Alright new philosophy; I will blog whenever I feel like it. I think it’s worked for me so far.So I left you off at bowling. Bowling was fun. It was me, Dylan, Tiffany, Lindsey, some Japanese guy that we met at international night and female person that he knew. We met at the eki, and walked to the bowling alley. It was the same alley that me and Yuriho went to. I’m not sure if I wrote about that night but it’s irrelevant. Basically, I suck at bowling, really really badly. As a joke, I put my name as “jesus” on the game sheet so that it appeared on the monitors. In a funny coincidence (?), whoever I stood on the platform, whoever was bowling at the time would either get a strike or a near strike. So I was dubbed a lucky charm, and forced by Dylan to stand on the platform whenever he bowled, working my mighty holy magic to give him a good score. Too bad I wasn’t a lucky charm to myself. After bowling, we did purikura, and went to McDonalds. That time was cut short for me, but that’s another story and it doesn’t even really matter.
After that night, me, Tiffany, Laura, Lindsey and Emmi planned to go to Rejaspo but the bus never came. So we ended up going back to the eki instead. Some un-noteworthy things happened, I was able to borrow Laura’s awesome camera, and after Tiff and Lindsey left the rest of us decided to go to Odori and take pictures. Well, it was more like a hyper and excited Rachael wanting to go to Odori to take pictures with Laura’s camera. But we ended up getting caught by the tv people, making signs for our countries, and waving on tv as they did some mother’s day thing. That took a long time. Oh, and we were stalked most of this time by a really creepy mentally sick person is a bright orange jumpsuit and a little hat, worn at the very back and left tip of his head. At one point, the supervisor for the tv program had to get him away from us because he was getting a bit close. After the tv thing, we did go to Odori and took pictures, and watched a band play on the street. It was nice.
A little while before all that, I went to asahiyama zoo, which wasn’t that exciting. I just think I should mention it. That was the last night that I spent with the Sagawa host family. When we came back from the zoo, my two host brothers were over and we all had supper together and talked. It was pretty fun. I nice last supper kind of thing. I really like that family - they were so laid back about things, which is a bit rare in Japan. Luckily, my last family is also laid back about things.
I now live with Sasaki-san. They parents are fairly young. They have three kids - older brother and sister and a younger brother. My younger brother is really strange, and introduced himself self as ‘James Chan from Singapore’. Something out of his English textbook. Everybody in the family loves English. Sometimes I kind of wonder if I’m only here to help them learn it. But they’re a good family. It’s nice to have a family with kids around my age.
Last week was kind of busy for me. On the 11th, I went to look at Sakura with my host dad and some of the rotary people. We went out for sushi after, and it actually wasn’t that good. It was a really fancy sushi place, because of course, being rotatrians, they HAD to go to a big fancy place. We got very little sushi, at long intervals, and it was all pre-set so no one could order what they wanted. Most of the stuff was really gross. Like raw shrimp turned inside out with the stomach and veins popping out everywhere. And fish eggs. So I didn’t eat that. And whale. They all kind of sneered at me when the whale was brought about because, right now a lot of foreign people are mad at Japan for hunting the whales. I agree with the foreigners. The Japanese say it’s a traditional custom but come on, when an animal is being endangered from hunting, I think you give a little leniency to your customs. Whale isn’t even that great anyway. They talked a bit about the anit-whale-eating people, doing impersonations and making them sound like idiots. I told them straight out that there are very few whales left and that they take a long time to reproduce and grow to adults, and that the species will die if Japan continues, and that going without whale meat is a very small price to pay for the continuation of a species. And basically told them that they are being egotistic asses if they think that having whale in their diet is more important than a species living on. Long story short; they shut up about the whale thing. On the 13th, I was a makeup model for a makeup contest. It was actually really fun. I felt like a really model or something, with one girl doing my makeup and the other doing my hair, being served chocolate and stuff. And I looked completely different when it was done. We took a bunch of pictures, and I exchanges mail addresses with the two girls because they were interested in having me model for their hair salon’s magazine. Yeah, I know my future career now. (Jokes). Yesturday was the Naganuma festival. All of the rotary kids went to Naganuma for this gaijin festival thing, with little kids and stuff. It was pretty fun. I met some girls from the town but, living so far away and with only two months left, there’s not much hope for new friendships starting. My host dad drove Dylan there with us and so when we got back we went to see sakura again, because the first time I saw it the weather was really crappy and I forgot my camera. By this time all the pink sakura were gone and it was just the white ones left, by that was ok. Me and Dylan went under this river bridge thing to get pictures, and we saw a hobo nest! It was so strange. There were poles and pieces of wood for the walls, and blankets and bags of garbage and stuff inside. And, I’m not entirely sure, but I think there was someone sleeping in there, because as we were making out escape I heard some grumbling noises. Exciting stuff.
Finally, today I planted flowers with some of the rotary members. It was nice to be included in some sort of volunteer activity, but really, Japanese people have such a lack of common sense. I won’t even get into it, but let’s just say my group got their flower planted done about forty minutes earlier than everyone else. After that, me and Dylan went to the Mitsui shopping outlet park place, a long 45 minute bus ride on a ghost bus that almost didn’t exist, out of the heart of Sapporo and into backwater landscape of dirt/snow hills and car dealerships. But the shopping was fairly good. Most places, guy’s clothing stores don’t exist, but I think in mitsui there were more guy shops. A lot of expensive places, but some cheap stuff too. I really want to go to a good second hand store one of these days. I miss you, beloved Value Village. So, that was the last two weeks or so. I guess I’ll see you again next time I feel like it.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sashiburi
I’m really bad at keeping my promise to blog more. Really bad. But I’m here now, so it’s all ok. When was my last post… in March… woow. Ok well, a bunch has happened since then so I’ll try to remember most of it. First story - Niseko trip. So the Niseko trip happened soon after my last post. For the weekend, all the ryugakusei and a bunch of Japanese went to Niseko together as a Rotary trip. It was mainly a snowboarding trip. I was kind of upset because I thought that they wouldn’t let me snowboard, because of my wrist. But, it had healed pretty well, still a bit bruised but good enough. I gathered a bunch of arguments for the strength of my wrist and my ability not to fall on it again, then approached my host dad. Asked if I could snowboard. He just said ‘yeah’ and helped me get my stuff ready. Sometimes things are easy.
The bus trip was fun. We talked a bunch and me and Dylan made a crappy attempt at making a Telephone video. At one of our pitstops we all found this phone booth, and packed ourselves in, took a bunch of pictures. Fun stuff. When we got to Niseko, we dropped off our gear at the shack/boarding house/hostel-type thing we would be staying in. It was actually really big, bigger than the one we stayed in last time. We had some time to find our rooms. I was quite hyper at this point, and entertained myself by exploring the house, hiding in little cubby holes and in general having fun. Then we were off to the ski hill! Tiffany, Sam and Lindsey stayed back at the house, watching Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. The rest of us; me, Dylan, Minami, Laura and Emmi.
Laura and Minami didn’t know how to snowboard, so they got some lessons by Emmi’s host dad. The rest of us wanted to go on the lift, so we decided to leave the others behind and head out. It was awesome. The weather was kind of crappy. The wind was a bit high and there was this incredibly thick, white, death fog that consumed the entire upper portion of the mountain. On the lift, as we ascended into the fog, it almost felt surreal. Looking back down behind us, at the wall of white, was even better. I’m not joking - we couldn’t see anything as we went up the mountain. Not the slope below us, the trees beside or the other lifts in front and behind. It was very very good.
At first, the prospect of going down this steep mountain, completely blinded by the fog, with snow that was less than nice-looking, was a bit freaking scary. But we all manned up. And it was probably the best snowboarding I’ve done. Of course, I didn’t go fast and I didn’t try anything fancy, because of my wrist (which was in a wrist guard because I’m smart like that). But the snow was so soft - like flour. So, even falling was fun. On one of our runs, me and Dylan stopped beside this small group of Japanese people that were having a snow fight. We decided to join in. They were so happy to have these random gaijin through snow at them. It was pretty fun. Then, we were up again. It was a great day.
After we got back to the house, we hung out a bit in one of the rooms, eating some snacks and looking through other people’s picture books from home. Me, Tiffany, Emmi and some of the Japanese girls went to onsen, which was really nice. Kind of strange to be naked with my friends, but I got over it pretty quickly. I don’t think I have problems being naked in front of people any more. Please don’t take this the wrong way or get any silly assumptions.
After we came back, the others had decided to go to karaoke. So, we walked out to the bus stop, where a bus was supposed to come that would take us to the karaoke place. As a side trip, we explored this bar that was basically a giant igloo. Anyway, the bus didn’t come. We ended up sitting around inside the bus stop house/shack thing. After a little while, we started to hearing popping, like gunfire. We all ran outside - and there were fireworks! There are usually some sort of fireworks thing going on in Niseko. We ran around to the other end of the parking lot to get a good look, and stood there in the freezing rain/wind until the show was over. It was actually a really well-done fireworks show. And, I don’t know if it was just me but, it felt like we were all standing together on some sort of level different from everyone else. Connected, bonded, by the whole exchange thing, that sort of thing. But, it passed, and we walked back. The rest of the night was spent trying not to sleep. Me and Laura were really hungry around midnight, so we left the room and raided the kitchen downstairs (which we really weren’t supposed to do). There wasn’t actually any ready-to-eat food other than a piece of sausage and some chocolate sauce. The sausage looked special, so we just had a bit of chocolate sauce and called it a successful venture. Around 2 o’clock, some people were already asleep. The room was really loud because the Japanese people weren’t asleep at all, so me, Tiffany, Sam and Laura went into the next room. I found some sandwiches that were left over from the bus ride, and Dylan walked in on me while I was in a very golem-like mindset. Just thought I would mention that for memories sake.
