東京でのセント・パトリック・デイのお祝い（キャロル先生)

                        St. Patrick’s Day Festival

On the 17^th of March each year, St. Patrick’s Day festival is held. It is a day that commemorates the patron saint of Ireland. There are large parades held on this day around the world and lots of traditional Irish music events. This year, I celebrated with my friends in Tokyo and volunteered to help at the parade on Omotesando Street. It was Asia’s largest Irish event with 15,000 participants and 50,000 spectators. I held up the large banner with my friends at the front of the parade and helped to give out flyers. There were so many people taking part and watching the parade, it was a fantastic day. I was so surprised by how much effort Japanese people put into celebrating this Irish event. There was even an Irish festival held in Yoyogi Park with food stalls and Irish dancers. The celebrations went on into late that night. My friends and I even made it into The Tokyo Times newspaper! I will have to post this home to my family so they can see how big the celebrations are here in Tokyo.

東京でのスイミング （キャロル先生)

Swimming in Tokyo

Back home in Ireland, I used to swim as much as I could. I was a member of a lovely gym with a swimming pool, sauna and steam room. It was one of the most relaxing places to be. Swimming up and down with the flow of the water moving with me, no loud noises, the smell of the chlorine, it always managed to relax and clear my head.

Here in Tokyo, I’ve managed to go swimming three times since I have arrived, in three different swimming pools. Two were in Musashi-Sakai and the other in Mitaka. The experience was pleasant and some lovely women ended up chatting to me in the dressing rooms. Some were interested to know where I was from and wanted to practice their English and some wanted to show me how to use the facilities, which I greatly appreciated. Simple things like using the swimsuit dryer can be daunting when the instructions are in Japanese. I found people were so welcoming and accommodating which will allow me to swim to my heart’s content while living here in Tokyo.