みんなのフォトエッセイ

ジェリー／メナーシャ高校 (アメリカウィスコンシン州)

Gerri／Menasha High School (Wisconsin, USA)

本人が書いた文／Original text／本人原文／본인이 쓴 글

わたしはヌージーです。ハロウィンのパーティーです。

During the afternoon before, my gal pals and me were at the Fox River Mall and I found that awesome hat. I figured I could wear it to the costume party and be a newsie because they're sort of cool. All my buddies and I ate a lot and danced the night into oblivion. It was pretty darn fun. Halloween at the Mueller's house is always a night full of amusement. I like wearing ties, even though people think I'm trying to be Avril Lavign. I don't really care, I think that this picture turned out pretty well. It's one of the few where I don't look totally revolting.

わたしのかぞくはへんです。クリスマスの時かぞくをみました。

These are all my cousins on my mom's side of the family. My sister is up there with the glasses. She never wears her glasses anymore; I wonder if her eyesight improved since this picture was taken. We don't have that tree any more. We use a much bigger tree for Christmas now. My sister and I always make all of the ornaments for the tree every year because we use a different theme for decorating. That year's theme was bears. All of my cousins are cool beyond oblivion because their parents are all awesome people. My mom is probably the least awesome out of all her siblings, but I love her anyways.

これはわたしのねこです。とてもちいさいです。

My cats names are Baxter, on the top, and Darboy, on the bottom. I have a dog too but I don't really like him all that much because he barks all of the time and gets his snot all over me. I'm not a big fan of fluids that come from living organisms. I didn't choose to name my cat Darboy. That is one of the stupidest names I have ever heard of in my life. That's like naming him Fondulac. We don't even live in Darboy! What was my step sister thinking? I like my cats because they are flexible and cute and I can just snuggle up with them. I even taught Baxter how to walk with a leash. He loves to play outside. Whenever I open up the back door, Baxter bolts out onto the lawn into oblivion. Gosh, I just love my cats.

ニューヨークです。とてもカラフル。

Going to New York City in the 8th grade was such a grand experience. All of those lights just shot me into oblivion when I first saw them. We did so many things in this famous city. Visited historical landmarks, went to the smythsonians, we even spotted Janet, Ms. Jackson if you're nasty. Right after this picture was taken, we went to Broadway and saw the musical Aida. I fell asleep but that's only because it was an extremely long day. We saw the statue of liberty a few hours earlier and I was beat.

これはワイキキです。とてもきれいとたのしいです。

This is the most heavenly place I have been to on earth. All of Hawaii is just gorgeous, but Waikiki Beach was the epitome of magnificence. The water was aqua marine and so warm. There were surfers and wind sailors everywhere. The sand was white and soft. Even the people there were beautiful. During our trip to Hawaii, it was a lot of work and there was little time to enjoy ourselves. We thought that once we had reached Waikiki, we would get to actually be allowed to swim at one of the best beaches in the world. But, alas, that was not the case. We didn't have time to swim there because we had to go eat at some crappy world market restaurant. The one time the chaperones actually cared about us getting a decent meal was the one time we didn't want to eat.

わたしのすうがくのせんせいです。とてもおもしろい。

Mr. Christensen is the best darn math teacher that I have had in my entire existence on the planet. He cracks me up every day. He tells those kind of jokes that you have to be there to fully appreciate so don't think that I am going to share any of them because I couldn't do them justice. This is the most tolerable year of math yet. Initially, I thought Calculus AB was going to be wretchedly unbearable, but Mr. C shot all of those fears into oblivion. Even though we take a boat load of quizes every week, math has still remained a class where I don't look back at the clock every 5 minutes.