The next day was pretty uneventful. Breakfast, then pack-up and into the buses. We looked around Otaru a bit on the way back but other than that, I mostly slept. So that was the Niseko trip.
So… After the Niseko trip I have a jumble of memories. I’m not entirely sure of their order, but I’ll give it a shot. Well, Minami left for Kobe, like you know. Then there was Lindsey’s birthday party. It consisted mainly of tanukikouji and karaoke. There was another time when me and Lindsey went out. I can’t really remember what all we did, but I do remember going to an awesome Indian food restaurant (that I’ve began to frequent more lately). We had awesome curry, and the people that worked there wanted to give us free chai tea, but I had to leave because of kung fu (which is still awesome). I also went out with my host aunte and uncle, who are both pretty cool. We went to a big mall and had AMAZING sushi. It was so good. There was also a day where they took me shopping, I donated blood (yay!) and got a FREE haircut! Since I’m foreign, they want their interns to practice on my hair, so I got a free haircut. I think it turned out ok, but it looks a lot better now that it’s grown out a little bit. I also went out with them another time, and we went to this really neat shishkabab bar. They give you pieces of food, battered, gormet, on a stick, one at a time. It was so delicious. They even let me drink. Next, we went to a magic bar. It was basically a really small bar, with two guys working there, who would show you magic tricks. One of the guys was actually a bit famous, and had been on tv a few times doing his tricks. He was really good but, since I had spent some time in my past learning card tricks and such things, I could really guess how he was doing everything. Regardless, I acted all surprised and amused, if only for his pride. Me and host dad also went to live jazz bar a little while ago. Again, like most bars in susukino, it was a really small venue. About ten other people were there, plus the band. There was no stage or anything, too small. I had my first martini - sans the olive, which was a bit disappointing. But I felt so cool! Just picture it. Me, sitting in a corner of a jazz bar, a bit smokey because one guy by a cello with a goatee and glasses was smoking. Worn pictures of old jazz musicians on the walls, shelves stocked with dusty wine bottles, dim lights, martini in hand, and awesome jazz music. I don’t think I’ve ever been so cool in my life. I need to visit jazz bars more often.
The last time I went snowboarding was with Emmi, Lindsey, Dylan and Emmi’s old host dad. It was a very successful snowboarding day. My hand had fully healed by this time, so there were no problems. I still wore the wrist guard though. The snow was really nice. Not as fluffy as Niseko, but it was good. I succeeded at doing perfect S-turns. I can go backwards on my front edge just as easily as my back edge now. And - really cool - I can do a complete circle going down the hill. Did it perfectly on my first try. Talk about confidence boost. Pretty soon I’ll be able to go through the trees.
Oh, I forgot to mention that we have new exchange students in our school now. A guy from Switzerland and a girl from Mongolia. He is otaku and she speaks no English. I kind of like Unika, but I don’t talk to her very much. She seems nice though. Gregor on the other hand… well I don’t know about him. He seems fairly pompous and not all that bright. God I hope he never reads this. That would be very embarrassing. Anyway, to say the least, exchange culture at S.I.T has diminished incredibly. It’s just me and Tiffany hanging out now. The exchange room is mainly only used by us when we skip, and if Gregor is in there we usually don’t go in. Sad but true. He even admitted that he was only in Japan for anime. Ugh. People, if you love anime and you want to come to Japan, don’t. Go to Brazil or Germany, where you can learn to have a social life and not be so much of an otaku. Your future self will thank you for it.
I also met my next host family. A little while go. They have a cool house, with a very neat interior design, because the dad makes furniture. They seem fairly rich, which makes sense because the dad is on the Rotary directors committee. The dad also gets very drunk every night beginning around 5pm. I can deal with that. He seems nice when he’s drunk. I went to their house for supper with my current host dad by the way. They have three children. Two boys and a girl, all of which are around my age give or take a few years. This will be my first host family where there are kids. I’m looking forward to it.
Now, lastly, a little about Sapporo Factory. So, I have exhausted the entertainment of Sapporo eki and tanukikouji. They just aren’t that fun anymore, since I go there so often. A couple of days ago I went on a whim to Sapporo Factory to meet up with Emmi, Lindsey and Tiffany. It was my first time going there. The place is really big, basically a shopping mall separated into two buildings. The first building is a bit more like a department store mixed in with a well-sized arcade. The second building has a movie theatre, more high-end clothing shops and a large food court where events are held pretty often. The food court is a bit like, half food court, half park. There is a lot of greenery. Trees, flowers, terraced gardens and a waterfall, among a little bistro that gives the feeling that you’re outside. In the opposite end of the room is the area where the events take place. The first time I went, there were some presentations going on, and them a quasi-famous singer performed. We entered this ‘fancy calligraphy’ thing. Basically just doing shyodo, but making the characters cute.
The second time I went to the factory was today, actually. I was supposed to go to a zoo with my host uncle, but it was cancelled at the last minute because the weather was so bad. So, me and Dylan hit up the factory. It was his first time being there. We went to the theatre first thing and saw District 9. My ticket costed 500 yen less because it was ‘ladies day’. I like that theatre a lot. The movie was pretty good, a bit gorey but a very good storyline. Then, we looked around the shops for a little while. Somehow we wondered outside to the beer museum, which looked like we had stepped into England. Then we toured the beer museum for a bit, wishing we were in an action adventure movie or zombie apocalypse so that we could cling on the all the awesome pipework and go out the windows onto the ledges and rooves and ladders, and be all cool about it. When we came back into the factory, it seemed like the best place to be in an action movie. Better than the beer museum. There were just so many possibilities. Oh, and today’s event was this Gundam Wing thing going on. We got pictures with a giant robot head. All in all a pretty good day.
Oh wow I feel like I accomplished something pretty big here. I deserve some ice cream or something. Ok. Tomorrow is bowling, so I’m going to really try and blog right as soon as I get home. Time will only tell.
The bus trip was fun. We talked a bunch and me and Dylan made a crappy attempt at making a Telephone video. At one of our pitstops we all found this phone booth, and packed ourselves in, took a bunch of pictures. Fun stuff. When we got to Niseko, we dropped off our gear at the shack/boarding house/hostel-type thing we would be staying in. It was actually really big, bigger than the one we stayed in last time. We had some time to find our rooms. I was quite hyper at this point, and entertained myself by exploring the house, hiding in little cubby holes and in general having fun. Then we were off to the ski hill! Tiffany, Sam and Lindsey stayed back at the house, watching Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. The rest of us; me, Dylan, Minami, Laura and Emmi.
Laura and Minami didn’t know how to snowboard, so they got some lessons by Emmi’s host dad. The rest of us wanted to go on the lift, so we decided to leave the others behind and head out. It was awesome. The weather was kind of crappy. The wind was a bit high and there was this incredibly thick, white, death fog that consumed the entire upper portion of the mountain. On the lift, as we ascended into the fog, it almost felt surreal. Looking back down behind us, at the wall of white, was even better. I’m not joking - we couldn’t see anything as we went up the mountain. Not the slope below us, the trees beside or the other lifts in front and behind. It was very very good.
At first, the prospect of going down this steep mountain, completely blinded by the fog, with snow that was less than nice-looking, was a bit freaking scary. But we all manned up. And it was probably the best snowboarding I’ve done. Of course, I didn’t go fast and I didn’t try anything fancy, because of my wrist (which was in a wrist guard because I’m smart like that). But the snow was so soft - like flour. So, even falling was fun. On one of our runs, me and Dylan stopped beside this small group of Japanese people that were having a snow fight. We decided to join in. They were so happy to have these random gaijin through snow at them. It was pretty fun. Then, we were up again. It was a great day.
After we got back to the house, we hung out a bit in one of the rooms, eating some snacks and looking through other people’s picture books from home. Me, Tiffany, Emmi and some of the Japanese girls went to onsen, which was really nice. Kind of strange to be naked with my friends, but I got over it pretty quickly. I don’t think I have problems being naked in front of people any more. Please don’t take this the wrong way or get any silly assumptions.
After we came back, the others had decided to go to karaoke. So, we walked out to the bus stop, where a bus was supposed to come that would take us to the karaoke place. As a side trip, we explored this bar that was basically a giant igloo. Anyway, the bus didn’t come. We ended up sitting around inside the bus stop house/shack thing. After a little while, we started to hearing popping, like gunfire. We all ran outside - and there were fireworks! There are usually some sort of fireworks thing going on in Niseko. We ran around to the other end of the parking lot to get a good look, and stood there in the freezing rain/wind until the show was over. It was actually a really well-done fireworks show. And, I don’t know if it was just me but, it felt like we were all standing together on some sort of level different from everyone else. Connected, bonded, by the whole exchange thing, that sort of thing. But, it passed, and we walked back. The rest of the night was spent trying not to sleep. Me and Laura were really hungry around midnight, so we left the room and raided the kitchen downstairs (which we really weren’t supposed to do). There wasn’t actually any ready-to-eat food other than a piece of sausage and some chocolate sauce. The sausage looked special, so we just had a bit of chocolate sauce and called it a successful venture. Around 2 o’clock, some people were already asleep. The room was really loud because the Japanese people weren’t asleep at all, so me, Tiffany, Sam and Laura went into the next room. I found some sandwiches that were left over from the bus ride, and Dylan walked in on me while I was in a very golem-like mindset. Just thought I would mention that for memories sake.
The next day was pretty uneventful. Breakfast, then pack-up and into the buses. We looked around Otaru a bit on the way back but other than that, I mostly slept. So that was the Niseko trip.
