Thanksgiving is just around the corner! This cherished holiday, observed on the fourth Thursday of November, falls on the 28th this year—the latest date it can ever be celebrated.
But what exactly is Thanksgiving all about? The video above provides a quick overview of the story most Americans are familiar with, while the video below delves into the historical events behind the tradition.
今泉にあるBBB＆で見つけた紅茶
STEVEN SMITH TEAMAKER
https://smithtea.jp
裏を見ると、なんと、Portland, Oregon の文字が！！！
2009年にできた会社で、日本に長く住んでいるぼくは全然知りませんでした。
アメリカ土産に買ってきたのですが、
生徒さんに一番好評だったテイストは
WHITE PEACH
でも、残念ながら、日本で販売されていなかった！
次回はもっとたくさんWhite Peach を買って帰るぞ、と心に誓いました。
White Peach が日本人の口に合うので、ぜひWhite Peachを販売してくださいと
Smith氏にメールしておきます。
Today, let's learn about a special holiday in the United States called the Fourth of July, or Independence Day.
What is the Fourth of July?
The Fourth of July is a holiday to celebrate the independence of the United States from Great Britain. This happened on July 4, 1776. On this day, American leaders signed a document called the Declaration of Independence.
Why is it important?
The Fourth of July is important because it marks the birth of the United States as a free and independent country. It is a day to remember the people who fought for freedom and to celebrate American history and culture.
How do people celebrate?
People in the United States celebrate the Fourth of July in many fun ways:
Fireworks: Many cities and towns have big fireworks shows at night. The sky lights up with beautiful colors and patterns.
Parades: There are parades with bands, floats, and people in costumes. It's a time for everyone to come together and enjoy.
Barbecues and Picnics: Families and friends have barbecues and picnics. They cook and eat delicious food like hot dogs, hamburgers, and corn on the cob.
Music and Concerts: People listen to patriotic music and attend concerts. Songs like "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful" are very popular.
Decorations: People decorate their homes with American flags, red, white, and blue colors, and other patriotic items.
Interesting Fact
Did you know that the first Fourth of July fireworks were in 1777, one year after the Declaration of Independence was signed? Fireworks have been a tradition ever since!
Conclusion
The Fourth of July is a day of joy, celebration, and pride for Americans. It is a time to remember the past and enjoy the present with family and friends.
I hope you learned something new today. Have a wonderful day!
San Diego の宿泊先のAirbnbは、ダウンタウンのど真ん中にありました。
宿泊先のアパート。外見は写真映えのするアンティークな感じで素敵でした。
が、しかし！！！
中が古い！HPの写真と全然違うぞ！！！と文句を言いたかったのですが
それでも、キッチンや冷蔵庫があって、ベッドがあって、ソファーとテレビがあって、バスルームがあるのはありがたかったです。
でも、ちょっと古かった。
歩行者天国になっています。
週末は朝からモーニングを食べる人で賑わいます。
最高気温１７度、最低気温９度
カリフォルニアの春、今年は寒かったです！！！
Well, it’s back to school for our boys today. Years ago, I don’t recall how many, the summer break in Fukuoka lasted from July 20th to August 31st. Forty days in total. Today, it is only 35 days long. Not only have summer breaks become shorter, but kids today have school on Saturdays every now and again.
Students often ask me about summer in the US.
Although summer break there is much longer than in Japan, they tend to go back to school sooner. My niece’s children in Georgia, for instance, return in mid August.
In the United States, summer break can be about two to three months long, with students finishing the school year in late May or early June. The new school year starts in mid to late August or early September. About 4 percent of public schools in the U.S. have a different calendar, where they have shorter breaks throughout the year and a shorter summer break.
When I was a kid, Memorial Day (last Monday of May) signaled the start of summer break which then ended after Labor Day (first Monday of September). I could be wrong about this or maybe I am just confusing California and Oregon's academic calendars.
What I do know is that those long, carefree summers are a thing of the past.
The way schools plan their year comes from changes made in the 1800s to make sure schools across cities and countryside areas were the same. Before that, schools were open for a part of the winter and a part of the summer. But as schools combined into bigger groups and people in charge of schools organized things, they thought it would be good to have the same schedule for everyone. This was linked to how taxes were set, laws about going to school, and the idea that school was very important for kids.
