Blogs from Hokkaido, Japan, Asia - page 17

For the last few days, we have done absolutely nothing besides sit at home. = To study and do homework. :'( has Needless to say, I'm almost finished reading all the English material I brought. In other words, I'm now only left with two things to do: physics 20 or Hamlet. I'm not impressed. They're both pretty boring. And I forgot my graphing calculator back in Calgary, and physics on my ipod is just a tad bit hard. And Hamlet, is, well Hamlet. I decided from the start that I didn't want to read it too soon, because I doubt it's going to be a book I would enjoy reading for a second time. Especially since I haven't even found one of those yet. So it shall wait until the end of September, or October, which ... read more

Melons... are popular, and also really, REALLY expensive. Cantaloupe - 700-1000 円 Watermelo (すいか) - 1000-1800　円 A melon which looks like cantaloupe, but with a stem attached (ゆばり?) - 3500-5900 円 Clothes are either super expensive, or super cheap when on sale! Shoes can only rarely be found in a size 8 and above. The moths are HUGE! Every other bug here is also HUGE! Japanese men seem to have short legs, or at least the majority of the ones I've seen so far.　（I should't stereotype. _） The news seems to use various music sources to add emphasis to different stories. Most of these sources are recognizable from anime. Death Note on the latest murder.... is kind of odd to hear, and just a tad bit creepy. I've also heard music from Spiral, and Inu-Yasha. _ ... read more

Today we went sightseeing! I hate driving up mountains, it scares me so damn much with all the tight corners! _ Either way, we drove up Mt. Okura (大倉山） to see the view of Sapporo! The city is huge! I'm sure Calgary isn't nearly so big, even if we looked at from on top of a mountain. _ BUt then again, I could be wrong. = We also visited the Okura Ski Jump. Mioka is a little bit afraid of heights, and was nervous while we used the ski lift to reach the observation deck at the top. I thought it was perfectly fine. I wonder how she'll cope when we go to skii at Lake Louis... =/ We also went to a sheep farm. たくさんのくかわいいおみやげ！There were many cute souvenirs. And of course I wanted to ... read more

I had tofu for breakfast. =/ No, not what you're thinking. To be more precise, I had a tofu donut for breakfast today. Mister Donuts sells a variety of different types if donuts, including glazed tofu donuts, donuts with matcha icing, and the more common honey cruellers, chocolate glazed, and sugar-coated. These were only some of the donuts available, there were many more that I have not listed. We didn't do too much today, in fact I pretty much just studied. The one interesting thing that happened was that Mihiro came home today, so we were finally able to meet eachother. He's still young, and is super hyper, like every kid his age! If Mioka and okaasan hadn't warned me before, I would probably be more annoyed at this than I am. _ Okaasan also went ... read more

Interesting Facts about Narita airport: (_) It's been a long flight. In Japanese security, they check for your fingerprints. Domestic flights have smaaaalllll waiting areas. And the food is good. And so flying into Chitose airport was tiring. Not to mention nervewracking. For many of us, it is our first time visiting Japan. Most of us can barely speak the language, let alone string together proper sentences. Through the glass doors by the luggage carasol, our host families wait, noses pressed against the glass. We grab our luggage, thankfully, none have been lost. "Konbanwa, hajimemashite," is repeated throughout the hall. And so, we go of our seperate ways. One of the first questions I am asked is "gohan o taberu?" or, "Can you eat rice?" "Hai," I reply. This question is asked many times, especially at ... read more