So last Tuesday was Donny and Elina’s last day at school. They are both leaving for their countries on the 7th next month. It’s pretty sad that they are going and I can’t believe it’s only been… what, 4 months now? Yeah. So many good times with them, mainly in the exchange room just talking about the weirdest stuff. And Donny’s runny nose. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that very disturbing moment in my life. And the strange calligraphy classes. Calligraphy is going to be so boring now. Drew and Pailin are still here, but they will be leaving in a couple of months too I think. And then it will just be me and Tiffany. So so weird.
So, Christmas wasn’t all that big of a deal. I saw the White Illumination in Sapporo a few times, went the German Christmas Market about four times. We never set up a tree in our house, but I didn’t mind too much. I don’t think I’m a huge fan of Christmas anymore, but usually its everyone else’s excitement that gets me excited for it. And Christmas over here is basically for couples. But I did have a Christian guy try to convert me. Twice. That was interesting.
Hmm… What else. Had a sleepover with Tiffany. First person I’ve had at my host house since I came to Japan, and I think the first sleepover at my house in a good year or two (or actually maybe three or four). And yesterday I went out with Donny, Ippei and Eri to see a movie. Met up with Donny first for a little bit, did puri kura then found the other two. We watched Avatar, the same movie that I saw with Tiffany two days before. But that’s fine, it was a really good movie. Then we had supper and went to Odori to the White Illumination because Donny still hadn’t seen it yet. That was fun. We had snowball fights, and made a snowman. Well, actually it was already half made. We just finished it.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Drama
So I joined the drama club on Monday. I was really sceptical at first, because I had heard that the drama club was pretty bad and honestly the idea of the whole thing kind of scared me. But it was my idea in the first place. I had already checked out the tea ceremony club, the art club, the koto club and got a slight whiff of the flower arranging club but none of it seemed for me. And if you really know me you will know that I have a serious problem with commitment and routine. However, since being in a club, as Donny put it, is likely the best thing you can do to improve friendships and Japanese I figured I’d give it another shot. And, also as Donny put it, Drama club is the best of all them for getting good friends and greatly improving in the language. It makes sense. In the past, it seems my only real close friends ever came from drama-related things. And I’ve come to the conclusion - if I ever find myself in need of friends, I need only surround myself with Very Strange People (a.k.a Drama Geeks). For the record Donny, who is argueably my greatest friend here, is also a drama geek. So I think that makes it a Scientific Fact.
Anyway, the first day of drama club I already found two great people that I can see myself becoming pretty good friends with. There’s Eri, the girl who I talked to about the club before actually going into it. And then there’s Pi. He’s quite strange. He sometimes breaks out into random song in awkward silences, he has the greatest facial expressions, and whenever I ask what in the hell he’s doing he usually replies that it’s ‘Japanese culture’. For example, he was cold because he forgot his sweater (and had his arms pulled into his shirt, and was moving side to side so the sleeves flapped around) so one of the other guys and a girl both gave him their sweaters. He took them and instantly balled them up under his shirt and said it was Japanese culture. Then a whole thing about him being pregnant with Eri’s baby started up but that’s a whole other story. Oh and his name isn’t actually Pi. I gave him that nickname, coming from the word ‘opai’. I think his actual name is ‘ipei’ or something…
So yeah. Surround myself with strange people and there you have it. Instant friends. Just add water.
Anyway, the first day of drama club I already found two great people that I can see myself becoming pretty good friends with. There’s Eri, the girl who I talked to about the club before actually going into it. And then there’s Pi. He’s quite strange. He sometimes breaks out into random song in awkward silences, he has the greatest facial expressions, and whenever I ask what in the hell he’s doing he usually replies that it’s ‘Japanese culture’. For example, he was cold because he forgot his sweater (and had his arms pulled into his shirt, and was moving side to side so the sleeves flapped around) so one of the other guys and a girl both gave him their sweaters. He took them and instantly balled them up under his shirt and said it was Japanese culture. Then a whole thing about him being pregnant with Eri’s baby started up but that’s a whole other story. Oh and his name isn’t actually Pi. I gave him that nickname, coming from the word ‘opai’. I think his actual name is ‘ipei’ or something…
So yeah. Surround myself with strange people and there you have it. Instant friends. Just add water.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Lots.
I moved in with my second host family two days ago. Going to miss the Kawamura's. But I think good days are ahead. Or at least very interesting ones... My new host family is kind of crazy. Being rotarians they are kind of rich, so the house is big. Very very clean. My okasan is a clean freak, literally. I'm pretty sure she has some sort of compulsive disorder. She knocks on my bedroom door before entering even when no one is in it. She knocked on the door when I was standing behind her and she was going to show me the room. They had an aussie a couple of years before me so maybe she got in the habit and never got out. ANYWAY. Everything is so completely organised I get headaches sometimes. I have to wear a traditional japanese housecoat around the house EVERY time I wear my pajamas. Have to clean the shower and sink out after every use. Have to wear slippers in the house. And every sunday is cleaning day - I moved in on a sunday and had to clean the room, even though I had just unpacked and she cleaned it before I came. So yeah. A tad crazy. But they are both really nice people. I have two host brothers who are married, one with two kids and the other with two kids plus one on the way. So I'm a host-auntie. Neato. Oh and they have a tatami mat tea room which I love. There is a little Buhdda shrine in it as well as a shrine to her dad and two brothers who died in a jet plane crash. She sets coffee out on the shrine every morning.
AND we live beside a crazy lady. She is really bonkers. She rambles random stuff that I can't understand. Okasan says it's Japanese but it doesn't make sense, and to be careful around her because she is a nutcase. Her front yard is full of the strangest garbage, like what looks like a giant globe with the countries painted over. And her foyer is stacked to the ceiling with garbage. She rummages around in it all the time, just moving it around and not doing much else. So now you know about the Crazy Lady.
So, with this backround info, today was pretty freaking neat. In the morning Me and okasan went out to the bus terminal, got my card. nothing much there. I had originally planned to go to Sapporo eki to study with Donny but he forgot and made other plans, so I texted up my lovely Lian (the aussie version of Darby) and we made plans to go to the eki to hang. Because Lian lives out in the middle of nowhere and never comes to Sapporo so the last time I saw her was when I met her. Since I didn't know how to get to the eki from the new house, okasan went with me. We were really early when we got there so we decided to go around shopping for a bit. She wanted to buy me some stuff so we went to the 3 coins store (sanbbyaku en shop) and got some random stuff… Really awesome knee socks, and two pairs of leg warmers that I can double as arm warmers, a necklace and chains for my pants. Then we went to a panya and got some bready stuff… For me a bagel and maple scone. Then to another bigger pastry shop for coffee. After that we parted and I met up with Lian.
We went shopping around the eki for most of the time we spent there. A little trip to the Loft, where I bought the best poster EVER. Featuring Mau, Stalin, Lenin, Castro and Karl Marx, all with booze and party hats with the caption ‘Welcome to the Party‘. In the eki we also went to puri kura which was awesome, but we couldn’t get it on either of our keitais, and we diddled around in the arcade. It was all really fun.
After the eki, me and Lian split ways and I went home. I remembered how to get home using the chikatestsu (subway) and the bus. But by the time I reached my stop it was pretty dark outside and all my landmarks looked too different to identify. So I didn’t know where to go from there. I got kind of lost. Went in a straight line up and down one street, which I knew was the right one, but didn’t know which leg off that street was the right one. I went down three other streets but none of them seemed right. This all took a good 45 minutes. I gave up eventually and went back to the bus stop, phoned okasan and asked her to come get me because I am baka gaijin. So otosan came instead and walked me back to the house. I made new landmarks.
Now for the scary part. When we were about to walk past the Crazy Lady’s house, I pointed a bit and said “okashii onna” which translates roughly into ‘the crazy lady’ because my Japanese is bad. I didn’t know that the crazy lady was in fact OUTSIDE her house, and crouching in amongst her garbage. I didn’t see her. But when she heard what I said she stood up, in time to catch my pointing (straight at her as it turned out). There was a little weird moment of silence. Then she started talked. I didn’t know what she was saying but she sounded pissed. And I was laughing a bit too because the situation was just so funny. That couldn’t have helped. We got back into the house and I asked my otosan to get the dictionary and tell me what she said. So he got the dictionary, but couldn’t seem to find something. Then he showed me the word ‘murderer’. I thought he was saying the Crazy Lady was a murderer. He looked serious and kind of worried and nervous. So I was like ‘Honto??’ and we was all…yeeaahh…. So I was a bit scared. She was going to kill me now. Okasan and otosan were telling me to go quickly past her house especially when it was dark out. Then the cover for the light fell and the corner shattered, wiping out the lillies on the table (but not the vase, somehow. Only the flower parts.). Then I found out that she was actually calling ME a killer. Which was a big relief. I wish my Japanese was better so I could understand her ramblings. Well, I’ve got three months living beside her. And now she hates me because I called her a crazy lady. Let the good times roll.
AND we live beside a crazy lady. She is really bonkers. She rambles random stuff that I can't understand. Okasan says it's Japanese but it doesn't make sense, and to be careful around her because she is a nutcase. Her front yard is full of the strangest garbage, like what looks like a giant globe with the countries painted over. And her foyer is stacked to the ceiling with garbage. She rummages around in it all the time, just moving it around and not doing much else. So now you know about the Crazy Lady.
So, with this backround info, today was pretty freaking neat. In the morning Me and okasan went out to the bus terminal, got my card. nothing much there. I had originally planned to go to Sapporo eki to study with Donny but he forgot and made other plans, so I texted up my lovely Lian (the aussie version of Darby) and we made plans to go to the eki to hang. Because Lian lives out in the middle of nowhere and never comes to Sapporo so the last time I saw her was when I met her. Since I didn't know how to get to the eki from the new house, okasan went with me. We were really early when we got there so we decided to go around shopping for a bit. She wanted to buy me some stuff so we went to the 3 coins store (sanbbyaku en shop) and got some random stuff… Really awesome knee socks, and two pairs of leg warmers that I can double as arm warmers, a necklace and chains for my pants. Then we went to a panya and got some bready stuff… For me a bagel and maple scone. Then to another bigger pastry shop for coffee. After that we parted and I met up with Lian.
