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2012年1月14日土曜日

教養 感動の記事ーーCulture, an impressive article

1月14日(土)
地元の今日の新聞で高倉健さんの記事を見て感動。残された時間は限られている。その中で、自分が出来ることをやるきにさせたのが被災地の瓦礫の中で唇をかみしめてペットボトルで水を運ぶ少年の姿。その写真を新聞から切り抜いて台本に張り付けて毎朝見て気合を入れたという。81歳の大役者の感性が伝わってきました。
Very much impressed with an article about a big actor, Mr. Ken Takakura, in  today's local newspaper. He had been away from his work as an actor but one particular photo carried in some newspaper brought him back to do what he can do by making use of his life time left. It was a photo of a small boy with his mouth closed tight carrying some drinking water in two big pet bottles in the midst of the debris field attacked by that big disaster in March 11, last year. Mr. Takakura cut it out from the paper and attached to the back of his scenario of the movie entitled "To you" which will be opened to the public in August this year. He has been inspired by this photo everyday.  He is now 81 years old but his sensitivity remains young and genuine.

2012年1月7日土曜日

交流 Friendship

1月6日(金)には新年度最初のEECC(英会話クラス)が始まり、いよいよボランティア活動が再スタート。今年も楽しくやりたい。午前と午後のクラスを終えて、お正月第二弾のハウスゲストをお迎えする準備に大忙し。夜、夫がいつもの時間に大学から二人のゲストと共に帰宅。南京からの林教授と今千葉で3か月前から中国語を教えている同じ南京の大学の李先生のお二人が今回のゲストである。李先生は昨年日本に来られてから一度我が家に来ておられるので今回は二回目だが、林教授には初めてお会い出来た。お二人とも非常にフレンドリーでお話好きで以前からの友人のような素敵な印象を持った。自宅でディナーを共にし、乾杯(カンペイ!完全に一気に飲み干す、ボトムアップ)を何度繰り返したことか。李先生とは日本語で、林先生とは英語でという忙しいやりとりは楽しかった。

January 6, Fri, my first English class this year started. I do hope it will be another enjoyable year by conducting the class. I have two sessions, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Today is the day when we have two Chinese as our second house guests this year. They are from Nan-King, China. Masao came back from his university with the guests as scheduled. One is  professor Rin, directry from Nan-King, the other is a teacher, Mrs.Ri, from Chiba where she has been teaching Chinese since three months ago. She is also from Nan-King. They are very friendly and open minded so that we are able to communicate to each other with a confortable/ We enjoyed talking over the dinner table. How many times we repeated Kanpei (Bottom up)! The professor was so strong to repeat his Bottom up in a real way, which surprised us. We talked with him in English and with her in Japanese. Sometimes I confused English for Japanese.

翌日は新年から二回目の奥日光行き。吹雪いていないことを祈りながら決行したが、結果は最高。素晴らしい天気であったことと、三つの瀑布(華厳の滝、竜頭の滝、湯滝)を一挙に堪能していただくことが出来、お二人とも感銘して下さった。湯本では粉雪が降り最高の冬の雪景色を見ることが出来て大変幸運であった。昼にはアストリアホテルに行き、昼食後、温泉へ。この温泉が又いい。硫黄温泉で温泉の香りを楽しみながら、露天風呂では雪が降る中で、これまた情緒があり、とにかく、私も久しぶりで温泉らしい温泉を満喫。李さんの明るい笑顔とお話が何より、微笑ましく、私も30代にカムバックした思いであった。ゆっくり入って、一度、我が家に戻り、夜は改めて外出。霧降のレストランで貸切状態の雰囲気の中で、誰に遠慮することも無く、美味しいディナーを堪能出来た。テラスから、真っ暗な中で霧降の滝の白さが輝いて見え、満月に近い月も雲から顔を出してあたりを一瞬明るくして何とも幻想的な世界を味わうことが出来、皆満足して帰路についた。今年の新年は来客で忙しかったが、All is well taht begins well.とでも言えそうな一年になることを願いたい。

