日本的和服 很多外国人知道日本的和服。可是现在日本人平时不穿和服。 只有特别的时候才穿，比如婚礼、大学毕业式、成人式等等。 不但和服非常贵，而且穿它们很难。 如果你想试和服，我推荐穿:“浴衣；夏天的单层棉和服”。它们比较便宜，也穿简单。 姑娘穿浴衣真可爱。

Japanese Kimono Japanese kimono is now well-known among foreigners. But there aren’t many occasions to wear them even for Japanese, except some formal events such as weddings, graduation ceremonies from college or university, or coming-of-age ceremonies. Since we don’t wear them in our daily life, only few Japanese can put it on by themselves. We usually ask a professional to dress us in a kimono. There’re some other reasons why kimono is not so popular now. Formal kimono is too expensive to rent, let alone to buy, and hard to take care. One easy way to enjoy kimono is to wear “yukata”. It’s informal kimono for summer, and cheaper as well as easier to put on. I think girls in it look cute.

走路还是坐火车 我步行、骑自行车去附近买东西。 可是我要坐火车去不同的市镇。

Do I look so old? I usually walk or ride my bike around my place. But recently I took trains a couple of times to go out of my city for the first time in several years. Then a passenger offered me his seat. I was surprised. I had never given up a seat before. And after that other passengers also gave up their seats to me. Now I think I have to realize that I’m getting so old.

My neighborhood I live in an apartment situated in a very convenient area, although it’s not in the center of the city. There are several different clinics and nearly a dozen of dentists’ within 10-minute-walk distance. You can get to the branches of the city hall and the city library in less than five minutes. The bus service to the downtown is very frequent. I don’t have children, but if you have ones, kindergarten and nursery school are also in the area. But one thing I feel sorry about is that many trees were cut down to build these facilities.

Dryer At a laundry room in a hostel, I washed my clothes in a washing machine and tried to dry them in a dryer. But the dryer didn’t take in all the coins it should require. I went out of the room to find the staff. The staff tried a few times but failed, then she asked me, “Do you have an extra coin? The extra one will come out later.” Her idea was to put an extra coin into the slot to push in the former one. It worked. I thanked her, then she said, “I’m in the next room, so come to me any time you need help.” She was nice and agreeable.

At the laundry room I met a young lady at the laundry room in a hostel. She was an Austrian, and traveling with her sister in a package tour of twenty people from various countries. We said each other, “Is the laundry dry?” “No, not yet.” “Well, it might be impossible to dry them out in a short time.” “Yeah, we have to compromise.” Then she said, “I can’t find a sock.” We searched for it in the dryer, but failed. She said, “It’s OK. This always happens. It’s not mine, anyway. It’s my sister’s.” We said, “Good night.” and got back to each room.

Which hostel to choose? I stayed in two hostels at one city. In both hostels, I was in a six-bed dormitory. At one hostel, the kitchen and the dining room are well equipped, and the room has wooden-bunk beds, and a shelf for each guest, but you have to open four heavy doors to get to the bathroom. The other one has a bath room in each room but no shelves for guests. The guests have to put on ear plugs while sleeping, or you would be annoyed at squeaky sounds of metal-bunk beds. Although a room charge is less expensive, the kitchen is not as clean as the former one. I wonder which hostel I should choose next time.