So… After the Niseko trip I have a jumble of memories. I’m not entirely sure of their order, but I’ll give it a shot. Well, Minami left for Kobe, like you know. Then there was Lindsey’s birthday party. It consisted mainly of tanukikouji and karaoke. There was another time when me and Lindsey went out. I can’t really remember what all we did, but I do remember going to an awesome Indian food restaurant (that I’ve began to frequent more lately). We had awesome curry, and the people that worked there wanted to give us free chai tea, but I had to leave because of kung fu (which is still awesome). I also went out with my host aunte and uncle, who are both pretty cool. We went to a big mall and had AMAZING sushi. It was so good. There was also a day where they took me shopping, I donated blood (yay!) and got a FREE haircut! Since I’m foreign, they want their interns to practice on my hair, so I got a free haircut. I think it turned out ok, but it looks a lot better now that it’s grown out a little bit. I also went out with them another time, and we went to this really neat shishkabab bar. They give you pieces of food, battered, gormet, on a stick, one at a time. It was so delicious. They even let me drink. Next, we went to a magic bar. It was basically a really small bar, with two guys working there, who would show you magic tricks. One of the guys was actually a bit famous, and had been on tv a few times doing his tricks. He was really good but, since I had spent some time in my past learning card tricks and such things, I could really guess how he was doing everything. Regardless, I acted all surprised and amused, if only for his pride. Me and host dad also went to live jazz bar a little while ago. Again, like most bars in susukino, it was a really small venue. About ten other people were there, plus the band. There was no stage or anything, too small. I had my first martini - sans the olive, which was a bit disappointing. But I felt so cool! Just picture it. Me, sitting in a corner of a jazz bar, a bit smokey because one guy by a cello with a goatee and glasses was smoking. Worn pictures of old jazz musicians on the walls, shelves stocked with dusty wine bottles, dim lights, martini in hand, and awesome jazz music. I don’t think I’ve ever been so cool in my life. I need to visit jazz bars more often.
The last time I went snowboarding was with Emmi, Lindsey, Dylan and Emmi’s old host dad. It was a very successful snowboarding day. My hand had fully healed by this time, so there were no problems. I still wore the wrist guard though. The snow was really nice. Not as fluffy as Niseko, but it was good. I succeeded at doing perfect S-turns. I can go backwards on my front edge just as easily as my back edge now. And - really cool - I can do a complete circle going down the hill. Did it perfectly on my first try. Talk about confidence boost. Pretty soon I’ll be able to go through the trees.
Oh, I forgot to mention that we have new exchange students in our school now. A guy from Switzerland and a girl from Mongolia. He is otaku and she speaks no English. I kind of like Unika, but I don’t talk to her very much. She seems nice though. Gregor on the other hand… well I don’t know about him. He seems fairly pompous and not all that bright. God I hope he never reads this. That would be very embarrassing. Anyway, to say the least, exchange culture at S.I.T has diminished incredibly. It’s just me and Tiffany hanging out now. The exchange room is mainly only used by us when we skip, and if Gregor is in there we usually don’t go in. Sad but true. He even admitted that he was only in Japan for anime. Ugh. People, if you love anime and you want to come to Japan, don’t. Go to Brazil or Germany, where you can learn to have a social life and not be so much of an otaku. Your future self will thank you for it.
I also met my next host family. A little while go. They have a cool house, with a very neat interior design, because the dad makes furniture. They seem fairly rich, which makes sense because the dad is on the Rotary directors committee. The dad also gets very drunk every night beginning around 5pm. I can deal with that. He seems nice when he’s drunk. I went to their house for supper with my current host dad by the way. They have three children. Two boys and a girl, all of which are around my age give or take a few years. This will be my first host family where there are kids. I’m looking forward to it.
Now, lastly, a little about Sapporo Factory. So, I have exhausted the entertainment of Sapporo eki and tanukikouji. They just aren’t that fun anymore, since I go there so often. A couple of days ago I went on a whim to Sapporo Factory to meet up with Emmi, Lindsey and Tiffany. It was my first time going there. The place is really big, basically a shopping mall separated into two buildings. The first building is a bit more like a department store mixed in with a well-sized arcade. The second building has a movie theatre, more high-end clothing shops and a large food court where events are held pretty often. The food court is a bit like, half food court, half park. There is a lot of greenery. Trees, flowers, terraced gardens and a waterfall, among a little bistro that gives the feeling that you’re outside. In the opposite end of the room is the area where the events take place. The first time I went, there were some presentations going on, and them a quasi-famous singer performed. We entered this ‘fancy calligraphy’ thing. Basically just doing shyodo, but making the characters cute.
The second time I went to the factory was today, actually. I was supposed to go to a zoo with my host uncle, but it was cancelled at the last minute because the weather was so bad. So, me and Dylan hit up the factory. It was his first time being there. We went to the theatre first thing and saw District 9. My ticket costed 500 yen less because it was ‘ladies day’. I like that theatre a lot. The movie was pretty good, a bit gorey but a very good storyline. Then, we looked around the shops for a little while. Somehow we wondered outside to the beer museum, which looked like we had stepped into England. Then we toured the beer museum for a bit, wishing we were in an action adventure movie or zombie apocalypse so that we could cling on the all the awesome pipework and go out the windows onto the ledges and rooves and ladders, and be all cool about it. When we came back into the factory, it seemed like the best place to be in an action movie. Better than the beer museum. There were just so many possibilities. Oh, and today’s event was this Gundam Wing thing going on. We got pictures with a giant robot head. All in all a pretty good day.
Oh wow I feel like I accomplished something pretty big here. I deserve some ice cream or something. Ok. Tomorrow is bowling, so I’m going to really try and blog right as soon as I get home. Time will only tell.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Cosplay, the Livehouse and Minami's Sayonara Party
Several things have been going on in the last little while. It would probably be better if I talked about them all in chronological order. So first, Tiffany got a new host sister! Yay! Only, she isn’t a ryugakusei. Her name is Ai-chan and she comes from Tailand and is staying in Japan to study in and graduate from a Japanese high school so that she can enter a Japanese university. She used to be a ryugakusei a couple years back, so her Japanese is fluent. I met her along with another one of her Thai friends and we went out to karaoke, Tiffany included. It was neat little karaoke place that I hadn’t been to before, a little expensive but - Free All-You-Eat Ice cream! After karaoke we discovered a Moss Burger right outside Odori eki and went there for supper. I’m trying to practice my Japanese more, so I only spoke in Japanese to Ai, even though she is also really good at English. Tiffany wanted to show me the anime shop that she always goes to (because Tiff is otaku >.<) so we went there next. I wasn’t entirely interested at looking at all the merchandise, but perhaps a little too excited about the costumes. Then I found out that we were allowed to wear the costumes and take puri kura with them! There was a single puri kura booth just sitting there beside the change rooms. Only hyaku en fee on top of the usual puri kura fee, which is amazing. Tiffany wasn’t keen on dressing up, so me and Ai picked out our costumes and took amazing awesome anime-chick puri kura. I wish I could buy a costume like that. I swear I would wear it around Odori. In fact, I have actually made the decision that I am finding and buying a panda suit. And I will wear that panda suit to many places.
Next on the docket; this actually comes in two parts. Last Friday I went out to Odori with Dylan. Of course, I took him to the same anime shop that I just talked about. Oh, but first we had Moss Burger, because it is right beside the shop, and it was Dylan’s first time going there so it is important to note. He actually ended up buying three burgers because one of them had shrimp in it, and he was hungry. Ah-hem anyway, our purpose for going to the anime shop was to dress in cosplay and take wicked puri kura. That was fun. I was dressed first, so I stood outside Dylan’s door waiting, and posed for the Japanese schoolgirls that happened to be browsing. I was going to take pictures with them, but the store clerk wouldn’t allow any pictures. After that we walked around the streets a bit. There is this place in that always mystified me. It is essentially a door leading in a black abyss. I had went down there once before by myself, just down the steps a little bit, then turned back and ran away. Then the second time me and Dylan went down together, a little farther, but again ran away. Because it was just all black with some lights at the bottom somewhere, and silent. We had no idea what it was. SO. We made a pact that the next time we saw this place we would just go down there once and for all and find out what the hell it is. This time, we actually did it. We went down the stairs, slowly, and this time was creepier than ever. It sounded like people were speaking somewhere inside, and there was another sound very similar to the sharpening of a knife. But we made a pact. So we went down and stood outside this door in a small hallway-type place. People were talking inside. Sharpening the knife. Me and Dylan are whispering to each other about what we should do. At one point he tried to go back up the stairs, but I wouldn’t follow. No way was I giving up this potentially amazing adventure. So he came back down. I was building up the courage to walk into the room and start talking to these strangers with the knives when one of said strangers walked into the hallway. He seemed a bit surprised to see two gaijin standing there. I asked what this place was, and to my surprise, he said it was a live music house. Holy crap! So, we walked into the place and sure enough to our left there was a nice sized stage, some disco balls, a few tables and lounge chairs, and a bar on the far right. We walked around the place for a little bit, trying not to jump up and down like little girls, and repeating ‘sugoi’ over and over again. Live bands played there every night, except this night was a holiday. We decided that we could come back tomorrow night.
And so begins part two.
