MariNZさんの おぼえた日記 - 2018年2月28日(水)

Grape ぶどう

Early autumn is grape season. The photo shows the grape called Albany Surprise which is one of the most common and popular grapes here in NZ. They are sweet and remind me of the grapes I used to have when I was a child in Japan. I remember when I was a primary school student, on Sports day which was held in late September, my mother usually brought a container full of cut and peeled Asian pear, bunches of grapes and maybe early mandarines for dessert. I must have eaten them at home too, but the memory of these fruit in a square container on a mat at school ground is somehow still vivid.

When I was a child, also I was surprised to read somewhere that western people eat grape skins! I didn’t understand why. Are western people hungrier, poorer or they don’t care what they are eating? Then as I got older and my world became bigger, I found there are kinds of grapes which are hard to separate from the skins. I understood then what I had read. These grapes are sweet eaten with skins. We have those grapes which are nice to eat with skins on, too in our garden. Albany Surprise grapes can be eaten easily separating from skins.

秋の初めはぶどうのシーズン。写真はNZではごく普通で人気のある、アルバニーサプライズという種類のぶどう。甘くて子供の頃食べたぶどうを思い出す。小学生の頃、9月末の運動会で、母はよく入れ物に、たくさん梨の皮をむいて切ったもの、ぶどうの数房、それに時には早稲ミカンも入れて食後のデザートとして持ってきていたものだ。家でもそういう果物は食べたはずなのに、学校のグラウンドの広げた敷物の上で、四角い入れ物に入ったこれらの果物の思い出ははっきり残っている。

もう一つ子供時代の頃、「西洋ではぶどうは皮も食べる」と、どこかで読んでびっくりしたことがある。何故？西洋人はもっとハングリー？皮を食べないと勿体無い？それとも何も気にしていないのか？などと思った。しかし私がだんだんと大人になり世界が広がると、ぶどうには皮と実を分けることができない種類があるのを知った。その時、本で読んだことがわかった。これらのぶどうは、皮付きでも甘いのだ。家にも皮付きで食べて美味しいぶどうが植えられている。写真のアルバニーサプライズは皮と実を分け易いぶどうだ。


Io non ho paura
di Niccolò Ammaniti

Ecco, cosa dovevo fare.
Mi sono inginocchiato, mi sono steso e ho cominciato a strisciare. A ogni movimento che facevo cadevano calcinacci e mattonelle. Leggero, leggero come una lucertola, mi ripetevo. Sentivo le travi tremare. Ci ho messo cinque minuti buoni ma sono arrivato sano e salvo dall'altra parte.

inginocchiare: kneel, bend
stendersi: to stretch, lie down
strisciare: to scrape, drag, crawl
mattonella: tile
travi: beams, rafters

さあ、僕は何をしないといけないだろうか。
かがんだ、そして体を伸ばし這いつくばって前に進み始めた。動く旅に、紙やタイルがボロボロと落ちた。軽く軽くトカゲのように。それを繰り返した。梁がギシギシといった。こんな感じで５分を過ぎたがまだ無事で他のところには達していない。