Today Japanese college students came into class and I got to ask them questions about what college life is like in Japan. It was pretty cool, and Cortina-san and I taught them about Sake Bombing, they thought it was hilarious.
After class, I went back to the pottery place for the second sesh of pottery making. I really recommend doing the pottery activity at HIF because it:s lots of fun and the sensei are really helpful, patient and nice. Oh yeah and after I finished, I went upstairs with some other HIF people at the pottery place and listened to the sensei:s husband:s Jazz collection. He had the biggest stereo I:ve ever seen in someone:s house and was blasting the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Today I also had ika sumie soft cream a.k.a. squid ink ice cream! It was pretty tasty, but I can:t say that it:s my favorite. It tasted like speakers I thought, but other people thought it tasted like charcoal or smoke. A must try if you come to Hakodate.
Day 14
Today I got to try Kyuudoo at the local all girls high school. Kyuudoo is the ancient art of Japanese archery with ginormous bows that are like bigger than I am. First the teacher showed us a presentation of a formal archery session. There was a lot of special positions and protocol before he actually shot the arrow. Unlike archery I:ve done in America that took seconds to shoot an arrow, it took the sensei about 5 min at least to shoot one arrow. I guess the sport is just as much about skill as it is about the tradition behind the art of Kyuudoo. Drawing the huge bow wasn:t as hard as I thought it would be, it:s actually quite fun, but I was still amazed that little 15 year old girls can draw a huge huge bow. Really incredible.
Day 15
So I didn:t finish my homework before going to class today. It was quite taihen. In other news, I went to Jyuudou at Chubu High School. It was a lot of fun tumbling around, doing handstands, etc. at the trial day. There were a lot of HIF people there and it was quite crowded. Anyway, I plan to go to Jyuudou every day! Homework today was taihen because I had to write a speech for the speech contest coming up. I chose to write about whether or not people should have televisions in their houses. Anyways, I don:t think I:ll make it far in the speech contest, but everyone has to do it so sikata ga nai.
Day 16
The Hakodate University students came to class again today. This time they talked about the admission process to get into Japanese colleges. First the students have two options: They can either take a test, or have an interview and hope to get in that way. Apparently, they have to take the admission test at the university they want to get in to. My host mom said that the hotels/ hostels in Tokyo are all booked up around admission time because of all the students taking their tests. Our student also said that they generally don:t apply to many colleges because they have to take so many tests and that most students choose the test option over the interview becasue the interview:s a lot harder.
After class, Mr. Ozawa (the awesomely cool program director at HIF) helped me get my tickets for this year:s Summer Sonic concert in Tokyo. It:s goonna be awesome and I:m so excited! check it out to see the sweet line up: www.summersonic.com
Then I went to Goryokaku to ring in the weekend (it was Friday night). I met up with some other HIF people, including Mr. Jack Yamada and some Russian University students. We (all 12 of us!) went to a restaurant for nomihodai (all you can drink) in Goryokaku. I talked with some of Jack:s friends from Tokyo who frequent the Shinjuku district and asked them about good bars and clubs. After that, we went to another bar, but I didn:t get anything because it was getting late and I live really far away and I had to be home before ten.
Day 17
TOday all the HIFfers went to Onuma Park for an overnight trip. The park was pretty awesome with lots of nature and a large lake filled with islands. The area is famous for its bears so there were lots of bear pelts and taxidermied bears. Unfortunately I couldn:t spend too much time in the park because the HIF schedule only allowed 2 hours there to get lunch and explore. Oh yeah for lunch I had a giant yaki soba plate as big around as my arms. It was pretty steki.
Anyways, we all got back on the bus to go to the Hotel Greenpia where we would be staying. When we got there, the hotel was in the middle of nowhere in a valley, but had a sort of resort area and park surrounding it. There were hiking trails, which I went on, but couldn:t go up very far because of all the bear warning signs and there were lots of like park golf and a slider and an atv course and bicycle rentals (all of which cost money, of course), but I didn:t go on those. I did, however, find a large pile of discarded tires and climbed on that with some friends, that was one of the highlights of that day. There is also a fittness/ obstcle course that:s pretty fun. Watch out for ticks if you go hiking. There:s also a great pool there with a water slide, but I didn:t go to it because it cost 200 yen.
