RIP. Van Halen. バンヘイレンと80年代

80年代のロックスター、Van Halenさんが亡くなりました 。

Van Halen passed away. He was a Legendury rockstar of the 80s.

彼の名曲「ジャンプ」           難題に直面した時、いつも背中を押してくれた曲でした。トラブルで怒っている顧客に謝りに行く時、また大勢の人前でいきなりプレゼンをやるように言われた時。

His song “JUMP” used to push my back whenever I was afraid to face challenges. For instance, meeting a difficult client for a troubleshooting purpose, being suddenly assigned a presentation in front of many people.

嫌な仕事はいつも俺にくる。なんで俺なんだよ。無言でつぶやいていたなあ。

“Why is it always me to do that nasty job? “ I used to grumble to myself quietly.

すると彼の歌声が響いてくる。Then his worlds cross my mind.

Jump ! Jump! You won’t know until you begin. おもいきり飛んでみろよ。やってみるまではわからんだろうが!

そう元気付けてくれている気がした。

何もわからず突っ走ってた80年代。その時の経験が今のくそ度胸を作っている。ありがとうVan Halenさん。ゆっくりお休みください。

in the 1980s, not knowing what is right or wrong, I gave every day my all. Those experiences made me what I am. Thank you Van Halen. Rest In Peace.

修学旅行のお土産ありがとう。

中学に通う生徒さん2人から修学旅行先の函館のお土産をもらった。

Two of my students gave me a souvenir from Hakodate .They visited there as a part of their school trip.

中学校の修学旅行は普通春に行われる。5月とか6月とか。

Junior high school trips areusually held in the spring months such as May or June.

しかし今年は10月にずれ込んだ。すべてコロナのせい。このため彼らは大変な状況に追い込まれた。

But this year the schedules were put off until October because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which put them in the hectic situation.

旅行から帰った次の日、英検の試験待っていたのである。

Coming back home from the long trip, they had to take the EIKEN test the very next day.

これは容易なことでは無い。長い旅行から帰ると翌日も疲れが残り試験に集中できない。It’s not an easy thing to do because you can’t focus on the test when you are still tired from the long trip.

鍛えられた2人を褒めてあげたい。良い結果が出ますように。

I want to commend them for their discipline.

God bless them!

ネコ談義

私は大の猫好きです。岩合光昭さんの番組は大抵見ています。

今回縁があって海外から帰国したばかりのChieさんとオンライン談義をしました。彼女も無類の猫好き、なんと自宅には12匹いるとか…

動画をアップしたのでよろしかったらご覧ください。

Chie

We have twelve cats, three dogs four turtles and one fish for our pets in the house.

Toshi Twelve cats!

Chie

Yes. Twelve cats. It’s because my parents and my sisters also love cats. An animals in general. So we usually rescue cats that we find on the street.

Toshi

I remember that , as a small child, I was always a lonely boy. I had no friends and I was so shy. I didn’t want to go out and interact with people. I don’t know why, but I felt more secure, more at home at home. And one day, my mother brought home a small cat. And then we began to live with that small cat. Since then I gradually liked that small pet because when I was in the living room the cat come and sat on my knees and then began to sleep. Or when I was watching TV, the cat came to me , sitting side by side with me . I don’t know why, but I felt so loving, so affectionate about cats and since then my craze for cat began. This is my personal story. Thank you for listening.

Chie

That is a great story, Toshi-san. Thank you for sharing. Is it OK if I ask more about that? So do you remember what name you gave to the kitten?

Toshi

Actually I didn’t give, but my parents gave. The cat had a black hair. So we gave her the name KURO.

Chie

Do you remember how long you had the cat with you? How many years did t live?

Toshi

If my memory is right, it didn’t live long. There was a kind of accident or something and it died.

Chie

That’s too bad.

Toshi

My dad didn’t want to show me the dead body., because that would be too shocking for a 6 year old boy.

Chie

True

Toshi

He took away. Maybe he buried the body in a mountain or somewhere I think.

Chie

Thank you for sharing that now after you had kuro when you were a boy did you have other pets growing up?

Toshi

Yes. My mom brought me another cats and so we lived together. About half of my lifetime was spent with a cat. My dad, my father did not like cats so much they do eats a lot and not so sanitary. However, when he got older like 60, 61 two he began to love cats. I think he was also lonely. He wanted somebody to live with.

