Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Freiburg Again

　　Yuri and I will leave for Osaka at tomorrow noon by air. Originally I prefered the ferry to the plane. The ferry leaves my hometown at night and arrives at Osaka in the early morning. I like seeing the night view on the Seto Inland Sea over a canned beer. However, to my regret, the number of midnight services of the ferry decreased recently and the arrival time was changed to one hour later. It is why I chose the plane this time. The influence of the recession is seen across the country.

(Vocabulary)

number of service  便数 

Yuri's Send-off Party

　　Yuri is set for staying in Freiburg from the end of this month for about one year. My family and relatives who live near got together and had a send-off party for her today. It's a great occasion for a member of the family to live abroad. Particularly, for her grandparents, it's an incredible adventure. They spent their childhood during the Great East Asian War, and even now, they feel uneasy about living abroad. However, as for me, I feel a little bit envious of her for living abroad in her younger days. It must become a precious experience.

Portable Printer

　　　The day that my second daughter, Yuri, leaves for Germany is coming close. She is preparing for her one-year stay in Freiburg now. Today, I got a portable printer for her. It looks functional and I will show it to you in the picture. It just seems to be a box, but works well as a printer. It's amazing. I also got  some spare ink cartridges and an AC adaptor for use in Europe.

Dormitory Uncertain

My daughter, Yuri, and I were looking for a domitory for her in Freiburg for several days though we have yet to find one. We were at a loss and decided to ask the municipal staff member who was dispatched to Freiburg from Matsuyama City. He is a public figure and has some limitations in giving assistance to individuals, I think. We are expecting good news from him.

(Vocabulary)
uncertain 〈事が〉 はっきりしない, 不確かな, 不安定な
Our plans are still uncertain.  私たちの計画はまだ確定していない．
have yet to do sth  (フォーマル) まだ＜…＞していない
at a loss   途方に暮れて, 当惑して
at a loss to do something   どう＜…＞するか途方に暮れて
Detectives are so far at a loss to explain the reason for his death.
刑事たちはこれまでのところ彼の死因の説明に窮している．
at a loss for words   言葉に窮して
public figure  公的な人物

A Nice Adviser

     I got up late because of fatigue on Jan. 2nd, but this day was a special day. We would have a guest this afternoon. The guest was a charming Japanese lady who had the experience of staying in Freiburg for a year. I met her at the welcome party for German people last year for the first time. I wrote about the party here. Yuri decided to learn about the German culture in Freiburg and we asked her for advice for staying in Freiburg. Yuri began to have an interest in Freiburg after visiting the city with me last year. I didn't give her name here, but all her advice sounded nice.

New German-Japanese Dictionary

     I bought a German-Japanese dictionary today. I already have a 30 year-old one, but I thought that the dictionaries must have had a remarkable progress in 30 years. I learned German for only two years in college, and at that time I had only to learn the reading and a little writing. However, what I need now is to listen and speak German, because I'm planning to visit Germany again next spring.

     I picked up and thumbed through every dictionary from the shelves in the bookstore. All of them were printed with more than two colors and easily viewable. Plural fonts are used and it made them eye-friendly. As I expected, the dictionaries on the bookstore's shelves were significantly different from the older. I felt refreshed and am developing my German vocabulary.

(Vocabulary)

thumb through sth  ＜本・雑誌など＞にざっと目を通す = flick through

develop [build up, enrich, improve] one's vocabulary  語彙を増やす

 

Hang in there! Merkel!

     The picture was taken in Freiburg when I made my first visit. I went into the city on Sep. 26, the day before the general election in Germany. The man in the picture was Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the would-be Prime Minister. He used to be the right-hand man of Gerhard Schröder who I hated.

     Gerhard Schröder was the former Prime Minister of Germany. He had been flattering Russia and China all the time while in office. Despite being the Prime Minister of Germany, he didn't pursue any national intersts but just thought of his own profit. After he walked out of the government, Steinmeier looked like a good assistant of the Prime Minister, Angela Dorothea Merkel. I had been suspecting that Steinmeier had just acted to be faithful to her, and I knew I was right when she met the Dalai Lama. He suddenly started accusing her. I recalled it when I saw the panel in the picture, and felt sick to my stomach.