We went shopping around the eki for most of the time we spent there. A little trip to the Loft, where I bought the best poster EVER. Featuring Mau, Stalin, Lenin, Castro and Karl Marx, all with booze and party hats with the caption ‘Welcome to the Party‘. In the eki we also went to puri kura which was awesome, but we couldn’t get it on either of our keitais, and we diddled around in the arcade. It was all really fun.
After the eki, me and Lian split ways and I went home. I remembered how to get home using the chikatestsu (subway) and the bus. But by the time I reached my stop it was pretty dark outside and all my landmarks looked too different to identify. So I didn’t know where to go from there. I got kind of lost. Went in a straight line up and down one street, which I knew was the right one, but didn’t know which leg off that street was the right one. I went down three other streets but none of them seemed right. This all took a good 45 minutes. I gave up eventually and went back to the bus stop, phoned okasan and asked her to come get me because I am baka gaijin. So otosan came instead and walked me back to the house. I made new landmarks.
Now for the scary part. When we were about to walk past the Crazy Lady’s house, I pointed a bit and said “okashii onna” which translates roughly into ‘the crazy lady’ because my Japanese is bad. I didn’t know that the crazy lady was in fact OUTSIDE her house, and crouching in amongst her garbage. I didn’t see her. But when she heard what I said she stood up, in time to catch my pointing (straight at her as it turned out). There was a little weird moment of silence. Then she started talked. I didn’t know what she was saying but she sounded pissed. And I was laughing a bit too because the situation was just so funny. That couldn’t have helped. We got back into the house and I asked my otosan to get the dictionary and tell me what she said. So he got the dictionary, but couldn’t seem to find something. Then he showed me the word ‘murderer’. I thought he was saying the Crazy Lady was a murderer. He looked serious and kind of worried and nervous. So I was like ‘Honto??’ and we was all…yeeaahh…. So I was a bit scared. She was going to kill me now. Okasan and otosan were telling me to go quickly past her house especially when it was dark out. Then the cover for the light fell and the corner shattered, wiping out the lillies on the table (but not the vase, somehow. Only the flower parts.). Then I found out that she was actually calling ME a killer. Which was a big relief. I wish my Japanese was better so I could understand her ramblings. Well, I’ve got three months living beside her. And now she hates me because I called her a crazy lady. Let the good times roll.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
I’ve been slacking off bigtime with my blog, I know. And I havn’t even been all that busy. Just procrastinating. So I guess I should inform you about Halloween, even though that was weeks ago.
Anyway, Donny, Emmi, Tiffany, Elina and I met up and Sapporo station, without costumes on. We went to moss burger for lunch and from there I think we went straight to karaoke. So we came into karaoke dressed like normal people. When we were set up we took turns going to the bathroom to change, and then I painted Donny’s face. He was a zombie, a much better one than me. It was his first and probably last Halloween so he wanted to go all-out, and he did. Emmi was an assasin, Elina was traditional kimono girl and Tiffany was some ninja guy off of Naruto. Basically, we all looked pretty cool by the time we were done. When we went to leave karaoke everyone was staring at us. It was awesome. We walked back to the eki then, did purikura, had our picture taken with some random person, and went to an arcade. Donny and Elina basically ruled the Dance Dance Revolution. Me and Tiff played some rambo. After that we went for supper - ramen of course. Some people took our picture with their phones, trying to be sneaky about it. But I saw them. Kind of creepy, but neat at the same time.
After ramen we were all pretty much done. I got dressed and headed back to Ainosato. Since then I’m sure things have happened, but I can’t remember anything in particular to write about. See, this is why I should blog more. So I can remember. But it’s snowing now. There is definitely a good layer of snow on the ground. A little chilly, not too bad. Maybe 1 degree. Oh and I’m moving to my new host family in two days. Just found out yesterday. Kind of a shock. I don’t think I want to leave this family, since I’m so comfortable here. But it will be good to know different lifestyles. Plus, if I get too attached to one family it will be a lot harder to leave.
Anyway, Donny, Emmi, Tiffany, Elina and I met up and Sapporo station, without costumes on. We went to moss burger for lunch and from there I think we went straight to karaoke. So we came into karaoke dressed like normal people. When we were set up we took turns going to the bathroom to change, and then I painted Donny’s face. He was a zombie, a much better one than me. It was his first and probably last Halloween so he wanted to go all-out, and he did. Emmi was an assasin, Elina was traditional kimono girl and Tiffany was some ninja guy off of Naruto. Basically, we all looked pretty cool by the time we were done. When we went to leave karaoke everyone was staring at us. It was awesome. We walked back to the eki then, did purikura, had our picture taken with some random person, and went to an arcade. Donny and Elina basically ruled the Dance Dance Revolution. Me and Tiff played some rambo. After that we went for supper - ramen of course. Some people took our picture with their phones, trying to be sneaky about it. But I saw them. Kind of creepy, but neat at the same time.
After ramen we were all pretty much done. I got dressed and headed back to Ainosato. Since then I’m sure things have happened, but I can’t remember anything in particular to write about. See, this is why I should blog more. So I can remember. But it’s snowing now. There is definitely a good layer of snow on the ground. A little chilly, not too bad. Maybe 1 degree. Oh and I’m moving to my new host family in two days. Just found out yesterday. Kind of a shock. I don’t think I want to leave this family, since I’m so comfortable here. But it will be good to know different lifestyles. Plus, if I get too attached to one family it will be a lot harder to leave.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
School Trip
Ok so I havn’t been able to write in a long time. And now I have a very long entry for my school trip that happened last week. I wrote it all down on paper because I didn’t have my laptop with me then, so now I’m basically just copying. Fun.\
Day 1
The journey to Osaka was a long one. First we took the train to Chitose Airport. That train was a half an hour long and packed. There was a lot of standing and waiting in the airport. Two plane rides later we were finally in Osaka. Then we had to take an hour busride to Nara.
Nara was actually really nice. Too bad I wasn’t allowed to use my keitai to take pictures. But it was really nice. There were deer everywhere that you could pet. And a building called Todaiji (todai temple). The largest wooden building in the world, even though it is actually 33% smaller than when it was originally built. It holds a huge Buddha, as well as a few other big statues. And a souvenir shop of course. That was a bit disgusting to find in a place worshipping Buddha. Then we walked around Nara Park for a while. It was very pretty and I’ll just have to steal pictures from Donny.
After Nara we drove back by bus to Osaka to our hotel, the Monterey, where we had supper and went to bed.
Day 2
So today was a ‘free’ day with out groups. After breakfast we went to Kyoto to see two temples. The first temple we went to was called Touji. That temple is the tallest building with five roofs in Japan. The second temple was Byoudoin. It is supposedly very famous, since it is on the 10 yen coin.
Nothing of real significance happened at either of the temples. They were both very beautiful and scenic, but not much other than that. There were also some Buddhist shrines around Touji that we went to.
I spent literally over 5,000 yen today just on train fares and admission fees alone. It was ridiculous. It costs so much money to travel around Osaka because it’s just so huge. And since we took so long with the temples we didn’t have time to stop for lunch, which was a shame because we were going to go to this famous food bazaar thing, but I didn’t mind too much. I didn’t feel like spending a bunch of money on lunch, then again for supper anyways. So it worked out. After the temples we did go to a matcha place though. Me and Ai skipped on the matcha for money reasons though. It was very expensive. I think 600 yen for a cup of matcha.
So from Kyoto we went back to Osaka and to a big aquarium thing. Like a sea-creature zoo. It was pretty neat. The day turned out to be fun. I talked a lot in Janglish with two of the other girls, but I don’t remember their names.
We ended up having okonomiaki for supper. It’s hard to describe, so...maybe just google it haha.
Day 3
More temples. Today we stayed with our class so we had to wear our uniforms all day. Our first temple was Kinkakuji. It’s also known as the golden temple considering it is plated in gold. It sits in front of a large pond and is surrounded by gardens. We were behind schedule since the buses were late too pick us up, so we didn’t get much time there. Out next temple was Kiyomizudera. It was huge and surrounded by forest and sitting like… on the side of a mountain. We had some time to look around at the shops here and I managed to get some togarashi and yatsuhashi for my host family as well as some yatsuhashi for myself. Yatsuhashi is a popular sweet in Osaka. It is like rice dough triangles with anko in the middle. And togarashi is just a red pepper spice that is really hard to find in Hokkaido.
After temples we caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo. We all had to rush on it because we only had 2 mintues for all of us to get on. (All 300 of us). But we made it. The Shinkansen is super fast. We had lunch on the train and I listened to Creature Feature. Love that band.
As soon as we arrived in Tokyo we went to the Tokyo Historical Museum, which was kind of fun. We got some really funny pictures with me pretending to be godzilla with the miniatures displays.
After the museum we went for supper. The same stuff we had last night, only waay more. Oh and there is another girl in our group now. She couldn’t come for the first bit because of influenza but is fine now I guess.
After supper we went to our hotel. The Hilton. Tokyo Bay Hilton. I was so excited. I literally ran to my room, ran to get my bags, then ran back to my room to change. I collected my Donny and we explored the Hilton together. We got some of his Japanese boys and went to the star bucks in the lobby a little later, and talked about colonoscopies and hospitals...
Day 4
Today we had a free day so we planned to go to Tokyo Disneyland. It was the first time I’ve been to Disneyland and I’m really glad I went. I don’t think I would have had much fun if I went when I was younger, because back then I let my huge spectrum of fear control me too much. The only rides I would have went on would have been the boring slow ones.
