Quick Note: all the pictures of roads and buildings are actually sights that I see everyday on my bike ride to and from school!!! I am sorry I don`t have time to put them in order, but I thought it would be a really cool idea. I actually rode my bike the whole time that I was taking pictures. あぶない！！だめでしょ！


Today is Wednesday morning, and I have a ton to write about!!! Bear with me as I type all about everything. First, I’ll type about events going on here, and then I’ll try to explain all the pictures. I’ve been really busy the last couple weeks, and sleep is getting more and more precious as the days go by, so today I slept in until 8 am…does that even count? The most recent exciting event was the running race on Sunday!! I video-blogged about this day, so I won’t type too much about it. I ran in it with 3 other friends, and we had a wonderful time. Man, I had forgotten how much I enjoy running in races. There’s so much camaraderie, more of that than competition, and I really like that. People just want to have a good time and do their best. I am happy to report that I set a PR of 47:06. For those of you who don’t know, a PR is a Personal Record for a certain distance. Honestly, I haven’t been that surprised with myself in a really long time. I ended up running the race without my watch because of some contest they were having, so I had no idea how fast I was going throughout the race. I guess my desire to meet my goal of 50 minutes kept me pushing beyond that pace, and thus I ended up at 47 minutes!!! Once I crossed the finish line, I met up with everyone else. Since they ran the 6K, they’d already finished. It was great to see the smiles on their faces, and I am so glad we were able to share this incredible experience together. For everyone but me, it was their first time running in a race. Really, these 3 other people just began running less than 4 months ago, so I am unbelievably proud of them for completing the race. My one friend, Mame, said to me that as she finished, she realized that she wanted to run more! I can’t tell you how happy that made me feel. She’s totally hooked on running, and that’s wonderful!!! Actually, she and I are going to train together for a half-marathon in October. It’s our new goal together, and I couldn’t pick a better person to be training with. Really, even though Mame hasn’t been running that long, she’s a really great runner. She’s incredibly fast, I think. She’s faster than me on most days. Like yesterday, we ran together for an hour, and for most of the time I was ahead, but near the end, she sped up and passed me as we were coming to the last mile or two. I actually think we ran about 7 miles yesterday. Either way, it was her first time running for an hour. I am so impressed with Mame!! She doesn’t replace Josh at all, since the two of us ran a lot at Manchester, but it’s nice to have a friend in Japan who is so enthusiastic about running. We’re going to have a blast training for this half-marathon. Honestly, I think we could do a whole marathon by then, but since this is our first one, it’s important to train at our own pace. The half-marathon is actually in Sapporo, so we won’t have to travel far at all to get to the starting line. And I guess it’s super famous too, because last year there were 10,000 people in the race!!! Wahoo! I love big races. Also on Sunday, we went to the Hokkaido Jingu Festival…it’s basically a big shrine festival here in Sapporo. It was only three days long, so it’s already ended. Anyway, I went with Mame and our other friend, Akiko, on Sunday after the race. The three of us had lunch at the festival, so we got to each festival food! Woo!! We shared this very famous food from Hiroshima, but I never remember the name…sorry. And, as a side note, I’ve started taking pictures of my meals, so I can show you all what I eat, instead of trying to accurately describe it. We didn’t stay at the festival very long because it was raining, but we had a good time. After that, we split up. I wanted to get a ton of subway station stamps, so I went the opposite direction. My goal is to get all the subway stations in Sapporo, and since I had an all-day pass on Sunday, it was free to go to as many as I could get to, so I got about 10 or so stamps. It actually takes a long time on the weekends, because once you get the stamp, you have to wait 5 or so minutes for the next train, and then do it all again. I am not quite halfway done collecting all the subway stamps, but I think I’ll be able to do it before I leave. Yesterday, a small group of us went to this festival again to watch the parade and eat lunch. I primarily wanted to see the parade, so I took my camera and video camera. I got to see some really cool floats, so I was definitely glad that I went. However, since it was rainy, and I had a lot of homework to do, I didn’t stay too long. Friday, we all went to another festival in Sapporo. This one is a lot more famous than the Jingu one…it’s called the Yosakoi Soran Festival, and it’s basically a big dance competition in festival form. There is a main stage in various parks around Sapporo, and there is a different team performing continuously. Actually, teams from all over Japan and neighboring