The scrapes The other day, I got footsore on my heels on my way home because I was wearing new sandals. When I took a bath at the night, the scrapes really hurt me, but at the same time, the tingling pain reminded me of my childhood. When I was a kid, I would get scrapes or cuts easily so they bothered me during the bath time and I tried not to soak the part in the bath. I often get a bruise but hardly get a scrape any more. So I looked back to that time and enjoyed the tingling pain on my heels. A few days later, when I took off my socks, I scratched one of the scrapes with my thumb’s nail accidentally. Oopsy～ I think I will enjoy the pain longer. Yay! Thank you for reading my notebook.

Cello Lesson I had played the cello for three years, after that I didn’t do it for several years so I got rusty. I started to learn the cello again from the beginning. Below is what my cello teacher said in the class; 1. The position of each string is placed differently so whenever I go on to another string, I have to change the angle for the string. I should keep ninety degree angle between the string and bow to stay on the right point. 2. When my fingers are placed on a string, the left hand should be rounded, which means the knuckles should come out. 3. Concentrate on the ring finger when I put my fingers on the string to get correct tune and position. 4. Space between the middle finger and ring finger is too close, on the other hand, the space between the index finger and middle finger is too wide. The space between each finger should be equal when I put my fingers on the string. I have to practice♪ Thanks for reading my writing!

Getting lost I usually don't like getting lost, especially when I am almost late for an appointment. However, I enjoy getting lost when I travel because I find places with nice or interesting views or shops, and asking local people about the direction is fun, especially the people are talkative. In fact, I am not afraid of it. I would rather go further with curiosity. Fortunately, whenever I got lost, someone always helped me even some of them couldn't speak English, they tried to help me somehow. In Tokyo, the number of tourist has increased recently because of mainly the weak Japanese yen. Going forward, I want to help foreigners getting lost like me. Thanks for reading. Happy holidays!

Three memorable staff in souvenir shops in Slovenia and Croatia_2 3. Walking around in Zagreb, I found a small shop looking lovely and entered in the shop. There was no customer there. As soon as I looked at goods in the shop, a staff started talking to me. She said that the whole goods were handmade created by her mother and herself. I wanted to look around the shop on my own pace but she brought goods in front of me with explanation one after another. She was really talkative. And finally I was caught in her pace. She offered a seat for me and she said she had a plenty of time today. And then I got a little bit scary. She brought a lot of bracelets and put them on the desk for me. I found a lovely rose quartz bracelet but it was with a clasp. I know it’s really hard to put on by another hand only. I asked her if the clasp was changed into a stretch clear string used other bracelets if it was possible. She said that it was okay and it would just take a few minutes to change it. She walked up the stairs to work on it and after a little while, she was back to check the size of my wrist. When she tried to put it on my wrist, her hand slipped and most of the rose quartz threaded spread everywhere. I had kind of predicted that because the bracelet had left one end of the string free and she looked clumsy. She said, “I’m so clumsy..” I couldn’t dislike her somehow. She completed the bracelet using other rose quartz. After that, she showed a lot of small ceramic ornaments in a basket to me and told me to pick up one of them. I chose one shaped hexagram. She said “You make my day.” And she gave it to me. She grows on me.

Three memorable staff in souvenir shops in Slovenia and Croatia_1 I traveled to Slovenia and Croatia last month. I have written about three memorable staff in souvenir shops. 1. When I entered in a souvenir shop in Ljubljana, I found chocolate embedded prosciutto, seeds of sunflowers or something. It looked weird to me but I got interested in that, so I asked the staff if it was delicious. And he said after a couple seconds silence, “…I don’t like it.” He likes chocolate, prosciutto and the seeds themselves but he doesn’t like everything together in chocolate. His honesty made me laugh. He still wondered why people kept making chocolate like this. After his talks, I didn’t feel like buying it anymore. When I left the shop, I pushed the door which should be pulled so I made the sound loudly. Then he said, “Don’t worry, you’re not the first person to do it!” I couldn’t help laughing again. 2. In Zagreb, there was a small gemstones shop outside in open area. I stopped to look at the stones because there were various kinds of stones I’ve never seen before and they have various attractive colors. They were beautiful. The staff explained to me the meaning each stone has. She answered all my questions. She was really familiar with stones. I was impressed. She said it was my job. I bought a stone called “Labradorite” because its color changes when it gets light. It fascinates me. I forgot the meaning of the stone though. And then she picked another small stone called “Clear Quartz” and put it in another bag. She said that she enjoyed talking with me so she would give it to me. How sweet she is… I had a nice time with her.