Getting to Odori the next day was a bit of trouble. I got to my subway station, only to find out that the subways were all stopped on the nanboku line because of some accident. Someone must have fallen onto the tracks or something, I still havn’t heard anything from the media about it. So that sucked. I was so excited to go to this live house. But luckily I know some meager Japanese, and managed to elicit the pity of an older woman who also wanted to go to Odori. She was going to call her husband to give her a ride, and she let me come along with her. Thank god for Japanese people. I finally managed to meet up with Dylan in a bread shop. Odori station was packed full of people, it was crazy. I don’t know if it was because of the accident, or what. But we made it to the livehouse well before the bands started playing. I don’t know how many that were going on for the night, but we saw about three I think before we left. Each played a whole bunch of songs. Very very loud. Very Awesome. Our favorite band was Smarttail. After they left the stage, we went into the hallway place where they were selling band merchandise and bought one of their cds. The band members were all just hanging out back there, and we got a picture with guys from Smarttail. The lead singer even got a picture with us on his own cellphone! Smarttail actually has a music video for one of their songs. You can google Smarttail and find it if you want. decided that the next time we go there, we need to befriend one of the bands so that they invite us to more gigs, and to hang out. If we can pull this off, the ensuing awesomeness will be beyond epic.
Now for Minami’s sayonara party. It happened on Sunday. Minami is going to Kobe soon to enter university, so she had a going-away party with all the rotary exchangers and one of her good friends. Tiffany and Emmi were unable to come. The party was held at Minami’s house and mostly consisted of eating cheesecake, listening to Lady Gaga (and watching her video for Telephone) and making videos with her video camera. That was all really fun. We went out later to karaoke and then to an Indian restaurant for supper, sharing bowls of flavoured curry dip and three giant pieces of pita bread called nans.
(P.S, The people in the livehouse weren't actually sharpening knives, it turned out. They were scraping old paint off a part of the floor.)
Next on the docket; this actually comes in two parts. Last Friday I went out to Odori with Dylan. Of course, I took him to the same anime shop that I just talked about. Oh, but first we had Moss Burger, because it is right beside the shop, and it was Dylan’s first time going there so it is important to note. He actually ended up buying three burgers because one of them had shrimp in it, and he was hungry. Ah-hem anyway, our purpose for going to the anime shop was to dress in cosplay and take wicked puri kura. That was fun. I was dressed first, so I stood outside Dylan’s door waiting, and posed for the Japanese schoolgirls that happened to be browsing. I was going to take pictures with them, but the store clerk wouldn’t allow any pictures. After that we walked around the streets a bit. There is this place in that always mystified me. It is essentially a door leading in a black abyss. I had went down there once before by myself, just down the steps a little bit, then turned back and ran away. Then the second time me and Dylan went down together, a little farther, but again ran away. Because it was just all black with some lights at the bottom somewhere, and silent. We had no idea what it was. SO. We made a pact that the next time we saw this place we would just go down there once and for all and find out what the hell it is. This time, we actually did it. We went down the stairs, slowly, and this time was creepier than ever. It sounded like people were speaking somewhere inside, and there was another sound very similar to the sharpening of a knife. But we made a pact. So we went down and stood outside this door in a small hallway-type place. People were talking inside. Sharpening the knife. Me and Dylan are whispering to each other about what we should do. At one point he tried to go back up the stairs, but I wouldn’t follow. No way was I giving up this potentially amazing adventure. So he came back down. I was building up the courage to walk into the room and start talking to these strangers with the knives when one of said strangers walked into the hallway. He seemed a bit surprised to see two gaijin standing there. I asked what this place was, and to my surprise, he said it was a live music house. Holy crap! So, we walked into the place and sure enough to our left there was a nice sized stage, some disco balls, a few tables and lounge chairs, and a bar on the far right. We walked around the place for a little bit, trying not to jump up and down like little girls, and repeating ‘sugoi’ over and over again. Live bands played there every night, except this night was a holiday. We decided that we could come back tomorrow night.
And so begins part two.
Getting to Odori the next day was a bit of trouble. I got to my subway station, only to find out that the subways were all stopped on the nanboku line because of some accident. Someone must have fallen onto the tracks or something, I still havn’t heard anything from the media about it. So that sucked. I was so excited to go to this live house. But luckily I know some meager Japanese, and managed to elicit the pity of an older woman who also wanted to go to Odori. She was going to call her husband to give her a ride, and she let me come along with her. Thank god for Japanese people. I finally managed to meet up with Dylan in a bread shop. Odori station was packed full of people, it was crazy. I don’t know if it was because of the accident, or what. But we made it to the livehouse well before the bands started playing. I don’t know how many that were going on for the night, but we saw about three I think before we left. Each played a whole bunch of songs. Very very loud. Very Awesome. Our favorite band was Smarttail. After they left the stage, we went into the hallway place where they were selling band merchandise and bought one of their cds. The band members were all just hanging out back there, and we got a picture with guys from Smarttail. The lead singer even got a picture with us on his own cellphone! Smarttail actually has a music video for one of their songs. You can google Smarttail and find it if you want. decided that the next time we go there, we need to befriend one of the bands so that they invite us to more gigs, and to hang out. If we can pull this off, the ensuing awesomeness will be beyond epic.
Now for Minami’s sayonara party. It happened on Sunday. Minami is going to Kobe soon to enter university, so she had a going-away party with all the rotary exchangers and one of her good friends. Tiffany and Emmi were unable to come. The party was held at Minami’s house and mostly consisted of eating cheesecake, listening to Lady Gaga (and watching her video for Telephone) and making videos with her video camera. That was all really fun. We went out later to karaoke and then to an Indian restaurant for supper, sharing bowls of flavoured curry dip and three giant pieces of pita bread called nans.
(P.S, The people in the livehouse weren't actually sharpening knives, it turned out. They were scraping old paint off a part of the floor.)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
First Trip to the Hospital, Among Other Things
In the last couple of weeks I had managed to finish my igloo. It got fairly big. In the back I had a sort of bed area, to the left was an entertainment centre and to the right was my dungeon. The dungeon was never really completed, since I needed icicles to make the bars and my house was void of such things. Anyway, after it was completed I had a little igloo party with my friends. I invited some people over and we watched Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on my laptop. A day later, the igloo caved in from the heat, so it was a good thing we had the party when we did. Now it looks a bit like a house from the Flinstones in the back, and in the front it looks like a cave.
I also finally managed to go out with some of my Japanese friends, Haruna and Yuriho. We went to Sapporo eki and saw the movie Valentine’s Day. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be, and I actually recommend it. After the movie we went to the game centre, took puri kura and played a shooting game in the arcade.
A few days ago I went snowboarding with my host dad, my counselor and Dylan. It was Dylan and my host dad’s first time snowboarding, so they went to a different slope for a couple hours to take lessons while me, Demura san and her boyfriend Kevin stayed at Teine. I practiced my front edge a couple of times before they decided that I had mastered it and that I was ready to go down Paramount and try doing S-curves. So we did that. Paramount is a fairly straight and easy-going slope that runs down the back side of the mountain, with some steep parts. A good place to learn s-curves. The first couple of times I fell, but after about the fourth try I was doing it perfectly. Both Kevin and Demura san were amazed at how well I was doing - and this was just my third time. The snow on the mountain was very chunky and hard. It hadn’t snowed for a couple weeks. As I was going down the final stretch of Paramount, doing perfect turns and picking up some speed, I hit a very jagged patch of snow and went back on my heels, lost balance and fell backwards down the slope. The fall would have been fine if I hadn’t put my wrists down so hard to break my fall. But I did, and when I did I heard a definite crunch, then felt said crunch a few seconds later. After a little while, I tried to get up and continue down the dozen or so meters to the bottom of the hill, but I fell again, on my wrists again, and it hurt even more. This happened a third time until I finally just took off my bindings and walked the rest of the way down. Since everyone has asked me this, you’re probably wondering too; no, I did not cry. So, we got down to the bottom and went inside a little rest shack. Had some coffee and watched my right hand swell up as Demura san called for a paramedic guy. Said paramedic guy came and looked at my hand, then gave me a ride on the special paramedic skidoo (which was fun). Then we took the lift down to the bottom of the mountain. It didn’t really hurt at all by this point, so I was fine. When we got to the bottom he put my forearm in a splint and I was free to go. Dylan and my host dad had finished their lesson and were waiting for me in the main building of the ski hill.
So the snowboarding day finished pretty early, sadly. We decided to get lunch. Off to Jimmy Browns! I love that place. It has the best almond cappucinos and BLTs that I’ve ever had. We spent maybe two hours in the café, talking about random stuff and having a pretty good time. After dessert we decided it was time to take me to the hospital. At the hospital, I got some xrays done on both wrists, and was sent home in a better splint. They suspected it was just a sprain, but since there are so many bones in the hand they couldn’t be sure that I didn’t break or fracture anything.
So today I went to another hospital again after school and got some more xrays. The doctor was concerned about a certain bone near my thumb, but couldn’t see very much from the xrays. He wanted me to get an MRI. Yay! My first MRI! So, we went to lunch before my appointment to kill the time. They have special new MRIs now. Instead of a long scary tunnel of darkness, it’s just a large cylindrical thing that they move over the part of your body that they want to do the MRI on. It took about 40 minutes, I’m not quite sure. I fell asleep for most of it. Afterwards, they ruled out the possibility of a fracture, but did discover that I had bruised the end of one of the bones in my forearm. I can’t remember it’s name. The bigger one, closest to the thumb area. So they put my wrist in a cast, and it takes a very long time to type on my computer.
Oh, another noteworthy thing before I finish. The day after the snowboarding incident, I was waiting for a friend in Odori eki and had a very long and interesting conversation with some Mormon missionaries. One was from America, and the other from Newzealand. Surprisingly good looking guys, too. The one I talked to the most was named Eric (USA), and the other one was Danny (NZ). They have been living in Japan for several years, and everyday they wander around the Odori area and just talk to people. Spreading their Word. That kind of thing. We actually didn’t talk about religion at all until about five minutes before I met my friend. They didn’t seem at all upset by the fact that I’m very non-religious, and they didn’t try to convert me. I did learn some interesting things about Mormonism, like how it was started and such. I even got the number of one of them, though I’ll never call him. You know, my fear of talking on phones. It was fun though. And I guess that’s it for a little while. I’m going to go concentrate on healing my wrist now.