countries come to compete in this festival, so needless to say, it was packed with people. We actually saw MANY foreigners. It was weird, because besides the international students at Hokusei, I hardly ever see foreigners. It was almost like they were stepping on my turf..haha, not that I am getting defensive or anything. A big group of us went on Friday, and we were actually lucky enough to get in the front row of the standing area, so I was able to get some great shots on my video camera. I am VERY excited to be able to re-watch the dances. They were unlike any dance I’ve ever seen before, and because I am not at all familiar with dance terms, I won’t even begin to describe it. Just know that it’s very intense, and it’s almost like a warrior style dance. They dance to really upbeat music, and some times, they shout along with the music, so it’s very entertaining to watch!! This was probably my favorite festival up to this point. I am very glad that I went!!! After we left this festival on Friday, the whole group went out to the bar…Initially, I wasn’t going to go, because I don’t drink enough booze to benefit from all-you-can-drink. However, I wanted to hang out with the rest of the group, so I decided to bit the bullet and go. I ended up trying a lot of different variations of flavored milk, my favorite of which was green tea and milk. Don’t judge it until you try it!! Side note: I still haven’t had chocolate milk since being here…anyway, we got done at the bar at like 11:30, and since I biked to Odori, about 1 hr. away, I had to bike home that night. It wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, but it was free and I made it home in an hour or so. Since Sunday was race day and Friday was so exhausting, Saturday was definitely rest day! I spent most of my time at the house here, and for a little while, I visited with my host parents’ son’s family. It’s weird, because there isn’t a term for our relationship. Host brother, maybe? I don’t know. Anyway, he is married and has two sons, both of which are huge fans of the Sapporo baseball team, like me!! We actually played some in the house on Saturday, and they were just amazed that I knew how to play, and even more so that I had a mit here! Hahahaa. They are 5 and 8 years old, so they definitely know the rules and everything. It was really nice to spend time with them, and I wish I saw them more often. They actually take piano lessons here every Saturday, so they are around a lot, but I am not always here. Let’s see…that night, they came back here for dinner, which surprised me. I was definitely happy they came back! We had a huge dinner, and this was the night that I learned about the half-marathon and so many other things. Actually from my host family, I learn so much about Japan and current events. Since I don’t know enough Kanji to read the paper, I don’t really know what’s going on at all in Japan, or the world for that matter, so it’s great to be learning all these things from my host family. Another cool thing about Saturday night was the fun math puzzle that Yuko, my host parents’ daughter-in-law, told me. It’s only a 6th grade level problem, so it didn’t take long at all to figure out, but since I miss doing math, it was great to realize that I still can do it! Hahaha. Her son, Sora, is also very good and interested in math, so he liked it too. When I go back to the States, I want to look through my old books and papers and stuff, so I can find some new challenging problems for him. J My host parents were out a lot on Saturday afternoon, celebrating their other grandson’s, Haruto’s, 3rd birthday. Before they left, I told my okaasan that I wanted to give Haruto one of the postcards that I bought in Indiana. Since he loves cars, I gave him the Indianapolis 500 postcard. I wrote “Happy Birthday” in English and Japanese, and then I explained a little bit about the race. He’s only 3 now, so I am sure he doesn’t understand much, but he’ll have it for the rest of his life, so hopefully some day he’ll be able to understand it all. I felt really happy to be able to give him something so special; I just wish I could have been there to see his face once he saw it. :D From what I heard, he really liked it. Also, since otousan, my host dad, and Haruto’s dad, Tsuneo, really like cars too, they were really excited to be reading about it. Now that I know that the two of them really like cars, that gives me a couple ideas about what to bring back for them!! Last weekend was just perfect, really. Let’s see…what else. Jason, the director here, was gone for about 2 weeks and just got back Monday, so I was insanely happy to be able to talk to him again. But while he was gone, we had a lot of extra free time on Thursdays and Fridays, because we didn’t have his classes. However, since we couldn’t go to his office whenever we felt like it, the last couple weeks were spent kind of guessing where everyone was. We’ve actually started watching movies in the library, which is nice. I’ve watched Friends twice already!! Woo! I think about 2 weeks ago, we went to the zoo here in Sapporo. It’s a pretty good-size zoo, with a lot of different animals. We went a little late in the day, so we didn’t