英会話教室Pure English（旧ファングリッシュ）

Heeeelllooo! What’s happening today?

Well it certainly was a hot one. Most of the day was spent indoors. I went out briefly during the early afternoon and decided that it was indeed too hot.

I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep during the morning and then I was tidying up the apartment during the afternoon and playing games with the boys. I feel this was a good Saturday.

Tonight’s supper was very simple but tasty. The first picture is what I made. Carrots, special marinated cucumber sticks and sliced stuffed green bell peppers. The mix inside the peppers is ground pork, diced onions, one egg and a pinch of soy sauce and sugar. Easy to make and it tastes good.

The second picture I posted today is just something that I saw while browsing an internet site today. Maybe the heat was affecting me but it made me laugh a lot. So I’m sharing it with you now. I hope you can read and understand the captions.

I hope you had a good day and weren’t too hot. Take care!
-Paul

Hello and good evening!

It’s been a bit cooler for the last couple of days due to all the rain, but now it’s heating up again. The fans in my apartment are working hard once again. I hope you’re all staying at a comfortable temperature.

Today I have returned from Bois Colombes where I was teaching children’s classes. We had a lot of fun today and of courses learned some new English phrases.

I had a chance to go out the other night to a restaurant in Hiratsuka. Actually what happened is that I was too lazy to bother making supper so we ended up going out. The restaurant’s name is Hanaya Yohei and it’s in the northern side of the city. It was pretty good and the servers were friendly and efficient. I had a soba set, with tempura and sushi. It’s been a long time since I’ve had tempura and it was delicious! Today’s photos are from the restaurant.

Tomorrow I have a day off but what to do? The morning will hopefully be used for glorious sleep. I need to catch up on some sleeping hours. Noon and afternoon I’m still not sure what to do. I guess I’ll just wait and see what I feel like before deciding. Go with the flow!

That’s all there is to say for tonight. I hope you have a lovely Friday evening and a happy Saturday morning. Take care!

-Paul

Hello and good evening!

Tonight we welcomed in a new Funglish student, so hello to you! The classes at Mishima Culture Center were very enjoyable as usual. Thanks to all the friendly students.

As I said in the last entry, yesterday I went to meet an old friend. He is Japanese but is living in Canada now. We met at the Fujisawa station and went to Becker’s for a quick coffee then we boarded the Katase-Enoshima line. Our destination was Kugenuma-Kaigan station. I had never been to that area before but I always like to check out new things and places.

There is a main street on the North side of the station with many small shops, cafes and restaurants. Many of them are surf shops selling all kinds of surfing gear. We walked along the street for a while before making our first stop at a small bakery. I tried a small croissant with bacon and cream cheese. It was light, crispy and delicious.

After that we walked in the opposite direction down the main road to see the rest of the area. It’s a small area but quite lively. By this time it was past lunch and we were getting hungry. We stopped at a little restaurant called Kaigan Dining. They had many lunch sets for 800 yen. I ordered the shio-mabotofu set. Everything was very tasty, and the mabotofu dish wasn’t too salty and very easy to eat. The staff was also very friendly and accommodating.

If you ever go to Kugenuma-Kaigan you should stop at this place for lunch. To get there exit the North side of the station until you come to the main road. Then turn right and follow the road for about 7 or 8 blocks. You’ll see the restaurant on a corner on the right side.

The lunch was very filling and we slowly walked back up the road. After exploring the area a little more we headed back to Fujisawa station. My friend must return to Canada in a few days and I’m glad we had a chance to hang out before he goes. It’s always nice to get a visit from people like that!

The photos today are (from the top):
Top - My coffee at Becker’s
2nd - The main street in Kugenuma-Kaigan
3rd - The outside of the restaurant
4th - My shio-mabotofu lunch set

Thanks for reading and have a great night!
-Paul

Hello! How are you?

We’ve had a couple days of pretty crazy rain. The good thing though is that the temperature has been very livable so I won’t complain too much. Don’t forget your umbrellas!

Another week has passed and there was much to do. Funglish classes all went well and the students were great as always. Good job guys!

We had a small event on Saturday, September 1st. It was Funglish Movie Day! The idea was very simple; we went to the Olympic shopping center to see an English language movie, then after we went to the Starbucks on the first floor to have discussion. There were of course Japanese subtitles during the movie. We saw Prometheus which has just recently opened at the Olympic theaters. The story was very interesting and a bit complicated so it made for good discussion.

After we went to the Starbucks and got our coffee and tea. We chatted about the movie and I asked some questions to test their English comprehension and practice responding. The students also had many questions about the movie and certain uses of English phrases. David was an interesting character in the movie and provided many topics of conversation. Here’s a picture of him in the movie (portrayed by Michael Fassbender).

Sometimes the conversation changed to other topics which was also great practice and very enjoyable for all. The students did a great job using English and I think it was really good to practice in a very natural setting.

Overall I think it went very well and everyone seemed to enjoy the experience. Regrettably, there were some students who could not attend or had to change their plans. I hope to do another Funglish Movie Day in the future so hopefully the other students can join in the fun as well. We’ll see you next time!

Today I will see an old friend who has just come back to Japan. We’ll meet up in Fujisawa and do… stuff, haha. I’m not really sure what he has in mind yet. Today I’ll just go with the flow. Hopefully there isn’t typhoon style rain again.

Take care and thanks for reading today.
A special thanks to those who attended Movie Day and made it so fun, and apologies to those who couldn’t make it. Next time we’ll try harder to make it work for your schedule.
-Paul

“Smoooooooke on the water, fire in the sky!”
-Does anyone know what song this line is from?

Good evening and how are you?

Tonight I went down to the beach with the family to take in the fireworks (hanabi). It was actually the first time we had viewed them from the Oceanside and it was worth it! There were many people there with their families, friends and cameras. The view from there was spectacular and it was nice to have the gentle ocean breeze blowing. The overall atmosphere is just so much better. The moon was also bright tonight and I enjoyed watch the waves roll in under the moonlight.

I took some pictures but I must apologize for the quality as they were taken with my feeble little cell phone camera. But anyway I hope you will enjoy them.

This week was pretty busy again and there was much work to be done. I held Funglish classes again after a break during Obon week. I really enjoyed seeing the students again and returning to teaching. There was also a new student which is always exciting, so “Welcome to the Funglish family!”

The weather also continues to be savagely hot and humid. I hope everyone is careful not to get overheated and become sick. Also I hope you all had a good Obon week and hopefully had some time off and safe travels.

Have a great night and thanks for reading!
-Paul