お茶の間留学

Ciao a tutti!

Hello everyone!

Oggi voglio raccontarvi una storia a lieto fine.

Today I want to tell you a story with a happy ending.

Come forse vi ricorderete, sono arrivata in Giappone lo scorso novembre. Dato che il mio ragazzo aveva in programma di venire a trovarmi a marzo, mi sono portata solamente vestiti invernali.

As you may remember, I arrived in Japan last November. Since my boyfriend was planning to visit me in March, I only brought winter clothes.

Purtroppo a causa del Corona lui non è potuto venire e quindi l'11 marzo scorso mia mamma mi ha spedito un pacco dall'Italia con alcuni vestiti e scarpe primaverili.

Unfortunately, he was unable to come because of the Coronavirus, and so on 11th March my mother sent me a package from Italy with some spring clothes and shoes.

Data la mia fortuna, qualche giorno dopo tutto il Paese è stato messo in quarantena, impedendo anche il traffico di merci e quindi la spedizione del mio preziosissimo pacco.

Given my luck, a few days later the whole country was quarantined, also preventing the traffic of goods and therefore the shipment of my precious package.

Abbiamo aspettato un po' di tempo e quando l'Italia ha ripreso gli scambi con le altre nazioni abbiamo chiesto informazioni alla Posta: il pacco risultava fermo a Milano e sarebbe partito da lì a breve.

We waited a while and when Italy resumed exchanges with other nations, we asked the Post Office for information. It turned out the package was still in Milan and would leave shortly thereafter.

Dopo circa un mese ci è statao comunicato che il pacco era ancora fermo a Milano e che non si era mai messo da lì, ma dalla mia app di tracciamento delle spedizioni risultava invece in transito.

After about a month we were informed that the package was still in Milan and that it had never left there, but my shipment tracking application showed that it was in transit.

Non sapendo cosa credere mia mamma ha fatto richiesta di ricevere indietro la spedizione, in modo da non lasciare sperdute chissà dove tutte le mie cose.

Not knowing what to believe, my mom asked to have the shipment returned, so as not to leave all my belongings lost who knows where.

Questo succedeva più o meno un mese fa.

This was about a month ago.

Come ultima risorsa, la figlia di un'amica di mia mamma che abita a Milano si è offerta di andare a ritirare il pacco di persona, per essere più sicuri.

As a last resort, the daughter of a friend of my mother who lives in Milan offered to go and collect the package in person, just to be on the safe side.

Ma, sorpresa sorpresa, senza nessun preavviso e del tutto inaspettatamente ieri sera ho ricevuto il mio pacco dalla Posta giapponese!

But, surprise surprise, without any warning and quite unexpectedly last night I received my parcel from the Japanese Post Office!

É stato in transito per 6 mesi e ciò che era stato spedito come abbigliamento primaverile, sarà ora utilizzato come autunnale :-)

It has been in transit for six months and what was shipped as spring clothing will now be used as fall clothing.

Il mistero del pacco è stato svelato!

The mystery of the package has been revealed!

quarantena:検疫

impedendo :防ぐ

quindi:したがって

spedizione:発送

preziosissimo pacco:貴重なパッケージ

Non sapendo cosa credere:何を信じればいいのかわからない

inaspettatamente:意外なことに

svelato:明らかになる

Last week a good friend of mine took me to Kyoto. However, this trip wasn't a typical sight-seeing trip. We went to a specialty oil store.

The shop had over fifty different kinds of oil. There was walnut oil, flax seed oil, cashew oil, and pretty much any oil that you can think of. The most common kind of oil they had was olive oil, but there was nothing common about them. There was olive oil from all over the world and olive oil from right here in Japan. There were also differently-infused oils, for example, with lemon or garlic, to name two.

The best part was you could try them all. They had a sample of each oil and there was bread that you could dip to have a taste, to try before you buy. In the end I just had to buy a couple, so I came away with a bottle of their signature orange-infused olive oil and a bottle of basil-infused olive oil. They were just too delicious and unique to pass up.

specialty: 専門

walnut : くるみ

flax seed:亜麻の種

cashew:カシュー

infused:注入された

dip:クラッカーなどにつけて食べるクリーム状のソース

couple:いくつか（2，3ほど）の

signature:サイン

unique to pass up:ユニークとしか言いようがない

 When I start a lesson, I often introduce myself by saying “Hello! My name is Ali. I'm from Boston, but I live in Osaka.” Almost everyone has heard of Boston – it's a famous city with a rich, academic history. It's famous for sports like baseball with the Boston Red Sox, and has numerous well-known universities such as Harvard. But the truth is that I'm not from Boston, exactly. My hometown is actually the city of Concord, which is on the east side of Massachusetts.

Concord is famous for a number of reasons. In the American Revolutionary War, it was the site of the  Battle of Lexington and Concord, which was a crucial battle that helped America become an independent nation. In the 19^th century, it was the hometown of many famous writers in the United States, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau. The houses and places where these writers lived were kept intact through the years, and now people can go visit them if they ever travel there. Even today, many famous modern writers have decided to make their home in Concord.

  When I was an elementary school student, we would take a trip to Walden Pond every year. Walden Pond was made famous by the writer Henry David Thoreau, where he spent his time living in a cabin by the pond and writing about his experiences there. One of his books, Walden, is famous amongst philosophers and environmentalists alike. Every year, we would visit the cabin where Thoreau lived – which is still by the pond to this day – and then explore the woods. We would often write journals about the  animals and plants we found. We would always visit Walden Pond in April or May, when the weather in Massachusetts was getting warmer. If it was warm enough, we went swimming.

If you're a fan of nature, history or traditional architecture, why not travel to Concord? The buildings and homes are likely as old as the United States itself, and in many cases have not been modified from their original state (save for renovations and safety checks). If you enjoy horror, you can take a ghost tour in an old graveyard like Sleepy Hollow cemetery. If you love American literature, you can visit the Orchard House – the home of Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women – or Walden Pond. If you want to try something local, go to the town center and try wine made from Concord grapes!

academic: 学問的な

numerous:多数の

well-known:よく知られた

the American Revolutionary War:アメリカ独立戦争

crucial:(きわめて)重要な

independent:独立した

intact:(そっくり)そのままで

modern:現代の

Henry David Thoreau：ヘンリー・デイヴィッド・ソロー

cabin:木造の小屋

philosophers:哲学者

environmentalists:環境問題研究家

journals:日記

architecture:建物

modified:修正される

graveyard:墓地