Chie

True. Cats make great companions at any age. They are good companions for older people because they don’t require a lot of maintenance. You don’t need to take them on a walk they’re always sleeping. And very relaxed.

Toshi

I want to know how many hours they sleep. Maybe 16 hours? What do you think?

Chie

You’re actually quite right. Cats actually sleep for almost 12 to 16 hours a day depending on how old they are. So that’s a very long.

Toshi

I remember that when I was a school student, I woke up washed my face , brush my teeth and I was having breakfast. Then the cat woke up too and he ate some food and he began to sleep again. WHY? It’s in the morning. “Why do you sleep ? I shouted.

対面授業再スタート

講師としてお世話になっている名寄市立大学。

振り返れば最後に対面授業を行ったのが1月。それ以降はコロナに見舞われ授業はオンラインのみでした。

そして9月から対面復活と相成ったわけです。久しぶりに訪れたキャンパス、さっそうと歩く学生たちがまぶしい。

もうすっかりコロナ前に戻ったのかと思わせる雰囲気。だがそう感じたのもつかの間。

事務局に顔を出すと「野村先生、教室は去年と違いますからね」

エッなんでどうして、と思いながら案内された教室はとても広いところでした。

なんだこれは、どう見ても去年の倍以上の広さ。100人はゆうに座れる。

「椅子は3人掛けですが座るのは1人だけにさせてくださいね。間隔を2メートル開けることを忘れないでください。」

あぁそうかソーシャルディスタンスだ。

やりづらいなぁ、大声を出さないと1番後ろの学生に声が届かないじゃないか。

「その心配はいりませんよ野村先生。マイク、スピーカーを用意してます。プロジェクターやスクリーンもありますからどうぞお使いください。」

それはよかった、と胸を撫で下ろしていると学生たちが1人2人と入ってきた。

みんなオンライン授業で何度も顔を合わせているので普通に話せる間柄だ。

だがいざ対面となるとまるで初顔合わせのよう、どこかぎこちなくなる。

全員着席したところで授業を始めた。

すぐに異変に気づく。学生が皆元気ない、どことなく表情が暗い。やはりコロナのせいで皆疲れているのだろう。

よしそうとわかったら今日は難しい話はやめて思いっきり楽しませよう。

25人の学生を6つのグループに分け、男女の比率がほぼ同じになるようにしてフリーカンバセーションをさせることにした。

トピックは自由。好きな色、好きな食べ物、出身地、血液型、好きな歌手、将来の夢、何でもいいから勝てるよう指示した。英語で。

学生たちが密にならないように気を配り、教室の窓全てを開けて換気を整えた。

会話を始めて10分経過、学生たちの顔に笑顔が出始めた。やはり異性と話すのが楽しいのである。

とても楽しい雰囲気を維持して90分が経過した。よかったよかった良い授業ができた。さぁ来週からまたしごくぞ笑笑

好きな事していいよ!

私の塾の授業時間は1コマ60分です。大人、子供を問わず。

小学校は授業が45分。そのせいか小学生が私の授業を受けていると45分を超えた頃から集中力が途切れます。

小学5年のS君もその1人、まわりをキョロキョロしたり、関係ないことを話しだしたり。落ち着きがなくなります。

そんな時は無理をせず、好きなことをやらせるようにしています。S君はレゴやプログラミングが大好き。あっという間に簡単なおもちゃを作り、タブレットで操縦する腕前・・・

将来は電気メーカーに入ってロボットを作るのが夢と言う。それに英語力がつけば鬼に金棒だぞSくん! これからも頑張ろう。

CAとおしゃべり

女子が憧れる職業のひとつ、CA(キャビンアテンダント)。

今回ひょんな事から元国際線の客室乗務員だった方と会話するチャンスをいただきました。名前、国籍などの個人情報を出さない条件でネット公開の快諾を得ました。スクリプト及び音声ファイルを公開します。

Toshi

Every minute I hear you, you speak like a real professional celebrity.

C.A.

You’re very funny, Toshi-san.

Toshi

Am I?

It sounds like you are on TV. You are quite used to speaking to strangers or any kind of people, I think.

C.A.

A little bit. I think flying experience actually helped a little bit, I hope.