     By the way, the Dalai Lama visited my hometown today. I knew his schedule a few months ago, but couldn't take a day off. Even if I couldn't attend the lecture meeting, I just wanted to see him with my naked eyes from a distance. I hoped that he would preserve his health and get autonomy from cruel China.

(Vocabulary)

Hang in there!  頑張れ！

right-hand man  （仕事などの補佐役としての）右腕

national benefits / gain / interests / profit  国益

feel sick to one's stomach  胸くそが悪くなる

lecture meeting / lecture presentation  講演会

from a distance  遠くから

preserve health / retain one's health  健康を保持する

autonomous control / autonomy  (地域・国などの) 自治（権）

autonomy from 

Rebel forces are fighting for autonomy from the central government. 反乱軍は中央政府からの自治権を獲得するために戦っている．

Germany

     I had a good impression about Germany through this trip, though I had visited only a part of its southern area. I looked for the reasons why I thought like that, and got to think as follows.

     At first, German people were kind and polite in general. I felt friendly toward them. Germany has its own long history and it was just like Japan. Streets were clean and it was safe. The punctuality of the German trains also surprised me. I didn't expect it before leaving Japan.

     I admit that I had watched only very restricted aspects of Germany, so my knowledge about Germany would be shallow or superficial. It made me think I've got to learn more about Germany.

     On the other hand, I had to buy mineral water in Germany. In Japan, I can drink the tap water. Additionally, there were few public toilets in the street. It was always distressing to me.

     However, I like Germany. I should have visited in my younger days. Now, I'm not sure, but Germany would be like Canada for me. I mean, when I was in Canada for my first visit, I got to love it, and finally I got to visit Whistler in Canada again and again. I would repeat visiting Germany from now. Now, let's start adding to my German vocabulary.

（Vocabulary)

add  [自] 追加する

add to sth   ＜…＞を増やす

What he said only added to my anxiety. 彼の言ったことは私の心配をつのらせるだけだった．

Pictures From Plane

Today's Route

     I could hardly see the earth on the outbound way to Germany due to thick clouds, though outside was always daytime for the twelve hours of flight. I've never been to China, Mongolia, Russia, etc.  In short, I haven't been to any of the countries but South Korea on the Eurasia. I really wanted to see the land from the plane, but couldn't. As for the return flight, we would go through the short night time zone around Siberia. I didn't expect anything about the scenery from the window. However, I could see the lights of Irkutsk and the dark blue and mysterious surface of Lake Baikal under the full moon. I'll show you two pictures of Irkutsk first.

        I met the rising sun when the plane was just going out of China into the Yellow Sea. The earth had a specific terrain so that you would find where it was. The next two bright pictures were of the Incheon International Airport. I had landed at this airport last March and I remembered it. In the next picture, Han River, which runs through Seoul City, and Imjin River, which separates North and South Korea, merges at under the Odusan Unification Observatory by which I had passed this March. I wrote about this observatory here.

  

     The last three pictures are of Han River in the center of Seoul City, which divided into three parts. I could detect the hotel that I had stayed at in March.

 

(Vocabulary)

in a word / in short  要するに

Irkutsk　イルクーツク

Lake Baikal  バイカル湖

full moon  満月

Han River  漢江

Imjin River  臨津江

Airplane and Flight Meal

Today's Route

     As I wrote in the previous entry, I had to kill time at the boarding gate. I was taking pictures of our airplane. After the loading of meals and drinks, the stowage of the baggage began just  in front of me. At that time, a staff member of the airport stopped his towing carts and opened the door of a cart. He started taking the baggage out of the cart. What? When I was gazing at him, several people noticed him and got together around me. What's happening?  Someone told us that the authorities must have received a bomb warning or something like that. He was apparently joking, but a lady was really angry at him. I got a scare, not from the bomb story, but from her acid words. At the same time, I thought that the words that came out of the mouth with strong breath were just like what the pronunciation should be. The pronunciation of Japanese people is completely the contrary. What I mean is, as Japanese  people talk they don't exhale strongly. I think this is one of the reasons why most Japanese aren't good at speaking English. Anyway, the airport's official took two bags out of his cart and put  the other baggage back. Flight meals of the return flight were also as good as outward. I'm not sure now, but I would probably choose Lufthansa if they have a flight to the place I want to go.

