。両親はバンディットという犬を飼っています。バンディットが煩いので、ブライアンは好きじゃないです。バンディットはブライアンが好きで理由が知っていません。

It's fall! Fall is my favorite season in America (It's a tie between fall and spring in Japan)! This is the sidewalk on my way to a school. I miss all the momiji but it's really fun to play in the leaves. I think I'm still a child at heart!

秋です!私は秋がアメリカの一番好きな季節です。(日本では秋と春と両方の同じ好きです。)これは学校に途中の歩道です。私は紅葉が懐かしくて葉で遊ぶことがとても楽しいです。私の心の中にはまだ子供と思います。

I had to take a picture of a squirrel because my Geihoku ichinensei said they had never seen one! Well if they read this blog (hi everyone!!!) then they have now seen a squirrel. This one let me get very close. Clearly he's very brave.

芸北一年生がこれを全然見ませんと言ったので、私はリスの写真を撮らなければなりませんでした。では、このブログを読むと(皆、こんにちは!!)今リスを見ました。このリスは私に非常に近くに許しました。とても勇敢です。

Last week I mentioned Sukkot. This is our Sukkah (booth). The kids who go to my temple decorated it. I think they did a good job. I live very close to temple so I see the Sukkah everyday.

先週私はスコットを述べました。これはテンプルのスッカです。テンプルへ通う子供が飾りました。良いと思います。テンプルの近くに住んでいますので、私は毎日スッカを見えます。

I did miss all the Halloween decorations while I was in Japan. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. This is a pizza place near the train station. Do you think it's scary?

日本にいる時にハロウィーンデコレーションが懐かしかったです。ハロウィーンは私の一番好きな祭日の一つです。この写真は駅の近くのピザレストランです。怖いと思いますか?

This is by a really nice building in downtown Chicago. My friend and I thought this one was a little more scary. What do you guys think?

これはシカゴの町中のきれいな建物の横にあります。私は友達と先の写真よりもっと怖いと思います。どう思いますか?

Friday, October 7, 2011

The New Year

Regular English- I said in the last photo Friday that Rosh Hashanna is the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanna is part of a set of holidays called the High Holy Days. These two days, Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur. They're the most important holidays for Jews. THough they're really close together, these holidays are different in some ways too. I'll tell you a bit about my Rosh Hashanna.

先のフォトフライデーにロッシュハシャナがユダヤ教の正月と言いました。ロッシュハシャナは「ハイホリデーズ」という祭日の一部です。ロッシュハシャナとヨムキプールはユダヤ人に最も重要な祭日です。その二日はとても近いですけど、ちょっと違っています。私のロッシュハシャナについて説明します。

Jewish holidays start at sundown. Rosh Hashanna started on Wednesday at Sundown and finished on Thursday at sundown. We eat a lot of sweet foods during this time: apples dipped in honey, honey cake, and round raisin challah (my picture from last week). Traditionally we say these foods will bring us a sweet new year. It's kind of our version of osechi because moms and grandmothers (and me) take a lot of pride in their Rosh Hashanna meals. On Wednesday night I went to temple, it looks very different from a Japanese temple. Many people come to the Rosh Hashanna service so my temple sells tickets to get in (I'm a member so I didn't have to buy one). We read from the Torah, or the Jewish holy book (it's the Old testament from the Bible). The Rabbi, a kind of Jewish preist, leads the service. Those of you in Japan will think it's interesting that we bow a lot while praying. I woke up early the next morning to go to the morning Rosh Hashanna service. It was a beautiful service filled with the sound of the Shofar. The Shofar is a horn that is made from a ram's horn. It's probably one of the most important parts of Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur. It's very hard to play the shofar! My dad is really good at it but I still need to practice. After services Brian and I were invited to have dinner with other people from the temple. Before we could eat, we went to do what is called Tashlich. Tashlich is a ritual where we throw bread into the water, it symbolizes throwing away the past years sins. We had an amazing dinner with wonderful company.

