Erieru

As of tomorrow, there are only four more days of school left until I leave for home. And, sad as I am to be leaving Japan, I will be so very, very, happy to be on my house with my oven again. Ecstatically happy to be reunited with my oven again. Sorry everyone. _ Also, as a result of of the short time span I have left here, Naganuma-sensei has been planning my days like mad to include various club activities and electives. She's so considerate, especially since she has a lot of grading to do being the end of the semester! Arigatuou gozaimashita!!!! *^_^* Today I was able to participate in kendo club, which is taught by Naganuma-sensei. =D It was really fun, but also super tiring. Swinging a bamboo blade up and down for ... read more

Mioka and her family love karaoke. Like, really, really, love it. Mioka and I had to be at school on Saturday due to it being the 60th anniversary, but Mioka's mother and brother went to sing at the local karaoke joint. The 60th anniversary "celebration" took place in a concert hall by Odori Station, and consisted of speeches and a concert. Many of the previous principles and staff were there to make appearances, and each of the four principles had to make a speech. Speeches alone took about and hour to and hour and a half! Not the most interesting thing in the world, no matter where you are. After the speeches concluded, there was a "twenty minute" intermission, which didn't actually last for twenty minutes. It was just the time frame given to band students ... read more

YAYYYYY! I got to skip school (and thusly Sports Days) on Friday and Thursday. The occasion you ask? Mioka's mother planned a trip to take Mioka and I sightseeing in Hakodate. Hakodate is a small port town about 4 hours away from Sapporo. While we were in Hakodate, otoosan would stay at home because of work, and Mihiro would spend the next three days at his grandmother's. As I mentioned before, Hakodate is about a four hour drive from Sapporo. However, this time frame seems to have been calculated "as the crow flies" rather than taking into acount the actual road to Hakodate. Driving there definately took us about seven hours, rather than four (with pit stops for food and washroom breaks, as well as dropping Mihiro off), and I don't think we managed to spend ... read more

Today was the echange student meeting, where all the students travelled back to Sapporo to chat with eachother, as well as to inform the Japanese students on the details of their flights to Alberta. And Mioka and I tried to skip. Her mom was willing to let us as Mihiro has caught the new influenza, but, unfotunately Naganuma-sensei made sure we attended by offerering us a ride. Darn. It was a three hour long meeting, with only a five minute break. I definately could have missed. Yasumitai!! However, I did learn an interesting bit of gossip. Apparently, one of the two boys on the exchange was sent home after a week. According to Mioka, he was caught drinking and smoking, and possibly drugs, which is of course illegal. Other than that, the rest of th meeting ... read more

Mioka's finals started on Thursday, and, while this isn't neccessarily the best thing for her, it does make me a bit happy, for school ends at 11:45. And, of course I do not need to take the finals and just get a two hour spare and 1 hour kanji lesson. Of course, being the slacker that I am, I've been napping through my spare, or reading the magazines in the library. I cannot bring myself to stare at my physics text for more than an hour at a time, or at least not when I'm doing questions. It makes me far too sleepy. The last two finals are on Monday and Tuesday, and school will only be held until 10:45. Yay! (^_^)/ I have also progressed to shopping on my own while Mioka is in "English ... read more

Ok, the title lies a bit. But here's yesterday's story. During lunch (because this is obviously the time that weird boys come to visit me), I met another odd boy. He was just passing our classroom in the hall, and noticed me sitting by the door (for this is where my seat is, which doesn't make for a quick get away from weird guys most times _). Anyways, he started off just remarking to his friends that I was there and passed me by. Then he came back, popped his head in, and said hi. Ok, all is normal... so far. I swear the guy was either lapping the hall out of boredom or is a stalker in the making. Either way, he said hi and left, only to come back five minutes later. "Look at ... read more

Not much has happened lately. For the most part, I've just been really, REALLY tired. However, I do find it kind of odd how everyone is asking if I've adjusted to daily Japanese life. It's been little more than a month, and I've been going to school for three weeks, so yes I have adjusted. It doesn't take that long really, especially when you consider the differences between daily life in two industrialized countries, or lack thereof in this case. To be perfectly honest, on school days I get up, eat, get ready for school, go to school, come home, eat and go to bed. Sound similar anyone? I've definately noticed that everyone here seems to have a misconception that the Japanese people and their culture are very different from the rest of the world. For ... 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