Anyway, as soon as we got there we literally ran to the Splash Mountain. It was a really cool log ride. The final drop was huge and nearly completely vertical. The first time I have ever been on a roller coaster type ride. Talk about diving headfirst into things hm? We went on that ride twice.
Other than Splash Mountain, we went on an African boat adventure thing, Pirates of the Carribean, Teacups, Pinnochio, Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. My favorites were Thunder and Space mountain. For Thunder we had to wait nearly 2 hours in the line. And we were lucky because we went right after a parade so there weren’t as many people. But the ride was worth it. Space, we didn’t have to wait long because we got fast passes. That one was amazing too. It was like a roller coaster in a pitch black building with little lights like stars and it really felt surreal. And the Haunted Mansion was based off of Nightmare Before Christmas. It wasn’t really as scary as it was freaking neat, with all the special effects. The robotics were amazing in POTC too. At first I thought the Jack Sparrow was actually a real actor guy.
For lunch we went to the Red Queen Banquet Hall, which is Alice in Wonderland themed and a really nice place to eat. The food was really good too. For supper we went to some average place in Tomorrowland. After that we were basically done.
Day 5
Not much happened on the last day. We visited the Nippon Maru and a boat museum for a bit before heading back to the airport and returning to Hokkaido.
Day 1
The journey to Osaka was a long one. First we took the train to Chitose Airport. That train was a half an hour long and packed. There was a lot of standing and waiting in the airport. Two plane rides later we were finally in Osaka. Then we had to take an hour busride to Nara.
Nara was actually really nice. Too bad I wasn’t allowed to use my keitai to take pictures. But it was really nice. There were deer everywhere that you could pet. And a building called Todaiji (todai temple). The largest wooden building in the world, even though it is actually 33% smaller than when it was originally built. It holds a huge Buddha, as well as a few other big statues. And a souvenir shop of course. That was a bit disgusting to find in a place worshipping Buddha. Then we walked around Nara Park for a while. It was very pretty and I’ll just have to steal pictures from Donny.
After Nara we drove back by bus to Osaka to our hotel, the Monterey, where we had supper and went to bed.
Day 2
So today was a ‘free’ day with out groups. After breakfast we went to Kyoto to see two temples. The first temple we went to was called Touji. That temple is the tallest building with five roofs in Japan. The second temple was Byoudoin. It is supposedly very famous, since it is on the 10 yen coin.
Nothing of real significance happened at either of the temples. They were both very beautiful and scenic, but not much other than that. There were also some Buddhist shrines around Touji that we went to.
I spent literally over 5,000 yen today just on train fares and admission fees alone. It was ridiculous. It costs so much money to travel around Osaka because it’s just so huge. And since we took so long with the temples we didn’t have time to stop for lunch, which was a shame because we were going to go to this famous food bazaar thing, but I didn’t mind too much. I didn’t feel like spending a bunch of money on lunch, then again for supper anyways. So it worked out. After the temples we did go to a matcha place though. Me and Ai skipped on the matcha for money reasons though. It was very expensive. I think 600 yen for a cup of matcha.
So from Kyoto we went back to Osaka and to a big aquarium thing. Like a sea-creature zoo. It was pretty neat. The day turned out to be fun. I talked a lot in Janglish with two of the other girls, but I don’t remember their names.
We ended up having okonomiaki for supper. It’s hard to describe, so...maybe just google it haha.
Day 3
More temples. Today we stayed with our class so we had to wear our uniforms all day. Our first temple was Kinkakuji. It’s also known as the golden temple considering it is plated in gold. It sits in front of a large pond and is surrounded by gardens. We were behind schedule since the buses were late too pick us up, so we didn’t get much time there. Out next temple was Kiyomizudera. It was huge and surrounded by forest and sitting like… on the side of a mountain. We had some time to look around at the shops here and I managed to get some togarashi and yatsuhashi for my host family as well as some yatsuhashi for myself. Yatsuhashi is a popular sweet in Osaka. It is like rice dough triangles with anko in the middle. And togarashi is just a red pepper spice that is really hard to find in Hokkaido.
After temples we caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo. We all had to rush on it because we only had 2 mintues for all of us to get on. (All 300 of us). But we made it. The Shinkansen is super fast. We had lunch on the train and I listened to Creature Feature. Love that band.
As soon as we arrived in Tokyo we went to the Tokyo Historical Museum, which was kind of fun. We got some really funny pictures with me pretending to be godzilla with the miniatures displays.
After the museum we went for supper. The same stuff we had last night, only waay more. Oh and there is another girl in our group now. She couldn’t come for the first bit because of influenza but is fine now I guess.
After supper we went to our hotel. The Hilton. Tokyo Bay Hilton. I was so excited. I literally ran to my room, ran to get my bags, then ran back to my room to change. I collected my Donny and we explored the Hilton together. We got some of his Japanese boys and went to the star bucks in the lobby a little later, and talked about colonoscopies and hospitals...
Day 4
Today we had a free day so we planned to go to Tokyo Disneyland. It was the first time I’ve been to Disneyland and I’m really glad I went. I don’t think I would have had much fun if I went when I was younger, because back then I let my huge spectrum of fear control me too much. The only rides I would have went on would have been the boring slow ones.
Anyway, as soon as we got there we literally ran to the Splash Mountain. It was a really cool log ride. The final drop was huge and nearly completely vertical. The first time I have ever been on a roller coaster type ride. Talk about diving headfirst into things hm? We went on that ride twice.
Other than Splash Mountain, we went on an African boat adventure thing, Pirates of the Carribean, Teacups, Pinnochio, Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. My favorites were Thunder and Space mountain. For Thunder we had to wait nearly 2 hours in the line. And we were lucky because we went right after a parade so there weren’t as many people. But the ride was worth it. Space, we didn’t have to wait long because we got fast passes. That one was amazing too. It was like a roller coaster in a pitch black building with little lights like stars and it really felt surreal. And the Haunted Mansion was based off of Nightmare Before Christmas. It wasn’t really as scary as it was freaking neat, with all the special effects. The robotics were amazing in POTC too. At first I thought the Jack Sparrow was actually a real actor guy.
For lunch we went to the Red Queen Banquet Hall, which is Alice in Wonderland themed and a really nice place to eat. The food was really good too. For supper we went to some average place in Tomorrowland. After that we were basically done.
Day 5
Not much happened on the last day. We visited the Nippon Maru and a boat museum for a bit before heading back to the airport and returning to Hokkaido.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Golden Market
Yesterday I went to the Golden Market. It was a bit of a last minute thing, but the day turned out pretty awesome. I arrived outside the front of the dome really early, so I waited around for Sofie and Drew to come. I got a lot of looks from people, which really started to annoy me. Luckily, I saw Lindsey and three other Japanese girls, so I wasn’t alone for long. The other girls were her host sister and her two friends. They had already been inside and had come outside for lunch. Oh, I guess I should explain that outside the dome there were a whole bunch of food stands and tables and chairs set up. There were some food stands inside, but very little.
We sat down at one of the tables and started talking, waiting for the others to arrive. Soon, these two guys came up to our table and started talking to us. They looked like they might have been in their early twenties, and were in fact university students. The one guy spoke good enough English, and the other one remained silent the entire time. We talked about where we were from, why were in Japan ect. I was a bit cautious at first, of course, because this guy was a complete stranger, but he proved to be very nice and had only good intentions. We also found out that he owned one of the shops inside the dome, and that he could get us free tickets (it costs 500 yen to get in). So this was pretty awesome. He went back inside the dome to get the tickets, and in the meantime Sophie, Drew and Ellie showed up. I didn’t know Ellie was coming but that’s ok. We got all got in for free.
Oh, and I should also mention the weird old guy that sat down at our table around the same time the two guys showed up. He talked mostly with the Japanese girls, but when the university guy went away we (me and Lindsey) started talking to him as well. He seemed really happy to be talking to foreigners, and his English was really bad, but that was ok. I got to practice my Japanese. Anyway this guy really loved Mickey Mouse. He even whipped out two Mickey Mouse toy things to show us. But he only likes the authentic ones from Tokyo Disneyland. He was pretty neat.
Once we were inside we mostly looked around at all the little shops. The Golden Market is kind of like an indoor flee market that only happens once in a while. It’s a free market, so you can haggle.
Being foreigners, it seems we have a special super power energy that surrounds us and makes (most) people like us instantly. Or so it seemed in the GM. Some of us got free stuff for no reason. And we talked to a lot of cool people. Like this one guy that ran a t-shirt and jeans stand. He was all gangster-like and pretty cool. He lived in Tokyo but I think he originally came from the States. And then there was Bonny. He came from the Caribbean, but also lives in Tokyo now. We talked for a long time with him about Tokyo and about a bunch of little random things. He was really nice. We also visited the university guy’s shop. He had with him three other girls as well, and one of them spoke very good English with a perfect accent. We got some free stuff from them, for no real reason, and I almost felt bad because they had already gotten us in for free. Me and the university guy and Lindsey stayed at the shop a bit longer than the others, talking to the guy. We had a very cool conversation about religion, too. There isn’t really any hardcore religion in Japan, and everyone is pretty open-minded about things, which I love. They believe in something being out there, but they don’t believe in a set deity or religion, just like me and Lindsey.
More about the Gaijin Powers; There was this little girl and her father who I had passed a couple of times. Each time I passed them, the girl waved at me, so of course I would wave back. The third time we passed each other, I got the urge to take a picture with them because they were just so randomly happy to see me every time they did. So I got a picture with the dad holding the little girl (who was 3 years old). Then, the dad basically handed her to me, which was kind of shocking. Plus, the girl was really excited to have me hold her, and reached her arms out towards me. Wow. I got another picture of me holding her, and it looks like I stole her from the dad.