ジェリーの物語

Gのすべて

  わたしはジェリーで、メナーシャという小さな街に住んでいます。この街に不満を言う人は多いですが、わたしは気に入っています。場所よりも人が好きだからです。もうすぐ大学へ進学するのですが、ここの友だちと離れたくないので、マディソンのカレッジに行きたいです。とても評判が良く、知っている人もたくさん行っています。
  現在は友だちがわたしの人生を決めているような気がします。今は、友だちとどれだけ過ごせるかによっていろいろなことを決めています。友だちがいるから、わたしの人生は意味があり、輝いています。友だちがいなければとても無味乾燥な日々になると思います。学校が終わり、夏休みがはじまろうとしている今、学校の勉強に集中するのはとても難しいです。なんとか夏休みまで持ちこたえられればと思っています。
  いちばん熱意をもっているのは音楽です。いつも歌ったり演奏したり音楽を聴いたりしています。音楽なしの日は1日もないです。これを書いている今も音楽を聴いています。今月は、ヴァン・ヘイレン、ルダクリス、エンヤ、レッド・ホット・チリ・ペッパーズがわたしのお気に入りです。分野はさまざまですが、どれも同じぐらい好きです。フルートも吹きますし、ピアノとギターも習っています。学校の合唱団やミュージカルでも歌い、学校でも車の中でも家の中でも基本的に歌っています。
  外で遊ぶのも好きなので、スポーツをやっています。好きなのはテニスとラクロスです。学年をとおしてクロスカントリー、水泳、ダンス、バスケットボール、ソフトボールをしていますが、ラクロスとテニスが今のところいちばん気に入っています。親友2人のうちの1人、トリシャとテニスのダブルスもやります。いちばん上手なわけではありませんが、いつも練習していて、どの試合も一生けんめいやっています。今年は学校選抜に入ることができて、来年はもしかしたらダブルスでトップになれるかもしれません。チーム・キャプテンになるかもしれませんが、まだどうなるかわかりません。
  ラクロスのチームは、とてもいい経験になっています。チームにはほかの学校の生徒もいるのですが、女の子は3人しかいないのです。そこがいちばん気に入っています。ふだんは女子ばかりのスポーツをしていますが、それとはぜんぜん違うのです。男子ばかりのチームに入ると、スポーツに対する情熱が女子より男子のほうが純粋に感じるのです。ラクロス部の部員は全員ラクロスに情熱をかけていますし、絆も強いです。
  メナーシャの唯一のデパート、ショプコでアルバイトもしています。レジを担当するほか、外で園芸も担当しています。退屈してしまうので、何時間も立ち続けるのは大きらいです。お客さんがいなければ冷蔵庫に飲みものを入れたり、レジの引き出しにある請求書をそろえたりできますが、せいぜい楽しみはそれぐらいです。従業員には1割引のサービスがあります。やった～！でも、1ドル当たり10セントで、50ドル払っても5ドルしか値引きされないのです。1時間以下でそれと同じバイト代を稼げます。バイトを始めるまえ、3ヵ月ごとに25セント昇給すると言われましたが、7ヵ月以上も働いているのに1度しか昇給がないのです。しかも遅かったです。でも仕返ししてやりました。ある日、病気でもないのに病欠して、祖母と「オペラ座の怪人」を見に行きました。
  学校やバイトやそのほかの活動をしていないときは、たいていコンピューターに向かっています。オンラインで友だちとチャットをするのが大好きです。この世でいちばん楽しいとはいいませんが、1人でいるよりは楽しいです。家で熱中しているのは食べることとインスタント・メッセージをすることです。それさえあればわりと満足しています。
  1日のうちでいちばん苦手なのは朝です。寝るのが好きなので、起きるのかと思うと本当にイヤです。起床したら登校なので、ゆううつなのです。いい教育を受け、自分の人生を決められるのはいいことですが、今のところ、お天気があまりにもよくて、教室は密室のように思えてしまいます。学校でいちばんイヤなのは、毎日まったく同じということです。どうやってしのぐか？とにかく時間をやり過ごすだけです。あとはいくつかある好きな授業を楽しみにして、何とか切り抜けられます。そういう授業のおかげで毎日が意味のあるものになります。
  いつも自分の性格と行動を分析しています。17歳というのは大人になりつつある時期で、自分らしくいながら自分と向き合い、満足するのは難しいです。だからわたしは流れに身をまかせつつ、将来の自分や将来像を台無しにしないようにがんばっています。

