江戸東京たてもの園

Last weekend I went to Koganei Park. It’s actually not far from me but I hadn’t visited before so I finally got the chance! I also went to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum which is in the park. At the museum, I read about the big earthquake and fires in the Kanto region that destroyed so many buildings and homes in Tokyo and how people rebuild it again. Looking at how Tokyo is now, it’s very difficult to imagine it all being destroyed! I was really interested in the museum because it was outside in the open and I don’t think I’ve been to a museum like that before; it was a new experience! It was really cool to walk around and see the old historical buildings and architectural styles, especially because you could walk inside some of the buildings and see the insides too. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to see everything before closing time and the park is so big that I couldn’t see all of it too, so I must go back sometime! Until then, I’m looking forward to having some adventures with my friend from New Zealand during Golden Week and learning more about Japan!

日本語の学習

When I get time, I have been trying to study Japanese but I still have a long way to go! I wish I could learn faster because I really enjoy learning new languages and being able to speak to more people. There are a few Indian languages I know, but I never learned how to properly write them because I left India when I was quite young. It’s really interesting studying these different languages and teaching English too because there are many similarities and differences! For example, the pronunciation for 9 in Japanese is kyuu, which is also how you say ‘why’ in Hindi. The pronunciation of New Zealand also seems similar because both Japanese and Hindi use a ‘ji’ sound instead of the ‘z’ sound when pronouncing Zealand. Actually, I like Japanese pronunciation because the ‘r/l’ sound is much easier for me than a hard ‘r’ sound. I am reading a book that has both the original Italian version and the English translation and I find it so difficult to pronounce some of the words with the ‘r’ sounds!
Since I really love reading, I’ve also been trying to read a Japanese book and translating it but it takes SO much longer than reading a book in a language I know! Luckily, it really helps with kanji because that’s always the hardest part. However, as difficult as it can be sometimes, Japanese is a beautiful language and I will definitely keep studying and learning more even after I leave!

春休み

Recently, we had spring vacation. It was nice because of how busy last year was and my friend came to visit me from New Zealand. We didn’t get much sleep during the vacation time because we travelled so much, but it was very exciting so it’s okay! We went to Nagano to see the snow monkeys which was really cool! It was interesting to learn about them and how they live too. We also travelled around Kamakura, Yamanashi prefecture, went to Ueno Park for hanami and visited Disneyland! I’ve only been to Disneyland once before in Paris because there is no Disneyland that is close to New Zealand, so it was really fun. We also visited South Korea for a few days. We went to Seoul and Busan and I was so happy because the food was great and I was able to see the sea for the first time in a long time! Korea also had many sakura trees and they were in full bloom in Busan so we felt so lucky! We saw a lot of beautiful temples too. I’m very grateful I was able to travel like this because I think experiencing different countries and cultures is very important and educational! I hope I can take these memories with me as I go into the future!