have a whole lot of time. But, since it is free to international students, we can go back some other time and enjoy it again!! Actually, this weekend, Kate, Elias, Kevin, and I are taking a day trip to the most famous zoo in Japan, the Asahikawa doubustuen. It’s about 2 hours away by bus, but we’ll have the whole day to enjoy the many animals. (I am totally getting a stamp, too. HAHA!) I am really excited about it! Kate and I climbed a mountain here in Sapporo about a week and a half ago, and it was an incredible time. I’ve never climbed a mountain before, not like this anyway, so it was very exciting. The path was actually really steep, I though. However, the mountain wasn’t too tall, so it only took 35 minutes for us to hike to the top. The view has the potential to be great, but again, since it was raining, we couldn’t see much, because of all the clouds. We actually met a really kind man at the top, who could speak English very well. He told us all about the moutain’s history-it was Mount Maruyama-and he played an okarina(?) Maybe that’s what it’s called. I don’t know. I blogged in a video about it, so hopefully I’ll be able to upload all these videos and feel caught up on my blog!!! We’ve only got about 3 weeks of school left before summer vacation. It’s insane how fast the time has flown by. A lot of the people who are staying for a semester actually leave in less than 4 weeks. Ah! That’s crazy. It will definitely be weird here without them…Kate and I just bought our plane ticket for Tokyo, but we don’t leave until the 30th of July for Hawaii, so we’ll have a lot of free time to spend in Sapporo. I am actually planning to study a lot, so I can hopefully get into a higher level of Japanese class next semester. I am only in the first level right now, and while it is challenging at some times, at others I don’t feel like I am in a classroom. So, because I want to prevent that next semester, I would like to get enough ahead to test into level 3 or 4. Whether I will be able to do, who knows, but it’s a goal! Haha. Lately, I’ve been getting a LOT of packages!! I think I’ve gotten 3 in one week, how awesome is that?? I got one from Jason Elliot and Brit, one from Granny, and one on Monday from my mom! Yaya!! All of them had American food in them, so I am rejoicing the tastes of familiar foods from home. And Granny, if you’re reading this, my host parents absolutely LOVED your cookies!! I’ll write more about it in a letter, but if you read this before you get that letter, just know that your cookies are loved all around the world. :D What else?? So much has happened, but it’s hard to remember it all on the spot. Oh yea, about 2 weeks ago, I went with okaasan to the post office to mail a letter, and the woman who helped me buy a stamp actually gave me her daughter’s phone number and address. Lol. I guess the woman realized that the two of us both go to Hokusei, and since we live close together, she thought that it would be beneficial for us to meet. On paper, this situation looks sketchy, but after a week, I gave her daughter, Marina, a call, and we met the next day. She’s a really nice girl, and I enjoyed talking to her. But, I am just so busy that I don’t know how easily we’ll be able to have a friendship. She does, however, have a Costco card…so I would like to go there with her some time. The way I said that totally makes it seem like I am using her for that, but I don’t think I am. The circumstances on which we met were really weird, so feel free to laugh, but it all turned out okay. That’s enough for now, and I’ll try to explain the pictures!!!

Hello all!!! Today is Sunday, May 31, and it is 6:46 pm. That will be important later. I now have my laptop in Japan, thanks to my dad, so I can update my blog from home. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I will be able to do it more frequently, it just means that I don’t have to spend hours at school typing on the computers there. I would like to be able to update it more often, but I don’t want to make any promises that I can’t keep! So without further adieu, let me begin… I’ll start with more recent events, and then work my way backwards…This morning and yesterday morning, I made donuts with my host family!!! The mix is apparently really popular, and it is from Okinawa, one of Japan’s southernmost islands. My host parents have been there before, so I am assuming they brought it back from the last time they went. Anyway, the donuts are super easy to make; you just crack three eggs in a bowl, pour in the mix, and stir it up. Once it’s even, you form little balls and fry them in oil. They taste amazing, let me tell you!! And what is weird about this is that we made them right after we had big meals. Both days, we had just finished a big breakfast, and then we made a ton of donuts to eat. Lol. We eat so much here, and actually, I am hungry right now…today, before the donuts, we had a ton of sashimi, which is raw fish, and I love it. Actually, when I see it on the table before a meal, I get really excited because it’s one of my favorites! We had three types this morning, tuna, and two other kinds…lol. I don’t know the names. Anyway, we dunked them in soy sauce and wasabi, as well as