家族

家族はわたしのさいしょの友だちです。家族がわたしを生み出し、作り上げてくれたのです。どの家庭も特徴があると思いますが、友だちはわたしのことを「変わっている」というので、友だちの家族よりもうちの家族のほうが独特なんだと思います。ではうちの家族を紹介しましょう。母のスー、父のテリー、義母のキム、妹のサムと義妹のテイラーとシドニーです。母はアップルトンに、父と義母はメナーシャに暮らしています。サムとわたしはそれぞれの家を行ったり来たりしています。みんな個性があります。母は献身的な人ですが、短気で、議論で妥協できません。結構ぬけていて、車で右折するとき必ず路肩に乗り上げています。いつも文句ばかり言っています。父は寛大で、わたしが州外に行ってきても午前1時までに帰れば気づかれません。もちろんそんなことはやっていませんが、やっても大丈夫そうです。わたしが大人になることを父はいやがっています。もちろん父がそう言ったわけではないのですが、わたしにはわかります。わたしは誘惑に弱いと思っているのでしょう。よくある話と思われるかもしれませんが、義母は非常識な人です。犬のバースデーパーティーをやったり、居間に座れないと言って2ヵ月も家出したりしました。失業してまた帰ってきましたが。でも、高校について話せるのは義母だけです。義母は高校生と同じぐらい、大人気ないからです。でも語彙は豊富です。義妹のテイラーと実妹のサムは同い年です。親友が姉妹なんですから、うらやましいです。テイラーは、最近急に変わりました。引き出しには山のようにパンクのCDがあります。でも彼女が孤児のようなかっこうをして、みんなから離れようとしても気にしません。彼女のCDを聴ければ、それでわたしは満足です。もう1人の義妹シドニーはちょっと変です。意地悪に聞こえるかもしれないけれど、それでも好意的に言っているのです。服はぶかぶかでオレンジのしみだらけです。あまりお風呂にも入りません。いっしょにいるのは好きだけれど、彼女の冗談はまるでフェミニストみたいでつまらないんです。もう1人の実妹はサマンサで、とてもかっこいいです。わたしのほうが年上なのに、わたしよりかっこいいんです。おもしろいし、うちの家族のなかではいちばん賢いと思います。演技が好きで何でも上手で、誰からも好かれています。わたしはもっと家族といっしょに過ごすべきなんでしょうが、みんなに似てくるのがこわいです。でも心の底から大事に思っています。たとえどれだけ変な人と思っているとしても。

友だち

  1人でいることはなく、いつも友だちといます。今年までは年上の友だちといっしょにいるほうが好きでした。自分が大人だったからかどうかはわかりませんが、いっしょにいるのが楽しかったのです。少なくともそう思っていました。今は、同じ年の友だちといることが多く、それだともっと自分らしくなれるような気がします。自分だけでなく、友だちもわたしのことを変だと思っているようですが、でもわたしのそばにいてくれるので、とてもうれしいです。
  親友はトリシャとジョリーンです。何でも話すわけではなく、数週間会わないこともあります。離れていても、いっしょに暮らしているくらい強い友情なんです。2人はいつもわたしのことを気にかけてくれて、本当にいい人たちです。いっしょに買いものに行ったり、ただ座っているだけでも楽しいです。2人と過ごすことはとても大事で、2人はわたしの性格を埋めあわせてくれていると思っています。
  トリシャとジョーとの友情だけでもいいのですが、ほかにも友だちはいます。男の子といっしょにいるのも好きです。男の子好きというわけではなく、男の子の友だちがみんないい人たちだからです。ポーカーをやったり、フリスビーをしたり、ラクロスをやったりします。女の子はこういうことにあまり興味がないので、男の子と遊びます。
  典型的な高校生だと思われるのはいやですが、今は家族と過ごすより友だちといっしょにいたいです。姉妹や家族の存在はありがたいですが、友だちと楽しく過ごしているときこそ、自分自身になれるような気がします。それで、毎週、毎時間、勉強や学校を切り抜けられるのです。いちばんうれしいのは週末の夜です。さびしく聞こえるかもしれませんが、友だちが大好きだし、友だちのおかげでがんばろうという気になれるのです。

