Blogs from Hokkaido, Japan, Asia - page 5

We went to Sapporo. Jun found us. Sean complained about a bag of food. I got crunk. While sitting outside the Sapporo Terminal we heard a very familiar "Seeon San" (he says my name differently every time he tries to get my attention) coming from a small scurrying creature off in the distance, obviously it was Jun. He was happy to see us and as always, moved around very frantically and hurried, apparently he was meeting a friend near the terminal at 5:00 and didn't want to be late. It was almost 4:00. He quickly directed us to the Sapporo House Youth Hostel, (pointed in the general direction) so we headed out figuring we'd get lost. Only circled the block once or twice before finding the always clearly and largely posted triangle/river/tree youth hostel organization sign ... read more

Mt. Hakodateyama. Ring girl's house. Beach. Uh.. cool stuff. SNAKE... read more

Took trains to Hakodate. Sean died. Met boss man McCool. Impressed with hotel and price. Christopher went to work on the train schedule today. He earned how to read the japanese rail schedule, which is crazy confusing, and got us all the way to Hakodate without any issues. I was getting dominated by a migraine for the majority of the trip so it really was all him. It was pretty awesome to ride on a double-decker train, it was not pretty awesome to have two very chatty elderly ladies behind me while i tried to sleep off the migraine. I recovered in time for the last train, the one that makes the trek under the pacific ocean to Hokkaido. We were treated to an awesome sunset coming out of the seikan tunnel, truly picture perfect with ... read more

So first of all, I tried rice and tororo... basically a mixture of sticky, gooey foods such as okra and ground yagaimo. Definately not my favourite. Yagaimo just tastes like starch, and raw okra is icky tasting (but I don't mind it cooked). That was pretty much the only intersting thing which happened Friday, as well as the rest of the weekend. Two days ago (Monday), was also uneventful, except perhaps at dinner, when otoosan said something very strange. "I was gay." Whaaaat?! Mioka and okaasan immediately cried out "Uso!Uso!" or "He kids/lies!" He later explained to us that earlier he had heard a story about how a famous sports player had shouted "I was gay!" across the field one day. He was married at the time. Otoosan also said something odd while driving to the ... read more

Apparently, I my pronounciation of English words is wrong. This is of course from the school's English teacher and my liason teacher, Naganuma-Sensei. I know I speak fast, but still, my pronounciation is not that bad. Apparently the problem is that I don't pronounce words exactly as the dictionary says to. Okaaaayyyy. I don't think many native speakers do. And if we did, wouldn't we sound like robots? Either way, I think I sound normal, don't I? Lunch was interesting today. I actually had a ton of people wanting to meet me, which I suppose makes up the the recent lack of activity during lunch over the past week. Was I getting bored? I hope not, because if so, it means my head is growing. Somebody pop it before it's too late!!!!!_ One boy introduced himself, ... read more

So I went to the nurse's office today... again. I went yesterday to grab a band-aid (remember those scraped up elbows?) This time, Mioka insisted on going when she noticed I had a headache during P.E. Haha, the minute she feels unwell at home, we aren't going to go to school! ^_~ My headache was really only because of my sleep patterns, or lack thereof in this case, over the past weeks (it adds up you know). The nurse took my temperature, which was perfectly normal and led me to one of the beds. It's like a mini hospital in there. To be honest, once I was in my bed I was pretty grateful. I managed to snag an extra hour and half of zzzzs. The nurses were being extra careful today though, because apparently there's ... read more

It's official. I'm a human cassette tape for my teachers. Especially the English teachers. _ Not that I really mind, but I need to read slow and repeat everything two or three times. By the end of it, I sound pretty drone like, which is the part I hate. Other than that school is still quite fun. Mioka's class had physics today. They have it once a week, and from the looks of it, they only learn one equation in that hour. It seemed very slow. At least I brought my own textbook with me, so I was able to follow the class a bit easier. They were learning about Newton's second law. Of course, concerning my notetaking over the past few weeks (next to none), I'm pretty far behind. They're a whole chapter ahead. After ... read more

Today was a rather interesting day. I spent the majority of my free time at school practicing the 30 or so new kanji from my cookbook. (The same as during the weekend.) Naganuma-Sensei was quite impressed, and believes that it will be a good way to learn Japanese and kanji. I also participated in a new elective today. 2nd year music (おんがく)。 Thinking about joining the music class actually filled me with a certain dread, to be perfectly honest. (Look what Mr. Herad did!!!!) I really didn't know what to expect, or if the class would be full of geniuses or anything. Luckily, it isn't. Well perhaps one girl. The music class is different than band in Canada. They learn the theory and history behind different times and genres of music. ie. Music from the Romantic ... read more

So my first week of school is over, and I'm sorry for not writing about it sooner. = I'm not quite sure how to describe it, for it was more odd than interesting. A bit of culture shock I suppose. At least there weren't as many screaming girls after the first day, which was a bit of a relief. However, those two odd boys who visited at lunch on Tuesday came back again, with a friend. _ Our conversation went something like this: "Hello." "Hi again." "We are sorry about what we said yesterday." "Oh, that's ok." "We would like you to meet our friend." "Oh, hello. Nice to meet you." "We would like to teach you English. Sorry, Japanese. Will you teach us English?" "Oh. Umm, sure that sounds great." Much doubt is passing through ... read more

It was my first day of Japanese High School today. _ Needless to say, it is VERY different from a normal school at home, let alone Carroll! I think the only similarity was the time schedule, school starts at 8:55 AM, lunch is at 12:55 PM, and the day ends at 3:20 PM. (8時55分から3時20分までです。） Other than that, I think my entire school lide was nearly turned upside down! A list of differences: School uniforms (せいふく) No makeup, but I'm not sure how leniant they are about this. I was told no makeup, yet I saw many third year students with false eyelashes, eyeshadow, liner, blush, etc. Either way, I still plan on wearing foundation, or at least cover up for those large undereye bags left over from jetlag and camping. No piercings, or jewelry, except for ... read more