(Vocabulary)

stowage  (船などの) 収納［積み荷］スペース; 収納, 積み込み

bomb warning  爆破予告

get a scare   ぎょっとする

outward flight  行きのフライト

Frankfurt Airport

Today's Route

     We stayed at the Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers last night. This hotel was really good. We were lucky to stay here at a reasonable price because the day was in the discount period. The breakfast was included in the room price and it was also really good.

     I took some pictures of the airport from our room and I found that the airport was under renovation. I heard from my wife that Frankfurt airport was huge and clean. It looked like she liked this airport, but I didn't. When we got to the airport for the first time a week ago, we  couldn't reach the baggage claim smoothly. Moreover, it took some time to find our hotel yesterday, because of few signboards. It might be due to the temporal renovation, but the airport was in a jumble.

     I'd like to say one more thing. There were only a few duty-free shops after going out of the country. I thought I would get several  souvenirs and also do some window-shopping here, but I couldn't and I had too much time to kill at a time.

     Just before getting on board, I put new batteries into my data logger, which would record our track. It would make it easy to detect the point of the pictures through the window. The route that we flew is processed and is on the internet linked from Today's Route above.

(Vocabulary)

discount period　割引期間

in a jumble　雑然と

at a time  同時に

Dinner

Today's Route

     We just wandered around the Old City, looking for a nice place for dinner. The first picture is of the opera house that we found by chance. It looked like it had a long history and I hoped that I would enjoy an opera there someday. The next two pictures  are of the shops that engaged Yuri's interest. She is 21 years old, but looked like a low teen. She was looking for candies for her sisters in the pictures. While I laughed  at her saying "You look like an ant that gathers around sweets", I was told that the things in the pictures were like a magnet for me. Actually I was interested in how to adjust the power of charcoal fires on the barbecue in the next two pictures and I was gazing at it for more  than ten minutes. Someone might be wondering if I was a beggar or someone who was hungry at that time.  Anyway, the barbecue man was moving the grill up and down, and sometimes rotating it. It was a nice idea. We had various kinds of food from street stalls tonight. I looked for the domestic dish, 'wiener schnitzel', but couldn't find it. I'll try next time. The  man in the last picture also attracted me. It was really the country of sausages as might be expected.

(Vocabulary)

engage  [他](フォーマル) 〈人〉 を魅了する

engage sb's interest/attention   ＜人＞の興味［注意］をひく

grill  (肉などを焼く) グリル, 焼き網

as might be expected  さすがに

Goethe Museum

Today's Route

     The tourists' attraction that I most wanted to visit in Frankfurt was the Goethe Museum. Needless to say, he is one of the most known authors in the world. I  reserved a half day in Frankfurt for it. I heard that the museum was modified from his real residence and his daily life was well reserved in it and so, I expected that the museum would be a huge building next to his original house. However, the museum wasn't so famous in the neighborhood. We asked the people in the street how to get to there, but there were few who could answer us accurately and properly. We managed to get there, but almost passed by it. The museum was very low-profile. As you can see in the picture, the signboard was so small. The museum was his original house itself. Because I thought that the museum had been newly built adjacent to his original house in commemoration of him, I was surprised that the museum was his original house itself.

     In the museum, old things that he or his family actually used were preserved, but flash photography wasn't allowed in the museum, so most of my pictures were out of focus. I'll show you some pictures that were shot well by the sunlight. There was a  room that was told to be the room where he was born. The house was four or five stories tall, and he seemed to be born into a rich family.