I also finally managed to go out with some of my Japanese friends, Haruna and Yuriho. We went to Sapporo eki and saw the movie Valentine’s Day. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be, and I actually recommend it. After the movie we went to the game centre, took puri kura and played a shooting game in the arcade.
A few days ago I went snowboarding with my host dad, my counselor and Dylan. It was Dylan and my host dad’s first time snowboarding, so they went to a different slope for a couple hours to take lessons while me, Demura san and her boyfriend Kevin stayed at Teine. I practiced my front edge a couple of times before they decided that I had mastered it and that I was ready to go down Paramount and try doing S-curves. So we did that. Paramount is a fairly straight and easy-going slope that runs down the back side of the mountain, with some steep parts. A good place to learn s-curves. The first couple of times I fell, but after about the fourth try I was doing it perfectly. Both Kevin and Demura san were amazed at how well I was doing - and this was just my third time. The snow on the mountain was very chunky and hard. It hadn’t snowed for a couple weeks. As I was going down the final stretch of Paramount, doing perfect turns and picking up some speed, I hit a very jagged patch of snow and went back on my heels, lost balance and fell backwards down the slope. The fall would have been fine if I hadn’t put my wrists down so hard to break my fall. But I did, and when I did I heard a definite crunch, then felt said crunch a few seconds later. After a little while, I tried to get up and continue down the dozen or so meters to the bottom of the hill, but I fell again, on my wrists again, and it hurt even more. This happened a third time until I finally just took off my bindings and walked the rest of the way down. Since everyone has asked me this, you’re probably wondering too; no, I did not cry. So, we got down to the bottom and went inside a little rest shack. Had some coffee and watched my right hand swell up as Demura san called for a paramedic guy. Said paramedic guy came and looked at my hand, then gave me a ride on the special paramedic skidoo (which was fun). Then we took the lift down to the bottom of the mountain. It didn’t really hurt at all by this point, so I was fine. When we got to the bottom he put my forearm in a splint and I was free to go. Dylan and my host dad had finished their lesson and were waiting for me in the main building of the ski hill.
So the snowboarding day finished pretty early, sadly. We decided to get lunch. Off to Jimmy Browns! I love that place. It has the best almond cappucinos and BLTs that I’ve ever had. We spent maybe two hours in the café, talking about random stuff and having a pretty good time. After dessert we decided it was time to take me to the hospital. At the hospital, I got some xrays done on both wrists, and was sent home in a better splint. They suspected it was just a sprain, but since there are so many bones in the hand they couldn’t be sure that I didn’t break or fracture anything.
So today I went to another hospital again after school and got some more xrays. The doctor was concerned about a certain bone near my thumb, but couldn’t see very much from the xrays. He wanted me to get an MRI. Yay! My first MRI! So, we went to lunch before my appointment to kill the time. They have special new MRIs now. Instead of a long scary tunnel of darkness, it’s just a large cylindrical thing that they move over the part of your body that they want to do the MRI on. It took about 40 minutes, I’m not quite sure. I fell asleep for most of it. Afterwards, they ruled out the possibility of a fracture, but did discover that I had bruised the end of one of the bones in my forearm. I can’t remember it’s name. The bigger one, closest to the thumb area. So they put my wrist in a cast, and it takes a very long time to type on my computer.
Oh, another noteworthy thing before I finish. The day after the snowboarding incident, I was waiting for a friend in Odori eki and had a very long and interesting conversation with some Mormon missionaries. One was from America, and the other from Newzealand. Surprisingly good looking guys, too. The one I talked to the most was named Eric (USA), and the other one was Danny (NZ). They have been living in Japan for several years, and everyday they wander around the Odori area and just talk to people. Spreading their Word. That kind of thing. We actually didn’t talk about religion at all until about five minutes before I met my friend. They didn’t seem at all upset by the fact that I’m very non-religious, and they didn’t try to convert me. I did learn some interesting things about Mormonism, like how it was started and such. I even got the number of one of them, though I’ll never call him. You know, my fear of talking on phones. It was fun though. And I guess that’s it for a little while. I’m going to go concentrate on healing my wrist now.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Catching up Part 2
This post was written on February 20th by the way. I just hadnt gotten around to putting it up on the internet until now.
So. Most of the last twenty days have been spent attending mundane school and hanging out with exchange students on the weekends. However, don’t fear for my Japanese relationships. I hang out only with my Japanese friends during school time. The only reason why I don’t spend time with them on weekends or after school (except drama club) is because they are always busy studying or participating in their own clubs. Welcome to the life of your average Japanese high school student. Despite this though I’ve started really trying to crack down on them, and I’ve managed to get a couple of them to agree to hang out with me during spring break and maybe on some weekends. It’s tough work.
As for the foreigner fun, I’m not even sure where to start. Its all a jumble of awesome sauce in my memory. A lot of walks down Tanukikouji and Odori. A lot of evenings in Sapporo. One time, I had forgotten that school didn’t start until noon due to exams. I texted Tiffany in the subway station and she told me the news. I managed to persuade her out of bed and to the station to keep me company until we had to go to school. First we went to a Mister Donuts. It got kind of weird when this guy and girl came in. The girl seemed like she was either drunk or high on something, and the guy seemed like he came from the same party, but without as much stumble and laughing and coughing. Oh my god, the coughing. There was so much. And her voice sounded like there was sandpaper in her throat. She must have been a very heavy smoker. She kept stumbling around the front area and then leaning her whole body over counter. The worker behind the counter didn’t look amused. Not very scared, but nor entirely happy. Maybe even embarrassed. So that was a bit interesting. After our Mister Donuts, we decided to ride the subway lines and time how long it took from end to end. We only got through the nanboku line and half of the tozai line before we decided it was time to head for school. Riding chikatetsu is very very tiring. I don’t know why.
Another time, me and Dylan were in Tanukikoji. I know a number of interesting things happened, but I can’t quite remember all of them. This is why I need to blog right after I come home. Anyway, we went into a store owned by a Caribbean looking/sounding French guy and another guy presumably from Israel. It was a really expensive gangster-style clothing shop. The French guy seemed like he was on something, but the store didn’t have any funky smells so I wonder if his brain is just pre-fried. Or maybe that’s his personality. Who knows. Anyway, they were both really nice and we looked around a bit. Dylan tried on a pair of very baggy pants. The cost was originally 180,000 yen, but the guy said, since we were foreign, that he would lower it to 100,000 yen. A good deal I guess. If you’re rich. One hundred dollars is still pretty expensive in my opinion. After that we saw some buskers, all of which were pretty lame. Including some middle aged man in a boa dancing and singing to some obscure Japanese song with less than mediocre talent. (Still amusing though). Oh, and before we met in Odori station, Dylan had supposedly been given candy and 2,000 yen by some creepy old lady on the subway. She got off at his stop, at which point he ran away, lest he be chloroformed and dragged into some kinky ramen den.
There was also International Night. An evening where foreigners from all over the world, including a bunch of Japanese people, got together to talk about the environment and such. I have a feeling more than half of the foreigners were just given the registration forms and told to go. Like me, and all the other exchangers. It wasn’t completely boring. There were some presentations that lasted a couple of hours, and then we walked over to another building to split up into groups and discuss environmental-y things. There was some awesome Brasilian biologist in my group who looked like a detective. He wore a long leather jacket, a red scarf, long pony-tailed hair and a bowler hat. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a diamond-tipped cane in the umbrella rack of his house. He was very smart, but also very human. He swore at just the right times to add comic relief and simplicity to what he was saying. Overall, I wish he was one of my family members. After all the boring bits, there was a “friendly party” where we got to eat amazing cheese fondue and other food.
Lastly, quite recently (yesterday in fact), I went with Dylan and my host dad to a re-used sports equipment store to get snowboarding stuff for Dylan. That part wasn’t entirely eventful, but after that I had a whole bunch of time to kill before kung fu started at 6. So we went to a movie, The Lovely Bones (which was actually really good in my opinion). But the movie wasn’t the noteworthy part either. You see, I didn’t have much money with me, and Dylan had nothing except 40 yen and a mastercard that no one seemed to want to accept. So I was able to pay for my ticket, but he couldn’t pay for his. We both dug around everywhere for any little pieces of change to make up the 1,500 yen needed (including his 40 yen). Eventually we came up 200 yen short. The guy selling the tickets only offered up a ‘ganbatte’. So we started looking around for some magical fearie dust. Or a Meowth. Finding none, and beginning to feel a bit embarrassed (about five minutes of standing at the counter and looking around nervously had elapsed) we looked around for hopeful lenders. I managed up the courage to ask an elderly couple next to us, and they lent us the 200 yen. Yay! So, very very quickly and without looking back, we got our tickets and went into the theatre. But someone had already taken our seats (Sunday movies are always designated seating). So after about a minute of looking around at our seats that were already occupied, movie already playing, we decided to just sit in one of the empty frontish rows.
And I lied! The last paragraph wasn’t ‘lastly’. I just remembered some other noteworthy things, but I’ll only just touch on them.
There was Yuki Matsuri, the snow festival in Sapporo. I went to it twice, once at night with Lindsey and Kana and once during the day with Minami and Dylan. There was a guy on stage who sang, danced and stripped (down to spandex pants) during the nighttime one. The cratch area of his spandex wad covered in roses, some of which to took off and threw to the crowd. Kana caught one. During the daytime matsuri, we rode on a little kid choo-choo train (and almost got kicked off because SOMEONE put snow on my head, which I tried to through at them, but they dodged it and it hit the person behind them. Not my fault). We also made snow angels, tiny snowmen, Minami almost got sucked into a pokemon trap and so on.
