Summer Holiday

How was your Summer holiday? Mine was great.


Recently, for the first time in a long time, I went to Kobe. It is a wonderful city. I went to the Kobe Maritime Museum, where I saw a lot of beautiful model ships. There was a giant model of the British Royal Navy ship, the Rodney. When Kobe first opened to foreign ships, this ship lead British, French and American ships into Kobe harbour. 

 This wonderful maritime museum was built by the Kawasaki Corporation. So in the same building, there is also Kawasaki's museum.  There I saw many things: for example motor bikes, a bullet train and a helicopter. For me, the motor bikes were the most interesting. I have owned three Honda bikes, but when he was younger my older brother owned a Kawasaki KH250. It was the 1970s, so Kawasaki bikes were new and cool things in the UK.  At that time my brother had two bikes, a Kawasaki 250 and a BSA 250. Comparing the Kawasaki to the BSA, the Kawasaki was very futuristic.

After the Maritime Museum, for the first time in seventeen years, I rode the Kobe Harbour sightseeing boat. Seventeen years ago I rode it with my brother. My brother used to be a sailor, so he had an interest in Kobe Harbour. We saw many things: for example the Kobe skyline, a variety of ships and submarines. This time too, I could see the same things, but there were some changes. The biggest change was that Kobe Airport had been built.

In the evening I went to 
Cave, a Beatles themed bar in Kobe. I heard lots of great live music there. While I was listening to the Beatles music, I remembered something about my brother. When I was a child, at a time when my brother came home from sea, he gave me two presents. A cassette player and a cassette of the Beatles album "Let it be". That was my first Beatles album.  My trip to Kobe was very fun and above that, I could remember a lot of good things about my brother. 

Before class think of some questions to ask me about my trip to Kobe. Also prepare a short talk about you summer holiday, to tell to the class.

ジョンの夏休み：

 最近、久しぶりに神戸に行った。その町は素晴らしい。神戸海洋博物館に行って、たくさん美しい船のモデルを見た。英海軍の「HMS RODNEY」の巨大なモデルがある。神戸が外国貿易を始めた時、その船は他のイギリスの船、フランスの船とアメリカの船を神戸の港に先頭をした。その素 晴らしい博物館は川崎株式会社によって作られた物なので、同じ建物で川崎株式会社の博物館もある。そこではいろいろな物を見られる。例えば、バイク、新幹線とかヘリコプター。僕の場合、バイクは一番興味がある。三台の本田バイクを持っていたが、若い時お兄さんは川崎「KH250」を持っていた。1970年代なので、イギリスでは川崎のバイクは新しくてかっこいい物だった。その時、お兄さんは二台のバイクを持っていた、「KAWASAKI 250」と「BSA 250」。「BSA」と比べて、その「KAWASAKI」は本当に未来型だった。博物館の後、17年ぶりに神戸港の観光船に乗った。17年前お兄さんと一緒にその観光船に乗った。彼は元船員だったので、彼は神戸港に興味があった。いろいろないい物をみた。例えば、神戸のスカイライン、いろいろな船とか潜水艦。この時も同じ物を見たが、さまざまな変更があった。一番大きな変更は神戸空港を作りました。夕方神戸のビートルズ専門の店、CAVEに行った。その店でたくさん素晴らしいライブ音楽を聞いた。ビートルズの音楽を聞きながら、お兄さんの事を思い出した。子供の頃、彼が海から帰って来た時、彼は私に二つのプレゼントをくれた。カセット・プレーヤーとビートルズ の「Let it be」のカセット。それは僕の最初のビートルズのアルバム。神戸の旅行は本当に楽しかった。その上、たくさんのお兄さんのいい事を思い出した。

Quiz

This weeks lesson is going to be a quiz. Before class choose one of the subjects below and make five quiz questions for it. The first question should be easy, but the other questions should gradually get more difficult.

• Kyoto's history
• Music
• Art
• Cuisine
• Japan's geography
• Science
• Buddhism
• Shintoism
• Kyoto University
• Japanese mythology