Yeah, I listened back and was still a bit confused!
Episode 49:
Sorry not behind spoiler tags but I’m having formatting issues, and I don’t think there are major spoilers!
The whole episode is a bit hard to grasp. I think I’ve got the toilet paper not flushing part, but the 英語の話のコーナー was a bit vague, and I have minimal idea what’s going on with her little toe!
Aaand Ep. 49 is now next on my backlog list, at least to find out what the connection might be between toilet cover protectors and toes! (oh I read English poorly…now I see they are different sections of the podcast - still curious about this episode!)
Episode: 057
Time Count: 30:25
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Episode: 363
Time Count: 22:21
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Episode: 058
Time Count: 29:21
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Episode: 364
Time Count: 20:05
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I joined the Spring listening challenge to get motivated to catch up on my episodes here. I listened to Ep. 362 last month and Ep. 56 today. In Episode 56, Utako speaks quite fast at the beginning.
(she speaks fast in this episode) Lately I’ve been strangely busy. I am the kind of person who likes being busy. I like making to-do lists, etc. I started doing crafts lately, but I didn’t even have time to do this.
Daylight savings - In March on the second Sunday, we entered daylight savings (サマータイム) in America. So the next day, we move one hour ahead so the day before it is 8am, but the next day it’s 9am. So when you wake up, you slept an extra hour. So when I wake up at 6am normally, I end up waking up at 5am. Everybody, do you find waking up difficult? With smartphones etc you don’t have to worry about changing the time, but the kitchen clock and the microwave have to take care to change. I’m in the kitchen a lot preparing stuff and will use the oven clock to check and realize uh! The time is wrong. So you have to be careful. So when the time changes, as soon as you wake up, you should change the time. Because if you wait, you could end up late for work. Our new rice cooker too has a clock that needs to be changed. It’s burdensome. It’s confusing (ややこしい)
After that, the clock in my car is also the kind that needs to be adjusted. There’s daylight savings time in March and then in November you change the time back to standard time (ウィンタータイム). In Japan there is no daylight savings. It seems complicated. For big coporations (大企業) it’s probably no problem for the systems, but for the small and medium sized companies (中小企業 – ちゅうしょうきぎょう) it’s more of a problem..,
It’s surprising that this kind of thing helps the economy (案外でそれで経済がまわったりするのかなあ) I just suddenly thought this.
I definitely like daylight savings season. It’s harder in the mornings though because it’s still dark. My husband leaves at 7am. But when he comes back it’s still sunlight. In the winter the temperature drops when you come home and it’s dark. But in the summer you get both warmer temps and the sun at the same time [Note: I didn’t quite understand this part] So while it’s still daylight at 7pm your feeling also feels brighter. Like I’m more excited. Ultimately Im a simple person (haha). When it’s light outside, I’m suddenly more positive/forward looking (俄然前向き・がぜん・まえむき) planning all kinds of things after coming home or along the way home. Are you guys the same? Am I the only simple one? (tanjun dake)
So it’s not just a physical thing (物理的) it’s a positive mental thing （精神的）too.
My favorite corner – I thought I would talk about camping. We have plans to camp for three days. The temps warmed just at the right time. We leave leisurely on Saturday after getting ready. Then we arrive at the campsite, make food and drink beer etc. After that, relaxing, watching movies etc. In the middle of nature relaxing is the best. Before, we use a tarp with poles. There are a lot of different types of tarps. We have two boxes of camping gear, and also a low table we bring (super easy to use and useful). Camping on the weekends, we relax and have lots of time to chill (のんびり)
My husband liked camping for a long time. I only went camping in school, but not with my family. When we became adults didn’t really do it, but when we came to America, we started going camping more.
For our summer trip we camped in Utah and Oregon. We also do Christmas camping. It’s winter time and its cold but it’s the best when you use 湯たんぽ (hot water bottle). Where we live in the northern region in california, in the mornings it’s cold, but in Yosemite it’s definitely cold. Something I realized, winter and spring are the best seasons to camp because there are no bugs. For example near water there are bugs and mosquitos. I love camping, but I dislike bugs. So winter camping is easier, you don’t have to worry like in summer that a mosquito will enter inside the tent and you get in and out.
Furthermore, in the summer time you have to worry about mountain fires. After that, eating all these winter time foods like stew or curry is great. For last Christmas camping, we went to a nearby campsite. But the year before last, we went climbed a cliff side place along the seacoast on the upper side of San Francisco called Bodega Bay (it looks beautiful! )
Moreover, apart from Christmas camping, we also do birthday camping. One time, I said “aww it would be nice” and we said, “why don’t we?” haha. So this year I’m thinking a really want to go Birthday Camping. There is a region called Big Sur along the coast. We had plans to go before but there was a big storm that happened right at that time so we had to cancel, but that’s where we want to go. The scenery there is amazing. We had plans for the second half of June, but at the second half of April my husband’s school has their spring break. I still have to figure out my schedule, but I thought it would be good then. Check out my Instagram page for photos from camping.