Toshi

So did you get training about how to talk to the passengers or difficult people?

C.A.

Yes, because we had some training and especially but mostly our trainings are based on service. So it’s like how will you offer this kind of food or this kind of service to them. But yes it was different.

Toshi

OK, I heard that serving food or serving coffee during the bumpy flight is very tough because you have to be careful not to spill coffee on the passengers.

C.A.

Or, yes, that’s right.

Toshi

Could you share with me some of your memories or experiences about serving food or coffee? Any memory?

C.A.

Actually, that’s a good question. I tried to remember my experience. I think if you will ask a flight attendant, he or she will always say an experience about spilling something to the passenger. So yes, I think I have one experience, but I still juice because it was turbulent. So yeah, that’s it in afterwards. I just gave a couple of blankets to the passenger just to keep her. How do you call this? To keep her clothes dry. That’s very embarrassing. Yes, but I had no experience of spilling a hot beverage. That’s very scary.

Toshi

Oh yeah, but didn’t she request for compensation for the laundry or dry clean ?

“Hey you spilled juice on my clothes.!”

C.A.

But you know what? You know what I did, because I think that was one of my first few flights, so I bought her some chocolates at the duty free shop. And then I gave it to her. For my apology, yes. And then Luckily she was kind. She didn’t come to Lane and then she accepted my.

Toshi

OK, yes. If she had the opposite character, like a demanding woman, what would be the result? “Buy me a new one, OK?”

C.A.

The result would be I think she’s going to complain. Or yeah, it’s going to be a tough flight, but Luckily I was, you know, I’m still quite lucky because she was very kind.

曲名なんだっけ?

数年前YouTubeでよく聴いていた曲、しばらくぶりで聴きたくなったけど曲名が思い出せない。

最近こういうことが増えてきました。何とか良い方法はないか、Arvin君に聞いたところ画期的なアプリがあると言う。名前はShazam

早速ダウンロードしてやってみたところ思わぬ結果が…

Toshi

Oh no !

Arvin

What’s the matter Toshi-san?

Toshi

I’m trying to remember the title of a song I used to enjoy listening to.

Now I feel like listening to it but I can’t remember its name.

Also I can’t search it in YouTube.

Arvin

Oh I have a good app for you . It’s named Shazam. Shazam is an app that helps you search for a specific song with the use of the melody or rhythm from the background sound. You can usually search for the song by simply humming or by just putting you phone near the source of the music to identify the song.

Toshi

Alright! Why don’t I download that right now from the App Store.

(Downloading Completed)

Now I am ready, Arvin.

What am I supposed to do?

Arvin

Just sing a song to your Cell

phone microphone.

Toshi

I have tried three times already and got no matches.

Are you sure this is a reliable app?

Arvin

Yeah I tried and made it several times before.

Toshi

Then why doesn’t it work for me?

Am I too tone deaf?

Arvin

I can’t say for sure. Why not go to a music school and ask a teacher there? LOL!

