ちょっと小休止 サクレ・クール寺院Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (Basilica of Sacred Heart) メトロ12号線アベス駅からから近い。我が拙い英文で書いた様にボクはその駅前広場で尺八を吹いてお恵みに与った。

---------- Soon after I began to play a tune, one of those I used to sing when I was an elementary school pupil, there came a woman with a baby buggy, she stopped a few yards in front of me as if she had forgotten pushing the buggy and loo…

8 – My second day in Paris In reality, I’ve already started my second day, and the latter half of it as I wrote about my visit to the church, which was paid in the afternoon. I spent the early part of the second day just like this man play…

After a seemingly nervous exchange of look at each other, the two women started speaking in English in a timid way but with no apparent reluctance. Both of them extolled my musical performance, saying that I must be a professional musician…

French people don’t speak in English even if they are good at the language. That’s what I was told when I was enjoying small talk with my colleagues from overseas, one from Britain and the other from the U.S. The Brit told me about his bit…

French people don’t speak in English even if they are good at the language. That’s what I was told when I was enjoying small talk with my colleagues from overseas, one from Britain and the other from the U.S. The Brit told me about his bit…

I felt like playing my 尺八、but was afraid I might disturb those people around by the noise I make, i.e., my poor performance on the bamboo flute. After a lot of hesitation, however, I screwed up my courage and took the instrument out of …

I felt like playing my 尺八、but was afraid I might disturb those people around by the noise I make, i.e., my poor performance on the bamboo flute. After a lot of hesitation, however, I screwed up my courage and took the instrument out of …

7 - My first day in Paris - continued As soon as I got on the metro train and sat on a seat, a metro musician spotted me right away and approached me playing some familiar tune on his accordion. The tune was all right, reminiscent of some …

7 - My first day in Paris I planned to spend my first day in Paris walking along the Champs-Elysees. Of all places, this fine avenue lined with chestnut trees has a lot of appeal for me, perhaps because of the song, for one thing, Oh! Cham…

ちょっと休憩、パリ、モンマルトル、冬の1景

6 - A little bit in Korean at Montmartre - continued The next day after arriving at the hotel, I was having breakfast when I saw within earshot distance a man like me sitting at his desk with his back toward me. I called to him asking in K…

6 - A little bit in Korean at Montmartre While searching for a hotel on the Internet, I came upon a two-star one in Montmartre. The hotel had a garden with flowers in bloom and accommodations good enough for me. I felt inclined to decide o…

Me playing on 尺八、July 5th 2016, on the bridge popularly known as `Pont de Solferino`.

5 - My first French in Paris - continued The third taxi that took me, after all, turned out to be my very first and last taxi I rode in throughout the whole of my stay in Paris. The driver, a French man in early middle age, was friendly en…

5 - My first French in Paris June 22nd, 2016, at long last, I was in Paris for the first time in my life at the age of 70 plus 9 months. I was so excited. This sort of excitement is something I could never experience if I kept on living ju…

4 - My bucket list - continued "Just hang around in Paris?" She looked askance at me. "Yes." "I'm sure no one would take kindly to an old Oriental like you in Paris." "I don't expect any kindness of anyone." "Well, then, what's on your min…

4 - My bucket list It was an African-American English teacher Jtn that first introduced me to this interesting word - a bucket list - just before my dismissal from the school. The word really prompted and urged me to think seriously about …

3 - Away from her For about a month I concentrated and spent all day long every day except when to eat and sleep translating from English into Japanese some 180 pages filled with IT related technical jargon on `Maritime Navigation and Comm…

2 - English grammar and feminism They say misfortunes never come alone. Indeed, what made me feel yet badder was the school I worked part-time for as a Japanese teacher of English sacked me due solely to my having reached the 70th of age. …

Wallowing in languages, a Japanese septuagenarian travels abroad alone - Oh, Ojinjin 1 - Coqui ou cocu? Back in Sepetember 2015, I became 70. In Japan, the age of 70 is referred to as 古希、pronounced coqui, coki, or koki, anyways, meaning…