Gerri's Tale

All about G

My name is Gerri. I live in a humble little city named Menasha. A lot of people complain about being here but I enjoy it. Not because of the location but because of the people. I'm going to be going to college pretty soon and I really don't want to leave all of my friends here. That's why I kinds of want to go to Madison for college because I know it's a good school and a lot of people I know attend there.
      Right now it feels as though my friends dictate my life. A lot of the decisions I make right now are based on how much time I can spend with them. That's because they make my life worth living. They give each day its color and without them I would lead a very bland existence. I wish I could focus on other things besides my friends but right now, with school ending and summer coming, I'm finding it extremely difficult to focus on school and work. Hopefully I'll be able to last until the end of the school year.
      I would have to concur that one of my biggest passions is music. I like to sing, play, and listen to music all the time. Not a day goes by without music; I'm actually listening to music right now while I type. This month, my favorite musical artists are Van Halen, Ludacris, Enya, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It's a bit of a diverse group but I like them all equally. I play the flute and I'm learning how to play the piano and the guitar. I also sing for choirs and school musicals and basically all the time around my school, car, and house.
      I also love to play around outside. So naturally I am involved in sports. My two favorites are tennis and lacrosse. Through out my school years I have been in cross-country, swimming, dance team, basketball, and softball but lacrosse and tennis are by far my most beloved. I play doubles tennis with one of my two best friends, Trisha. We aren't the best but we practice all the time and we really put our heart into every match we play. This year we made varsity and there is a good chance that we could be number one doubles next year. We might also have the honor of being the team captains but we'll see how that all pans out in the future.
      Being on the lacrosse team is an extremely unique opportunity. Not only do we have kids from other schools on the team, but there are only three girls in the whole lacrosse club. I love that fact. It seems so different from all of the female dominated sports I am usually in. When you are on a team full of men, their passion for the game just seems so much more genuine compared to the women I play with. Everyone in the lacrosse club has devoted their heart to it and the bonds we share really shine.
      I also have a part time job at Shopko, Menasha's one and only department store. I cashier there and I also work outside with the garden stuff. It can get pretty boring and I hate standing around for hours. I look forward to the times where there are no customers and I can put away soda in the little refrigerators or straighten charge slips in my register draw. That's about as thrilling as it get there. Employees get a discount of ten percent. Woopididooda. That's only ten cents for every dollar. Even if I spent a whopping fifty smackers, I would only be saving five bucks. I earn that in less than an hour working at that joint. Before they hired me, they told me I would get a 25 cent raise every 3 months. I've been working there for over 7 months and I have only received one raise, and it was late. I got back at them though; I called in sick one day. But guess what, I wasn't. You want to know where I was, at the Phantom of the Opera with my dear old grandmammy.
      When I am not at school, work, or at my other various activities, odds are I am on the computer. I love to go online and just chat it up with my buddies. It's not the most thrilling thing in the world but it sure beats the heck out of sitting around alone. My two biggest home time passions are eating and instant messaging online. Put them together and you have a pretty satisfied me.
      Morning is my least favorite time of the day. I really like sleeping so waking up really irritates me. Usually waking up means going to school and going to school isn't always so awesome. I'm glad I can get a good education and do something with my life because of it and all that jazz, but right now, the weather is so nice and this classroom is feeling more and more like a holding cell. The worst part of school is the never changing routine. There is really an alteration to the daily schedule. What gets me through it? Passing time. Passing time and a few select classes are the motivation I focus on to keep me keeping on. These diamonds in the rough make each day worthwhile.
      I'm constantly trying to analyze my personality and behaviors. Being 17 and all, I am in the midst of a transition into young adulthood. It's hard to try to be yourself and define who you really are and be comfortable all at the same time. So I'm just trying to go with the flow and do my best to avoid anything that could mess up the future me that I am trying to be.