(Vocabulary)

reserve sth for sth/sb  ＜…＞を＜…＞のために取っておく

You should reserve a day for a trip by steamer down the Rhine.  汽船でのライン川下りに1日取っておくべきです．

flash photography  《写真》フラッシュ撮影法

out of focus  ピンぼけで

blurred photo / blurry photo / cloudy picture / out-of-focus picture ピンぼけの写真

Statue of Schiller

Today's Route

     The pictures of the airport were shot from our room. Our hotel is noted as a  luxurious one in the world, but the day we stayed was at a discount rate and the room fare was reasonable. We were really lucky. We  decided to enjoy the last German night in the Old City of Frankfurt and went out, though it was already past three o'clock in the afternoon.

     The statue of Friedrich Schiller is in the picture. When I was a medical student, I had joined the orchestra and sung his words, Ode to Joy. I recalled and sang a part of his words here and was able to surprise Yuri. I think that the mysterious aspects of fathers seem to be a magnet for children. As I wrote here in this blog, Yuri hadn't known until recent times that I had learned German long ago. I couldn't communicate with Germans sufficiently now, but could read the words on signboards. I was happy and comfortable to see her eyes that admired me. I have already decided to give up visiting Canada this season. I was going to visit during the Olympic Games, but I'm thinking of visiting southern Germany next March again. I'm brushing up my conversation skills by then.

(Vocabulary)

words  歌詞

Ode to Joy  歓喜の歌

ICE First Class

Today's Route

     One of the annoying aspects of this trip was that there were few toilets in the street. We used the toilet in the station out of curiosity just before our departure though I knew there was one in the train. The picuture is of the toilet under renovation. You need 80 cents to use it. I got a kick out of "center" on the sign at the entrance. What did it mean? I thought that only "WC" was enough.

     By the way, we got on ICE 74 that started at 11:49, and the itinerary was in the second picture. All the stations that this train would stop at were ones that I knew. I really wanted to visit them and the train would go to Kiel that is noted as the site of the sailors' mutiny that sparked the German Revolution in late 1918, just before the end of World War One. There must be historic monuments around the city.

     We took seats in the first class on the return journey for fun. I was going to have  lunch in the buffet, but it was crowded and I gave up. The cup in the picture was delivered by a staff member from the buffet. A coffee was offered at a reasonable price in our own seats.

     Our seats were at the side of the column between the windows and were rear-facing. In the Shinkansen, the Japanese superexpress, passengers can change the direction of the seats as they like, but I couldn't in the ICE. It was really uncomfortable. Additionally the data logger couldn't catch the wave from the GPS satellites. Consequently, today's route was incomplete. however, luckily, the passengers behind us got off at Karlsruhe and I moved to the seat where they were sitting and could take some pictures. Nevertheless, the data logger didn't work either. It has to detect its own position at first, but it couldn't because of the high speed of the ICE.

     I noticed the red point on the window glass. It was for taking off the glass in case of emergencies. At first I thought that a man had to break the glass with the red hammer-like staff with brute force, but it looked like it worked electrically.

     We were going to get off the train at Frankfort Airport, but the travel agent made a mistake in the reservation of the train, and our train didn't stop at the airport and we had to go to Frankfort and come back to the airport. The last picture is of the signboard at the entrance of the coach.  It looked like this train would also stop at Hannover and Hamburg before Kiel. As I wrote before, train trips in Europe must be fun. As soon as we checked in the Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers at the airport, we went out to the Old City of Frankfort for sightseeing.

(Vocabulary)

aspect  [C] (状況・問題などの) 一面, 側面

Dealing with people is the most important aspect of my work.  人間関係が私の仕事でいちばん重要な側面です．