When schools all started following the same schedule, leaders looked at different things to decide when breaks should happen. They looked at how many students came to school and how hard it was to keep the buildings cool. Rich families would leave hot cities in the summer and go to cooler places, so not many kids would come to school. As trains became cheaper, more middle-class families did the same thing, keeping their kids home in the hottest months or going on vacation.
I personally spent the entire summer break in the mountains two hours from Los Angeles.
Leaders also wanted breaks so students and teachers could rest. Many educators in the 1800s and early 1900s believed that learning a lot in hot weather was bad for health and could make kids tired. They thought younger kids could get hurt from too much learning when it was hot. So, the long summer break was a way for kids and teachers to rest. Teachers would use this time to learn and grow too.
One more thing, people often believe that summer break was needed because children helped their families with farming, but that's not true. Most crops were planted in the spring and harvested in the fall.
Incidentally, only 11% of kids in the US walk to school. The vast majority either take the school bus or are driving. I would say over 90% of kids here walk. The rest, who attend private schools far from home, take public transportation.
San Diego に行く途中、Julianという街に立ち寄り、アップルパイを食べました。
Julianは、開拓時代の雰囲気を残す素敵な街です。１８００年代にゴールドラッシュで栄え、ゴールドラッシュが終わった後は、リンゴの栽培に最適な土地であることがわかり、今ではアップルパイやアップルソーダが有名です。
標高１２８８mというだけあって、寒い！！！
すごく素敵なお店なんだけど、お客さんが全然いない…
おおー、ぼくが小さい頃食べていた駄菓子です。
懐かしい
アップルパイとバニラアイス。美味しかったです！
さあ、サンディエゴに向けて出発！
車が増えてきました。ダウンタウンまでもう少し！
パームスプリングスからサンディエゴまで、約７時間のドライブでした。
パームスプリングスから車でサンディエゴに移動します。
ハイウェイだと２時間ぐらいで着きますが、アメリカの道路に不慣れなので、山道を通るルートで行くことにしました。
街灯もない。ガードレールもない。夜の運転は恐ろしいですね…
南カリフォルニアのコロラド砂漠にあるCoachella Valley
カリフォルニアの乾燥した景色を堪能できます。
彼の名前はSMOKEY
山火事のお知らせをしてくれます。
山火事の跡も残っていました
今年のアメリカの冬は、カリフォルニアの砂漠に大雨が降るほど異常気象だったそうです。
山の方はまだ雪が残っていました。
こんなに山が緑なのを初めて見ました。
パームスプリングスは広い一軒家が多い地域になります。
広いリビング
寒い日は暖炉で暖まります。
広いキッチン。鬼ごっこができそうです。
nap time
細長ーーーいプール
温水にする機能がついているので、外が少々寒くても入れます。
携帯電話から温める操作ができるそうです。ハイテクですね。
とうっ！！！
splash!!!
夜は外の暖炉を囲んで、おしゃべりに花を咲かせます。
５日間のパームスプリングを家族と堪能することができました。
次はサンディエゴへ車で移動です。
Americans love air museums and all over Southern California you can find museums featuring collections of military and civilian aircraft. The Palm Springs Air Museum is one of the better ones that I have been to over the years. Most of the airplanes on display are from WWII. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas"), pictured above, was the US Navy’s main carrier-based scout/dive bomber from mid-1940 through mid-1944. It played an instrumental role in the Battle of Midway in June of 1942.
Side view of the Dauntless.
The Vought F4U Corsair (above) was an American fighter-bomber which saw service in WWII and the Korean War. I love the design, particularly the shape of the wings. It was flown by the Navy and Marine Corps.
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed and operated by the United States Air Force. It was the first operational aircraft to be designed with stealth technology.
The F-117 was widely publicized for its role in the Gulf War of 1991. The U.S. Air Force retired the F-117 in April 2008, primarily due to the fielding of the F-22 Raptor.
For an extra twenty dollars you could fly a simulator. Yu-kun managed to shoot down two of three enemy fighter jets, but unfortunately crash-landed his jet.
Rikkun is ready for take off.
子供たちはパームスプリングスの広い公園が大好きです。
アメリカの公園には必ずバスケットゴールが必ずあるから、長男は幸せのようです。
歩いて公園に向かうのは、僕たちぐらいです。
アメリカは車がないと生活が成り立ちません。
公園はだいたい小学校の隣にあります。
小学生の運動場でもあります。
やったー！ゴールを独り占めできる。
また歩いて帰ります。
Our first destination on this trip was Palm Springs.
Palm Springs is a small city of about 40,000 people, located about 2 hours east of Los Angeles.