ginger and soy sauce. Yum! We usually always have lots of veggies at our meals too, and this morning, they were potatoes, carrots, bamboo shoots, this celery-like thing, daikon, and this really weird vegetable that is extremely chewy and has zero calories. We also had rice, onion miso soup, and an egg. It was a feast! Gochisosamadeshita! Another great thing about yesterday is talked a lot about in the video that I posted with this blog, so be sure to watch it! (I haven`t been able to get it on yet!!) Last night, I went with a group of 17 other people to the Sapporo Dome to watch the Nippon Ham Fighters play baseball!!! They are Sapporo’s professional baseball team, and I absolutely love going there. I knew before I came to Japan that I wanted to see a game, but I never thought I would have seen 3 in the first couple months of staying here. I just love being there, watching the game and (attempting to) singing along with the songs for each player. Everyone should go to a Japanese baseball game. Another special thing about last night was that they won!!! The two other times that I have seen them, they have lost, so last night marked the first victory that I saw there.  As far as I know, everyone enjoyed themselves, so that was excellent as well. I got the discount tickets for this game and told everyone where and when to meet, so I hope they all had a great time! Many of the BCA students went, all of Jason’s secretaries went, our Canadian friend went, and our British friends went. For many people, it was their first time being at a baseball game. The score was 8-2, and we got to see a home run! Great times. I was also the only person to bike to the stadium….no, that doesn’t mean I am this super athlete; it just means that it is close enough to my house for me to bike there. :D That in itself is a rarity, because my house is in the southern part of Sapporo-Kiyota ku, Utsukushi gaoka for anyone who might know the area…lol-so it’s not close to the main parts of town. Not a complaint, just a fact.  Friday was a fun day too. First of all, we had our 2nd exam in the Japanese class, but I think went pretty well. I’ll find out tomorrow. Since the exam didn’t take the whole 3 hours that class usually does, we got out early, and I had time to run and eat before the Ukiyo class at 1! Usually, I am rushing around the buildings, because there is only 1 hour between the end of one class and then beginning of another…I was definitely thankful for some downtime. On Friday, in the American Culture class, I gave a short presentation on what I knew about Country music! It went okay, I think. Lots of people in the class don’t really care for country music, which is fine, but they let it show during the presentation, and that wasn’t fun to combat…lol. I basically did a Powerpoint about some quick facts, Nashville, genres, themes in the songs, famous names and faces, and the typical dress. Like I said, I think it went okay, but I definitely had higher expectations for the audience’s responses, but you can’t always control that…The highlights included watching “Achy Breaky Heart”, and “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” on Youtube. I definitely told the class about my personal story with Billy Ray Cyrus: I went to see in him in concert when I was about 5 years old, and all I really remember is putting a rose on the stage after the concert was over…haha. After class, we generally go to Jason’s office for tea, and last Friday was no different. However, this Friday was a little sad, because once we left his office, we wouldn’t see him for two weeks!! He has the BCA Directors meeting for the next two weeks in the States, so he’ll be gone for a long time…I love how I think two weeks is a long time, but as of today, I have been gone for 78 days. :O Anyway, we had black tea, or koucha, and it was really good. We also carried on the tradition of watching “Macho Man” on Youtube one more time before we left. Lol. Then, a group of us headed for the cheese ramen restaurant that EVERYONE in our group loves. (JT, you’ve been there, right? The actual name is “Taishin”.) It’s soooooo good. It’s spicy to begin with, but we all add more spice to it, because spicy food is delicious! One of these days, I will take a picture of what it looks like before I eat it. Once we finished, we went to Odori park, which is in the heart of downtown Sapporo, and it’s probably the most famous park here. By the time Elias and I got there, it was like 9:30, but many other members were already there, playing the amazing slide! When I say slide, I don’t mean one that only lets one person at a time slide down it. No, this slide was like a cement mountain that you could run up and slide down. What fun it brought to all of us. Some people enjoyed it while they drank, but not everyone needs alcohol to enjoy life’s simple things! ;) Throughout the night, a different person was constantly missing his or her shoes, because Elias ran around taking them…I was that person twice, I think; however, no one was able to get the shoes off Elias’s feet. Maybe next time! I got home pretty late on Friday, close to 1 am, which is WAY past my bed time…lol. My host family said right from the beginning that