I learned this term from Flying Witch:
She’s unpacking her things, but lunch is ready. It’s stuck for me since the beginning so maybe that example will help you too. 
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oh, thank you for sharing this. Is she saying “since you prepared lunch for me, when I reach a good stopping point, I’ll come” ? Or… ?
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I think that’s him saying that. Something like “I’m getting food ready, so when you get to a stopping point come eat” and then she answers はーい
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oh yes, that makes more sense!
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Catch-up challenge continued. I had a general understanding of the topics but there were a lot of specific expressions or details that I definitely missed.
Episode 20
The episode opened with a mention of upcoming summer plans to head north to Oregon for hiking, camping and possibly visiting craft beer breweries and maybe some friends (?). The episode theme mostly focused on how useful knowing Spanish would be for her present situation (she used the term 必須(ひっす) indispensable) and some of the uncomfortable scenarios she had been in because she didn’t know Spanish.
She discovered that in her town, 75% are Spanish speakers (when she first came to the US, the town was 90% Spanish speakers). Describing what it feels like, she likened the situation to a European living in Yokohama’s Chinatown. Moreover, she realizes Spanish-only speakers can get by in daily living just knowing only Spanish.
Then she went through several situations where knowing Spanish would make interactions more “smooth” for her: greeting a friendly Spanish-only speaking neighbor, ordering meat at a shop where the employees truly don’t speak any English, volunteering at college at events where most people are either bilingual English-Spanish or only Spanish speakers (eg. caterers), communicating at a food stall (?) where the cooks only know Spanish. Although she mentions earlier that her friend Marta did teach her some Spanish, she has recently been in lazy mode (怠けモード).
In the “my favorite” corner, she talks about sneakers and how she has 3-4 pairs. It seems everyone around her wears sneakers, whereas in Japan people don’t normally wear them, or may have only one pair. And in the US it’s not really for fashion (more just practical?).
In the America AruAru segment, she says it’s true the party start times (集合時間 しゅうごうじかん or 開始時間 かいしじかん) is a big mystery. She goes on to describe the various types of parties - big/small birthdays BBQs etc – where if she shows up at the stated start time, there would be no one there. She goes into detail about a birthday party for the daughter of a friend where they showed up at the start time, and awkwardly spent hours among strangers who only spoke Spanish, eating tacos. Then she concludes it would probably be ok to show up late, eat a few tacos, wish the kid a happy birthday and leave whenever. She noted that the parties are more relaxed events (compared to Japan ?)
Episode 21
This episode was really interesting, both content-wise and for learning a couple of neat terms. I initially got the impression the episode would be about two topics – hearing from a friend she later went to a party with (友人に声をかけてもらった – I like this phrase!) and her camping/hiking trip to Oregon. But in the end, she only talked about Oregon.
She spent some time describing how busy the summer break felt so far, using the term 濃い日々 (こいひび). One comment on the internet described this phrase to mean really fulfilling or busy days: 「充実した一日、または忙しく立ち回らざるを得なかった一日です」
For her eight-night trip to Oregon she went to Crater Lake, Paulina Lake, the city of Portland (where she visited a friend named Millie(?)) and then drove back home along the coast 海沿 (うみそい) stopping in at the Red Wood forest. She made a couple of comparisons in describing the experience. First, compared to the previous year’s trip to Utah where the red earth stood out, Oregon was very green and that felt refreshing. Second was the water – unlike hiking in California where you have to make sure water sources are still available, in Oregon there was water everywhere – lots of waterfalls. Also the Oregon tap water was surprisingly really good tasting (unlike California) and reminded her of the water back home in Shizuoka from her school days.
In Portland where they stayed with Millie (who was originally a friend of her husband’s but eventually they also became friends), they visited a LOT of breweries. She noticed that a lot people seem to commute by bicycle which she thought was healthy. As a side note, she said generally their trips consist of camping/hiking, but also checking out the local breweries, antique shops and thrift shops.
For the English corner, she recalled that in her early days of learning English, she would get “left” & “right” mixed up and her solution was to think back to her school days of playing volleyball where “left” and “right” are frequently used [note: I guess in volleyball in Japan they use the English terms when calling out to team mates? Hmm…]. Note: thank you @Lisaveeta for posting the 1999 song by Amuro-chan (Namie Amuro) “I have never seen” - the memory-aid she used for the word order of “I have never…” sentences.
