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?
Sunday, September 20, 2009
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.
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