I didn’t have a curfew, so for them, the time that I get home doesn’t really matter. For me, it was super late though, and I paid for it the next day. I am still pretty tired. Last Monday, I went to a Calligraphy demonstration at Hokusei, and it was really interesting. I could see myself doing it again some time. Actually, I really want to do it again, so maybe Kate and I will get supplies or something and do it on our own. In Japan, Calligraphy is especially applicable because of all the kanji they use in their language. In the demonstration, we practiced a couple basic strokes and then wrote out various kanji which used those strokes. It’s a very interesting art form, and I was glad that I went. We even got a neat gift with the kanji for quiet on it. It looks something like this: 静 Also on Monday, I met with Satomi, one of my Japanese friends, to practice Japanese and English. Since we both want to learn the other’s language, we figured this would be an excellent idea. It was actually Satomi’s, so she’s the genius behind this wonderful idea.  Actually, we meet every Monday at Tuesday. It’s nice because I learn certain things in the classroom, but I also learn things from her that the classroom doesn’t cover. These meetings work both ways too. Last week, I taught her the rules to baseball, in English, so she would understand the game that we saw yesterday. Up until then, she didn’t know the rules. Anyway, our meetings are one of my favorite parts of every week.  I know I am not going backwards now, but every Tuesday, another Japanese student, Mame, and I get together to go to the gym to train for our race coming up!! Some times other students come with us too, which is nice. Mame is a super fast runner. If she hadn’t just started about 6 months ago, she would definitely be better than me…not that I am good or anything, just more experienced. Anyway, we generally lift weights, run, and do some ab workouts. We spend almost two hours there, so we are definitely getting our daily exercise! About a week and a half ago, my host family’s daughter, Yuki, and her brand new son, Souta, moved in here to stay with us for a couple weeks. In Japan, it is tradition for the mother and new baby to stay with parents or other family for the first couple weeks. Actually, rest is the main reason why this is done. Japanese mothers don’t leave the hospital for a week after they give birth! A week! Wow! That seems like such a long time when you compare it to 24 hours, huh? I am sure it is much more expensive, but still, I like the idea of mothers getting the rest they need. Anyway, the last week or so has been really different, in a great way, than the past 6 or 7 weeks here at the Ito house! It’s nice to live in the same house as a baby; I’ve never done that before, I don’t think. He cries as much as a newborn does, but it really hasn’t bothered me that much, and for those of you who know the fire alarm story about me not waking up, then you know that his crying won’t wake me up. I’ve held him twice, and I hope to be able to do it again, soon! He’s gorgeous, by the way. I really wish that I had a picture of him! Also, I have loved getting to know Yuki. Her English is very good, even though she doesn’t think so, so I get to talk to her a lot. She mainly speaks in Japanese, but when I don‘t understand, she can translate it. We’ve talked about the life of a Japanese high school and college student, her “oppai”, her family vacations, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s just nice to be seeing her every day and sharing meals and stories with her.  Actually, I feel like I have a real family here. I mean, I do at home too, but really, I have a family here. Every night, we eat dinner together, talking about our day and our plans for the next day. We laugh together and share silly moments that only families can share. Some of these feelings are new to me, but I am definitely loving every moment of family life. I look forward to coming home every day to see my okasan and everyone else. I look forward to seeing their kids and grandkids. I am really anticipating playing baseball with the older ones. There isn’t a set date that it will happen, but now that I have a glove here, I know that it’s a definite possibility! I love it every night when I hear okasan say, “Natari, gohan daiyo!” Basically, “dinner’s ready!” I love that. Seriously. I love how every morning at breakfast otosan shows me the weather report in the paper.  And he always makes sure to say “Natari, ittekimasu” every morning before he leaves. That’s basically goodbye. And then, as I am leaving, I always say to okasan, “Ittekimasu,” but she always says, “Hai, itterashai. Have a good day!” Ah, she’s so sweet! I could go on and on about all the tiny little things that I love about staying here, and I am so grateful that I can say that….okay, the sappy part is over. Haha. Today is Wednesday! I am writing a big document in word, then I will copy/paste it onto my blog. Last night, we had a huge celebration for Yuki and the new baby because it marked the 21st day that they were both healthy. In Japan, it’s traditional for families to celebrate that milestone. We had sushi galore for dinner; I can’t even remember all the different types we had. The best part about it was that we made it ourselves. There was a big plate of rice in the center, and we would put some rice on the squares of nori, sushi wraps, and then choose from raw tuna, salmon, other types of fish, egg, squid, shrimp, or this one very expensive seafood. Sorry, I don’t remember all the names. Anyway, it was a fantastic meal, and I was glad to be a part of the celebration.  