The final segment – America Aru Aru – was about how surprisingly nonchalant American co-workers/people were, walking in late and carrying a drink in their hand. This observation and significance were interesting to me. I can understand her way of thinking – that someone showing up late with a drink in their hand meant they stopped at a Starbucks and got a drink even though it meant they would be late … the gall! I am sure many of my colleagues have done the same (myself included) but it never occurred to me this was the message I was giving off. These kinds of observations are interesting because they reveal “invisible” parts of a culture I am familiar with, and at the same time, highlight values/cultural assumptions of Japanese (well, that might be going to far, since this is one Japanese person’s opinion, but still…)
I looked at the Instagram page and found some of the photos from the Oregon trip. There are some of the pretty leaves from the Red Wood forest too. The scenery along the coast and of crater lake is spectacular. Wow! I really want to visit Oregon now…however, I heard reserving campsites in the summer is super difficult…
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Today I listened to episode 27+28. I usually listen through twice, but my podcast app decided to delete episode 27 once I’d listened to it and I was on a plane…to be honest that was one of the easier episodes for me as she was essentially doing a recap of a lot of things from her summer holiday.
Episode 28 definitely needs another run through!
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I finally finished ep 21, but did not understand as much as I used to, which is a bummer. In my defense, I cooked dinner after nearly a month, so I was very distracted. I’ll move on from this ep for now and finish the next one tomorrow!
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There is a big difference in my comprehension when I am listening to an episode while walking vs when I am seeing the transcript as she speaks. It would be great if I had time to do both (listen while walking and then listen again at my computer seeing the transcript). Maybe I’ll try that for Ep 22…
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Ouf. I said I was going to try listening to an episode once while walking and again with a transcript.
Episode 22 was a big comprehension challenge for me because of the abstract nature of the topic, unlike episodes that are about travels or concrete activities that I find easier to follow. As a result, I only understood the gist of the episode while walking. Going carefully through the episode again with a transcript, I learned so so much more.
It was a lot of work, but it was very rewarding in terms of noticing N3 and N2 grammar use, as well as learning interesting expressions. I’m not sure how often I will have the patience or time to do this regularly, as I am also afraid of losing momentum…I frequently start off on my projects enthusiastically, but soon run out of steam…
Episode 22
Almost half this episode was devoted to how lately, U felt very unsettled and lost regarding her goals/future and how she is trying to work through it. It was followed by three little segments: (1) my favorite corner, (2) the english corner and a new (3) what I miss about Japan. I’m sure I got some of this wrong even after listening to this episode twice, but nonetheless:
Worries & Anxieties
0:00 - she had been feeling sluggish, not able to get out of bed in the morning. Tried going to zumba class early but already feels tired.
2:13 - She explains that lately she truly doesn’t feel stable, that she’s been having waves of feeling disordered (she uses the expression 不調の波 -ふちょうのなみ）and that she feels like she’s losing sight of herself (自分を失う - じぶんをうしなう). This article describes the term as losing track of yourself, your emotions, and desires and are easily influenced by the opinion of others around you. It is something that often happens when you are at a crossroads in life and are under a lot of emotional stress.
2:44 - She notes that in the prior spring semester things went well, she got to work at school, but realized through the college job, that her English wasn’t good enough yet. But still, she felt like she was getting into a groove.
3:45 - But when she looks at her reality, she finds there are a lot more obstacles in her way than she would have thought (mostly due to the visa status she’s had for the last 4-5 years) and that she was frustrated by being forced to give up opportunities because of this (she uses the expression 断念せざるを得ない “no choice but to give up” [N2 grammar!]
4:42 - Usually she will focus on what is in front of her, doing her best but then suddenly she’ll feel worries/anxious to the point of feeling like she’s going to throw up (吐き気がするほど心配になってしまう) She has trouble stopping these feelings (she calls it the “noise in her heart”)
5:45 - Then she talks about what she does when this happens. That she essentially uses her head to talk her heart into calming down. Where she reminds herself that feeling this way won’t solve anything and doesn’t change anything. Then when she’s calmed down she’ll think of the positive things in her life. Then ultimately she says she’ll decide to have a beer and “vote for the present”
7:15 - Here she kind of goes into the back and forth that goes on in her head about what should she do, that she does research and is a scheduler type of person, that she tries to keep moving forward, but then when things arent going well, she loses motivation (and maybe just looks at youtube? not sure about that part).