America Aru Aru – To this day (未だに) there is such a thing as tip culture. It’s truly a nuisance (厄介) For example, waiters wages were low so they say the tip should be given. Ok well that’s fine, its good. But in Japan the service quality in restaurants is much higher even though there is no tip. But here pretty frequently the service is ok. So we should pay a tip, but for example, I’m used to giving tips in restaurants. When you pay by credit card, there is a way to add tip. Here in the area there’s Vietnamese or Asian restaurant. And when you pay, the tip percentage is automatically offered (10% or 15% or 20%) calculated for you. So it’s helpful on the one hand, but on the other it kind of brazen (図々しい) And this area, lunch for example is pretty expensive compared to Japan. In Japan lunch is cheap. And if it’s cheap here, the taste is so-so. (note: she reminisces about some lunch she used to eat in Japan) Compared to Japan it’s cheaper and no tip. There are a lot of reasons why I wonder why there is tip.
On top of that, there’s tipping elsewhere like hotel porter, car washes, hair salon. So when I should tip is a problem and how much to pay. Share your opinions about tipping too please.
English Corner – My accent is way too strong. When I first came to America I was embarrassed to even talk English in front of my husband. Now I don’t hesitate when I’m talking with friends etc. But still talking in English on the phone is still a problem. I try to get my husband to do the calls. But there are times when I have to make the call. So I try to pronounce every word clearly so that it’s easy to understand. But it’s not natural so. So my husband sometimes does this sudden Sparta-on-the-spot, challenge for me to speak English. I overthink pronouncing clearly. But the other day I was talking to my friend and it was more natural and relaxed. What am I trying to say…it is not just important to speak clearly, but also to have the smooth rhythm to be understood.
Learned lots of new words, but the more interesting ones are:
Also she mentions camping at Bodega Bay which looks really nice!
In the area of California where I live, we have had a string of days of a lot of rain. Kind of rare. January and February generally are rainy seasons. But now the temps have gone up and the weather is nicer. But the temps haven’t gone up that much. In 10 days, we will change to summer time so it means it will become warmer.
I heard in Japan that hay fever is really bad. I say the same thing every year but this year it seems awful. But since I live in an area where there isn’t a hay fever problem, maybe you guys are irritated by me… With California warming up, we do have hay fever but unlike Japan where is allergy is for cedar (すぎ), here there are various sources of allergies .
For Californians other parts of America and elsewhere how are the allergies?
My favorite corner- actually this week my favorite corner, English corner and the Utaco corner are all mixed together. I asked before what books listeners were reading or studying. I was thinking it would be interesting to talk about and share our favorite books.
My favorite work is A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Amazon.com: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: 9781984896360: Jackson, Holly: Books). Rather than talk about the story contents I want to talk about why do I enjoy reading this? Huh? It’s really good for Japanese learning English. But it’s also just a good book to read too. I like mystery and crime stories. Also there are shows of this genre in Netflix and podcasts.
Then I look for audiobooks like this. I’ve never listened to an audiobook but this would be a good then. It’s really popular around the world. Like in the young adult (YA) category. It was published in 2019 and there’s a tv show adaptation that came out last year maybe. I had no idea it was trending. So the audio book was 8-9 hrs but it was so interesting that I listened to it in one shot. The words were not difficult. I thought audiobooks are great .
The audiobook was easy to understand the pronunciation was clear. Unlike some crime podcasts I’ve tried to listen to. So now my project is to get immersed in audiobooks.
I suggest listening to an audiobook and then go to YouTube to listen to a review about it because you hear the same vocabulary or topics, so you learn more.
Then with the adaption to Netflix, I also watched all at once. There were six episodes. There were some differences so it was interesting to see. So altogether I listened to the book, viewed three podcasts about it and watched the Netflix show. The Netflix was fun because you see how they present the characters how they look, the locations etc
I really recommend this book.
For Japanese learners, it’s a good way to immerse yourself. Although I didn’t find podcasts that talk about books. So maybe I could do something like that… hmm (is this what she said?)