I am also currently making an igloo in my backyard. I have decided to stop carving out the roof for fear that it may come crashing down on my head, but I can already nearly stand up in it. Its not done yet but at the moment it can fit about five people, all laying down. So it’s pretty big. Pretty awesome. I’ll get some pictures of it when it is done.
I went to Onsen as well for the first time when me and my host dad took a group trip to Niseko. I went with four other women, all of which were strangers. If you don’t know what onsen is, it is basically a nude hot spring. So it was my first time being naked in front of a bunch of people since I was a baby. But it actually wasn’t weird at all.
So. Most of the last twenty days have been spent attending mundane school and hanging out with exchange students on the weekends. However, don’t fear for my Japanese relationships. I hang out only with my Japanese friends during school time. The only reason why I don’t spend time with them on weekends or after school (except drama club) is because they are always busy studying or participating in their own clubs. Welcome to the life of your average Japanese high school student. Despite this though I’ve started really trying to crack down on them, and I’ve managed to get a couple of them to agree to hang out with me during spring break and maybe on some weekends. It’s tough work.
As for the foreigner fun, I’m not even sure where to start. Its all a jumble of awesome sauce in my memory. A lot of walks down Tanukikouji and Odori. A lot of evenings in Sapporo. One time, I had forgotten that school didn’t start until noon due to exams. I texted Tiffany in the subway station and she told me the news. I managed to persuade her out of bed and to the station to keep me company until we had to go to school. First we went to a Mister Donuts. It got kind of weird when this guy and girl came in. The girl seemed like she was either drunk or high on something, and the guy seemed like he came from the same party, but without as much stumble and laughing and coughing. Oh my god, the coughing. There was so much. And her voice sounded like there was sandpaper in her throat. She must have been a very heavy smoker. She kept stumbling around the front area and then leaning her whole body over counter. The worker behind the counter didn’t look amused. Not very scared, but nor entirely happy. Maybe even embarrassed. So that was a bit interesting. After our Mister Donuts, we decided to ride the subway lines and time how long it took from end to end. We only got through the nanboku line and half of the tozai line before we decided it was time to head for school. Riding chikatetsu is very very tiring. I don’t know why.
Another time, me and Dylan were in Tanukikoji. I know a number of interesting things happened, but I can’t quite remember all of them. This is why I need to blog right after I come home. Anyway, we went into a store owned by a Caribbean looking/sounding French guy and another guy presumably from Israel. It was a really expensive gangster-style clothing shop. The French guy seemed like he was on something, but the store didn’t have any funky smells so I wonder if his brain is just pre-fried. Or maybe that’s his personality. Who knows. Anyway, they were both really nice and we looked around a bit. Dylan tried on a pair of very baggy pants. The cost was originally 180,000 yen, but the guy said, since we were foreign, that he would lower it to 100,000 yen. A good deal I guess. If you’re rich. One hundred dollars is still pretty expensive in my opinion. After that we saw some buskers, all of which were pretty lame. Including some middle aged man in a boa dancing and singing to some obscure Japanese song with less than mediocre talent. (Still amusing though). Oh, and before we met in Odori station, Dylan had supposedly been given candy and 2,000 yen by some creepy old lady on the subway. She got off at his stop, at which point he ran away, lest he be chloroformed and dragged into some kinky ramen den.
There was also International Night. An evening where foreigners from all over the world, including a bunch of Japanese people, got together to talk about the environment and such. I have a feeling more than half of the foreigners were just given the registration forms and told to go. Like me, and all the other exchangers. It wasn’t completely boring. There were some presentations that lasted a couple of hours, and then we walked over to another building to split up into groups and discuss environmental-y things. There was some awesome Brasilian biologist in my group who looked like a detective. He wore a long leather jacket, a red scarf, long pony-tailed hair and a bowler hat. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a diamond-tipped cane in the umbrella rack of his house. He was very smart, but also very human. He swore at just the right times to add comic relief and simplicity to what he was saying. Overall, I wish he was one of my family members. After all the boring bits, there was a “friendly party” where we got to eat amazing cheese fondue and other food.
Lastly, quite recently (yesterday in fact), I went with Dylan and my host dad to a re-used sports equipment store to get snowboarding stuff for Dylan. That part wasn’t entirely eventful, but after that I had a whole bunch of time to kill before kung fu started at 6. So we went to a movie, The Lovely Bones (which was actually really good in my opinion). But the movie wasn’t the noteworthy part either. You see, I didn’t have much money with me, and Dylan had nothing except 40 yen and a mastercard that no one seemed to want to accept. So I was able to pay for my ticket, but he couldn’t pay for his. We both dug around everywhere for any little pieces of change to make up the 1,500 yen needed (including his 40 yen). Eventually we came up 200 yen short. The guy selling the tickets only offered up a ‘ganbatte’. So we started looking around for some magical fearie dust. Or a Meowth. Finding none, and beginning to feel a bit embarrassed (about five minutes of standing at the counter and looking around nervously had elapsed) we looked around for hopeful lenders. I managed up the courage to ask an elderly couple next to us, and they lent us the 200 yen. Yay! So, very very quickly and without looking back, we got our tickets and went into the theatre. But someone had already taken our seats (Sunday movies are always designated seating). So after about a minute of looking around at our seats that were already occupied, movie already playing, we decided to just sit in one of the empty frontish rows.
And I lied! The last paragraph wasn’t ‘lastly’. I just remembered some other noteworthy things, but I’ll only just touch on them.
There was Yuki Matsuri, the snow festival in Sapporo. I went to it twice, once at night with Lindsey and Kana and once during the day with Minami and Dylan. There was a guy on stage who sang, danced and stripped (down to spandex pants) during the nighttime one. The cratch area of his spandex wad covered in roses, some of which to took off and threw to the crowd. Kana caught one. During the daytime matsuri, we rode on a little kid choo-choo train (and almost got kicked off because SOMEONE put snow on my head, which I tried to through at them, but they dodged it and it hit the person behind them. Not my fault). We also made snow angels, tiny snowmen, Minami almost got sucked into a pokemon trap and so on.
I am also currently making an igloo in my backyard. I have decided to stop carving out the roof for fear that it may come crashing down on my head, but I can already nearly stand up in it. Its not done yet but at the moment it can fit about five people, all laying down. So it’s pretty big. Pretty awesome. I’ll get some pictures of it when it is done.
I went to Onsen as well for the first time when me and my host dad took a group trip to Niseko. I went with four other women, all of which were strangers. If you don’t know what onsen is, it is basically a nude hot spring. So it was my first time being naked in front of a bunch of people since I was a baby. But it actually wasn’t weird at all.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Catching up Part 1
I havn’t made an entry for a very long time, mainly because I have been without internet until very recently. So I have an excuse. I do promise to try and blog more regularily. But I should start at the beginning I guess.
SO, my last host family, the Ooishi’s, didn’t turn out so well. I have since realized that they were a lot stricter than I thought they were. After the angry spell with my host father, I starting studying a lot more. A lot. During winter break I studied every day from the time I got up and ate breakfast (7 am) to about lunch time. One day I actually studied the entire day, from after breakfast to about 10 pm. My brain was so tired I actually got an adrenaline high and wanted to both study more and die at the same time. Needless to say my host dad seemed happy with this, but only after we had supper with two adult Korean university exchange students. The guy was fluent in both English and Japanese and he translated between us and cleared a lot of misunderstanding up. It helped for a little while. Then, when school started back up again, I studied my Japanese during the school day and rested when I got home. Apparently this wasn’t enough for my host dad. Again with ‘talk’, but it sounded a bit nicer this time. So, determined to please this family, I decided I would get up at 5:30 every morning and study until 7, at which time I’d get ready for school. Studying at night was no use because I was always so tired from school. So that’s what I did for about two days until one day I came home from school and surprise surprise, Chida san is on the phone with my host mom and ten minutes later he’s paying us a visit.
He had actually texted me while I was at school asking when I was going to get home because he had something important to talk to me about. But, of course, I’m not allowed to use my keitai in school so I never got the text. Anyway, we are sitting down in the living room and he starts telling me something really vague and strange about the stability of the club and conditions changing and whatnot, none of which made sense (all in English by the way) and says that my next host family wants to take me as soon as possible. I knew then that he was lying, and that it was my current host family that didn’t want me anymore. I wanted to ask for the truth, but I didn’t know how, and in some way I didn’t really want to know. I knew what was happening - I was switching host families a month early - and that was all I needed to know.
Unfortunately the truth came slapping me in the face thanks to Matsuhashi sensei two days later. I had spent the previous day packing. My new host dad would be picking me up tomorrow (yes that’s right, three days notice). Anyway, I was struggling over writing a thank-you card to the Ooishi-sans because it’s just the Japanese thing to do, even though the only thing I really ever did in their house was study. I asked Matsuhashi sensei for some help, and she gave me a funny look. She asked if I had been told why exactly I was moving, and I told her what I wrote above. She seemed a bit uneasy, but she told me anyway. Supposedly Chida-san had told her the truth over e-mail. It turns out that it was in fact my host mother that had the worst problem with me. This was a bit shocking because I was always under the impression that she liked me. She never seemed mad at me. But she wasn’t happy with my housecleaning. I cleaned my room every Sunday, completely cleaned it - changed sheets, mopped and vacuumed floor, picked up any loose stuff lying around, exchanged the air ect. - yet it wasn’t good enough to her standards. I always washed my own dishes and made my own breakfast, yet somehow she wasn’t pleased enough with that either. I did my own laundry and hung, folded and put it away myself. Unhappy with that. As far I could tell I had been doing it all right. But then, I hadn’t realized then how impossibly strict this family was.