MacBook Air 買ってみた

マックなんて知りもしないくせにいきなり衝動買いしてしまいました。

一昨日の土曜日、ある男子高校生と話をしていてなぜかパソコンの話題になり、新しいの買うとしたらどんなのがいいかを彼に聞いてみたのです。

「それなら絶対MacBook Airがいいですよ先生! ウィンドウズより全然いいって。」

「ほうそうか、そんなにいいものなのか」

たったこれだけの会話でMacを買うことを決めた。こんな私を世間は「バカ」と言うだろう。

ケーズデンキまで車を飛ばし、エスカレーターを使わず階段で2階の売り場へ直行。

Macコーナーで目当ての商品を見つけ、近くの店員を捕まえて「すいませんこれください。」

このスピード、まるでコンビニでアイスを買うようなものだった。

ウキウキしながら家に帰り、箱を開け中身を取り出す。この嬉しさ、親に誕生日プレゼントを買ってもらった幼少時と変わらない。

だが喜んでいられるのもここまでだった。汗

とにかくやり方がわからないのだ。

会社員時代から通算して20年、パソコンを使い続けてきた。だからきっと大丈夫という自信があった。

それはあくまでもウィンドウズの話。Macには通用しないと言うことを思い知らされた。

ワードがねぇExcelねぇインターネットにつながらねー。→ ほとんど吉幾三の状態。涙

「また衝動買いしたの」と横目でにらむ妻。「あんたっていつもそうじゃないの。車だってそう家だってそうよ。じっくり考えて選んだことなんか1度もないじゃないの。」

「あーそうだよ。結婚相手を選ぶ時もろくに考えなかったよ」と喉まで出かかったが言うのをやめた。

いけねえいけねぇそんなことよりこのパソコンを早く使えるようにならなきゃ。

ただいま午前4時。YouTubeの説明ビデオを見ながらキーボードを叩いております。慣れるのはいつになるやら…

乳歯が高齢者を救う

北大がすごいことをやろうとしています。抜けてしまった乳歯を用いて高齢者の骨を再生するというのです。文系馬鹿の私に専門知識はありませんが、乳歯にはとてつもないパワーがあることだけは理解できました。

以下Arvinくんとの対話です。

Arvin
Hi, Toshi-san!

Toshi
Hi, Arvin. I remember you told me that you have a friend who is a Hokkaido University student, right?

Arvin
Yes. I met him when I visited Sapporo last year. We had ramen together.

Toshi
According to the newspaper, Hokudai will start a surprising venture together with some other organizations.

Arvin
What is it?

Toshi
I’m not good at Biology, so allow me to use layman’s term.
They are going to find ways to use baby teeth in order to help regenerate bones of the elderly. As you know, people’s bones get fragile and more likely to be fractured as they get older. Milk teeth are full of cells young enough to regenerate.

Arvin
I think I get the idea. I think they are trying to correlate the science of stem cells regeneration with the osteoregenerative power of the bones. They are tapping the possibility of being able to use the restoration prowess of a new born infant. That’s just my guess though. I think it has a good relation with that.

Toshi
I remember my father had a bicycle accident. He slipped over a wet road and had his leg bone fractured. His doctor said it wouldn’t have happened if my dad was younger.

This story tells that milk teeth might prevent old people from breaking bones.

Arvin
I think that this technology will be very useful in the future, especially for those people who fall victim to severe bone fractures and physical accidents where bone regeneration is a must.

Toshi
I’m sure that the researchers deserve Nobel Prize if they are successful with the technology.

Arvin
I think so too. And I guess, this is what they are after – to be recognized worldwide by many medical institutions and to bring home the bacon for the most famous university and research center in Hokkaido.

真夜中にベルが鳴る

別にホラー映画ではありません。朝4時ぐらいだったでしょうか? 何やら携帯がなっています。いったい誰だ、こんな時刻に? ぶつくさ言いながら電話を見ると、 アメリカの友人クレイグさんでした。 時差を考えずに電話してくるのは昔のまま、無視してもよかったのですが 彼とは20年来の付き合い。電話に出ることにしました。

Toshi
Hello

Craig
Hello Tosh, it’s Craig here.

Toshi
Do you know what time it is here?
You woke me up.

Craig
It has been a long time since I’ve not come to Asahikawa.
I miss it greatly! How are things going there!

Toshi
I’m doing good, but on the whole, businesses are slow.

Craig
Same here. People are just waiting for the economy to turn around.
Do you think economy will recover soon?

Toshi
Well, I’m not an economist. But many people, including me, think that it’s just a matter of endurance. Things will be back in normal once the COVID-19 is gone.

Craig
I agree, but how long do we have to wait? We have very few sick people just positive testing numbers. No one is sick and hospitals are empty on Covid floors!

Toshi
So you want businesses to reopen?
But President Trump failed after trying to get businesses back on track.

Craig
I know but I just can’t get paid for sitting on my ass all day long. I was listening to a doctor on a radio program that told me that this is a farce. She said it’s the first time in any disease that we count cases not deaths. A nurse told me that in her hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, they have a Covid floor with maybe one or two people. It’s been that way for months. No one is sick.

Toshi
Well, I know you’re frustrated. You want to get the ball rolling. But it’s still not a good time to do so. Also it’s not a good time to keep on talking. It’s 4:00 AM down here. You gotta let me go back to sleep.

Craig
Oh sorry, Mr.Nomura. We’ll talk again later.

仕事がヒマで話し相手がほしかったのでしょうかね。でも午前4時は勘弁してけれ~