Buying a second hand car - Last week our car died so we bought another one. It was a big expense! (大出費 -だいしゅっぴ) My husband drives to work and one day on the mountain road suddenly the car stopped. There was no tow truck (レッカー). So the next day my husband couldn’t go to work and worked from home. Turns out it was an engine timing belt that would cost $12k to fix. The car was only $5k so… It broke down Wednesday evening. By Thursday, we decided to buy something. And we decided we had to buy a car over the weekend. We were planning to hike that weekend. But had to go buy a car. And not at a dealer but an individual seller. So we didn’t have much time to research.
But if you buy a car you need a car to get there. If you are buying from an individual you have to take it to a pre-check inspection to make sure there are no problems. Also, if the problems are small you can negotiation a low price. When we bought, we did a bank transfer. Both parties go to the bank to sign all the papers etc. there.
Then we had to go get the car registered and finally we could go home. The timing was ok because it was a long weekend. My car died this summer. Then my husbands died just now. This time the replacement was smooth but when my car died we were in the middle of moving. If you’re buying a used car a certified used car would be better…
A couple of interesting words from this episode are:
I’m up to episode 53. Should finish that in next few days then hopefully will catch up in next 2 weeks. Maybe??
I have 28 episodes left (incl 53) to be all caught up, but with the daily Spring Listening Challenge hosted by @Lisaveeta, i’m optimistic I will get there by the end of this month !
An old episode! I got the overall gist about the challenges and comparisons between her ESL english class and the college English class, but didn’t understand all the details, even after listening a few times.
This episode is about my new English class. Then what I miss about Japan and my favorite corner.
New English class- In America, the new year is from the middle of August of beginning of September. In my area of California central coast (something about summer vacation) I started my English class. At a nearby school I take ESL. When it finished, I took a real English class at college. I’m a little worried! It’s English 1A. It was supposed to be the same teacher as the one who was teaching English as a second language. Which is why I thought I would be able to go as I am used to this teacher. But I am actually taking English 1A with a different teacher! There are a number of reasons, but one is the schedule of the class. But I also thought having a different teacher would be a good challenge. That’s what I thought anyway, how I decided…
My ESL teacher speaks clearly, easy to understand, and I’m so used to listening to this teacher. So maybe it’s better to try a different teacher. But English 1A teacher Mr. Peterson is totally hard! First of all, he’s surprisingly a fast talker. And he mixes in jokes. And classmates, they are all fluent, speak fast and I don’t know any of them. It’s bad not understanding the teacher, but the young students speak fast and I don’t understand them.
So it’s pretty hard. The class content is also harder. For example, the homework is heavier. Lots of unknown words in a row (知らない単語のオンパレードで)（オンパレード- succession (of things). The essays or articles are harder and take a lot of time. The day before classes I’m often working all night (徹夜). For the people sitting around me – seems like they are all proper, and understand it… the next homework was two articles to read & summarize. And they said we’ll talk about it. Well since I didn’t know exactly what we were going to talk about, I thought I better understand it well. And to talk about it – I’m so bad at listening and speaking. Then he spoke really fast and I didn’t know what line he was referring to. . I was surprised at how fast they go through the explanations etc. In my ESL they go more slowly and carefully, but in this class, we zip through.
You know when you hear English in the background it sounds like noise. Well in the classroom it’s like this. If I lose focus, I don’t know what’s going on anymore. I really need to concentrate in this.
In this term, the class the topics are 4 short essays, then at the end we have a research paper. It makes me nervous but it’s all good. I want to be able understand…. It’s good for me… content wise too. For sure, I will struggle (確実に四苦八苦する) but it’s fun to challenge myself with something like this
What I miss about Japan – 茗荷（みょうが） which is Japanese ginger. I can get regular ginger at Filipino or Mexican grocery stores. But I don’t find Japanese ginger… In Filipino stores, I can’t find lots of things I don’t find in regular stores, but not Japanese ginger. There is a Japanese grocery store about an hour from my place in a big city (日経スーパー ) but it’s really disordered (my husband doesn’t like this kind of store so I usually go alone). At this Nikkei store it’s also expensive so I don’t go there often. But you can get Japanese ginger only there.
Does everyone know ロシアンちゃん (a youtuber named Natsuko Sato) who is a “big eater” (大食い ―おおぐい) (https://www.youtube.com/@russiansato). I like her, she eat lots of different kinds of noodles. And was watching her and saw this pile of Japanese ginger and I realized that I wanted it and missed it. I didn’t realize how much I felt like I wanted it! I must get it and eat it together with somen. Is there something listeners living overseas have some food they really miss?
My favorite corner – This time, it’s not a thing, but it’s a wine festival. At the place where we live in downtown, there’s a wine festival held every year. I’ve been twice and it’s really good. Last time they had wine and beer and I love beer. The best part this year is that we can walk to there which means we can drink all we want! But the admission fee is expensive - $65. If you buy the ticket early you can get $10 off. But even though it’s expensive, I’ve been looking forward to it. And for sure, I’m going next year. Waiting for a year is a long time isn’t it.
