http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Japan , Hokkaido , Sapporo en-us Wed, 11 Nov 09 06:44:10 +0000 Wed, 11 Nov 09 06:44:10 +0000 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. gtltAlso as a result of of the short time span I have left here Naganumasensei has been planning my days like mad to include vario http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-441244.html 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 m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-440409.html 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 Naganumasensei made sure we attended by offerering us a ride. Darn. It was a thr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-436419.html 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 1145. 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-436142.html 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 app http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-435185.html 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 gtlt. Anyways he started off just remarking to hi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-434836.html 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 indu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-434246.html 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 per http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-433239.html Apparently I my pronounciation of English words is wrong. This is of course from the school's English teacher and my liason teacher NaganumaSensei. 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 rob http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-431540.html So I went to the nurse's office today... again. I went yesterday to grab a bandaid 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-431272.html It's official. I'm a human cassette tape for my teachers. Especially the English teachers. gtgt 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-431268.html 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. NaganumaSensei 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 1236212435123641236712290Thinking about joining http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-430743.html So my first week of school is over and I'm sorry for not writing about it sooner. 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 EnglishOh. Umm sure that sounds great. Do you like baseball Have you seen the Sapporo baseball stadium yetI'm not a fan of baseball sorry.Oh. Wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-430417.html It was my first day of Japanese High School today. gtlt 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 855 AM lunch is at 1255 PM and the day ends at 320 PM. 826178552099812363124253261782020998124141239112391123771229065289 Other than that I t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-429141.html For the last few days we have done absolutely nothing besides sit at home. To study and do homework. ' hasNeedless 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 ju http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-428769.html We went camping in Toya for a few days and just got back to Nishioka yesterday evening. I HATE bugs. And yet I think that during those few days I am now used to them. gtgt However they still and wil probably always creep me out to a point. The first day was pretty boring. We just drove up and lazed around a cabin which they called a bungalow. However on the way up we did buy some pret http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-428062.html Melons... are popular and also really REALLY expensive.Cantaloupe 7001000 20870Watermelo 123771235612363 100018001228820870A melon which looks like cantaloupe but with a stem attached 124221240012426 35005900 20870Clothes 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 HUGEEv http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-426946.html We went to a local karaoke bar this afternoon with some of Mioka's friends including Kumi and Ahe. 1237712372123566528165281652816528165281The interior was absolutely amazing It looked like a hotel actually with a spiral staircase made of marble... or something that looked like marble anyways. There are also drink fountains with as many free refills as you want. Ahe ha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-426939.html Today we went sightseeing I hate driving up mountains it scares me so damn much with all the tight corners gtlt Either way we drove up Mt. Okura 22823204892366565289 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. gtgt BUt then again I could be wrong. We also visited the Okura Ski Jump http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-426364.html 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 sugarcoated. These were only some of the donuts available there were many more that I have not listed. W http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Sapporo/blog-426151.html