Yet another Gaijin Power moment; I was with Drew in a really expensive brand name shop, most of the names being European or Japanese. I tried on a jacket, which I instantly loved because it was just so freaking cool. However, it cost 7000 yen. Which is about $70. Yeah, a little much for a jacket. Plus, I only had 3000 yen on me. The guy who was helping me and Drew said that we could haggle, but I sadly explained to him how much money I had on me. I didn’t think for a second that he would accept it, but with a look on his face like I just stabbed him in the chest, he said he would sell it to me for 3000 yen. Now I felt really bad. But incredibly happy at the same time. He said, and I quote, ‘kawaii kara…’ which means ‘because you’re cute’. Man it was awesome. I tried to avoid that shop for the rest of the time we spent there though, because I felt really bad for getting such a crazy good deal.
We sat down at one of the tables and started talking, waiting for the others to arrive. Soon, these two guys came up to our table and started talking to us. They looked like they might have been in their early twenties, and were in fact university students. The one guy spoke good enough English, and the other one remained silent the entire time. We talked about where we were from, why were in Japan ect. I was a bit cautious at first, of course, because this guy was a complete stranger, but he proved to be very nice and had only good intentions. We also found out that he owned one of the shops inside the dome, and that he could get us free tickets (it costs 500 yen to get in). So this was pretty awesome. He went back inside the dome to get the tickets, and in the meantime Sophie, Drew and Ellie showed up. I didn’t know Ellie was coming but that’s ok. We got all got in for free.
Oh, and I should also mention the weird old guy that sat down at our table around the same time the two guys showed up. He talked mostly with the Japanese girls, but when the university guy went away we (me and Lindsey) started talking to him as well. He seemed really happy to be talking to foreigners, and his English was really bad, but that was ok. I got to practice my Japanese. Anyway this guy really loved Mickey Mouse. He even whipped out two Mickey Mouse toy things to show us. But he only likes the authentic ones from Tokyo Disneyland. He was pretty neat.
Once we were inside we mostly looked around at all the little shops. The Golden Market is kind of like an indoor flee market that only happens once in a while. It’s a free market, so you can haggle.
Being foreigners, it seems we have a special super power energy that surrounds us and makes (most) people like us instantly. Or so it seemed in the GM. Some of us got free stuff for no reason. And we talked to a lot of cool people. Like this one guy that ran a t-shirt and jeans stand. He was all gangster-like and pretty cool. He lived in Tokyo but I think he originally came from the States. And then there was Bonny. He came from the Caribbean, but also lives in Tokyo now. We talked for a long time with him about Tokyo and about a bunch of little random things. He was really nice. We also visited the university guy’s shop. He had with him three other girls as well, and one of them spoke very good English with a perfect accent. We got some free stuff from them, for no real reason, and I almost felt bad because they had already gotten us in for free. Me and the university guy and Lindsey stayed at the shop a bit longer than the others, talking to the guy. We had a very cool conversation about religion, too. There isn’t really any hardcore religion in Japan, and everyone is pretty open-minded about things, which I love. They believe in something being out there, but they don’t believe in a set deity or religion, just like me and Lindsey.
More about the Gaijin Powers; There was this little girl and her father who I had passed a couple of times. Each time I passed them, the girl waved at me, so of course I would wave back. The third time we passed each other, I got the urge to take a picture with them because they were just so randomly happy to see me every time they did. So I got a picture with the dad holding the little girl (who was 3 years old). Then, the dad basically handed her to me, which was kind of shocking. Plus, the girl was really excited to have me hold her, and reached her arms out towards me. Wow. I got another picture of me holding her, and it looks like I stole her from the dad.
Yet another Gaijin Power moment; I was with Drew in a really expensive brand name shop, most of the names being European or Japanese. I tried on a jacket, which I instantly loved because it was just so freaking cool. However, it cost 7000 yen. Which is about $70. Yeah, a little much for a jacket. Plus, I only had 3000 yen on me. The guy who was helping me and Drew said that we could haggle, but I sadly explained to him how much money I had on me. I didn’t think for a second that he would accept it, but with a look on his face like I just stabbed him in the chest, he said he would sell it to me for 3000 yen. Now I felt really bad. But incredibly happy at the same time. He said, and I quote, ‘kawaii kara…’ which means ‘because you’re cute’. Man it was awesome. I tried to avoid that shop for the rest of the time we spent there though, because I felt really bad for getting such a crazy good deal.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Zombies
Ok, so I'm going to a Halloween party-type thing this Saturday. I'm not entirely sure where it is, or who is running it, but the people taking me there seem to do so I'm not worrying about that. Before I thought it was just a Rotary party, but today I found out that it's like a learning thing for Japanese kids ages 10-15. They are learning about Western culture and English and such, so this party is a way to teach them about the very popular Western holiday - Halloween! Tiffany is also supposed to be coming, but she has been sick for the last couple of days so I'm not sure whether she will or not. But it would be really nice to have her there as back-up.
Anyway, you might be able to guess what I'm dressing up as. Yup, a zombie. Well, I was actually going more for the survivor-of-zombie-Apocalypse-zombie-killer this-is-my-boomstick type of deal, but the way the costume and makeup turns out, I look more like a zombie. Plus, I couldn't find a cheap baseball bat to put red paint on. So without a weapon it would be kind of hard to guess I'm a zombie killer. So just plain zombie will do. A decent one though, without all the blood and gore showing. There is another Rotary thing on Sunday and don't feel like showing up with big pink stains on my skin everywhere.
My costume is basically a cheap t-shirt and cheaper jeans, ripped up with home-made blood splattered on it. Despite it's simplicity it looks pretty awesome, I must say. I got the shirt and jeans today with Sachiko from this really cheap department store called Daiei. The t-shirt is dark navy with a print of some singer's face in white outline and the words 'Killer Turn'. I picked it because the words seemed to fit beautifully. And the jeans are just jeans. That cost 480 yen. Which is crazy awesome. I made the blood out of corn starch, red food dye, cocoa powder and soy sauce. Yeah cocoa powder and soy sauce. Just the starch-water mix and dye didn't look enough like blood - it was too bright red. So I had to find some dark colored stuff, and guess what was laying around? So my blood smells like soy and chocolate, which is kind of nice. I cut up the shirt and jeans for that nice Chaos look and flung my blood at it. When it dried became bright red again, and very fake looking, but still cool. Oh and I got some gauze and covered it in blood, so I can wrap it around my arms or something.
And Aya is sick with a stomach flu. And since Sachiko is a nurse, I got to see her put a drip into Aya's hand. It was funny because the drip was hooked up to the curtain rod with a hanger and a string. I don't know what the fluid was. Lots of people are getting sick though. Donny, Drew, Tiffany and Aya have all been sick. Not swine flu though, so that's good.
Oh, and a little moment yesterday that I should probably mention. We were in the CALL room for English speaking class. Everyone has a computer and headphones, and there is a topic that you and someone else have to discuss. Instead of turning to the person beside you, they get all technical with it, and you talk to someone on the other side of the room through the headphones and speaker thing. Anyway, as an example conversation me and this other guy was picked. Now, everyone can hear our conversation through their headphones. So we did the thing, and the teacher started talking about topic. Which was cigarette smoke harming non-smokers and such. And he asked who else smoke hurts. And I said, so myself, 'Everyone'. In a whispery voice. Then, because I could hear myself in my headphones and it sounded cool, I put my mouth closer to the speaker and repeating again, whispering, 'Eeeeveryoooonne.' I hear people laughing and look up and realize that everyone could still hear me through their headphones. So yes. I was a bit embarrassed, and took off my headphones so they couldn't hear me anymore.
Anyway, you might be able to guess what I'm dressing up as. Yup, a zombie. Well, I was actually going more for the survivor-of-zombie-Apocalypse-zombie-killer this-is-my-boomstick type of deal, but the way the costume and makeup turns out, I look more like a zombie. Plus, I couldn't find a cheap baseball bat to put red paint on. So without a weapon it would be kind of hard to guess I'm a zombie killer. So just plain zombie will do. A decent one though, without all the blood and gore showing. There is another Rotary thing on Sunday and don't feel like showing up with big pink stains on my skin everywhere.
My costume is basically a cheap t-shirt and cheaper jeans, ripped up with home-made blood splattered on it. Despite it's simplicity it looks pretty awesome, I must say. I got the shirt and jeans today with Sachiko from this really cheap department store called Daiei. The t-shirt is dark navy with a print of some singer's face in white outline and the words 'Killer Turn'. I picked it because the words seemed to fit beautifully. And the jeans are just jeans. That cost 480 yen. Which is crazy awesome. I made the blood out of corn starch, red food dye, cocoa powder and soy sauce. Yeah cocoa powder and soy sauce. Just the starch-water mix and dye didn't look enough like blood - it was too bright red. So I had to find some dark colored stuff, and guess what was laying around? So my blood smells like soy and chocolate, which is kind of nice. I cut up the shirt and jeans for that nice Chaos look and flung my blood at it. When it dried became bright red again, and very fake looking, but still cool. Oh and I got some gauze and covered it in blood, so I can wrap it around my arms or something.
And Aya is sick with a stomach flu. And since Sachiko is a nurse, I got to see her put a drip into Aya's hand. It was funny because the drip was hooked up to the curtain rod with a hanger and a string. I don't know what the fluid was. Lots of people are getting sick though. Donny, Drew, Tiffany and Aya have all been sick. Not swine flu though, so that's good.