For the wine festival, well they check that you’re 21 and then you get a wrist band and then they give you a real wine glass. Not plastic, so it’s better to drink. Then you walk around downtown and visit the lined up booths of wineries and try them. There are lots of different varieties of wine – Chardonnay etc. And there are also tasting booths inside other stores. Normal stores you don’t usually go into, and you learn not only about the wines, but also about these stores.
They also have beer tasting. It’s heaven (天国). There were also food booths too. Last time I tried steak. It was really tasty. There were local booths. Mexican cuisine, cheese crackers. I was full - it was truly heaven.
Plus we talked in English at a lot at stores and with others around us. Before I was just pointing and saying only “This one please” but this time I could talk more. Like when we shared a table with another couple, we spoke to them. The lady was Italian and very talkative. That kind of situation, since I was talking about Japanese cooking etc I could talk easily. And we connected on Facebook. She was totally friendly. So it was fun to talk with people we didn’t know who were friendly.
I’m really looking forward to next year. I can’t wait (待ちきれない)
English Corner – I came to America 5 years ago. And this is about noticing hey, I’m getting better at English. This time it’s about when I’m dreaming. In my dream that I had, I’m with my husband, and I was speaking English. The content of the dream doesn’t really make sense, but I was talking a lot in English with neighbors. When I woke up I was like, hey! I was dreaming in English. I dream frequently. But in my dream I was fluently speaking in English. When I looked back at the dream, I realized that I am getting more used to speaking in English. So it made me happy knowing this. Listeners, do you dream in your second language? Let me know!
The words and phrases I liked learning from this episode were:
オンパレード- (“on parade” - ie., a succession of things) as in「知らない単語のオンパレード」- “a string of unknown words”
確実に四苦八苦する - (かくじつにしくはっくする）–> “I will certainly struggle (to do this)”
大食い ー(おおぐい) - a big eater - as in this popular youtuber with more than one million subscribers named Natsuko Sato (ロシアンちゃん） whose episodes feature her eating large quantities of food.
And I just learned about Japanese ginger (茗荷 ーみょうが）which I had no idea existed. Now I want to find some and try it 
Another old episode (Ep. 30) in my catch-up. I totally relate to Utaco saving the best part of her meal for last. I do that too!
Some episodes ago, another listener who has a blog mentioned me and suddenly my listener number went up. So we connected. Also listeners please leave comments.
This episode I want to talk about a thing that surprised me and disheartened me (凹んだ). Other than that, English Corner, America AruAru and My Favorite Corner.
Being mistaken as the mother of my husband! - At a party that I went with my husband, we were mistaken as being a mother and son. I’m actually younger than him. And my friends said “no you don’t look like his mother” But it stuck in the back of my mind.
But then recently, the exact thing happened with a totally different person! It was last Saturday evening, at a beer pub where my husband and I were drinking. A young guy, around mid twenties said to my husband “Are you on a date with your mom” Well, depending on the place, it could be a joke. So my husband said, “are you joking? Haha” But his face didn’t look like it was a joke and he said sorry. I said “I’m his wife” but inside I was in turmoil. This guy said the same thing! I look around 40, and I am well in my 40s. When we were twenty, my husband looked twenty.
Recently when I look 45, my husband looks 25. So when my husband will look 30, I will look 50? Whoa. But why is it? Maybe it’s my skin or I move like an older woman? Also my clothing style changed a bit? I wear more vivid colors but it’s not eccentric・bizarre (奇抜なーきばつな) More ethnic like or vivid clothes. For a young person, I would think it was a positive thing – doing my own thing. But when you are older, does the clothing style make me look flamboyant/attention-seeking (派手ずき -はでずき)? I started to feel uneasy about this change.
Anyway, I felt a lot of despair (絶望). Since coming to America, I heard that Asians always look younger and when they go drinking, they are often asked for ID. People I know who are around 40 who don’t look like adults and are always asked for ID when drinking.
But in my case it’s the opposite isn’t it. Because I look older than I am. But looking 40 is not a criticism (云々 ―うんぬん – can be used as “etc.” or “criticism” ) When I think my husband looks in his 20s. But since my husband doesn’t look old. I feel so hurt. If there is a chance (万が一)someone says something like again once again, I will go to an esthetics place (エステに通います). Well I don’t have money, but I will save up and then go.