When I was a child, my father bought the home pictured below with some of his coworkers who were all in the real estate business (不動産業界). During the spring and autumn months we would spend about one weekend a month at the Palm Spring house, swimming in our pool, playing in the local park, taking walks in the evening, and eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was truly a happy time for all of us.
About ten years later, my father sold that house and bought another slightly bigger one in the nicer Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs. Here, our neighbors included the famous statesmen Henry Kissinger and actor Rock Hudson. All of the houses, or at least most of them, were designed by the same architectural company, so they have a similar style that is very Mid-Century Modern.
This was the house across the street from ours ↓
Although it may look dry—and to be honest, it is—this view is one I love. Palm trees, Mid-Century Modern architecture, the mountains and blue skies.
When we had the house, most of our neighbors had laws in front of their homes. The drought (干魃) of the past two decades has caused everyone to turn their gardens into desert ones.
Here is a more iconic image of Palm Springs. Golf course, palm trees, blue skies and mountains. As you can see from the photo, there is snow on those mountains. The highest mountain is San Jacinto. It is about 300 meters lower than Mount Fuji and can get a lot of snow. The water in the local springs come from that snow.
There is a tram that goes from Palm Springs all the way up into the mountains. I must confess that I have never been on it.
We meant to go up into the mountains this time, but it was too cold and rainy.
One of the things I love to do when traveling abroad is to visit local supermarkets. It can be so revealing (啓発), providing you with valuable insight (見識) into the daily lives of the people who live there.
When it comes to supermarkets in America, the first thing that hits you is the size. They are HUGE (広大), the aisles wide enough to drive a Japanese compact car (軽自動車) down them.
The second thing that will impress, or shock, you is the amount of processed, instant and frozen food there is.
The frozen food section at our supermarket in Fukuoka looks like this:
The frozen food section at the Ralph’s in downtown Los Angeles looked like this:
What’s more, there were about six of these gigantic freezers. The frozen food section alone was bigger than our local Bon Repas supermarket.
It was the same with just about every section of the supermarket.
The cereal section at our local Bon Repas.
There were two walls of cereal at the Ralph’s in LA.
Chips at our local supermarket.
Chips at a supermarket in Palm Springs. There were so many different types, we couldn’t decide what to buy.
Our first order of business on this trip was visiting my mother, “Nena” to her many grandchildren, whom we had not seen since 2018. In the almost five years since we had last met her health had deteriorated considerably. So much so that I didn’t think she would last much longer. To everyone’s surprise, however, she did and has. Though physically weak, she is still mentally sharp as a nail, as they say.
From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) we took a “limousine” to Palm Springs, a small resort town about two hours east of LA. Now, a limousine may sound luxurious, but it was actually just a chauffeur-driven minivan. This was our second time to travel this way and I recommend it for getting out of the city. One, you don’t need to contend with the heavy L.A. traffic, and, two, you can sleep like my family did all the way from the airport to our destination.
The limousine service we use is called Xpress Shuttles. Although a bit pricey, it provides peace of mind when you are exhausted from a long flight like we were.
The thing that surprised me the most during that two-hour-long drive was how green California was. Thanks to record-breaking rains and snowfall this winter, the hills and mountains were greener than I had ever seen them. As the weather started to warm up, these same hills and mountains exploded with color as wildflowers started blooming.
From March 17th to April 6th, we traveled to America. Well, actually, just Southern California. It was our first trip back to the US in almost five years. Five Years! We had originally planned to return in the summer of 2020, but then the Covid-19 pandemic closed the world down. It was good to be back, as you can see from the excitement in my face.
In the coming days and weeks, I will be sharing our adventures.
Stay tuned!
February 12th is Super Bowl Sunday, the day the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) is played. For those of you who do not understand the rules of the game, here's a short video.
(Rose Parade) (伝統的名称トーナメント・オブ・ローズィズ・パレード (Tournament of Roses Parade)、スポンサー名のついた名称ローズ・パレード・プレゼンテッド・バイ・ホンダ (Rose Parade presented by Honda)) は、アメリカ合衆国カリフォルニア州パサデナで毎年行なわれるパレード。新年祝賀行事の1つとして、元日(元日が日曜日の年は翌1月2日月曜日)に行なわれるカレッジフットボールのローズボウルの前にパレードする。花で装飾されたフロート車、マーチングバンド、馬などが登場する。非営利団体Pasadena Tournament of Roses がプロデュースする。
1890年1月1日に開始され、何十万もの人々が沿道で観覧し、全米でテレビ放送されている。世界中200カ国以上で何百万もの人々が視聴しているとされる。1902年、カレッジフットボールのローズボウルが追加され、パレードの資金集めがより容易になった。
A Visit from St. Nicholas
Clement Clarke Moore - 1779-1863
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."