Oh, and a little moment yesterday that I should probably mention. We were in the CALL room for English speaking class. Everyone has a computer and headphones, and there is a topic that you and someone else have to discuss. Instead of turning to the person beside you, they get all technical with it, and you talk to someone on the other side of the room through the headphones and speaker thing. Anyway, as an example conversation me and this other guy was picked. Now, everyone can hear our conversation through their headphones. So we did the thing, and the teacher started talking about topic. Which was cigarette smoke harming non-smokers and such. And he asked who else smoke hurts. And I said, so myself, 'Everyone'. In a whispery voice. Then, because I could hear myself in my headphones and it sounded cool, I put my mouth closer to the speaker and repeating again, whispering, 'Eeeeveryoooonne.' I hear people laughing and look up and realize that everyone could still hear me through their headphones. So yes. I was a bit embarrassed, and took off my headphones so they couldn't hear me anymore.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Naked People and Ninjas
Yesterday was the beginning of Silver Week, the five day weekend in September. I had a lesson with my Japanese tutor in Sapporo station, which I was fifteen minutes late for on account of missing my train and getting lost in the station. After the lesson I made my way back to Ainosato kyoikudai, where I was picked up by Kazunori. All I was told was that we were going to an onsen hotel. And this frightened me. I’ll get into that in a second. Anyway, I found out when we got home that we weren’t just visiting the onsen, but we were staying in the hotel overnight like a little vacation. So, I packed a little bag and off we went. It was a long drive to the hotel, in a town quite close to Niseko. And I was starting to feel a bit car sick (the continuous rap ‘love music‘ on the radio didn‘t help), so that I wished the car ride would just be over with. Even if that meant the onsen would be that much closer.
The hotel was huge, and very nice looking. All the greeters were dressed up in suits or kimonos. And there were a lot of greeters. We checked into the hotel and put our stuff in our room, which was a tatami-mat style place, and pretty neat. Then we went out to see the mini hot spring and some shops. On our way back, me and Sachiko were assaulted by about five young cats. They literally darted across the street right out in front of me and I almost stepped on one. We spent some time with the cats, who were very loving, and made sure they didn’t get hit by any cars. One cat in particular decided to follow us for a bit before opting to chill out by the hot spring.
We met Aya back in the hotel room. And I never did go to the onsen. Kazunori went, and then Sachiko and Aya went. The reason I didn’t go was because I didn’t know that was where they were going. Honest. They said they were going to the ‘bathrooms’. Not the onsen. Oh, maybe I should clue you in about what an onsen is. Basically, you take a hot spring, add a nude beach and then take away the beachiness. That’s an onsen.
Anyway, the food in the hotel was amazing. We went to the buffet restaurant for supper and breakfast. I’ve never seen so much food in a buffet in my life. You had to take two plates on a tray to fit it all. And then in the hotel room we watched this amazing Japanese sitcom that I couldn’t understand but seemed like the best thing ever.
Today we left the hotel and stopped at a couple places on our way home. The first was the volcano place, where we took some pictures and went to a store in which everything was made of glass. I think we spent an hour just looking at stuff in that store. It was all so amazingly neat. Then we went to Noboribetsu, which was basically an old-fashioned Japanese ninja village. Up until this point I had been using my keitai for taking pictures. Sadly, it died as soon as we went inside the ninja village. You have to imagine the tragedy of this. Luckily, Kazunori had a disposable camera so all was not lost. The ninja village was amazing. You didn’t see any ninjas until after the giant epically awesome ninja battle happened. It started out as a guy doing tricks with a bamboo mat thing, then some pushed into me. I looked to see who did it, intending and giving them a little glare, when to my surprise and delight I see a ninja. There were two of them at first, then a third one slid down on this wire thing. Then a fourth one came up, who seemed to be opposed to the other three. A three-on-one ninja battle ensued. It was lovely. Of course, the one guy won. I got pictures with them.
Then there was a little play that I saw. I was the only gaijin in the entire house. So when the guy was explaining the things the audience wasn’t allowed to do, he also did it in English, but talked directly to me, sitting in the front row. I swear every eye was on me. It was weird. And cool. This play had even better ninja fight scenes than the other one. When we left the little theatre thing, there were a lot more ninjas around. One was just chilling out, scaling the rooves of all the buildings and waving at people. How wonderful would it be to have a job like that? Get paid for being a ninja, just doing your ninja stuff?
The hotel was huge, and very nice looking. All the greeters were dressed up in suits or kimonos. And there were a lot of greeters. We checked into the hotel and put our stuff in our room, which was a tatami-mat style place, and pretty neat. Then we went out to see the mini hot spring and some shops. On our way back, me and Sachiko were assaulted by about five young cats. They literally darted across the street right out in front of me and I almost stepped on one. We spent some time with the cats, who were very loving, and made sure they didn’t get hit by any cars. One cat in particular decided to follow us for a bit before opting to chill out by the hot spring.
We met Aya back in the hotel room. And I never did go to the onsen. Kazunori went, and then Sachiko and Aya went. The reason I didn’t go was because I didn’t know that was where they were going. Honest. They said they were going to the ‘bathrooms’. Not the onsen. Oh, maybe I should clue you in about what an onsen is. Basically, you take a hot spring, add a nude beach and then take away the beachiness. That’s an onsen.
Anyway, the food in the hotel was amazing. We went to the buffet restaurant for supper and breakfast. I’ve never seen so much food in a buffet in my life. You had to take two plates on a tray to fit it all. And then in the hotel room we watched this amazing Japanese sitcom that I couldn’t understand but seemed like the best thing ever.
Today we left the hotel and stopped at a couple places on our way home. The first was the volcano place, where we took some pictures and went to a store in which everything was made of glass. I think we spent an hour just looking at stuff in that store. It was all so amazingly neat. Then we went to Noboribetsu, which was basically an old-fashioned Japanese ninja village. Up until this point I had been using my keitai for taking pictures. Sadly, it died as soon as we went inside the ninja village. You have to imagine the tragedy of this. Luckily, Kazunori had a disposable camera so all was not lost. The ninja village was amazing. You didn’t see any ninjas until after the giant epically awesome ninja battle happened. It started out as a guy doing tricks with a bamboo mat thing, then some pushed into me. I looked to see who did it, intending and giving them a little glare, when to my surprise and delight I see a ninja. There were two of them at first, then a third one slid down on this wire thing. Then a fourth one came up, who seemed to be opposed to the other three. A three-on-one ninja battle ensued. It was lovely. Of course, the one guy won. I got pictures with them.
Then there was a little play that I saw. I was the only gaijin in the entire house. So when the guy was explaining the things the audience wasn’t allowed to do, he also did it in English, but talked directly to me, sitting in the front row. I swear every eye was on me. It was weird. And cool. This play had even better ninja fight scenes than the other one. When we left the little theatre thing, there were a lot more ninjas around. One was just chilling out, scaling the rooves of all the buildings and waving at people. How wonderful would it be to have a job like that? Get paid for being a ninja, just doing your ninja stuff?
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Little Things
I've done just little things in the past while, here and there. I went to a baseball gave a couple days ago, the Fighters against the Marines. We lost again. Yesterday I crashed the ASF sports event with all the exchange students in Sapporo from that company. It was pretty fun. I met the Australian version of Darby. Her name is Lian. And then we had some random impromptu mambo lesson in the place where the event was. Me and couple other girls decided to go in this room that was filled with old people, watching a stage. We had no clue what it was. Then this guy came out and open five old couples, and so began the mambo lesson. We joined them after we figured out what was happening, and most of the people that it was very amusing to watch a bunch of foreigners fail at dancing. Lots of cameras came out. Anyway, after the sports event we all went to Sapporo station and did purikura, then we went for ramen and talked about the exchange and our host families.
And today I went out with my host sister Aya to go shopping. I got some awesome t-shirts, a skirt, belt and boots. And whoever said that shoes were cheap in Japan had obviously never went shopping in Japan before. My boots, that according to Aya were cheap, cost 10,000 yen. Which translates to about $100. But I did need them for the winter, and they actually were the cheapest pair we could find in my size. Crazy hm? Oh, and we did purikura of course. It's basically a rule, every time you go out. And we had yogen fruz, which is worlds better here than in Canada. And that's about it.
And today I went out with my host sister Aya to go shopping. I got some awesome t-shirts, a skirt, belt and boots. And whoever said that shoes were cheap in Japan had obviously never went shopping in Japan before. My boots, that according to Aya were cheap, cost 10,000 yen. Which translates to about $100. But I did need them for the winter, and they actually were the cheapest pair we could find in my size. Crazy hm? Oh, and we did purikura of course. It's basically a rule, every time you go out. And we had yogen fruz, which is worlds better here than in Canada. And that's about it.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Niseko
This weekend Rotary held a camping trip in Niseko with for us Inbounds. Me and Sachiko went together, taking the train to Sapporo and meeting up with the others outside the station. From there we all took a bus to Niseko, which is up in the mountains. About a two hour bus trip. The views from the bus were amazing, and I managed to get some good pictures, including a picture of a volcano that we passed on our way back through the town that held the 2008 G8 Summit. On the way to Niseko we stopped off at a little petting-zoo type place. They had bunnies, horses, goats, pigs, beagles and an ostrich.
Anyway, the little town of Niseko is home to a lot of foreigners. Usually rich ones. They buy or rent cottages, then come up in the winter for the amazing skiing conditions. We had one of the cottages rented out to us for our 1-night stay. It was a nice little place. Staffed with cooks and maids and such. The staff members slept in the attic, which was a bit surprising. NAC is also there; Niseko Adventure Camp. They do a whole bunch of things, from tightrope lessons to mountain climbing and kayaking. We went white-water rafting with them.
After we got to Niseko, we had lunch at Jo-Jo's cafe, which was pretty good. After lunch we got suited up for rafting, which isn't an easy task. The water is very cold, so we had to wear these special boots and this body suit that was a real pain getting into, as well as a helmet and a lifejacket. To say the least, I felt safe. I also felt like an astronaut. Which was cool.
The rafting itself was pretty fun. The rapids weren't that intense at all, fun still fun. During the times when there were no rapids we would all just talk to each other. Oh, and I got pushed out of the raft. I said the water was cold, but that was a lie. It's freezing. 14 degrees I think they said. Emmi came in after me, and then Sophie, then Jono and Simon. Can't remember if Linsdey ever came in. Jono did a front-flip out of the raft at one point. And Simon used to be in another raft until Jono swam over and pulled him into the river. I went in the river twice. The second time I went in willingly to prevent being pushed in. It was still just as cold.