Family

My family were my very first friends. They are the people that started me out on my way into becoming the type of person I am. Of course every person's family is unique but I think that mine is even more different than those around me, because all my friends think I'm “weird.” Let me start by listing everyone that makes up my home life. There is my mother, Sue, my father, Terry, my step mom, Kim, my sister, Sam, and my two step sisters, Taylor and Sydney. My mom lives in Appleton and my dad and stepfamily live in Menasha. My sister Sam and I travel back and forth to each house during the course of each week. Each member is very original. My mom is very giving but infamous for her short temper and inability to compromise or back down in an argument. She has a mullet and she always runs into the curb when she is turning right. She complains a lot. My dad is a lot more lenient. I could drive out of the state and back without him knowing, as long as I am back home by 1:00 am. I've never done this of course but there are so many things for him to take care of that he would never know the difference. He hates the fact that I am growing up, even though he won't admit it, I can just tell. He must think I'm immune to the obvious. My step mom is insane. I know that it seems like such a stereotype for me to think that my step mom is crazy but she is. She threw our dog a birthday party and she moved out of our house for 2 months because she felt like she couldn't sit in the living room. She did move back though, after she lost her job. She the one I can talk to the most about high school stuff because she's as immature as a high schooler herself. She does have a huge vocabulary though. My stepsister Taylor and my biological sister are the same age. Lucky them; they get to have their best friend as a sister. Taylor has tuned into a poser all of the sudden. She has a ton of punk CDs in her drawer now, but I don't care if she dresses like an orphan and disassociates herself from everyone as long as I get to listen to some of her music. Sydney, my other stepsister, is a little dumb. I know that sounds mean but I am actually being nice when I say that. All of her clothes are huge and full of orange stains. She doesn't bathe that much either. I like spending time with her but she and her jokes stink and wines like a feminist. Samantha is my blood sister. She is the coolest kid I know. She's cooler than me and I'm older. She's hilarious and is one of the few people in my family that has a quality head on her shoulders. She loves acting and she just great at everything. Everyone loves that kid. I should spend more time with my family but I'm afraid of turning out just like them. I love them to death though; no matter how stupid I think they can be.

Friends

I've never been a loner in my whole life. I've always had at least one friend there with me to chill and all that jazz. Up until this very year in high school, I've always preferred to hang out with the older kids. I sincerely doubt it was because I was more mature, I just enjoyed their company, or so I thought. Now that I am hanging out with kids that are my own age, I feel like I can be myself more. I'm not the only one to call myself a geek or anything, because I really am a big freak, but that fact that my friends think so, and still stand by me, warms my heart to 101 degrees.
      My two best friends are Trisha and Jolene. We don't always tell each other everything and sometimes there are weeks when we don't do anything together, but no matter how much time we spend apart, are friendship stays as strong as if we've been living together. Both Jolene and Trisha are genuine people who really care about me. I have fun with them just doing lame stuff like going to the grocery store or sitting. It's their company that I hold dear to me and there are no better people that compliment my personality in the whole world.
      Even though I could live solely on Trisha and Jo's friendship, I do, in fact, have other acquaintances. I like to hang out with boys a lot. Not because I am boy crazy or have the hots for them all or anything, I just like the personalities of all of my guy friends. We play poker, go disking, and play lacrosse together. These are things not all of my gal pals like to do; so chilling with the boys fits into my life perfectly.
      I hate fitting into stereotypical roles, but right now I just want to be with my friends a bit more than I want to hang out with my family. I love and appreciate my siblings and parents, but when I'm having fun with my amigos, that is the time when I feel alive. That time is what gets me through the week, through every hour I spend working, and through every school day. The weekend nights are the biggest incentive of my entire existence. I know that may sound sad and pathetic, but I really do love my friends and their presence gives me meaning to carry on.