English Corner – pronunciation of vowels (母音 – ぼいん) and consonants (子音 -しいん). (Note: the details of this were difficult to grasp, but she uses the word “SONG” to explain that some consonants are not pronounced depending on where they are in a word. So you say SONG without emphasizing the G. Like SONGU. She also mentions how MACDONALD is not pronounced like they do in Japan. You don’t say MAKU – Donald. It’s just MACdonald. My friend who is a Vietnamese and is really fluent compared to me, well that person says BU not B, does it unconsciously and didn’t realize it. So it made me more aware of my pronounciation, am I unconsciously pronouncing things slightly wrong?
America AruAru – At restaurants, in the middle of the meal, they will take away (持ってかれて) dishes that still have some food left on them. It’s true. It’s truly a frequent (頻発 – ひんぱつ) thing. For example, when you have ½ of your food on the plate and you ask for a box to take it home. But say it’s just 3-4 fries left on the plate. If they take it away without saying anything I would be irritated. But while they are taking it away they’ll say “are you done?”
They are asking while they are already doing it! When I just came to America, I was too nervous and would just say nothing and let them take it away. But now I will say “I am still eating” it really makes me feel bad when they do this.
It’s ok if they ask first and then take the plate. But doing it this way is irritating. Most of the workers will say “sorry!” but sometimes they will say “ok” like “oh you are still eating??” What’s not ok about that?
Recently there is a documentary video I watched on youtube, and in America it’s normal for people to leave food behind on the plate. (people are unconcerned 平気 – へいき) . I was amazed. I’m the type of person who eats everything on my plate. That’s probably why I’m fat. But that’s the case for most people in Japan (they eat everything). People here will leave like half the food on their plate and leave it. So maybe that’s why workers think they can take away the plate.
I’m the kind of person who leaves the most favorite food to the last to enjoy it. (私は好きなものは最後にそのおいしさを楽しむためにとっておく派な). So don’t take it away. Listeners, do you have a feeling about this?
My Favorite corner – Truffle oil! Recently when we went hiking, we stopped in an olive oil store. It’s a thing here lately. So we did a tasting. There was balsamic oil etc. or kinds of pastes. That kind of store. So we tried truffle oil. Wow, the smell is really truffle. Next to it was also avocado oil. It’s pretty popular here. But the truffle oil was so strong so I ended up buying it. That evening we wante to try it right away. It’s good with bread. But that evening we ate hummus. But adding truffle oil totally changed the taste. I checked the internet and there are a lot of things you can do – pasta etc. With this item, I can “up” my cooking at home. Totally check it out. Its super tasty.
The interesting words I learned from this episode were:
Vowels (母音-ぼいん) and consonants (子音 - しいん). Despite learning “language” related words like verb, adjective, noun etc, I never came across these words before. I looked quickly at the interweb to try to understand why they are called mother and child sounds, and this Yahoo answer seems to say that when pronouncing vowels, your mouth is open and unobstructed (母), whereas with consonants, your mouth narrows and obstructs the sound (子).
云々(うんぬん) - I first learned this word in another episode, and in that context, it meant ”etc." “and so on, and so forth” but this time, she seems to be using the word for the 2nd definition, which is “comment, or criticism” I think she was using this either to say it’s not a criticism for someone to look their age (40) or that her husband looks younger (20s) - I wasn’t sure which.
Episode: 059
Time Count: 37:12
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Episode: 365
Time Count: 18:47
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Just a random comment on episodes 53-55. I noticed that there was more background sound in the last couple of episodes and assumed maybe it was her husband, but in episode 55 there’s a point where it really sounds like she’s doing the dishes while making the podcast!
I did watch episode 365 today on a walk but the walk took all my attention apparently cause I can’t remember anything from the episode!
ha! I don’t recall hearing that in Episode 55, but in one of the podcasts, I kept hearing what sounded like either email or text chimes when they came in, and I’m pretty sure her husband came home during one.
I listened to Ep. 31 over two days. I learned a lot of words I thought would be useful to know/memorize. The part about bouncing or fidgeting - I didn’t realize how bad it is looked upon in Japan. I see that a lot around here. Although I can understand it being super annoying during an exam, especially if it is loud. Once you hear a repetitive noise, it’s hard to ignore (like throat clearing or lip smacking, etc). I am so easily distracted, I usually bring ear plugs for this reason .
Well September already. It went by fast! There’s 4 months left. Better make the most of the rest of the year. This episode I will talk about shopping….America AruAru, what I miss about Japan and English Corner.
I spoke about this before but its about the daily life of economizing (節約生活 -setsuyaku – 節約家- thrifty person). In Ep 28, I talked about economizing when going out. This episode I want to share about being thrifty when shopping.