When Matsuhashi sensei told me all this, I took it well enough. I was fine. A bit spiteful, but fine. However, when she kept talking about it and trying to conjole me, I started crying. Right in the middle of class. So that was embarrassing. She suggested I write more of a sorry letter than a thank you letter, since a thank you letter might make her more angry thinking ‘Oh, she doesn’t know anything’. So I decided to just not write anything to them at all. I don’t have a problem writing a page saying thank you about things they never did, but I do have a problem with writing a page saying sorry for things I never did wrong. I did my best to please them, but in the end I just wasn’t good enough, and that’s not my problem. Maybe I’m wrong. But that’s how I feel.
In a way everything turned out for the best and I’m glad with the way it all rolled into place. Instead of spending another dreadful month, doing nothing but studying on seven hours of sleep, I was given an extra month to spend with the wonderful new host family I’m living with now. They are the Sagawa’s, and they are polar opposites of the Ooishi’s. My host dad is divorced with two children, both of which live with their mother. I live with him and his parents. Ojiisan and obaasan are very nice, and very laid back. I can talk to them easily and they like to joke around. Ojiisan likes to drink sake and when he does he gets pretty funny. The day after I moved in, Demura-san took me snowboarding for the first time. We went for two days. The first day we went to Kokusai. Before we hit the slopes, we stopped by a used sportswear store and that’s where I met Kevin, Demura-sans friend. It’s pretty cool. He’s from America and has been living in Japan for 16 years. With his help, we picked out a great board and snowboard equipment for me. Now I have my own gear - not rental! The day was amazingly fun. I fell down a lot, but most of the time it was on purpose. I found out I’m goofy, which means I lead with my right foot instead of my left. Supposedly it’s especially strange for a right-handed person to lead with their right. Demura-san turned out to be a pretty good teacher and by the end of the day we went down the whole of the beginner’s slope and a bit of the intermediate slope. I learned to use my back edge on the first day, too. That night we stayed in a condominium that looked like it was a hotel. We ordered ramen up to the room for supper and talked about the Haiti disaster and Demura-sans Rotary trip to Thailand. I also went to onsen for the first time - Finally! Although I did only go by myself. When I got there there was no one there, but halfway through another girl came. I thought it was going to be so weird being naked in the same room with another naked woman, but it turned out to feel perfectly normal. I think I was the least self-conscious of my body then than I had been for years and years which is really strange. I think that now I have that first easing-in experience, I can go to a more crowded onsen without so much nervousness. The next day we went to another ski hill that I can’t remember the name of. That day, we snowboarded with Kevin. He was also goofy, and so proved to be a better teacher than Demura-san. I went on the super-scary ski lift for the first time. The scary part isn’t actually during the lift - that was pretty cool. The scary part is getting off the damn thing. You have to move quickly with your board still attached to one foot or else the next chair that comes around will hit you. He he. But I survived. I learned how to use my front edge that day, going down a really steep slope. Front edge is the scariest to do because you’re going backwards down the slope and you have to balance on your toes. But I basically mastered it by the end of the day. Supposedly I’m incredibly good for only having snowboarded two days. I hope I can become much better at it.
After snowboarding we went back to Sapporo and had coffee and sandwiches at Jimmy Browns, this wonderful little café. The almond cappuccino was awesome. The barista made the cream and foam look like a cat’s face. We talked a lot about martial arts - Tai Chi in particular. Kevin had been practicing it for 16 years. It’s like kung fu, but it’s one of those sports that take a very long time to get good at.
The next Sunday I went to Tai Chi. It’s the complete opposite of karate in that it is a completely relaxed fighting style. The point is get your body as relaxed as possible, and move your body in a fluid way so that you can deliver the most power with the least strength and exertion. We do a lot of circle-ly hand movements. It’s like the Yin and Yang. Giving and taking. One hand is the Yin, the offensive and the other is the Yang, the defensive. The role of the hands change with their movement. It sounds complicated but it really isn’t. I love it. The class if very small. In fact, me, Kevin and Demura-san were the only people there other than the two teachers. They teach in their late master’s small dojo, in his house. The wife was very kind and welcomed us. She even brought us all coffee and snacks when the lesson was over. We sat and talked about the art, about shoudo and kanji, and a bunch of other interesting things.
Around the same time, the new exchange student party was held. I think it was on Saturday. Yeah it was. Anyway, I went to the new exchange student’s welcome party. (Jono and Simon had left a little while ago, I think I forgot to mention that). There are three Australians. One guy and two girls. Dylan, Laura and Sam. They all seem like good people. I gave a speech along with Emmi, Tiffany and Lindsey after the newbies gave their speeches. One of the girls doesn’t know any Japanese, the other has studied it for two years and the guy for five. Wow. He’s going to leave here fluent. I’m a bit jealous, I admit. After the welcome party we all went out to karaoke. That, I think, was one of the funnest nights here so far. I was really able to let loose and just sing and have fun. The best songs were ‘Beat It’ and ‘Its My Life’. Dylan was the only newbie that could come though because the other two’s families were worried that they couldn’t find their way home. That was kind of sad, but Dylan seems like a fairly dynamic person. I can tell he is just going to have an amazing year here. It was his first time doing karaoke, and after the first couple of songs we were getting really into it. It was so fun. I wish I could write more about the amazingness of the karaoke night, but that’s basically it. It was amazing.
After that, we went out to do puri kura, which was also really cool. Dylan’s first puri kura. I helped him decorate it. Ahh, it takes me back to my first puri kura. I think I’ve got senpai fever now. Maybe it’s just the motherly instinct in me. But now I have the biggest urge to gather up all the new exchangers and show them all the wonders of Sapporo eki, and Odori kouen, and Tanukikouji, and ramen shops and book stores… and cake…and ice cream. I want to take them everywhere with me and be present when they experience their first japan-y things. And I kind of wish that my senpai’s were the same way. But I know that’s not entirely possible. They will have their own exchange friends from their schools, and soon they will have Japanese friends, and in a way we will just be the rotary oldies who they might see from time to time. Hopefully this isn’t the case.
Phew ok now that that’s done, I’m going to go nurse my carpal tunnel…
SO, my last host family, the Ooishi’s, didn’t turn out so well. I have since realized that they were a lot stricter than I thought they were. After the angry spell with my host father, I starting studying a lot more. A lot. During winter break I studied every day from the time I got up and ate breakfast (7 am) to about lunch time. One day I actually studied the entire day, from after breakfast to about 10 pm. My brain was so tired I actually got an adrenaline high and wanted to both study more and die at the same time. Needless to say my host dad seemed happy with this, but only after we had supper with two adult Korean university exchange students. The guy was fluent in both English and Japanese and he translated between us and cleared a lot of misunderstanding up. It helped for a little while. Then, when school started back up again, I studied my Japanese during the school day and rested when I got home. Apparently this wasn’t enough for my host dad. Again with ‘talk’, but it sounded a bit nicer this time. So, determined to please this family, I decided I would get up at 5:30 every morning and study until 7, at which time I’d get ready for school. Studying at night was no use because I was always so tired from school. So that’s what I did for about two days until one day I came home from school and surprise surprise, Chida san is on the phone with my host mom and ten minutes later he’s paying us a visit.
He had actually texted me while I was at school asking when I was going to get home because he had something important to talk to me about. But, of course, I’m not allowed to use my keitai in school so I never got the text. Anyway, we are sitting down in the living room and he starts telling me something really vague and strange about the stability of the club and conditions changing and whatnot, none of which made sense (all in English by the way) and says that my next host family wants to take me as soon as possible. I knew then that he was lying, and that it was my current host family that didn’t want me anymore. I wanted to ask for the truth, but I didn’t know how, and in some way I didn’t really want to know. I knew what was happening - I was switching host families a month early - and that was all I needed to know.
Unfortunately the truth came slapping me in the face thanks to Matsuhashi sensei two days later. I had spent the previous day packing. My new host dad would be picking me up tomorrow (yes that’s right, three days notice). Anyway, I was struggling over writing a thank-you card to the Ooishi-sans because it’s just the Japanese thing to do, even though the only thing I really ever did in their house was study. I asked Matsuhashi sensei for some help, and she gave me a funny look. She asked if I had been told why exactly I was moving, and I told her what I wrote above. She seemed a bit uneasy, but she told me anyway. Supposedly Chida-san had told her the truth over e-mail. It turns out that it was in fact my host mother that had the worst problem with me. This was a bit shocking because I was always under the impression that she liked me. She never seemed mad at me. But she wasn’t happy with my housecleaning. I cleaned my room every Sunday, completely cleaned it - changed sheets, mopped and vacuumed floor, picked up any loose stuff lying around, exchanged the air ect. - yet it wasn’t good enough to her standards. I always washed my own dishes and made my own breakfast, yet somehow she wasn’t pleased enough with that either. I did my own laundry and hung, folded and put it away myself. Unhappy with that. As far I could tell I had been doing it all right. But then, I hadn’t realized then how impossibly strict this family was.
When Matsuhashi sensei told me all this, I took it well enough. I was fine. A bit spiteful, but fine. However, when she kept talking about it and trying to conjole me, I started crying. Right in the middle of class. So that was embarrassing. She suggested I write more of a sorry letter than a thank you letter, since a thank you letter might make her more angry thinking ‘Oh, she doesn’t know anything’. So I decided to just not write anything to them at all. I don’t have a problem writing a page saying thank you about things they never did, but I do have a problem with writing a page saying sorry for things I never did wrong. I did my best to please them, but in the end I just wasn’t good enough, and that’s not my problem. Maybe I’m wrong. But that’s how I feel.