The next day again we took them to the deep Nikko as we did a few days ago. The weather was so good against our worry about windy snowing weather. Everything turned to be wonderful. We were able to visit  to the Kegon Water Fall, the Ryuzu no Taki (Dragon Water Fall) and Yu Taki. These three are supposed to be the three greatest water falls in the deep Nikko. They were very much impressed with those falls in such a holy and severe atmosphere in winter time. On the way back we dropped in Astoria for lunch and hot spring. In a hot apring, we enjoyed bathing in open air. It was snowing, which took us into a romantic feeling. I enjoyed talking with Ri-san who keeps smiling face all the time. Very cheerful and smart. It seems everybody from abroad enjoys Japanese style hot spring. I noticed a spa can be a good hospitality for foreign people. We went back home onece to have a little rest and a couple of coffee, then went out for dinner. We went to a restaurant in Kirifuri. Frome the terrace of the restaurant we appreciated another water fall named Kirifuri no Taki, of which the water seemed divine white in the darkness. There was another romantic world down there in front of us. In the sky the moon was gently watching us down. We had a treasurelike time being with nice friends. We had a wonderful start in New Years Days.

2012年1月5日木曜日

交流 Friendship

1月3日(火)東京からArne & Anita(VIP couple)と休暇でオーストラリアから両親のところに戻っているご子息Zubinが日光入りされた。夫が彼等を東照宮に案内した後、我が家に到着。夕食の前に、温泉に行こうということになって霧降の温泉場を案内。日本には、既に1年半在任されているため、日本のあちこちを随分訪問されており、温泉も楽しまれている由で、勝手をご存じであり、又、大変好きであるということで、何よりのおもてなしになった気がする。約1時間、温泉につかっておしゃべりが弾み、少し、茹ってしまった。帰宅したら即、ディナーにとりかからなくてはとの思いが蘇って心が急いだ。
 Arne and Anita came into Nikko with her son, Zubin on the third as scheduled. Masao guided them  into the Toshogu shrine first taking whole afternoon then to our house. After having a little rest and a couple of  coffee,  we decided to go to a spa to get relaxed. As they have lived in Tokyo for more than one year, they have been to quite a few spas all over in Japan and they are already accustomed to Japanese style hot spring. It was good to know that they love Japanese style hotspring. This experience in Nikko might be a good hospitality from us. Anita and I were in the spa enjoying talking to each other for long enough to feel we were boiled.  My mind pushed us back home for a preparation for the dinner to be served on our return home. 

突如我が家の老猫ミーちゃんが現れ、事前に報告していなかったこともあって、手なずけようとした息子さんを引っかこうとしてしまった。幸い傷にはならなかったが、不幸中の幸いで、以後、彼女が魅力的存在となって、話題に加わるようになったことはありがたい。このフレンドリーでない猫は、グリーンの大きな透き通るような目が、丸い顔の中で聡明さを発揮していると。

When we were relaxed in the living room, Zubin was suddenly scratched by my dear Mi-chan, little cat, going to be 20 years old in a few months. When she appeared in front of us, Zubin wanted to touch her without any hesitation. Yes, it was my mistake. I missed telling the guests that our cat is very strange and abnormal. She gets unfriendly and becomes a tiger as her hospitality toward strangers. Luckily Zubin didn't get hurt. In spite of her attack to him, he gets interested in this unfriendly cat which has two beautiful greenish eyes in her charming round face. She is still charm and smart enough to attract an attention of such a young gentleman as Zubin.

時が時だけに、ディナーのメニューにはお節料理をアピタイザーにしたおかげで、テーブルは賑やかになり、彼等も大喜びして下さった。ディナーの席でのお話は温泉の後ということもあって随分くつろぎ楽しく忌憚なく出来た。翌日は本来は、息子さんとスキーに夫が行く筈であったが、肩を故障したそうで、スキーを止め、ご主人が朝仕事の為に一人先に帰京された後、我々4人で奥日光に行くことに。10時半頃就寝。もっとも私が寝たのは、12時を回ってしまったが。

Being in a New Year holiday, I prepared some Osechi food(New year dish) as an appetizer, which made the dinner table more colorful and prosperous. They enjoyed the unusual food. Everybody enjoyed the conversation over the dinner table filled with several kinds of Japanese food such as egg custard, grilled sliced beef with mushroom and green onions in a foil, salmon sushi, cooked roots vegetables, apple paste and so on.  Japanese sake followed by French red wine... It was after midnight when I went to bed.