First, one of the essential purchases in daily life is groceries. I go to Filipino & Mexican supermarkets for vegetables. I get meat from Mexican supermarkets. The normal chain supermarkets have an impression of being expensive – so I only go occasionally. But I only go if there is a special sale. But vegetables and such from Mexican and Filipino stores it’s really hit and miss (当たり外れがある). Sometimes I’ve like wow you really make sales with vegetables like this? On the hand, if you have the right timing you can get super fresh items for super cheap.
Therefore, when I go out shopping I have this idea of the items I want to buy but when I see the vegetables in front of me, I can’t get the ones I want and need to get what’s there. It’s kind of stressful not knowing whether I can get the thing I wanted (I’m taking positive angle about this aren’t I, haha)
In a normal Japanese store, you buy packs of produce, but here you just pick the amount you want and weigh it, so that’s kind of good. You can choose the amount or size.
Like if you see a cheap but huge cabbage or tomato you’re like I should buy a lot! Well you can just make a bunch of things over several days in a row…it’s the same in no matter what country in the world, right.
After that, pantry like ingredients (食材 -しょくざい) like canned goods, butter, olive oil, and processed foods (加工品 ―かこうひん) like ham or sausage, I go to where they sell it cheap like Walmart or outlets, etc. For canned tomatoes, the expensive ones probably have better taste, but for me I used them in boiled foods (煮物)so it doesn’t make a difference for me. So this is how I purchase cheap things.
Normally for daily items I don’t really obsess over this (拘りない). I mean my husband says my cooking tastes good so I don’t worry about it.
Then, we also get a lot of flyers in our mail at home (折り込み広告) for supermarkets. Unlike Japan, here we get flyers even not part of a newspaper subscription. There are things in there that we used. But basically we choose the supermarkets that we go to.
For beer – you all know I like beer – normally we don’t go out to eat, but we do go out to try breweries. So we do enjoy a balance where we try to save, but also spend on things like this.
About drugstore shopping – around here there is Walgreen CVS and Rite Aid – three chain drug stores. I have a loyalty card where you can get money or points back for purchase. I don’t really have a lot of purchases as a couple.
There is also these sales like buy-one-get-one free. But really I don’t use this – I don’t really stock up on things like this and I think the second one I often don’t really need. But it seems Americans really like to stock up and put them in their pantry. With stocks of things like toilet paper, canned good etc. Our apartment pantry space is small so we don’t really stock up on things.
For those listeners who are living overseas, do you guys stock up?
Then there’s Costco. Well here you have to get a one-year membership (membership =会員) first. Since we are only two, we haven’t really gone there. We tried a one-year membership to see what it was like. Well we noticed our main objective was to go there to eat hot dogs or pizza. Haha. And you don’t need a membership to get those.
Then there is internet shopping. My husband is in love with Amazon. He’s bought a lot. But it’s really convenient isn’t it, doing it from your house. There is an alert – when the price changes. So when you want something, but you hesistate a bit, you can set the alert and purchase it when the alert shows the price is cheaper. Well I can’t talk about it with too much detail, my husband is the one in charge of that.
By the way, is anyone a member of Amazon Prime (Amazonプライム会員ですか). There is a price for students. If you have a student email address, you can get half-price on the subscription fee. I have a student email address so we subscribe for cheaper (normally it’s $120). (会員価格 ―membership fee)
America AruAru – Leg fidgeting! – (貧乏ゆすり – びんぼうゆすり) (leg fidgeting is considered bad manners in Japan and there is even a superstition apparently from the Edo era that if you fidget like this you will attract a poverty god 貧乏ゆすりは金持ちゆすり?!) There are a lot of people who fidget their legs! Whether you have sympathy or not for this (共感して). In Japan there aren’t a lot of people who do it. It’s got a negative image – the word has “poor” in it so parents will tell the children to stop. Plus people think it’s embarrassing so they don’t do it.
But here, Americans really do it a lot. In the English I was taking before, the person to the right of me, was shaking their leg. Then I felt drunk! Well I gave up – I stopped taking notes. Suddenly across the aisle (通路隔てた -つうろへだてた) the opposite me starting doing it! That made me really irritated because it was in my field of vision (視界に入る -しかいにはいる).
At a high school near my place where they offer Japanese class that I observed (見学させて) the space was really narrow space class. At the time too, there was someone bouncing their leg, and I thought wow, even in a space this small. It wasn’t just subtle it was loud! I was surprised. But the people around were really calm! I guess they don’t care? I was irritated because my ears are too sensitive to the noise (三半規管が弱い =さんはんきかんがよわい ― weak semi-circular canals literally but seems to be an expression to say you are sensitive to noise)
There also doesn’t seem to be any negative connotation to leg bouncing. Well, I am observing mostly students, but I also saw it at the DMV adult people who were sitting there. Both men and women. In the students, it seemed to be mostly women. I was so irritated. It was unpleasant. I am worried what am I going to do if someone starts bouncing their leg during the final exam? What do you guys think/do about this? Let me know.