It was a good old time all-in-all. After we got back to the cottage and dried off, we had a little barbecue. Then, as the adults all sat around and talked, someone pulled out two bags of fireworks and all the young people got to work keeping everyone awake. It was pretty neat.
After fireworks and some more food, everyone went inside to the living room. We watched TV for a little bit, then someone brought a giant box of candy and junkfood. And watermelon. We talked, and took pictures, and ate junkfood, and I got my keitei (cellphone) so I was figuring out how to work it and getting every one's contact info. Keitei are so much more advanced than in Canada. You can do anything with them. I won't get into it, it will take too long.
Next morning we had breakfast and headed out. We left Niseko and went through the town that held the 2008 G8 summit to the Ainu Museum. The Ainu are basically the aboriginals of Hokkaido. After the museum we finished the long drive back home, and that was pretty much it.
Anyway, the little town of Niseko is home to a lot of foreigners. Usually rich ones. They buy or rent cottages, then come up in the winter for the amazing skiing conditions. We had one of the cottages rented out to us for our 1-night stay. It was a nice little place. Staffed with cooks and maids and such. The staff members slept in the attic, which was a bit surprising. NAC is also there; Niseko Adventure Camp. They do a whole bunch of things, from tightrope lessons to mountain climbing and kayaking. We went white-water rafting with them.
After we got to Niseko, we had lunch at Jo-Jo's cafe, which was pretty good. After lunch we got suited up for rafting, which isn't an easy task. The water is very cold, so we had to wear these special boots and this body suit that was a real pain getting into, as well as a helmet and a lifejacket. To say the least, I felt safe. I also felt like an astronaut. Which was cool.
The rafting itself was pretty fun. The rapids weren't that intense at all, fun still fun. During the times when there were no rapids we would all just talk to each other. Oh, and I got pushed out of the raft. I said the water was cold, but that was a lie. It's freezing. 14 degrees I think they said. Emmi came in after me, and then Sophie, then Jono and Simon. Can't remember if Linsdey ever came in. Jono did a front-flip out of the raft at one point. And Simon used to be in another raft until Jono swam over and pulled him into the river. I went in the river twice. The second time I went in willingly to prevent being pushed in. It was still just as cold.
It was a good old time all-in-all. After we got back to the cottage and dried off, we had a little barbecue. Then, as the adults all sat around and talked, someone pulled out two bags of fireworks and all the young people got to work keeping everyone awake. It was pretty neat.
After fireworks and some more food, everyone went inside to the living room. We watched TV for a little bit, then someone brought a giant box of candy and junkfood. And watermelon. We talked, and took pictures, and ate junkfood, and I got my keitei (cellphone) so I was figuring out how to work it and getting every one's contact info. Keitei are so much more advanced than in Canada. You can do anything with them. I won't get into it, it will take too long.
Next morning we had breakfast and headed out. We left Niseko and went through the town that held the 2008 G8 summit to the Ainu Museum. The Ainu are basically the aboriginals of Hokkaido. After the museum we finished the long drive back home, and that was pretty much it.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Trains
So today I took the train to school by myself. I was very proud of myself for getting on the right one in the first place. The only reason I knew it was the right train was because I saw another SIT girl get on it. Now, I didn't know when my stop was, so I stared at this girl for basically the whole train ride, trying to see when she got off. She must have thought I was some sort of creep, but I didn't think about that until later. So, at one point I heard the word 'Shinkawa' over the train's intercom. I knew that my train station was called Shinkawa. The train was coming to a stop. I looked at the girl from SIT to see if she got off or not, but she was standing by the door, and as the train stopped a whole bunch of people were blocking my view of her. I couldn't see if she got off or not, and the doors would close soon, so I had to take a chance.
I got off the train, and as soon as I did I knew it was the wrong stop. I just had a feeling. And sure enough, it was. I knew for sure when I went down the escalators, which were wider than the ones at the Shinkawa station. I walked outside, to see if anything looked familiar and maybe to see if there were other students from SIT around, but no luck. So I came back inside and tried to ask the people at the information kiosk how to get to SIT from there, but they didn't speak English. I still didn't speak enough Japanese to ask properly. Language barriers suck. But, she finally got my meaning and printed off some maps for me and a bus schedule, inking in the route I needed to take and which bus to take. It sounds simple when I write it, but this process took about fifteen minutes and was very painstaking. So, feeling like I sort of knew what to do, I thanked them and headed out. I had to ask three different people on the way to the bus terminal if I was going in the right direction. Better to be sure, right?
With the help of one of these three people, I found my bus and managed to get to school. Only 15 minutes late. I told my teacher the story, and he just laughed and said it was ok. Which was a relief. Now I know which stop is mine though. I told my story to Donny and Finland when I got to school, and it turns out that the bus I ended up taking was the bus Donny took to get to school. We live on opposite sides of the school area, and very far away, so none of us knew how I managed to get that far off-course.
I also managed to find my way home after school, taking the bus and train with Drew who happens to share my route. I was on my own after the train station, and just barely managed to scratch a route home. The walk from the train station to my house is actually very relaxing, and beautiful. There are a lot of trees and gardens, and a little man-made stream that runs around most of it. I got home late, because I had stayed at the school with the other exchange students to study Japanese, and just hang around. So it was just getting dark on the walk home, adding to the feeling of solitude and peace. A very scary morning. A very nice evening.
I got off the train, and as soon as I did I knew it was the wrong stop. I just had a feeling. And sure enough, it was. I knew for sure when I went down the escalators, which were wider than the ones at the Shinkawa station. I walked outside, to see if anything looked familiar and maybe to see if there were other students from SIT around, but no luck. So I came back inside and tried to ask the people at the information kiosk how to get to SIT from there, but they didn't speak English. I still didn't speak enough Japanese to ask properly. Language barriers suck. But, she finally got my meaning and printed off some maps for me and a bus schedule, inking in the route I needed to take and which bus to take. It sounds simple when I write it, but this process took about fifteen minutes and was very painstaking. So, feeling like I sort of knew what to do, I thanked them and headed out. I had to ask three different people on the way to the bus terminal if I was going in the right direction. Better to be sure, right?
With the help of one of these three people, I found my bus and managed to get to school. Only 15 minutes late. I told my teacher the story, and he just laughed and said it was ok. Which was a relief. Now I know which stop is mine though. I told my story to Donny and Finland when I got to school, and it turns out that the bus I ended up taking was the bus Donny took to get to school. We live on opposite sides of the school area, and very far away, so none of us knew how I managed to get that far off-course.
I also managed to find my way home after school, taking the bus and train with Drew who happens to share my route. I was on my own after the train station, and just barely managed to scratch a route home. The walk from the train station to my house is actually very relaxing, and beautiful. There are a lot of trees and gardens, and a little man-made stream that runs around most of it. I got home late, because I had stayed at the school with the other exchange students to study Japanese, and just hang around. So it was just getting dark on the walk home, adding to the feeling of solitude and peace. A very scary morning. A very nice evening.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Quadralingual?
Ok, so yesterday technically wasn't my first day of school. It was more of an orientation that started at about 3 pm and went for an hour and a half or so. It mainly consisted of me sitting in a room with the other exchange student (American, not from Rotary), her host fam, some rotary people and my host fam, as well as some teachers. They were all talking Japanese to each other while me and Tiffany read through the English pamphlets about the schools. Rules and programs and such. After that was done, we met a bunch of other exchange students. Drew, from America; Donovan, from Australia and can't-remember-her-name from Finland. The other three have been in Japan for about 5 months already, and so they know the ropes. We walked around the school for a little bit, finding out where are classes were ect. There are three floors to the school. First year students (grade 10, Tiffany and Drew) are on the third floor, second year (grade 11, me, Finland and Donnie) are on the second floor and third year (grade 12) are on the first floor. Third year students get a little courtyard as well as the use of the canteen, which is sort of like a cafeteria, but not really.
The schools are a lot different over here. First of all, the teachers move from class to class instead of the students. We have a 'homeroom' in which we stay in for most of the day. Secondly, and most importantly, it's like going back to the third grade. There are chalkboards instead of whiteboards. Little wooden desks. Homerooms. Cubby holes for outside shoes. Lunches are eaten in the classroom. No lockers (everything is carried with you in a school bag). Even the girls act like they are in grade 3, no joke. They love cutesy things, Disney characters and cartoon characters. It's really strange. Like I've stepped forward, but jumped way back at the same time. It feels... a bit frustrating. But nothing I can't get used to. Everyone is incredibly nice and welcoming. Walking around the school yesterday, people would stop and stare at me, then grin and wave and say something in Japanese. Or try to say something in English.
And then today. My first real full day at school. I felt like a superstar, really. I've never had so much attention paid to me in my life. Everyone (especially the girls) was waving and grinning at me, and running over to talk to me. Or just stand in front of me, smiling, awkwardly. And I've never heard the word 'kawaii' said so much in one day, by so many different people. It means 'cute', which is nice. It'll wear off in a couple of days. But it's so strange. If you know me, you'll know that I have never been a popular person in school. So to have this many people clamouring to be my friend, I don't know what to do. Or how to act. So, I played to role of the clueless little exchange student (which wasn't very hard to do), earned some more 'kawaii's, and continued on with my day.
My first class was Classical Japanese Literature, the equivalent to English Shakespeare.
To say the least, I have no idea what was said at all during that class. Except at one point a vote seemed to be going on. The teacher seemed nice though. Tada sensei, is her name. She's a friend of my host dad. Next class was math, which I kind of fell asleep in. It's hard staying awake during math in Canada, when I can understand my teacher. The stuff they were doing seemed childishly easy anyway. Some things on a number line, and a formula that was connected to it. I knew the answers before anyone else in the class, and I hardly knew what the questions were. I'm no math whiz, don't get me wrong, but these were common-sense easy. The teacher didn't mind me falling asleep, and it was only for about five minutes.