In a way everything turned out for the best and I’m glad with the way it all rolled into place. Instead of spending another dreadful month, doing nothing but studying on seven hours of sleep, I was given an extra month to spend with the wonderful new host family I’m living with now. They are the Sagawa’s, and they are polar opposites of the Ooishi’s. My host dad is divorced with two children, both of which live with their mother. I live with him and his parents. Ojiisan and obaasan are very nice, and very laid back. I can talk to them easily and they like to joke around. Ojiisan likes to drink sake and when he does he gets pretty funny. The day after I moved in, Demura-san took me snowboarding for the first time. We went for two days. The first day we went to Kokusai. Before we hit the slopes, we stopped by a used sportswear store and that’s where I met Kevin, Demura-sans friend. It’s pretty cool. He’s from America and has been living in Japan for 16 years. With his help, we picked out a great board and snowboard equipment for me. Now I have my own gear - not rental! The day was amazingly fun. I fell down a lot, but most of the time it was on purpose. I found out I’m goofy, which means I lead with my right foot instead of my left. Supposedly it’s especially strange for a right-handed person to lead with their right. Demura-san turned out to be a pretty good teacher and by the end of the day we went down the whole of the beginner’s slope and a bit of the intermediate slope. I learned to use my back edge on the first day, too. That night we stayed in a condominium that looked like it was a hotel. We ordered ramen up to the room for supper and talked about the Haiti disaster and Demura-sans Rotary trip to Thailand. I also went to onsen for the first time - Finally! Although I did only go by myself. When I got there there was no one there, but halfway through another girl came. I thought it was going to be so weird being naked in the same room with another naked woman, but it turned out to feel perfectly normal. I think I was the least self-conscious of my body then than I had been for years and years which is really strange. I think that now I have that first easing-in experience, I can go to a more crowded onsen without so much nervousness. The next day we went to another ski hill that I can’t remember the name of. That day, we snowboarded with Kevin. He was also goofy, and so proved to be a better teacher than Demura-san. I went on the super-scary ski lift for the first time. The scary part isn’t actually during the lift - that was pretty cool. The scary part is getting off the damn thing. You have to move quickly with your board still attached to one foot or else the next chair that comes around will hit you. He he. But I survived. I learned how to use my front edge that day, going down a really steep slope. Front edge is the scariest to do because you’re going backwards down the slope and you have to balance on your toes. But I basically mastered it by the end of the day. Supposedly I’m incredibly good for only having snowboarded two days. I hope I can become much better at it.
After snowboarding we went back to Sapporo and had coffee and sandwiches at Jimmy Browns, this wonderful little café. The almond cappuccino was awesome. The barista made the cream and foam look like a cat’s face. We talked a lot about martial arts - Tai Chi in particular. Kevin had been practicing it for 16 years. It’s like kung fu, but it’s one of those sports that take a very long time to get good at.
The next Sunday I went to Tai Chi. It’s the complete opposite of karate in that it is a completely relaxed fighting style. The point is get your body as relaxed as possible, and move your body in a fluid way so that you can deliver the most power with the least strength and exertion. We do a lot of circle-ly hand movements. It’s like the Yin and Yang. Giving and taking. One hand is the Yin, the offensive and the other is the Yang, the defensive. The role of the hands change with their movement. It sounds complicated but it really isn’t. I love it. The class if very small. In fact, me, Kevin and Demura-san were the only people there other than the two teachers. They teach in their late master’s small dojo, in his house. The wife was very kind and welcomed us. She even brought us all coffee and snacks when the lesson was over. We sat and talked about the art, about shoudo and kanji, and a bunch of other interesting things.
Around the same time, the new exchange student party was held. I think it was on Saturday. Yeah it was. Anyway, I went to the new exchange student’s welcome party. (Jono and Simon had left a little while ago, I think I forgot to mention that). There are three Australians. One guy and two girls. Dylan, Laura and Sam. They all seem like good people. I gave a speech along with Emmi, Tiffany and Lindsey after the newbies gave their speeches. One of the girls doesn’t know any Japanese, the other has studied it for two years and the guy for five. Wow. He’s going to leave here fluent. I’m a bit jealous, I admit. After the welcome party we all went out to karaoke. That, I think, was one of the funnest nights here so far. I was really able to let loose and just sing and have fun. The best songs were ‘Beat It’ and ‘Its My Life’. Dylan was the only newbie that could come though because the other two’s families were worried that they couldn’t find their way home. That was kind of sad, but Dylan seems like a fairly dynamic person. I can tell he is just going to have an amazing year here. It was his first time doing karaoke, and after the first couple of songs we were getting really into it. It was so fun. I wish I could write more about the amazingness of the karaoke night, but that’s basically it. It was amazing.
After that, we went out to do puri kura, which was also really cool. Dylan’s first puri kura. I helped him decorate it. Ahh, it takes me back to my first puri kura. I think I’ve got senpai fever now. Maybe it’s just the motherly instinct in me. But now I have the biggest urge to gather up all the new exchangers and show them all the wonders of Sapporo eki, and Odori kouen, and Tanukikouji, and ramen shops and book stores… and cake…and ice cream. I want to take them everywhere with me and be present when they experience their first japan-y things. And I kind of wish that my senpai’s were the same way. But I know that’s not entirely possible. They will have their own exchange friends from their schools, and soon they will have Japanese friends, and in a way we will just be the rotary oldies who they might see from time to time. Hopefully this isn’t the case.
Phew ok now that that’s done, I’m going to go nurse my carpal tunnel…
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Donny's Farewell Day
So today was the last day I will probably ever hang out with Donnie. Other than the 7th, at the airport, when he leaves. I’m not even positive if I will be able to be there or not. But this shouldn’t be a sad post, it should be a happy one, because today was a really cool day.
First of all I had to go to a Rotary meeting. I had prepared a speech the day before, and it was pretty good (for me at least). But when I got to the meeting, I realized I had left it at home. So there was a bit of panic, since now I didn’t have a speech. Luckily I’m a smart person, and I managed to remember nearly the entire speech ( in Japanese) and re-wrote it twenty minutes before the meeting started. I only left out a small part, because my host mom had changed that part and made it all fancy and complicated, so it didn’t sink into my head as well. The speech was long enough as it was though, so it was ok. I did the speech, and I didn’t trip over the words at all, which is good progress. At the end of the meeting, one of the board women announced to everyone what happened - that I had forgotten my original speech and that the one they heard was written in twenty minutes. So I got a lot of kudos from that. One particular person in the back clapped really hard. He he.
Moving on. After that I met Donnie, Elina, Tiffany, Elli, Lisa and another German girl who I don’t know and forget the name of, at the Sapporo eki. From there we took the bus to Rejaspo, which is a giant arcade. You get a membership card, then you pay 1500 yen for 3 hours, and the entire arcade it free. Yet, for some reason, no one seems to know about this place. It’s almost underground.
There was so much to do there it was crazy. Probably way too many shooting games and racing games, a gambling corner, baseball pits, ping-pong courts, DDR, archery, just so much stuff. Basically, think of anything that’s fun, and in some form it exists in Rejaspo. And it’s all free. I played a lot of the arcade games, and gambled at the slots for a bit, some shooting games, watched Drew go through an obstacle course, went on the seg-way track with Tiffany, played darts and watched people do awesome DDR. And watched rock climbing. It was basically just a building full of awesome.
After that little adventure, some people had to go, so it was me, Donnie, Elina, Tiffany, Drew and the German girl. We went to some place for supper, and it was pretty fun, if not expensive. I just got a plate of chicken wings and it was about 500 yen. So that was a pretty fun time, just hanging out with some food, and a few friends I may never see again. Life is so full of this kind of stuff it makes my head spin.
First of all I had to go to a Rotary meeting. I had prepared a speech the day before, and it was pretty good (for me at least). But when I got to the meeting, I realized I had left it at home. So there was a bit of panic, since now I didn’t have a speech. Luckily I’m a smart person, and I managed to remember nearly the entire speech ( in Japanese) and re-wrote it twenty minutes before the meeting started. I only left out a small part, because my host mom had changed that part and made it all fancy and complicated, so it didn’t sink into my head as well. The speech was long enough as it was though, so it was ok. I did the speech, and I didn’t trip over the words at all, which is good progress. At the end of the meeting, one of the board women announced to everyone what happened - that I had forgotten my original speech and that the one they heard was written in twenty minutes. So I got a lot of kudos from that. One particular person in the back clapped really hard. He he.
Moving on. After that I met Donnie, Elina, Tiffany, Elli, Lisa and another German girl who I don’t know and forget the name of, at the Sapporo eki. From there we took the bus to Rejaspo, which is a giant arcade. You get a membership card, then you pay 1500 yen for 3 hours, and the entire arcade it free. Yet, for some reason, no one seems to know about this place. It’s almost underground.
There was so much to do there it was crazy. Probably way too many shooting games and racing games, a gambling corner, baseball pits, ping-pong courts, DDR, archery, just so much stuff. Basically, think of anything that’s fun, and in some form it exists in Rejaspo. And it’s all free. I played a lot of the arcade games, and gambled at the slots for a bit, some shooting games, watched Drew go through an obstacle course, went on the seg-way track with Tiffany, played darts and watched people do awesome DDR. And watched rock climbing. It was basically just a building full of awesome.
After that little adventure, some people had to go, so it was me, Donnie, Elina, Tiffany, Drew and the German girl. We went to some place for supper, and it was pretty fun, if not expensive. I just got a plate of chicken wings and it was about 500 yen. So that was a pretty fun time, just hanging out with some food, and a few friends I may never see again. Life is so full of this kind of stuff it makes my head spin.
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