What I miss about Japan - Massage. My job is in front of the computer all the time. So my shoulders would get stiff. In Shizuoka where I lived, I would get them. The price was 3000 yen an hour. In America, I wasn’t in front of the computer all the time, but I would read for a long time etc. my shoulders would get stiff. Also, my feet/legs also hurt. Since I was used to get massage in Japan, there was nothing to be afraid of.
In America, Asian massage places are cheap-ish. There are places that do foot massages and also the whole body. If I have the change, I will go try it. When I went back to Japan, I had an oil massage. They’ll use hot pepper (in the massage?) For a long massage (90-min to 2 hrs) it was pretty cheap. Plus having a massage at the onsen, where that was good.
English Corner – Watching TV dramas、videos. I will watch a show once a day or a Youtube show. Today I want to talk about a youtube channel. Some examples are bilingual girl, etc. I subscribe a lot of different English speaking channels. Not just English learning, but plain channels. One is a vegan channel. I’m not vegan, but its getting popular. A lot of vegan channels popped up. I thought, maybe it’s good for your health, so vegan seems health. So that’s why I watch them. They are not really annoying videos. Lately, there are kind of annoying channels out there, but these are calm. After that, I also watch cooking videos – watching recipes. After that, I also watch eco, or zero waste or minimalist videos. Like low waste lifestyles. It feels like vegans also are like low waste. Other videos I watch are like self-improvement – self care, productivity. There are a lots of different videos out there. I also watch second-hand or thrift store clothing videos. I’m learning lots of words etc. Basically finding videos on topics that interest you. Some of the channels I subscribe to are not just American, but also English and Australian to get used to the different English speaking styles. If I have a chance, I will share the ones I watch. I’ll watch them or listen to podcasts. when I’m eating breakfast, or cooking, washing dishes. Whenever you have time basically.
Among the many words/phrases I learned from this episode, the three I liked learning the most were:
当たり外れがある - (あたりはずれがある) - It’s hit and miss. She uses this when talking about finding good quality vegetables at a grocery store . I feel like there would be situations where I could use this in my life (eg. haircuts at the salon, great finds at a flea market, etc)
折り込み広告 -(おりこみこうこく) ー advertising insert (eg. in a newspaper), ad flyer - I think she uses them generally for the flyers you get in the mailbox. I’ve been using 散らし for that kind of thing
会員 ーかいいん - member or membership - this is so useful. For anything you signed up to be a member (eg. Amazon Prime, Costco, gym etc) . She also used 会員価格 （かいいんかかく) → membership fee. I’m not sure how you would say, “I got a membership” Would this be 会員を買った？ 
EDIT: Oh! I forgot to mention, I managed to find 茗荷 Japanese Ginger ! It was mentioned in Ep. 29. It was super expensive but I couldn’t wait to get home and try it. Well…the flavor was very mild and did not taste like ginger to me. It was more like green onion in flavor and endive in texture. I put it on tofu just like I saw in a picture. but I probably won’t get it again. At least I know what it is now!
Only the newer episodes are available on the podcast app (which I can listen to on my phone while walking), so I listened to Episode 363. In it Utaco describes how busy she is juggling multiple jobs (and doing a job search for a job in her degree field) and didn’t have much time to prepare a show. It sounded like she’s working one job or another almost every day of the week. Looking ahead, I noticed she hasn’t posted anything since March 19, so I’m guessing it is due to this development. Hope so anyway!
I’ve been busy this week. Nothing big was happening but… this week, I didn’t have much time to think about what I wanted to talk about. Also, I wanted to update on my job search. Sorry this is a short episode!
Busy bee Utaco （働きバチ）- things I accomplished relating to life, job etc.: I’ll talk about my job shift changes and my job search. So now I’m looking for a job. Right now I’m looking for job postings in schools. I’m also looking for a municipal position- I’m doing my best to get it. I did an exam and passed. So, the next step in the process was an interview this week.
I’ve talked about this before a number of times, but California’s public schools’ office-type job acceptance process is first, you submit a written application (書類選考 -しょるいせんこう), then you take a written exam (筆記試験ーひっきしけん), then there’s an oral exam (面接試験-めんせつしけん）、then the top 3-4 ranked in exam score move to the normal interview.
I’ve applied several times and taken the oral exam four times. The last time felt like “ok” which is better than before. This time I have better phrases prepared as answers and more of the questions felt easier.