9:03 - Then she goes back to reminding herself of the positives, saying that when she looks at the big picture (大きいな枠で - this is a useful expression!) that she’s truly blessed, that she should try to not be negative and try to be happy since her husband is the one who had to study, find a job etc. Then she mentions the fact that despite her visa status, she was able to workaround the restrictions to get a job through this scholarship program targeting Spanish-speaking students. Here, she uses an old expression “Ultra C” to describe this job “win”. “Ultra C” being a catchphrase that caught on after the 1964 Olympics when a gymnast did a super complicated strategy in order to win. Ultimately this “win” made her realize that she should be more open to possible solutions and to communicate with others as a way forward. She ends this segment by saying it was difficult to express what she wanted to say here, and asks for listener input on how they deal with similar worries (talking to friends, writing in a journal).
I can really relate to these sentiments. And it also reminds me of the overall theme of the recent Intermediate Book Club book お探し物は図書室まで (great book!)
My Favorite Corner
13:40 - This segment was devoted to candles and how much she likes them. Especially having them in the bathroom and living room, where she will light them to give a sense of relaxation or after cleaning a room. She finds them at farmers markets or open air festivals, but notes that they are more difficult to find in the US compared to Japan, where there are more “ethnic” stores that sell candles. She especially likes Nag Champa (which I learned is an aroma of sandlewood mixed with frangipani) and that the brand is important for quality (she likes Goloka brand). [edit: totally missed that she was talking about incense until I read others’ comments from Ep 22. お香=incense なるほど!]
English Corner
18:17 - This segment was about mixing up the meanings of “artificial” and “artisan/artisanal” and how the two words have a opposite connotation (artificial being negative, artisan being positive). The segment seems to have been triggered by an outing with a friend where they both realized they shared the confusion. She noted that when both words appear on the same label it is especially confusing (eg. An “artisan” sweets with no “artificial” flavors)
What I miss about Japan
22:30 - She misses コロコロ （Colocolo) . At first I thought she was talking about lint rollers. She was saying she could not find them in the US and wondered why Americans don’t use them. I kept thinking, sure I find them easily in drug stores etc, Anyone with a cat or knows where to find these. But then she described the product as this big lint roller that looks like a paint roller (大きいペンキを塗るローラ). It seems to be used for floor and furniture cleaning. Here’s an example. New to me!
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Looks like we’re back to weekly 
As for the including more recent episodes as well I’ll just poll it to be sure, to be clear the newer episodes would be in addition to the old ones.
Looks like her upload schedule is weekly so we could start from her most recent episodes and if anything changes with the schedule go backwards if necessary until a new one is out? She’s on ep349 right now
- I want to listen to more recent episodes
- I want to listen to the old episodes chronologically
- I’ll listen to both!
0
voters
If you said yes in any form to the new episodes! :
- Start with the most recent episode and follow her upload schedule
- Start further back e.g. ep300
- Start even further back! ep200
- Other (pls comment)
0
voters
- Old and new ep every week
- Alternate old and new eps each week
- Other (pls comment)
0
voters
Week 42
Episode: 042
Time Count: 32:58
Participation
Will you be listening along with us this week?
- I’m listening along
- I’m listening but haven’t reached this part yet
- I have finished this part
- I’m listening to this episode after the club has finished
0
voters
If you’ve already listened to this podcast but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have finished this episode.”
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It is a lot of work and it is also extremely rewarding - I did these kind of intense listening/note-taking sessions for a while as a listening project and I’d love to do more again but it’s just difficult finding the time to do everything I want to do. I still listen regularly to the podcasts but just don’t sit down, take notes & rewind and relisten now - all my listening is done on the move. Anyway, you should let yourself off the hook when/if you need to - having a break doesn’t have to mean never again. Full marks to you anyway for the fabulous effort you’ve already put in!
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Thank you for those words @Lisaveeta ! I was inspired by the detail of your previous posts and while I knew they were a lot of work, I did not fully appreciate how much work until I tried with Ep 22. But as you say, for the effort you put in, you can get so much out of it. And as you pointed out that any effort (big or small) is progress. It doesn’t always need to be 100% effort (“Ultra C”) every time.
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Continuing with @cathm2’s catch-up challenge, I listened to Ep. 23 (I will omit my summary this time). It was a little easier than Ep. 22, but I still found it hard to understand some of the nuances she was trying to convey. Or maybe doing a closer analysis of Episode 22 made me a little less tolerant of missing details of the conversation… Which made me think a bit about listening comprehension.
