Lesson 4
Dear Sue Garreis
Thank you for replying so quickly. My replies are written below in orange.
I can visit your homepage.
⇒Dear Mei,
Thank you
for your third message. My comments follow in purple.
Corrections are in italics.
Sincerely,
Prof. Sue Garreis
Oh! You said it! I hope you will send your reply when you have some time. Any time will do.
⇒Well, I owe you a big apology. I did not get on email this week until late this weekend. It is nearly midnight Sunday here in Maryland. I know it is about lunchtime in Chiba. So sorry! I'll try harder next week to check email more often.
I don't have my dog. I have three cat's. Saya have her dog. There are so much
what I want to draw. If I draw something, I will send you.
⇒Thanks for the correction. I realized after I sent the message that Saya
is the one with the dog named after her favorite chocolate. Oops! Sumi massen.
Thank you very much for inviting me. I want to go to your house, though my
English will be clumsy. When I have decided to go to America, I will
contact you.
⇒Wonderful! I really do hope we are able to meet sometime.
Rihgt. Fortunately, kanji look like characters of Chinese. So learning chraracters is not a impossible, as you say. I have a Vietnamese friend. Characters of Vietnamese look like characters of English. She says" I feel as if Jpanese just likes paintings." Do you think so, too?
⇒Yes, I try to imagine what the kanjii are supposed to represent, but I fail miserably.
I got it. You are so positive. I suppose men don't look his grateful. My brother has never said his grateful. In fact, I hardly say, too.
Now, you will be your daughter's house in Delaware, won't you? Social work is so prevalent in the US, isn't it? In Japan, social work is certificate of state. Though it doesn't mean it is important statue. Population of America is large. People need helping will be large too. Besids it needs much fund. Social workers have a lot of work to do. It is a hard job,isn't it? But, as for perspn, I think that it is a wonderful job. In Japan, some people commit fraud with utilization social worker's state.
⇒In the US, people try to commit fraud with the social welfare systems. Sometimes they succeed, but most of the time they don't. In my daughter's line of work, there is not much room for fraud. In her job, the state of Delaware (where she lives) decides whether it will take over the care and well-being of children that perhaps are being abused in some way. Sometimes the situation is not one of abuse. Sometimes it is an angry or vindictive neighbor who made the call about the children. Other times the children are really at risk. Kate's job is a very hard one, in my opinion. She does it very well. I could not do her job, I know that.
It's nice of you to say so. If you feel my expression to be impolite, let me know. I don't know how to use honorific words.
⇒Don't worry! I will tell you if the phrasing is not what it should be. I
think that American written and spoken speech has many fewer formal ways of
saying things than Japanese.
Maybe, I caught a cold by lack of sleep. Your remedy is very fun. My remedy is
to drink lots of hot ginger tea. Ginger heat up body. There are also Campbell's
goods in Japan. But, I have never seen chiken noodel soup. I wonder it is
limited to America.
⇒It never occurred to me that the red and white label chicken noodle soup would be only sold in America. See how provincial I am! Unfortunately, I am a typical American in that regard. Ginger tea sounds good! I imagine that it was very likely the lack of sleep that made you more susceptible to a cold. That's a risk that all students take. And it is even worse for graduate students!
I am indebted to you. Thank you for correcting everytime.
I will still make mistakes every time.But, I won't give up.
⇒I know you won't give up! And that will make all the difference for you. Your written English is pretty good. I don't have to make many corrections. Good for you!
I feel that Japan is a cool summer this year. How about temperature of East Coast?Take care and when you have time, drop me a line.
⇒Oh, my goodness! The temperature just shot up overnight. It was very humid today. Right now (10:45 pm), the temperature is still 85 degrees Fahrenheit (about 29 degrees Celsius). At the beginning of the week, the temperature was a delightful 70 degrees F (about 21 degrees C). And the humidity was very low. That is what makes it hard for me--the humidity. I was drenched in sweat at the end of the week after just an hour in the garden and I was working the shade!! I am glad to hear you have some relatively cool weather. I know it can get very hot in your part of Japan.
Sincerely yours,
Mei
⇒This past week was a busy one for me. On Monday I was in Delaware to drive my oldest granddaughter to the doctor for a follow-up visit. She has a joint condition that makes it easy for her to dislocate her shoulder or hip. Her hip has given her a lot of trouble for the last couple of months. She must get exercise to strengthen her muscles. That way they can keep the bones in place better. We'll see what the summer brings for her. On Tuesday afternoon I rode the DC Metro to Washington DC to see a play with my sister. It was "Thurgood" about the first black justice on the US Supreme Court,Thurgood Marshall. I remember studying Marshall's cases when I was in law school in the 1970's. Here is a brief biography: http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm. I don't expect you to read it, but if you want practice, you certainly can. The play was a ninety-minute monologue by an actor I have seen on TV. It is hard to do a one-man show, but Laurence Fishburne did a magnificent job. I was so entranced by the play, that I bought a book about Justice Marshall in the Kennedy Center gift shop. The author is a man I have heard many times on the radio. I didn't realize he had written a book about Marshall. So instead of working on other stuff, I read Juan William's book. It made me respect Marshall's work in civil rights even more. Here's a link to the Kennedy Center, where the play was performed: http://www.kennedy-center.org/about/virtual_tour/. The virtual tour may take up too much bandwidth for you to see it. The Kennedy Center is a magnificent performing arts center. That was the first time I had been there. This is a link to some reviews of the play: http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showEvent&event=TKTSH. It was awesome! Many of the anecdotes were also in the book, I learned.
⇒Friday, I had a college friend at my house for lunch. That meant I spent parts of Wednesday and Thursday cleaning! There are still many things that have not found a permanent place yet, and there is still plenty of dust from the construction. So cleaning is always a task I dread. But the house looks nicer now. And I actually cooked real food. Usually I eat a sandwich for lunch standing up in the kitchen. Since I am the only one living here, I don't have to have a routine. But I couldn't do that to my friend! So we had a sit-down lunch in the dining room, and spent the whole afternoon chatting. She and I and another friend try to get together every month or so. Usually we meet at a restaurant, but I wanted to show them my newly redone house. Both women saw the house before it was redone. Frankly, I was just showing off! This afternoon was a birthday party for a four-year old grand-neice. I always enjoy going to her parents house to see them and my late husband's relatives. They are nice people and they have graciously kept me in their lives. And of course, having birthday cake for lunch is an added bonus! Abby is four. That is a cute age. Especially when I don't have to live with a 4-year-old every day!!
⇒Write when you have the opportunity. I will be better about checking my email this week.
⇒The new lesson is about the balance sheet. Here's the link: http://msgarreis.com/balance110.htm
In case you can't
access the page on my web site, I attached the page as a word document. Also
attached are the two excel files you will need for the lesson. I hope you can
access all the files on the web site. Let me know if you cannot.