itinerary   旅行計画, 旅程

mutiny   (兵士・海員の) 反乱

for fun  面白半分に

rear-facing seat  後ろ向きの席

with brute force  力任せに

Departure

Today's Route

     We got up about 7:30 and checked out of the hotel at 9:30 after the fourth time of having the same breakfast in this hotel. Yuri wanted to call in at the souvenir  shop in the Old City that was closed when we visited it last night. She found something inside the window last night. Though I had no plan today, I couldn't leave her alone and followed her. We had been staying in Freiburg for several days, but it was the first time we'd walked in the Old City in the morning, and so I was surprised to see the open space around the Cathedral. It had become a big bustling market. I'll show you some pictures and write some remarks. Bread is called  "Brot" in German. The first picture was of a movable bakery shop and there were many types of bread that I had never seen. At the  meat shop in the second picture, I found many kinds of sausages and something smoked. There is no sea around Freiburg, but there were fishes. Cheese was sold sliced and I'd never seen such a  big block of cheese. If I could visit this city again, I'd prefer a condominium-like place rather than the usual hotels and would cook using these domestic  materials. Whenever we visit Whistler in Canada, our ski trip is always like that. I had been eating different sausages every day there, but I hadn't completed all the different kinds of sausages in the market. Are there any condominiums in Freiburg?

(Vocabulary)

be sold sliced  （果物などが）切り売りされる

bustling (場所が) にぎわった, 活気に満ちた

Dinner

Today's Route

     We got back to Freiburg by ICE (InterCity Express, the German superexpress train) that we had transferred to from an ordinary train at Offenburg. We didn't need to make haste, but the French Rail person decided so without asking us. Anyway, it was all right because we reached our hotel.

     When I entered our room, I found 41 Euro in the envelope on the bed on which only my name was written. As soon as I saw it, I understood it  was from Steiert, but there was no apology. I didn't miss the 41 Euro. Would one who misses 41 Euro come to Germany from Japan? I really wanted to be apologized to for the sudden cancellation. I think that the firm that never apologizes for its own fault shouldn't be trusted. What would they do in a case of a more serious accident?

     We went out for dinner and headed for the Old City in accordance with my rule that you should have domestic or local dishes when you are out for a trip. We took seats in a restaurant near the Cathedral and ordered two kinds of domestic dishes  like the pictures. They were so delicious and went with Badisch wines. I shared the dishes with my daughter. This was the last dinner in Freiburg.

     The last picture shows the sign saying the present condition of the air. It looked like we were in a clean environment.

(Vocabulary)

transfer  [自] (電車・バス・飛行機などを) 乗り換える

He had transferred from the Oslo plane.  彼はオスロから来た飛行機を乗り換えていた．

apologize for (doing) sth  ＜…＞（したこと）を謝罪する

apologize to sb (for sth)  （＜…＞について）＜人＞に謝罪する

I think you should apologize to your brother.  君はお兄さんに謝るべきだよ．

in accordance with sth  ＜規則・制度など＞に従って, のっとって

go with  ～と調和する、～と釣り合う、～によく合う

Spicy food goes with beer.  ビールによく合う

The Peaceful Border

Today's Route

     We got back to Germany by a bus and this was the last time passing over the border for this trip. I was expecting to be checked at the immigration control at  every border and the number of stamps on my passport would rise, but there was no check at the borders. The pictures were taken on the bridge over the river Rhine, the border between France and Germany. The fourth picture was shot when we just  passed through the bridge and we were in Germany. 

We got relieved and relaxed to be back in Germany though we aren't German. I can understand German a little, but it wouldn't be the reason why we felt happy here. I think that my relief would imply that I really  came to hate France this day.

     By the way, I recalled a tiny bridge that had been the most miserable and ridiculous bridge in the world. I visited there with my eldest daughter early spring and wrote the trip notes in this blog. If you are interested in the bridge, please look here. Will the day come when some day people could freely walk on the bridge?

     The last picture shows the ticket from Strasbourg to Freiburg. I noticed the schema of a block calendar and a clock on the face. It might have been for people who didn't know French, but I thought that "DATE" or "TIME" should be all right. I wondered how high the literacy rate is in France.

