3/18/2016

Last minute shopping

I took my 7-year-old Son to Karate practice yesterday evening.

While his was at practice, my 5-year-old Daughter and I went shopping.

The supermarket is closed at 8pm, and we got there at 7:15pm.

I was only going to buy ham, but when I found that grilled fish sold for only 100yen, I felt I wanted to call my husband because he likes fish very much.

He answered my call.

"Hello?"

I said in English on purpose.

"Hello? What happened (どうしたの)?"

He also said hello in English because the two of us are studying English.

"Are you going to come home early today?"

I asked him.

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Why did you say "really"?"

He was surprised at me.

"Well, because you came home late every day in this week."

Actually, he was so busy this week that he came home around 5am every day.

"We are at the suparmarket now, I found the grilled fish is sold for 100 yen. It had been sold for 280 yen at first. But it is discounted because the supermarket will be closed soon."

He said:

"I want it!"

I also found Takoyaki (Octopus dumplings) was sold on sale for half price, and I bought it becasue my Daughter wanted it.

Then she suddenly said:

"Wow! I found my favorite thing!"

"What is it? Snack?"

I asked her.

"No! That is my favorite!"

She pointed at Tubozuke, which is a kind of yellow pickled radish(Daikon).



I was surprised at her because children usually don't like pickled vegetables.

Since it was sold by weight, I asked the shop clerk assistant:

"Can I have 100g of Tubozuke?"

"Sure."

He answered.

My Daughter added to me:

"Before I came here with my Dad, he threw in extra Tubozuke!"

I was really embarrassed to hear that.

He put Tubozuke into a plastic bag and weighed it.

He said:

"This is 100g, but I threw in extra."

"Oh, I am sorry, we seem to have pressured you into giving us a discount by force.

I couldn't help apologizing to him.

But my Daughter said with a smile:

"Thank you!"

She must be a better shopper than me.


When my children and I came home, my husband was already home.

We were glad that he came home before we went to bed.

We ate Takoyaki and grilled fish.

My husband and I drank beer together, and he made an appetizer for us.

"It's like a party!"

My Daughter said.

I told my husband:

"Good for you! Everybody is glad you came home early. Most children usually would not be so glad if their Dad who always comes home late comes home early. Do you know why we are so glad?"

"I don't know."

He said.

"The answer is easy. You always take care of our children. You always listen to me. That's all. It is not so important how long you stay with us. The important thing is the quality of time you spend with our children. You are a really good father."

I think not only children but also husbands will thrive by praising them.


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5 comments:

  1. Hello Kumi-san,

    So I learned from this post to always take a smiling 5 year old girl to the supermarket while shopping :). Although I am not sure how I will obtain a spare 5 year old, I will have to think about it.

    I have to say I agree with your Daughter, I always liked picked things as a child. Even for things which unpickled I would not eat. Maybe that means I am just a fan of vinegar. Which is certainly true now as I am very fond of rice and vegetables in vinegar.

    I don't really know much about Japanese beer other than one name "Asahi/アサヒ". If G+ is anything to go by a lot of people seem to drink that beer. Looking at the dictionary it says that it means "Morning Sun" but there are many different entries for it, so I am not certain. I am not Teetotal (someone who does not drink alcohol) but I don't often drink and when I do I mostly like wine.

    Here are a list of some of the issues found in the article:

    Part 1:

    This line:
    While his practice, my 5-year-old Daughter and I went shopping.

    Should be:
    While he was at practice, my 5-year-old Daughter and I went shopping.

    This line:
    I was going to buy only ham, but when I found a grilled fish sold only for 100yen, I felt I wanted to call my husband because he likes fish very much.

    Should be:
    I was only going to buy ham, but when I found that grilled fish sold for only 100yen, I felt I wanted to call my husband because he likes fish very much.

    This line:
    "We are at the suparmarket now, I found the grilled fish is sold 100 yen. It had been sold for 280 yen at first. But it is discounted because the supermarket will be closed soon."

    Should be:
    "We are at the supermarket now, I found the grilled fish is sold for 100yen. It had been sold for 280 yen at first. But it is discounted because the supermarket will be closed soon."


    This line:
    I also found Takoyaki (Octopus dumplings) was sold for half price, and I bought it becasue my Daughter wanted it.

    Should be:
    I also found Takoyaki (Octopus dumplings) was sold for half price, and I bought it because my Daughter wanted it.

    Note: The above line is as far as I can tell grammatically correct (apart from the small spelling mistake) but, when you refer to something being sold that is reduced in price with the express purpose of it being sold quickly, it is often said to be "on sale". So the sentence can be rewritten as:

    I also found Takoyaki (Octopus dumplings) was on sale for half price, and I bought it because my Daughter wanted it.

    Note: Although the above sentence sounds slightly more natural, I will leave it to you to decide which you wish to use as both are right.