Yesterday was also Tuesday, so I met with Satomi and my other conversation partners. It went pretty well, but lately I feel like I am asking for an English translation a lot…urg. On Monday, Satomi, and I also met to talk about various Kanji. She actually taught me a bunch, and my favorite one is this: 一期一会 In Japanese, it is “ichigo ichie”, which translates to living life as if every moment is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Wow, I am so glad she taught me this! It’s such a great way to look at life, especially for someone like me, who is in a position to really live that. This is something that I won’t soon forget! Sunday was a very exciting day for me as I was able to talk to family from home, twice in one day! In the morning, I called my aunt, uncle, and cousin, and we talked for close to 20 minutes, I think. It was really nice to hear their voices, and I wish I could’ve talked with them for a longer time. That night, my mom called me! We talked for close to an hour, but then I had to go to bed…silly 13-hour time difference, lol. This was only the second time I talked to her, so it was nice to be able to tell her what was going on here and find out what was going on at home. I think family contact every once and a while is a great thing, and this time it gave me the quick recharge that I needed to keep going here. I haven’t wrote about the Hokusei bus trip to Toya Onsen yet…and I need to. This was the 2nd weekend in May, and I have put tons of pictures up from it already. I had wasabi ice cream on this trip…hahah!! It was pretty darn tasty. For those of you who have had wasabi, the ice cream has a hint of that flavor, but I think it tastes more like ice cream than wasabi. It was good, and I was extremely happy to find it. Before I came to Japan, I read about all the weird flavors of ice cream, and I decided that wasabi was one that I really wanted to try. It was definitely a goal for the trip, so it’s nice to be able to cross that goal off the list. Let’s see, we also went to this Ainu museum to make traditional instruments. That was a lot of fun, and I can actually play the instrument I made. From here, we drove to the onsen resort hotel, and then had dinner. This hotel was beyond anything I could have imagined; it was my first time at such a resort. Basically, you go to your room, change into a robe, put on some slippers, and you don’t need to leave the hotel again until you leave for home…haha. The food was buffet style, and it was very good. I tried a lot of different things, but the one that is sticking out is a new fruit that I like called a litchy. It looks like a plum, but you peel the skin to get a white ball of fruit. It is very sweet, but also light. Yum! The first night after dinner, we went swimming in this awesome pool for a couple of hours, and then headed to the onsen. Funny story about this…from the swimming pool, you go into the place where the indoor baths are, then into the locker room. Well, as we were trying to go into the locker room, we were told that we had to take off our bathing suits outside, shower, and then go in without a towel. We did see many other people doing it, but still, we had to do it, too? Really? Ok, I guess that’s what everyone does, so we‘ll do it too. At the time, there were three of us; me, Kate, and Leslie, a friend of another BCAer. It was my second time, but I didn’t feel any more comfortable doing it than they did. In the end, we just did it as fast as we could. We showered, then went into the locker room to get the towels, and came back out into the bath area to get washed up for the ofuro. Indoor onsens(hot baths) are called ofuros. Anyway, we then washed our hair and bodies so we would be super clean before getting into the bath. Once we were ready, we found one that we wanted to go in, and, looking back, I think it was the hottest one there…lol. These baths are EXTREMELY hot. I mean, I love hot tubs, but these are almost too hot. Once your body gets over the shock, though, it’s so easy to relax. We stayed in for about 15 minutes, maybe less, because we were so hot. I felt instantly dehydrated, so I wanted to get some water asap. We got changed, and then went to a table by the pool to relax a little bit. By that time, I was exhausted. I think it wasn’t even 8 pm, but I was ready for bed. Hah. I think the hot water really just wipes you out, but after this trip, I have a new appreciation for onsens and ofuros. As weird as it sounds to non-Japanese people, I really like going to the public baths. It’s definitely a cultural experience, and I have learned to appreciate the benefits of it. I don’t want to get into too many details since this is a public blog! :D That night, there were also fireworks, and we watched from the onsen