(Vocabulary)

literacy rate   識字率

block calendar / tear-off calendar  日めくり

face  (時計の) 文字盤 a clock face

No More France

Today's Route

     The picture is of the Cathedrale Notre-Dame, which was the main tourists' attraction of the Old City. I lost my words to see it. It was so monolithic and magnificent.  We could go up to the top of the tower, but we were sick and tired of staying in this city and only took some pictures here. Originally, I was intersted in the history and I had a little knowledge about the history of this area, Alsace, but I got to become indifferent to them. I didn't know why? When Matsuyama castle in my hometown was under renovation for two years a few years ago, two pictures were found on the ceiling. They must have been drawn by a renovation worker 200 years ago. When I saw them, I felt as if I were chatting with him. Likewise I really wanted to see only a stroke of the sculptor in the Cathedral, but such a desire seemed to disappear. Maybe it was due to the unkindness of the French people. At any rate, we headed for the station.

     At the station we were at a loss how to get the ticket to Freiburg. There was no ticket-vending machine which we were familiar with in Germany. I asked three staff members of the French Rail Company. Their attitude was utterly impolite and rude. We were strangers in Strasbourg and it was natural that we didn't know the French way. I thought all three could understand me, though I asked in English. My daughter also did in German. I didn't think that these three staff members were the representatives of all French people, but I would never visit France again. All of my family members love skiing. The transborder ski tour from Chamonix in France to Italy could be the best memory of my family before one of my daughters would have gone with her partner. However, this plan has disappeared completely. After coming back to Japan, I told this to my wife, who had visited France four times on her business trips. She told me, "At first, you should say 'bonjour' and their attitude would be changed." Really? but I've had enough of France.

     We managed to get tickets for Freiburg and had some time to go and walked around the station. We happened to find a TGV (superexpress train in France) and took pictures. If we had had sufficient time, we could travel around Alsace province  from Freiburg, via Kehl, Strasbourg, Colmar, (Riquewihr,) Mulhouse and Basel to Freiburg in a day. It would have been a great one-day trip, starting from Germany, via France and Switzerland, and returning to Germany. As I wrote in the previous entry "Fraud?", I was really sorry not to be called from Steiert the previous night.

(Vocabulary)

Cathedrale Notre-Dame  ノートルダム大聖堂

monolithic  一枚岩でできた, 〔建物などが〕巨大な、頑丈な

sick of sth/sb  ＜…＞にうんざりして, 飽き飽きして

I'm sick of pizza. Let's have something else. ピザなんてもういやだよ．何かほかのものにしよう．

be sick of doing sth  ＜…＞するのはもううんざりだ

I'm sick of working for other people.  他人のために働くなんてもううんざりだ．

be sick and tired of sth/sb (be sick to death of sth/sb とも)  ＜…＞にはまったくうんざりしている, つくづくいやになっている

indifferent  無関心な, むとんちゃくな, 冷淡な 

renovation 修復, 刷新

renovation work  [U] 修復工事

sculptor 彫刻家

Chamonix  〔フランス〕 シャモニー

I've had enough (of sth/sb) （＜…＞には）もううんざりだ

Boat Cruise

Today's Route

     It was about 1:00 p.m. when I looked at my watch after lunch. It was too late to visit Riquewihr and Colmar. I knew it was no use to regret what had happened, but I couldn't help thinking that if  we could leave Freiburg earlier, we would be able to see the scenery of Alsace. Anyway, we decided to take the sightseeing boat, which cruised around the Old City of Strasbourg for 70 minutes. I'm showing pictures from the boat, which were blue-colored through  the window of the boat.

     The scenery from on the water was not bad. There was guidance in Japanese, though the pronunciation was a little weird.  Why didn't they ask a Japanese to record the notes. The boat went around the Old City and after that, it took us to the European Union Parliament and European Court of Human Rights. I realized that this city was the center of the EU. Additionally, come to think of  "the center", Strasbourg means the city of the streets. It might have been the center of this area from long ago.

     After 70 minutes cruise, we went to the symbol of this city, Cathedrale Notre-Dame. We had visited several cities and watched a few cathedrals, but Cathedrale Notre-Dame was literally different from others. I'll write about it in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)

talk without notes  原稿なしで話す

Europarliament / European Union Parliament  欧州議会

European Court of Human Rights  欧州人権裁判所