The result of the oral exam should come in a week or ten days, if I don’t move to the next step I’ll feel like getting a job in the school district is (too?) hard and I’ll feel depressed.
This position I’m applying for is actually my ideal (理想-りそう) . The office location is close so commuting would be easy. I’m nervous! I spent time preparing for the written exam and then the oral exam. That’s why I’ve been restless (ソワソワ) and can’t calm down (落ち着かない).
Apart from my job search, I also want to talk about a recent situation (近況-きんきょう). Right now I’m working at Daiso, but I started a new job at a Japanese company (日系企業-にっけいきぎょう）. It’s not full time, it’s part-time and it’s also short-term (短期-たんき）. It’s 2-3 months but it’s not completely clear how long it will be. But at least 2-3 months.
For Daiso, I was really thankful that they accommodate my other part time job. When I finish the term at the office job I’ll go back to Daiso. I’ve been there for 5 months.
There are days I do a Daiso shift, days I do an office shift and days where I go to Daiso then later go to the office. There are also days where I teach a tap class then go to Daiso. I’m happy that I’m busy but it’s like I’m rushing around (バタバタしています) going to several different jobs in one week.
Also because the clothes I wear for each job is completely different so it’s difficult. The office job is business casual, Daiso is jeans and a T-shirt, tap class is exercise wear, so I have to carry my change of clothes too.
Apart from job stuff, other recent stuff on the personal side, is I met friends and hung out with my husband. A couple that are friends with my husband from his university days that live north of here, well the wife came to San Diego for a business trip. Even though it was a weekdays we met downtown to eat out together, and hung out at the hotel lounge where they were staying. It had been a long time that we caught up. Maybe five years? Seeing my husband in a worry-free, joking state made me smile) and happy. (note: I think she meant that’s how she felt about how her husband seemed)
Also, it felt fun to be out late on a weekday night too.
Then I met my friend for tea (Note: I zoned out and kind of missed this part). I don’t have a lot of friends in the area so it’s fun when I can meet.
Then we went to an area that we hadn’t been to before - well we visited a thrift store and a brewery. Then we went hiking. We like hiking - it feels good to move… This time we went early morning so we left the house early. Later I had to prepare for my interview and do errands. Getting out early is good and going hiking early is good for cooler temps so it’s nicer.
Here in this area you can hike near the sea and mountains (so I would like to do more)
Lately I’m working almost every day of the week so I don’t have much opportunity to pass time at home or other stuff.
I’m also doing a semi-private tap lessons to two students who are older than me. I just did a couple of classes. It really makes me happy. They really want to learn. It would be nice to increase my private students.
I currently teach at a studio of someone. Having advanced tap students is really stimulating. It makes me want to focus on tap practice.
With all the things going on, my schedule feels more disordered plus there are things I want to do on top of it. But it feels like a switch flipped and I feel more positive.
If there is a recent situation of listeners you want to share lmk!
The words I liked learning from this episode were job-related and two onomatopoeia:
Job related:
書類選考 -しょるいせんこう - written application (Jisho says: "document screening; paper screening; narrowing down a field of applicants based on resumes, written applications, etc.)
筆記試験- ひっきしけん - written exam
面接試験 - めんせつしけん - oral exam
Onomatopoeia:
バタバタしています - rushing around, being really busy, hectic
ソワソワする - feeling anxious, or feeling nervous/fidgety
One other thing: she used the word 企業 in this episode for company and not 会社. I have never used 企業 in conversation (always 会社）so I’m not entirely sure when you would use it or how they are different…
I started episode 58 late last night driving home from work.
One thing I’ve continued to notice is this is one of the few things where I find myself occasionally laughing out loud while I listen. Possibly because a lot of the time I’m alone in my car.
Recently it’s been her description (in episode 57) of how she always felt she was fat, then moved to the US and found she was considered normal or even skinny.
Just realised I’m once again a little behind with posting, woops sorry
But on that note it looks like for both old and new episodes nobody’s caught up - do we want to do anything about that? Back to a 2 week schedule orrr some other solution? Also keeping in mind you probably don’t necessarily need to have listened to all the recent episodes to listen to the most recent one
Perhaps skip the week you missed and just do a break week? Ideally I’d like to keep up but life gets the way. I’m actually catching up though.
This episode marked 2 things. For Utaco it seems to be the point where she realised that Japanese language learners were using her podcast for listening practice. For me it was one of the first episodes where I feel I caught most things on the first listen. I suspect that was the subject matter more than anything, and still quite a few words I didn’t catch, but still a positive!
Edit: also seems to be the point I’ve caught up on the earlier episodes!
Episode: 060
Time Count: 33:51
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Episode: 366
Time Count: 32:37
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