outside of the hotel. Now that was a cool experience. There were about 20 of us outside, watching the fireworks together. After that, I was definitely ready to relax and put on some clothes! And drink a lot of water. We went back up to our rooms, got changed, and then hung out with a group of Korean students. There were some Japanese, too. We talked a little bit, took a lot of pictures, and then went to bed. Well, I did. It was around 1, and we were waiting around to play Uno, but I was laying down in my bed, and I was so exhausted that I wanted sleep over Uno. Haha. The next day, we ate breakfast there, and then left for a volcanic museum, Mt. Usu National Park, and Showa Shinzan, which, I think, was a crater or a volcano nearby. Some of the views we saw on this trip were incredible, and they really made me appreciate seeing new places in Japan. Before this trip, I had forgotten how much I like going to new places, so it was nice to be traveling around to new spots. Hokusei does this trip every semester, so I am definitely going back next semester. From all the places we went to, I was able to get stamps!! Yaya!! I had to search for them pretty hard at a couple places, but it was worth it. :D My book is nowhere near full, but slowly I am added new places to it. One last thing about this trip. It was put together by a girl named Miira. I think that is how it’s spelled. She is a Hokusei graduate, and former Manchester study abroad student!!! I couldn’t believe it when she said something to me about Manchester! I was wearing a Manchester shirt, and she came up to me and asked if that’s where I went to school. As I said yes, she told me that she studied abroad there about 3 or 4 years ago!! How crazy is that?? Wow, I was definitely surprised. I wished that I had more time to talk with her about it or get a picture with her or something, but we just didn’t have enough time. I’ll have to ask around to people at MC to see if they remember her.  About two weeks ago, I bought a denshi jisho, and a grammar book to increase my Japanese knowledge! Before I made both purchases, I went to Odori park to look at the Lilac Festival. While I was there, I ran into another BCA student, Kayla, and we found a bench to sit on and chatted for a little bit. As we were talking, this man walked by and started reading my shirt. I waited a second and then said, “wakaru?” That is basically asking, “do you understand it?” He said, “sukoshi!” Haha, that means “a little”. Well, he then felt the need to start up a conversation with the two of us that lasted for about 20 minutes…I wasn’t scared or anything, mainly because I wasn’t alone, but still, it was a little weird. He was drinking sake, so I am sure he was drunk, lol. He wasn’t threatening or anything, it was just that we didn’t know what to expect. For the most part, we just laughed at his silly jokes and his impression of Barrack Obama, “Yes we can!” Haha. How we “got away” is pretty funny, too. He had just asked us if we had boyfriends, and we said no, so he sat down next to me, and then said that he would be right back. Well, we waited for a minute or two, and we didn’t see him anywhere. We took that as our cue to leave the park, so we basically ran across the street around the corner so he wouldn’t be able to find us, if he tried looking. It was an unexpected occurrence to say the least, but I think he was completely harmless. With that being said, Kayla and I were both glad that the other one was there. After this, I went to one of the biggest electronic stores in Hokkaido, Yodobashi Kamera, to buy my denshi jisho, which is an electric dictionary that I used to look up kanji, Japanese, and English words. It’s been really helpful over the last two weeks, and I am sure it’s going to become more priceless the more that my Japanese improves. Well, I think this is a sufficient blog update. Hope you didn’t fall asleep reading it!

つかれった。

This is a picture of my two latest investments for learning Japanese. The yellow book is exactly what it says it is, and the purple thing is a 電地辞書。Denchi jisho, for all of you who can`t read 漢字. :D



























Alright! It`s time for another huge update. It`s been what, a week? Yep. Ay yay yay, a lot has happened this week. Should I just start in order? Why not.

So, last Saturday...I went on this amazing trip with other BCAers and lots of Hokusei students. We went to an Ainu Museum, which is focused on the Native Hokkaido people from years ago. In the U.S., the Ainu are comparable to Native Americans, a volcanic crater, a volcano museum, and a National Park that was created about 9 years ago after a huge earthquake. The Park actually has real houses and broken roads in it, so it was extremely neat to see how damaging earthquakes can be. We stayed at an Onsen resort that had a huge swimming pool equipped with slides, a wave pool, and a surfing machine...it also had many ofuras, which are the naked baths. There were also outside ofuras, which we used to watch the fireworks. :D

Well, I guess it isn`t time for another huge update, because I still have so much to type about, but I am out of time. Until later...BYE!

Do watch this video. You will see me in utter happiness. :)