    This line:
    She pointed Tubozuke, which is a kind of yellow pickled radish(Daikon).

    Should be:
    She pointed at Tubozuke, which is a kind of yellow pickled radish(Daikon).

    This line:
    I was surprised with her because many children usually don't like pickled vegetables.

    Should be:
    I was surprised at her because many children usually don't like pickled vegetables.

    This line:
    Since it was sold by weight, I asked the shop clerk man:

    Should be:
    Since it was sold by weight, I asked the shop assistant:

    This line:
    "Can I have this Tubozuke 100g?"

    Should be:
    "Can I have 100g of Tubozuke?"

    This line:
    "Before I came here with my Dad, he threw in Tubozuke extra!"

    Should be:
    "Before I came here with my Dad, he threw in extra Tubozuke!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Part 2:

    This line:
    "This is 100g, but I threw in it extra."

    Should be:
    "This is 100g, but I threw in extra."

    This line:
    "Oh, I am sorry, we seemed to let you give us a discount of it by force.

    Should be:
    "Oh, I am sorry, we seem to have pressured you into giving us a discount by force."

    This line:
    I couldn't help apologizing him.

    Should be:
    I couldn't help apologizing to him.

    This line:
    But my Daughter said with smiling:

    Should be:
    But my Daughter said with a smile:

    Or:

    But my Daughter said while smiling:

    This line:
    She must be a good shopper than me.

    Should be:
    She must be a better shopper than me.

    This line:
    We were glad that he came home before we go to bed.

    Should be:
    We were glad that he came home before we went to bed.

    This line:
    "Good for you! Everybody is glad so much only by your coming back home early. Children usually would not be glad so much if their Dad who always comes home late comes home early. Do you know why we are so glad your coming back?"

    Should be:
    "Good for you! Everybody is glad you came home early. Most children usually would not be so glad if their Dad who always comes home late comes home early. Do you know why we are so glad."

    This line:
    "The answer is easy. You always take care of children. You always listen to me. That's all. It is not so important how long you stay with us. The important thing is its density. You are a really good father."

    Should be:
    "The answer is easy. You always take care of (the/our) children. You always listen to me. That's all. It is not so important how long you stay with us. The important thing is the frequency. You are a really good father."

    Note: Density is used in English when you want to refer usually to how thick/solid/dense something is:

    For example:

    This cake is very solid/dense/thick/heavy (the opposite of a light and fluffy cake)
    The density/thickness of the fog was so great I could not see anything.

    Note: Frequency means how often an event happens:

    For example:

    The trees with Sakura blossoms are very frequently seen.
    The frequency of accidents while driving can be very high.
    Cranes are not frequently seen in cities.
    The microwave beeper beeped at a frequency of 2 times a second.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Terry.
      Thank you for your help again!

      Asahi(アサヒ) is the Asahi Breweried Ltd, which is one of the most popular brewery and softdrink company in Japan.
      Since my husband prepers "KIRIN(キリン)" (the name of the company), I usually buy KIRIN beer.
      His favorite product is "KIRIN CLASSIC LAGER".
      In fact, I don't understand the difference of the taste(^^;).

      Thank you for explaining about the meaning of "frequency".
      I am afraid that it is a little different from what I wanted to say.

      I changed "density" to " a quality time".
      How about it?

      I wanted to say in Japanese:
      "大切なことはその密度です。"
      I wanted to say that it is important to spend a quality time with our children even though he is too busy to have enough time with them.

      Thank you so much!

      Delete
    2. Hello Kumi-san,

      I have only ever drunk lager once and I didn't like it. I have drunk cider (fermented apple alcohol) and Guinness (a black stout). I have to say that although I like Guinness I much prefer wine

      On the issue of "a quality time", I would alter your new sentence very slightly, as follows:

      This sentence:
      The important thing is a quality time with our children.

      Should be:
      The important thing is the quality of time you spend with our children.

      Or:
      The important thing is that you spend quality time with our children.

      Note: "a quality time" sounds odd in the context it is used in your updated sentence so I updated your sentence a little. If it is not clear why let me know and I will try to come up with a clear explanation as to why.

      On an entirely unrelated topic, I was browsing G+ and found this article on Krispy Kreme Doughnuts new range they are producing for Easter. Since I know you like doughnuts I thought you may find this amusing:

      http://en.rocketnews24.com/2016/03/18/we-try-krispy-kreme-japans-new-easter-doughnuts-ahead-of-their-release-on-march-23/

      They look too cute to eat and looking at the prices I think I would put them in a glass display case and just look at them rather than eat them.

      Delete
    3. Thank you Terry, I corrected the sentence.

      Thank you for the link of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts!
      They are very cute!
      My daughter will be sure to glad to see it.
      As for me, I also like Mister Doughnuts(^^).

      Delete