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2回目で体験してもショックを受けるって事は半端じゃないものですね。小学校の夏休みは今日から始まった。という訳で、我が長男が普段より早く起きて亀清旅館の裏の中央公園でラジオ体操をやりました。夏休みですよ。休みだよ！日本は「休み」と言う意味が分からないのかな？小学生はかわいそう！宿題や自由研究などあって、いったいいつ休めるでしょうか？
If you get a culture shock even after the second time around, it must be a heck of a deal, right? Today is the start of Summer vacation for Kamiyamada Elementary School. So what did our son Andy do? Wake up even earlier than normal and go to the park behind Kamesei Ryokan to do the Radio Exercises with the rest of his classmates. Wait -- it's summer vacation! As in, "Vacation". Don't people in Japan know the meaning of the word "vacation"?!?! With Radio Exercises in the morning, mandatory pool times, all the homework and required research projects and reading, when are the poor kids supposed to take a vacation?

「梅雨」は英語に直せば「Rainy Season」や「Monsoon」だそうです。「夕立」は何でしょう。とにかく、私の地元のシアトルはもともと雨の多い町ですが、日本みたいに決まった時期（梅雨）もいきなりの（そしてあっという間に終わっちゃう）夕立の様な大雨もないです。そのうち、台風も始まるでしょう。シアトルのやわらかいあめが懐かしい！
Japan has its "tsuyu" rainy (monsoon?) season in June/July. Tonight we had a huge, but brief, downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning, called a "yuudachi" (evening shower). My hometown of Seattle is knowns as a rainy city, but we don't have a specific rainy season or flash downpours. Pretty soon Japan will also start its typhoon season. I'm starting to miss the gentle rains of Seattle...