When I’m listening to Japanese conversation where I don’t understand a lot of what’s being said, it’s almost as if I am imagining the conversation in real time, building up the content in my imaginary conversation using actual cues that I hear from the speaker and/or the environment. I rely on the fact that a conversation will often revolve around a stated topic, will have various predictable (?) angles from which it is analyzed, some examples of each perspective, or explanations for why something is, and a general conclusion about where the speaker lands. Or something similar. I use what I DO understand to build in my head - in real-time - a prediction of the conversation. And as long as the cues (parts I understand) continue to conform with my imaginary conversation, then I’m probably on target. I’ll know I am off-target if a cue I understand makes no sense within the context, or if my interjection/contribution to the conversation results in people looking at me questioningly. Maybe I’m just stating something obvious to anyone learning another language…
I remember very clearly years ago going into a コンビニ and buying something. There is a “set” back and forth you can expect in this environment (do you have a point card, do you want a bag, here’s your change, do you want the receipt, etc). In this instance, there were two “new” cues: (1) I bought a drink that had a promotion connected to it so I had to select an item from a number of choices. The teller had pointed to a tag attached to the bottleneck of my drink, so I knew it had something to do with that. Plus she showed me three little items I could choose from. I pointed to one and she gave it to me. OK! so far so good. (2) Then she gave me my change back and pointed to a cardboard box next to the register with a hole in it and said something. The box looked temporary and had lots of writing. I assumed it was a donation box, so I threw my change into the hole. Well, her horrified look made me realize my imaginary conversation had diverged substantially from reality! She disassembled the box, carefully retrieved all my change and returned it to me. Then she repeated again this time gesturing for me to put my hand in it. It turned out it was another promotion and I was supposed to reach my hand into the hole to pick out a paper indicating what prize I won. Or maybe it was a discount on my next drink…
All this to say, I’m used to filling in the blanks (by “blank” I mean the words/phrases I don’t understand) and making up the conversation with the clues I understand and sort of fake it. And although I’ll never forget the embarrassing misunderstandings (I still cringe when I think about them), it hasn’t stopped me from using this approach…
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I ran through this episode quickly but the surprise about the second-hand scrabble game she bought was funny, and it’s true (aruaru!) cash register lines are often long in the US and despite the lines they still won’t open up extra tills. I used to joke about my local drug store that there could be a single customer in the whole store and there would still be a line at the register
Episode 24
Opening: I added a What I miss about Japan corner in Ep 22. I talked about Coroco & how it wasn’t sold in US. But people told me yes they do sell them! In the US, they have lint rollers – sell them in Costco. The thing I’m looking for is the one with a handle (棒状) I’m poor so I haven’t bought them yet, but there was some place I could buy (looking for a cheap place)
She also thanks the listeners for letting her know about this and other things.
This podcast I’m going to talk about dance, which is an international language. Then I’ll talk about America aruaru and my favorite corner.
Dance - I went to a tap dance workshop. I used to do it in Japan. I haven’t continued it in US, At first I lived in a small town so there weren’t opportunities. The tap instructor I have been going to doesn’t offer super consistently. But I got a message from them telling me about a workshop. There were basic and intermediate level classes but it was truly fun. I realized how much I like tap dancing. Dance really is a common language （共通語）in the world. She talks about tap dancing different parts/styles. Debbie was her former instructor and she was there at the workshop. It felt like old times being with her.
I like tap dancing because I can make new connections. Plus I always like having opportunities to speak English. With Tap dancing I am familiar with it. And this environment it’s a nice way to use my english. She also mentioned Zumba as a similar opportunity.
BUT, when the instructor starts giving specific step instructions, I really don’t understand. There a lot of words I don’t know. But when I watch what they are doing after messing up the first time, then I get what we are supposed to do. I also realize she often talks a lot about stuff not related to the lesson. Well, that often happens in my language class too. But here she’ll make jokes and I don’t really understand what she’s saying.
U recommends that if you used to do something in Japan (eg. yoga), definitely try to continue it while you are overseas.
America Aruaru – cash registers at stores are super slow. People at the register talk about stuff unrelated to the work. At the drug store, the line is super long. At the dollar store, it’s a common image that the line is long. But you come in, see the line so long and give up on shopping there. Plus, there are numerous registers available, but not open so the line is long. And they won’t open a new one if there is a line. Unlike in Japan where they will open up another register if a line starts to form.