それはクリスマスの前の晩、家中で
生き物は、ネズミさえも動かなくなったころ、
靴下は煙突のそばに下げられていて、
サンタクロースが来るのを待っていた。
子供たちはベッドに寝静まって、
頭の中で砂糖入り菓子が踊っていて、
ママは布をかぶっていて、私は帽子をかぶり、
長い夜の眠りについた時に。
突然外の庭で大きな音がしたので、
私はベッドから飛び起きて、何だろうと思い、
窓のそばにいって、雨戸を開けた。
降ったばかりの雪の上に月が
昼間のように光を投げていた。
すると目の前に何と
小さなソリと八頭のトナカイが見えて、
御者が元気なおじいさんだったので、
サンタクロースだとすぐ分かった。
ワシよりも早くトナカイたちは飛んできて
サンタさんは大声で名前を呼んだ。
「そらダッシャー、そらダンサー、それプランサー、ヴィクセン、
行けコメット、行けキューピッド、ドナー、ブリッツェン、
ポーチの上まで、煙突の上まで！
早く走れ、それ走れ、みんな走れ！」
ハリケーンの前で枯葉が舞うように、
何かにぶち当たると、ソリは空へ舞いあがる、
だからトナカイたちは家の屋根の上へ飛んで行った、
おもちゃがいっぱいのソリとサンタクロースを載せて。
私が驚いていると、屋根の上に
トナカイたちがコトコト動いているのが聞こえた。
頭を引っ込めて、ぐるりと回したら
サンタさんがポンと煙突を下りてきた。
サンタさんは頭から足まで、毛皮の服を着て、
それが灰とススにまみれていた。
後ろにはおもちゃを沢山背負って、
包を開く前の行商人のようだった。
目が光っていて、えくぼが幸せそうで、
頬は紅色で、サクランボみたいだった。
小さな口を弓のようにして、
あごには雪のように白いヒゲを生やして、
歯にはパイプをきつくかんで、
煙が花輪のように頭をめぐっていた。
サンタさんの顔は広くて、丸いお腹は
笑う時に震えて、ジェリーが入ったボウルのようだった。
かわいく太っていて、愉快な妖精のようだった。
思わず笑ってしまった私に
目をウィンクして、頭をかしげたので、
何も怖くないとすぐ分かった。
言葉は何も言わなくて、すぐ仕事に取り掛かって、
靴下をいっぱいにして、くるりと身を回して、
そして指を鼻の脇に置いて、
それからうなづいて、煙突を登っていった。
それからソリに飛び乗って、トナカイたちに口笛を吹いて、
枯草が舞うように、飛んでいってしまった。
でも見えなくなる前に、サンタさんが叫ぶのが聞こえた。
「クリスマス、おめでとう！みんな、お休み！」
アメリカのお母さんへお花を贈りました。
アメリカに住んでいる人へお花を贈りたいときはFTDがおすすめです。
FTD → https://www.ftd.com/?cid=ftddts&prid=ftddts
FTDは日本版花キューピットのアメリカ版で、the floral-gifting expertsだそうです。
贈り先の近くの花屋さんが花束を作り、届けてくれます。
アメリカにいる大切な人への贈り物に
ぜひご利用ください！
今月の休みのページを更新しました。
オレゴン州の秋の写真をアップしています。
オレゴン州といえば、ポートランドも良いのですが…
ぜひ行っていただきたいのが
Central Oregon！
レンタカーを借りて６〜７時間、もしくはポートランドから飛行機で移動できます。
ぼくたちがよく行っていたのは、Sunriver（サンリバー ）というリゾート地です。
・Sunriver Resort → https://www.sunriverresort.com
夏は朝は７度、昼過ぎから３０度を超えるという気温差の激しい土地です。
High desert（高山砂漠）という日本人には馴染みのない気候帯で
その気候が生み出す自然が絶景なのです。
セントラルオレゴンは観光客が少なく、地元の人が休暇を楽しんでいるので
雰囲気がよく、のんびりできます。
コロナが落ち着いたらまた行きたいですね。