ユダヤ人の祭日は暮れに始まります。ロッシュハシャナは水曜日の暮れに始まって木曜日の暮れに終わりました。この間はたくさんの甘い物を食べます。例えば、はちみつに濡らしたりんごやホニーケーキやレーズンの丸いハーラ(先週の写真)。伝統的にその食べ物が甘い正月になると言われます。お母さんとお祖母さん(と私)はロッシュハシャナの食べ物に誇りますので、ユダヤ人のお節少しみたいです。私は水曜日の夕方にテンプルに行きました。ユダヤ人のテンプルは日本の寺に全然似ていません。たくさんの人がロッシュハシャナの祭祀に行きますので、テンプルは切符を売ります。でも、私はテンプルの団員なので、切符を買うのが必要がありませんでした。ユダヤ人の聖書のトーラ(旧約聖書 )を読まれます。ユダヤ人の祭司のラビが祭祀を導きます。多分日本で読む人はユダヤ人が祈りながら頭を下げる事が面白いと思うでしょう。ロッシュハシャナの祭祀に行くために私は翌朝に早く起きます。ショーファの音で満たされた素敵な祭祀でした。ショーファとはホルンが牡羊 の角で出来ています。ショーファはロッシュハシャナととヨムキプールの一つの重要な一部と思います。ショーファをとても弾きにくいです。父は上手ですが私は練習しなければなりません。祭祀の後にブライアンと私は他のテンプルの団員と招待されました。食べられる前に「タッシュリック」と呼ばれる物を遣に行きます。タッシュリックとは湖か川にパンを投げるの儀式です。その儀式の意味は去年の罪を投げる事を象徴するのです。食べ物はとても良くて連れは素敵でした。

Yom Kippur is different because we don't eat. From sundown tonight to sundown tomorrow I will not be eating or drinking anything (I did this every year in Japan and it sometimes worried people). It's hard when you have to work but this year I get to spend the day in Temple. Yom Kippur services are much longer than Rosh Hashanna services. But there is the sound of the Shofar and it's a good time for me to think about how I can be a better person this year. My father's favorite Jewish holiday is Yom Kippur for this reason. Mine is a different but I'll write about that when it happens. Yom Kippur ends with the sound of the Shofar and then we go outside and hammer the first nail for a special booth for our next holiday, Sukkot. I'll write about Sukkot when it gets closer to time.

ユダヤ人が食べませんので、ヨムキプールが違います。私は今日の暮れから明日の暮れまで何でもを全然食べなくて飲みません。(毎年日本でそうして時々同僚が心配していました。)もし働いたら、大変ですが、今年私は終日テンプルでいます。ヨムキプールの祭祀はロッシュハシャナよりもっと長いです。でも、ショーファの音があって私は良い人になる方法を考えるのがいい時間です。その意味なので、父の一番好きなユダヤ教の祭日は読むキプールです。私のは違いますが、未来にその祭日の事を書きます。ヨムキプールはショーファの音が終わって私たちは外に行って「スコット」という祭日のために特別のブースの最初のネールを打ち止めます。その時間に近づく時に、スコットの事を書きます。

(翻訳者ノート:スコットは日本語で「仮庵の祭り」も呼ばれています。)

This is a shofar. It looks like the one in our temple. It's almost as long as my arm.

これはショーファです。テンプルの中のを似ています。私の腕と同じくらい長いです。


Easy English- Hey guys! Do you remember the picture of the bread from last weeks's photo friday? I made that bread because it's the Jewish New Year, which is part of 2 special days for Jews! We eat lots of sweet things so that we will have a sweet new year. The Rosh Hashanna meal is kind of like osechi because you work very hard to make it and many foods have special meaning. All Jewish holidays start at sundown and end on sundown the next day. Rosh Hashanna was the 28th-29. After going to temple, which looks different from a Japanese temple, we went to a friend's house for dinner. Her Rosh Hashanna dinner was great. On Rosh Hashanna we play an instrument called the Shofar. The Shofar is made from a ram's horn and it's very hard to play!

Yom Kippur is the other speical day. Yom Kippur is a day when we don't eat at all or drink at all. Tonight at sundown until tomorrow at sundown I will not eat or drink anything, even water. It's an important time because I go to temple and I think about how I can be a better person this year. After the sunsets on Saturday though, we eat a lot! We play the Shofar on Yom Kippur too. Yom Kippur is my dad's favorite holiday, but my favorite holiday is later in the year. I hope you guys are having a great year!

(翻訳者から質問:英語のしたにか英語との間、どっちがいいかな?僕に答えを伝えて
 (^^)v)