Also, at grocery stores, they will bag your items. What also takes time is scan all the items and then after have to bag them too. Customers could bag the items, that is what I do. I’m a good customer!
There is a supermarket in a rich neighborhood near where I live. There, the cashier has a bagger and things go smoother. It seems Americans are more patient (気が長い new word!). I don’t really see people getting irritated.
My Favorite – I want to introduce the game Scrabble. She explains the basic rules. Before, my ESL teacher told me about it. I really liked it and thought I would buy one if I had a chance. Recently at a yard sale I bought it for $1 (I think she bought this at the the Spreckles Town Yard Sale mentioned in an earlier episode). I bought it, but I was really disappointed. It turned out the scrabble was not in English! I realized that some of the letters had little dots on top. It was a Sweden or Finnish version! I thought the people who sold it were kind of mean for not warning us. Recently I got an English version from Amazon thanks to my nice husband, yay! For the first game, I won! You can play with 2-4 players. You can play as a team and there’s also an app too. Definitely check it out. Tell me if you know other games you play that you like.
What I miss about Japan – (恋しいなー こいしい ーshe uses this word frequently!) Frankly, it’s sushi (note: she used a term I just learned - ズバリ - which is used when you are frankly bluntly saying something). I really want to eat sushi! I want to eat the sushi that I like. Here there are mostly two types – American roll sushi – California or Philadelphia. It’s tasty and all but I like other genres. It’s not that there aren’t sushi shops, in my area there aren’t a lot of Japanese. There are in a nearby town. But, the quality here is really different from in Japan. If you went here to a super-duper high class sushi place, you can get the same quality, but normal sushi shops here aren’t the same. I’m thankful that the one near by place is comparatively good and cheap, but I still miss the sushi in Japan. But it’s still more expensive than Japan.
In San Jose, in the Bay area, silicon valley, an hour from here recently there was a conveyer belt sushi (place called Kura Sushi ― Of course one piece isn’t 100 yen.… I really want to go to japan and fill up with sushi. Even grocery store sushi there is good.
In Shizuoka in the city of Numazu, there is a conveyer belt sushi shop. It’s not 100 en per item, but it’s super tasty. She lists other places in Shizuoka and in the area toward Tokyo where there are other tasty zaiten sushi places, including at the Haneda airport. My friends who have gone back （帰国した）and tell me about what they ate and it makes me really jealous.
[edit: she wasn’t talking about the city of Numazu, but rather a sushi chain called Numazu Ougashi - 沼津魚がしfound in many parts of Shizuoka and toward Tokyo. Thanks to @Lisaveeta’s summary from awhile back, which I read after listening to the episode, to check what I missed/misunderstood!]
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So I’ve been at a conference and not listening much, but today I picked up a rental car and had a long drive and relistened to episode 28. My podcast app then decided to go backwards so I ended up listening to 27 again too! Actually not a bad thing as I did pick up more nuance.
I did enjoy her listing all the free and cheap things to do in her area. I’d like to travel around the California central coast sometime.
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So as per previous polls seems we’re doing old and new, do we mind it being right below the older episode? Or prefer in a dropdown?
Week 43
Episode: 043
Time Count: 32:58
Participation
Will you be listening along with us this week?
- I’m listening along
- I’m listening but haven’t reached this part yet
- I have finished this part
- I’m listening to this episode after the club has finished
0
voters
If you’ve already listened to this podcast but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have finished this episode.”
Latest Episode - Ep 349
Episode: 349
Time Count: 32:17
Participation
Will you be listening along with us this week?
- I’m listening along
- I’m listening but haven’t reached this part yet
- I have finished this part
- I’m listening to this episode after the club has finished
0
voters
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I think it looks good as is.
Yesterday started episode 29 and today listened to rest of that plus episode 30. Going to try to go over at least one of them on the flight I’ve just boarded.
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Well that didn’t work. Podcast app had deleted them and no wifi on flight, so I started episode 31. Then halfway through it deleted that and jumped to episode 32 
Is anyone else using Podbean and does it tend to do that? I think someone on here had recommended it.
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I use it and haven’t had any problems like that so far, but also I haven’t used it really in the last month or so, so maybe it’s had a buggy release recently or something like that
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So I’ve been too much of a weenie to get started all the way back at 1 because I want to use transcripts… would you guys say it’s doable to join for ep. 349 onward or would I miss out on important (for want of a better word) plot points?
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