Then there was English class. Yup, English. We were in the computer lab, which is really high-tech for the school, but it looks like a normal computer lab. I did some worksheets that required listening to a girl talk, and filling in blanks on her dialogue. I mostly just helped the girl beside me with her pronunciation, which she seemed happy about. They are really hard core into English over here.
There were more classes, in which I mostly just twiddled my thumbs. And then after lunch I went with Tiffany to the Exchange Student room (a little, very warm room connected to a cleaning closet, which I think is funny) for a Japanese lesson. That lesson was mainly introductory, next week we'll get into more things. So every Wednesday I have Japanese in the exchange student room, every Saturday I have my Japanese tutor and then every Tuesday I think all of the exchange students have a group lesson in the ES room. Oh, and there are five courses in the school that a student gets to choose from, each course containing it's own specific subjects. Since I'm an exchange student, I'm in the Foreign Studies course. This also requires me to take language lessons other than Japanese. I get to pick from Chinese, Korean, Russian or French. Since I don't want to get anything confused with my Japanese, Chinese and Korean are out of the picture. And since I don't feel like learning yet another alphabet, Russian is out. So that leaves me with French. Yippee. I'm well on my way to becoming quadralingual!
Now for clubs. SIT has a lot of clubs. A whole bunch of sports. Then things like the English Speaking Society, Koto (Japanese harp), band, art, drama, flower arranging, broadcasting, student news and the like. I'm thinking of joining Naginata (Japanese halberd) and tea ceremony. Maybe koto as well, but I don't want to fill up my schedule too much. So I'll see.
So that pretty much covers it for the last 48 hours. Oh, and my commute to school is about an hour long. It consists of biking/walking to the train station, taking the train, then taking a bus. I already have my student train pass, and tomorrow I'm getting a bus pass.
The schools are a lot different over here. First of all, the teachers move from class to class instead of the students. We have a 'homeroom' in which we stay in for most of the day. Secondly, and most importantly, it's like going back to the third grade. There are chalkboards instead of whiteboards. Little wooden desks. Homerooms. Cubby holes for outside shoes. Lunches are eaten in the classroom. No lockers (everything is carried with you in a school bag). Even the girls act like they are in grade 3, no joke. They love cutesy things, Disney characters and cartoon characters. It's really strange. Like I've stepped forward, but jumped way back at the same time. It feels... a bit frustrating. But nothing I can't get used to. Everyone is incredibly nice and welcoming. Walking around the school yesterday, people would stop and stare at me, then grin and wave and say something in Japanese. Or try to say something in English.
And then today. My first real full day at school. I felt like a superstar, really. I've never had so much attention paid to me in my life. Everyone (especially the girls) was waving and grinning at me, and running over to talk to me. Or just stand in front of me, smiling, awkwardly. And I've never heard the word 'kawaii' said so much in one day, by so many different people. It means 'cute', which is nice. It'll wear off in a couple of days. But it's so strange. If you know me, you'll know that I have never been a popular person in school. So to have this many people clamouring to be my friend, I don't know what to do. Or how to act. So, I played to role of the clueless little exchange student (which wasn't very hard to do), earned some more 'kawaii's, and continued on with my day.
My first class was Classical Japanese Literature, the equivalent to English Shakespeare.
To say the least, I have no idea what was said at all during that class. Except at one point a vote seemed to be going on. The teacher seemed nice though. Tada sensei, is her name. She's a friend of my host dad. Next class was math, which I kind of fell asleep in. It's hard staying awake during math in Canada, when I can understand my teacher. The stuff they were doing seemed childishly easy anyway. Some things on a number line, and a formula that was connected to it. I knew the answers before anyone else in the class, and I hardly knew what the questions were. I'm no math whiz, don't get me wrong, but these were common-sense easy. The teacher didn't mind me falling asleep, and it was only for about five minutes.
Then there was English class. Yup, English. We were in the computer lab, which is really high-tech for the school, but it looks like a normal computer lab. I did some worksheets that required listening to a girl talk, and filling in blanks on her dialogue. I mostly just helped the girl beside me with her pronunciation, which she seemed happy about. They are really hard core into English over here.
There were more classes, in which I mostly just twiddled my thumbs. And then after lunch I went with Tiffany to the Exchange Student room (a little, very warm room connected to a cleaning closet, which I think is funny) for a Japanese lesson. That lesson was mainly introductory, next week we'll get into more things. So every Wednesday I have Japanese in the exchange student room, every Saturday I have my Japanese tutor and then every Tuesday I think all of the exchange students have a group lesson in the ES room. Oh, and there are five courses in the school that a student gets to choose from, each course containing it's own specific subjects. Since I'm an exchange student, I'm in the Foreign Studies course. This also requires me to take language lessons other than Japanese. I get to pick from Chinese, Korean, Russian or French. Since I don't want to get anything confused with my Japanese, Chinese and Korean are out of the picture. And since I don't feel like learning yet another alphabet, Russian is out. So that leaves me with French. Yippee. I'm well on my way to becoming quadralingual!
Now for clubs. SIT has a lot of clubs. A whole bunch of sports. Then things like the English Speaking Society, Koto (Japanese harp), band, art, drama, flower arranging, broadcasting, student news and the like. I'm thinking of joining Naginata (Japanese halberd) and tea ceremony. Maybe koto as well, but I don't want to fill up my schedule too much. So I'll see.
So that pretty much covers it for the last 48 hours. Oh, and my commute to school is about an hour long. It consists of biking/walking to the train station, taking the train, then taking a bus. I already have my student train pass, and tomorrow I'm getting a bus pass.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Purikura, Karaoke and Baseball
That's the gist of the last two days. On the 29th I had my first Inbound orientation on the hotel. There were three other exchange students; Lindsey and Tiffany from the USA and Emmi from Finland. I was introduced to my Japanese tutor, who I'll be seeing every Saturday from now on in a little restaurant. All four of us also had to do a little introduction speech in Japanese, which wasn't as difficult as it sounds. I took the liberty of going first.
After the orientation came the fun part. The other inbounds as well as the two aussies, Jono and Simon, and Sachiko as well as one of girls' host mother and brother went to do purikura. Purikura is a big thing Japan. Basically, some people go into this photobooth-like thing and take a bunch of pictures, then you choose four you want to keep. After you choose your pictures, you get to draw on them/add animations or characters/ make borders/ or do whatever you want with them, really. After you can send two to your phone (keitei) and the rest are printed out. You stick them to things.
After purikura, we got a bunch of junk food and went to karaoke. (You're not allowed to bring outside food into the karaoke building, but since the food there is heavily overpriced, we do it anyway). It was pretty fun, except I got hit with horrible migraine, and wasn't able to sing. Next karaoke night I'll sing.
Yesterday my host parents took me to see the big baseball game in Sapporo. The Fighters against the Hawks. We cheered for the Fighters, but unfortunately lost 3 to 2. Would have won if the Hawks didn't get two home runs in the top of the eighth inning. It was a good game though. The Japanese are crazy about baseball. The only time the crowd wasn't singing or cheering in unison was in the eighth inning. And no one bashes the other team. There is no booing when the opponent gets a home run. They only cheer on their own team. Which I think is wonderful.
Tomorrow I start school. That should be interesting, since my Japanese is still incredibly limited. We'll see.
After the orientation came the fun part. The other inbounds as well as the two aussies, Jono and Simon, and Sachiko as well as one of girls' host mother and brother went to do purikura. Purikura is a big thing Japan. Basically, some people go into this photobooth-like thing and take a bunch of pictures, then you choose four you want to keep. After you choose your pictures, you get to draw on them/add animations or characters/ make borders/ or do whatever you want with them, really. After you can send two to your phone (keitei) and the rest are printed out. You stick them to things.
After purikura, we got a bunch of junk food and went to karaoke. (You're not allowed to bring outside food into the karaoke building, but since the food there is heavily overpriced, we do it anyway). It was pretty fun, except I got hit with horrible migraine, and wasn't able to sing. Next karaoke night I'll sing.
Yesterday my host parents took me to see the big baseball game in Sapporo. The Fighters against the Hawks. We cheered for the Fighters, but unfortunately lost 3 to 2. Would have won if the Hawks didn't get two home runs in the top of the eighth inning. It was a good game though. The Japanese are crazy about baseball. The only time the crowd wasn't singing or cheering in unison was in the eighth inning. And no one bashes the other team. There is no booing when the opponent gets a home run. They only cheer on their own team. Which I think is wonderful.
Tomorrow I start school. That should be interesting, since my Japanese is still incredibly limited. We'll see.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Queue Terminator Music
Soo, my birthday was on the 26th. I've been procrastinating with my blog, I admit.
For my birthday the Rotary Club booked a boardroom-type place in a hotel in Sapporo for dinner. Believe it or not, there were 9 courses to this dinner. I'll try and remember each dish, not necessarily in order; Clams on a little salad, some type of sushi with cheese in the middle, sashimi, caramel ice cream, birthday cake (which was amazing, and I swear the icing was actually whipped cream), this egg pudding stuff, fried shrimp and shrimp-roll-thing, noodles and a plate that had assorted things on it like beef, egg and these little weird orange things that I can't accurately describe.
Oh, not to mention the hot and cold tea, coffee, beer and wine. I didn't have any wine, of course. Their legal age here is 20.
And I got a bunch of small presents from some Rotarians. Some things for school, a neat fan, a little box with flowers in it, things like that. Some of the Rotarians even did magic tricks, which was pretty amusing.
After the dinner, we had to wait for Aya because we had driven there in her car. She left to do this teacher training thing. We went to Mister Donuts to wait. It's kind of like a Japanese Tim Hortons, with only coffee and donuts. And you should see the donuts. It looks like something out of every little kid's most colorful fantasy. I'll need to get a picture sometime.
Other than that, not too much has been happening.