前日に続いて素晴らしい天気となる。予定通り8時に朝食をスタート。ご主人のArneは仕事に戻るべく朝の特急で一人帰京されたが、我々はAnita とZubinを奥日光にご案内。案の定、華厳の滝には感銘された。凍っている滝を見るのは初めてとのこと。あの時の気温は零度であったから、そんなに寒くは無い筈だが、それでも風が吹くと凍え気味。続いて竜頭の滝をご案内。華厳ほどの感銘はなかったようだが、紅葉の時に来るべきと示唆。それよりそこでの甘酒を満喫。昼の電車に遅れないよう、急いでいろは坂を下る。車の中でもAnitaの話は続く。インド出身の彼女はさすが元アメリカでニュースキャスターをしていた経験がそれに拍車をかけている。話すことが沢山あるということは、それだけ、勉強を重ねてきているということなのだろう。
忙しかったが、知的な刺激を受けながら、別の形で楽しめた正月前半でした。

Another beautiful day! Anita is right. She carries a good weather wherever she goes. As scheduled we had our breakfast at 8. Arne took the 9 o'clock train to go back to work in Tokyo. We took Anita and her son
Zubin to the deep Nikko to show them two dynamic water falls. They were very much impressed with the gigantic and powerful Kegon Fall which is partially frozen. The frozen part was producing such a beautiful greenish color in the sun. It was 0℃ at the bottom of the elevator. Not very much cold. But cold in the wind. The Ryuzu Fall gave them a different impression, not so gigantic but strong enough to be attractive. We suggested them to come back in autumn to appreciate it surrounded by autumn color all around. Amazake (sweet sake) became Zubin's favorite drink. In the car back and forth to the deep Nikko, Anita, originally from India, who used to be a news caster in the States before, was active in talking while I was concentrated on handling my car on Iroha Slope which has as many curves as Japanese alphabets. Their lives were hunging in my hands!  To be honest my feeling started busy a week ago, but once the guests were here with us, we didn't feel busy but rather relaxed and we enjoyed sharing the two days with them which turned to make us feel more productive and thoughtful. They were in time for 11:55 train bound for Asakusa.Thanks a lot!

2012年1月1日日曜日

家族 Family



2011年の我が家の年末

爺からお年玉を受け取るところ

年末の2日間、久しぶりで帰省した息子と団欒出来たことは嬉しいことでした。米国から帰国して就いた新しい分野の仕事も一年が経ち苦労が多い中、念願の開拓仕事に携わったことで、生き生きしていることが、何より嬉しい。多大の不幸と困難に遭遇した2011年を25日から帰省していた長女の家族と共に見送り、いくらかの明かりを見出すべく2012年を一緒に迎えることが出来ました。ただし、お婿さんは長年の独身族友人たちと湯治休暇を近場で過ごしました。孫の星太の話好きから、トークショーを思いつき、「日光婆とのトークインタビュー」シリーズをスタート。4回シリーズでテープに録音出来ました。かけがえのない幼児期の記録として残したい。ですます調での落ち着いて筋の通った話しぶりは笑と感嘆で大うけした。次女の家族が今回は合流出来なかったのは残念でしたが、新築がまじかに迫っていて嬉しい悲鳴を上げている様子。

 During the last two days in 2011, our son was back with us to have a family talk together with Tomoko's family. He is engaged with a new working field in the company which he found very interesting and hopeful, he is in hardship though. We came into the new year, the year of 2012, with Tomoko and her little son(going to be 5 in March) wishing this year may bring in a lot of laugh, happy and productivity. One thing we missed during this New Year holiday was that Yasuko's family was not available to join us. They have been happily busy with the construction of their new house to be finished soon.