That night, there was a dinner party complete with lots of karaoke entertainment. The food was great and the singing teachers were hilarious. Apres de ca, I went to the onsen (Japanese bath) with some friends. It was nice and realaxing, but really really hot! I couldn:t handle staying in there for too long. By the way, you have to go in completely naked and can only bring in a small towel, which you:re supposed to wear on your head. Coming out of the onsen, I was surprised to find that my towel had been stolen, so I kind of borrowed someone else:s to dry off before putting on my yukata (Japanese bath robe like thing).
Then the fun began and I celebrated being in Japan by having a party in the hotel room with some friends. I don:t know if I can write this, but if you are 20 years of age (legal in Japan) I recommend buying beverages before coming to the hotel because the stuff at the hotel baiten is wayyy over priced. Hahaha oh yeah and when we first arrived at the hotel, the hotel workers gave us a demonstration of how to use a card key to open a door.
Day 18
I woke up and left Onuma quite early, arriving back in Hokutoshi around 11 in the morning. I went with Charles to his host family:s house because we were going to do zazen that day. Zazen turned out to be zen buddhist meditation. It lasted from 1 to 6 in the evening. I had a great time and it was an amazing cultural experience. I learned a lot about the proper way to meditate and in between the meditation sessions, we listened to a lecture from a monk and copied a sutra. Apparently if you write the sutra, you can write a wish at the end and it will come true. While meditating, I was really really tired from enjoying myself the night before but if you fall asleep while meditating, a monk will come and slap you with a stick. I only got slapped once, but some people got slapped multiple times. Apparently with zazen, you:re not supposed to close your eyes while meditating. I usually meditate with my eyes closed, so it was a little difficult to concentrate on nothing with my eyes open.
After the meditation finished, the monks served us some okai, tsukemono, and sesame tofu. It was all really tasty (and vegan!). When I finished eating, a monk came by and poured tea into my rice bowl ?_? Charles: host mom said that I had to clean the bowl using a piece of pickled cucumber. I did, and then I had to pour the dirty tea into my other bowl and clean that one too, after that I had to drink the nasty dirty tea with all the floating little pieces of food and I had to eat the piece of cucumber I washed everything with. Ewwww........ gross, but apparently they do it at all Buddhist temples in Japan so cleaning is easier for the person cleaning the dishes and it:s good manners.
Day 19
Today I went to class, it was hard as usual. AFter class, while waiting for Judo to start, I made reservations at a hotel (Guest House Nonaka) in Sapporo for the nakayasumi break. Unfortunately every single hotel I could find on the internet in Sapporo (including then one i:m staying at) is booked the night of the 14th, so I don:t know what I:m going to do with my friends that night. Making reservations was a huge pain because I had to call and then fax over a list of which boys and girls would be staying in which rooms and then I had to call again to make sure the guy got the fax. The first reservation I tried to make with my friends got cancelled because of some wierd Japanese formality about confirming reservations. Anyways, I recommend MAKE SAPPORO RESERVATIONS ASAP!
Oh and Judo turned out to be canceled yesterday.
Day 20
Today after class, I went to Asahi Elementary school with the HIFfers. We got to play with little kids and it was so amazing! I played with a class of fifth graders and taught them how to play telephone. The little boy sitting next to me kept telling me who liked who in the class, but how he didn:t like anyone. And the girl sitting next to me kept tapping my knee for some reason. In the kids: classroom were paintings of a building next to HIF that they did and they were craaaazy good. I couldn:t believe that fifth graders painted these things by hand, they were better than anything I could do in fifth grade, that:s for sure.
After that, I went to Judo with Adi and Ross. Practice this time was wayy more hardcore and I actually got to learn how to trip people and how to grapple. It was lots of fun, exhausting, and a great work out. I really want to continue it, but I definitely got thrown around pretty good. My lower back hurts a lot today, so I don:t know what I:m going to do. Practice also got out after 7:00 so by the time I caught the shi-den (cable car) and the JR train back to Kamiiso, it was already 8:40 and then I had to eat dinner alone because the family had already finished eating and then of course, I had homework to start. It was extremely taihen. At this point, I:m thinking of just going to half of the practice, especially if they:re going to be every day.
Day 21
Today I went to class. I:m not going to Judo today because I have to do laundry and I:m going to a gospel rehersal tonight, so I:ve gotta prepare my singing voice! Today we had to do some project work for class. I don:t like project work because it:s just more work. But it might be interesting, if not stressful. Oh yeah p.s. my camera died on Friday night because it was in my back pack and the lense got scratched =( BIG =( now I gotta get a new one =(
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