Oh, I almost forgot. You might be wondering about the post title. Well, I've just noticed that on Japanese TV they like to put some well-known English music to weird things. Like the Phantom of the Opera music to an Iguana documentary. Or the Terminator theme to a bunch of news anchors posing. Very funny.
For my birthday the Rotary Club booked a boardroom-type place in a hotel in Sapporo for dinner. Believe it or not, there were 9 courses to this dinner. I'll try and remember each dish, not necessarily in order; Clams on a little salad, some type of sushi with cheese in the middle, sashimi, caramel ice cream, birthday cake (which was amazing, and I swear the icing was actually whipped cream), this egg pudding stuff, fried shrimp and shrimp-roll-thing, noodles and a plate that had assorted things on it like beef, egg and these little weird orange things that I can't accurately describe.
Oh, not to mention the hot and cold tea, coffee, beer and wine. I didn't have any wine, of course. Their legal age here is 20.
And I got a bunch of small presents from some Rotarians. Some things for school, a neat fan, a little box with flowers in it, things like that. Some of the Rotarians even did magic tricks, which was pretty amusing.
After the dinner, we had to wait for Aya because we had driven there in her car. She left to do this teacher training thing. We went to Mister Donuts to wait. It's kind of like a Japanese Tim Hortons, with only coffee and donuts. And you should see the donuts. It looks like something out of every little kid's most colorful fantasy. I'll need to get a picture sometime.
Other than that, not too much has been happening.
Oh, I almost forgot. You might be wondering about the post title. Well, I've just noticed that on Japanese TV they like to put some well-known English music to weird things. Like the Phantom of the Opera music to an Iguana documentary. Or the Terminator theme to a bunch of news anchors posing. Very funny.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Yes We Can
The Internet was hooked up yesterday afternoon, but I haven't had to time to blog until now.
So, the journey was long. Very long. Like, more than 13 or 14 hours long. Three planes in one day, and I've discovered that, when landing, the pressure in my ears is agonizing. The worst was landing in Sapporo. I could hardly hear anything for an hour after landing. A lot of smiling and nodding to people trying to talk to me. The welcome party was pretty unexpected. And very nice. There were maybe ten to fifteen people there, and I was given a flower bouquet. Another girl from America arrived shortly after I did.
Wow. The toilets here are crazy technical. There's all these buttons everywhere. All I want to do is flush! It took a little while for my host mother to explain to me how to work everything. Potty training here must be like rocket science.
And everything is backwards. Even the littlest things. Steering wheel is on the right side, people drive on the left side of the road, toilet handle is pulled up to flush instead of pushed down, tap is pushed down to open, books are read from back to front and writing is vertical. Even the sentence structure is backwards. Subject object verb. I like it.
And the food is excellent. Last night we had sashimi, which is basically raw slices of fish and soy sauce to dip, beef slices, pasta salad and kiwi. This morning we had some sausage, fish, yogurt, boiled egg and this pumpkin...mush...stuff. Think of potato salad, only with pumpkin instead of potato, and pieces of meat in it. It looks very weird. And most people probably wouldn't risk trying it. But it's actually pretty good. Very similar to potato salad. Oh, and they loove sweet stuff. Like pocky, which is like a thin bread stick coated in chocolate. You can get different flavours. And these chip things, that look and taste like mini pringles. Lots of chocolate stuff. And lots of ice cream. The only thing that I couldn't bare was the cold green tea. Veery bitter.
Yesterday I went around Sapporo with Shuji Chida to get fitted for my school uniform and gym strip. Sapporo is so nice. Very green. Trees and grass everywhere, little gardens and flowers and such. And goats. There were goats, just chillin in this little grassy field. No fences holding them in. The cars are all, in general, smaller than the ones in Canada. The people here are big into the hybrids. And there is a surprising amount of English in scattered random places. For no particular reason. Oh, and they have alcohol sitting out in the open in the supermarket.
And there are elections going on right now. They do their campaigns so differently. The candidates actually walk around the city with big megaphones, personally advertising their campaigns and meeting people, talking to people and the like. Or they drive around in these vans with megaphones on the roof, advertising themselves. And they all look so happy and nice. It's weird.
A little bit about my host family: The family name is Kawamura, and it means 'river bridge'. Sachiko, my host mom, is a nurse. Her name means 'happy child'. She cooks all the meals and does dishes. I've tried to help, but she just smiles and tells me to sit down. Kazunori is my host father, and he is a highschool teacher, but not at the school I will be going to (SIT). His name means 'peace constitution'. I know. He helps me with my hiragana/katakana and basic Japanese. My host sister is Aya. She looks like she could be 18, but is actually 26. Very shocked when I found this out. I can't remember what her name means. But she teaches disabled people. I might go to her school one of these days and meet them.
Oh, and they have kindergarten buses that are designed to look like cartoon characters or animals. I saw one that was Thomas the Train. Shuji said that there are dragon buses and cat buses, too. Makes me wish I was in kindergarten so I could ride on one of them.
I think that's it for now. Remember, you can leave comments if you like, without having to sign up to blogspot ^^.
So, the journey was long. Very long. Like, more than 13 or 14 hours long. Three planes in one day, and I've discovered that, when landing, the pressure in my ears is agonizing. The worst was landing in Sapporo. I could hardly hear anything for an hour after landing. A lot of smiling and nodding to people trying to talk to me. The welcome party was pretty unexpected. And very nice. There were maybe ten to fifteen people there, and I was given a flower bouquet. Another girl from America arrived shortly after I did.
Wow. The toilets here are crazy technical. There's all these buttons everywhere. All I want to do is flush! It took a little while for my host mother to explain to me how to work everything. Potty training here must be like rocket science.
And everything is backwards. Even the littlest things. Steering wheel is on the right side, people drive on the left side of the road, toilet handle is pulled up to flush instead of pushed down, tap is pushed down to open, books are read from back to front and writing is vertical. Even the sentence structure is backwards. Subject object verb. I like it.
And the food is excellent. Last night we had sashimi, which is basically raw slices of fish and soy sauce to dip, beef slices, pasta salad and kiwi. This morning we had some sausage, fish, yogurt, boiled egg and this pumpkin...mush...stuff. Think of potato salad, only with pumpkin instead of potato, and pieces of meat in it. It looks very weird. And most people probably wouldn't risk trying it. But it's actually pretty good. Very similar to potato salad. Oh, and they loove sweet stuff. Like pocky, which is like a thin bread stick coated in chocolate. You can get different flavours. And these chip things, that look and taste like mini pringles. Lots of chocolate stuff. And lots of ice cream. The only thing that I couldn't bare was the cold green tea. Veery bitter.
Yesterday I went around Sapporo with Shuji Chida to get fitted for my school uniform and gym strip. Sapporo is so nice. Very green. Trees and grass everywhere, little gardens and flowers and such. And goats. There were goats, just chillin in this little grassy field. No fences holding them in. The cars are all, in general, smaller than the ones in Canada. The people here are big into the hybrids. And there is a surprising amount of English in scattered random places. For no particular reason. Oh, and they have alcohol sitting out in the open in the supermarket.
And there are elections going on right now. They do their campaigns so differently. The candidates actually walk around the city with big megaphones, personally advertising their campaigns and meeting people, talking to people and the like. Or they drive around in these vans with megaphones on the roof, advertising themselves. And they all look so happy and nice. It's weird.
A little bit about my host family: The family name is Kawamura, and it means 'river bridge'. Sachiko, my host mom, is a nurse. Her name means 'happy child'. She cooks all the meals and does dishes. I've tried to help, but she just smiles and tells me to sit down. Kazunori is my host father, and he is a highschool teacher, but not at the school I will be going to (SIT). His name means 'peace constitution'. I know. He helps me with my hiragana/katakana and basic Japanese. My host sister is Aya. She looks like she could be 18, but is actually 26. Very shocked when I found this out. I can't remember what her name means. But she teaches disabled people. I might go to her school one of these days and meet them.
Oh, and they have kindergarten buses that are designed to look like cartoon characters or animals. I saw one that was Thomas the Train. Shuji said that there are dragon buses and cat buses, too. Makes me wish I was in kindergarten so I could ride on one of them.
I think that's it for now. Remember, you can leave comments if you like, without having to sign up to blogspot ^^.
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Final Countdown
It is officially 3 days, 22 hours and 45 minutes until my plane leaves for Vancouver. And from there, to Tokyo, Japan and eventually to Sapporo. Almost two years in the making, and it still doesn't seem real. I don't suspect it will until the plane takes off. Or until I step into the main terminal of Tokyo International. Or maybe, probably, until I go to sleep that night in my new home for eleven months. It's hard to beleive that only five days from now my life as I know it will be over, and a whole new universe will begin. It's refreshing, actually. I'm all for change and clean slates. Places where no one knows me. I think this is as fresh as it gets.
I just picked out my suitcases. I didn't buy new ones, not enough money for that. Instead I'm borrowing a set. That's fine with me. They're big enough. I won't be bringing much, anyways. Almost all my weight will be from the gifts I'm bringing over. A lot of stuff, but I'm still not sure if it's enough. I think I'll go out tomorrow and get some more. Tim Horton's coffee and some Red Rose tea. Pure Canadianism. The real task will be deciding what clothes to bring. I'm only taking enough for about a week, maybe less. Planning on buying more when I get there. Then I have to make a list. So much to do. I wish I had more motivational drive. Maybe then I could get off the computer and do it.
I just picked out my suitcases. I didn't buy new ones, not enough money for that. Instead I'm borrowing a set. That's fine with me. They're big enough. I won't be bringing much, anyways. Almost all my weight will be from the gifts I'm bringing over. A lot of stuff, but I'm still not sure if it's enough. I think I'll go out tomorrow and get some more. Tim Horton's coffee and some Red Rose tea. Pure Canadianism. The real task will be deciding what clothes to bring. I'm only taking enough for about a week, maybe less. Planning on buying more when I get there. Then I have to make a list. So much to do. I wish I had more motivational drive. Maybe then I could get off the computer and do it.
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