One Month Left... Wait, What?

Happy Canada day and my best wishes to anyone who was the affected by the Alberta flood. I sincerely hope all of you and your homes are safe. My thoughts have been with you these past few weeks. Anyway, as the title will inform you, I have only a month left in my stay here in Sapporo! My flight I honestly have no idea where the time went, I could have sworn it was the middle of June yesterday and I still had a few months left only a few weeks ago. Once again, my apologies for the delay in the update, but I have been very busy as of late. This week my school is holding it's school festival, an event held by junior highs, high schools, and universities across Japan. The event essentially consists of performances by each class and a couple days of selling various goods at student-run stalls. The whole thing is put together mostly by the students, and a lot of work goes into it. I've been at school for a few hours after classes end every day these past couple weeks, but it's been well worth it. The preparations are lots of fun in their own right, and I can't wait to see it come together in the upcoming days.

So other than school festival preparations, what have been up this past month? Well, early in June there was a wonderful trip to Kyoto with my host dad, during which I saw lots, including the head temple of my host father's branch of Buddhism, which was pretty cool, and got dressed up like a Maiko (a Geisha in training who typically wears a colourful kimono). Unfortunately, the only pictures of that I have are on a CD, and my laptop doesn't have a CD slot, so I've been unable to upload them. However, once I get access to a computer that does and send myself the pictures, I'll be sure to post them here.

The entrance to one of the temples we visited.

Praying at the temple.

Me at a very large graveyard in Kyoto

Some of the goods for sale at one of Kyoto's markets.

Overall it was a great trip, and I'm glad I the chance to visit Kyoto again! It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got to see some of the less tourist-visited sights the city has to offer.

Since then my time has mostly been used up with school festival preparations, school itself, a few rotary events involving volunteering with kids (lots and lots of fun) and sleep. I guess in all my business I lost of track of time, and before I knew it it came to be so close to my departure.

I have a lot of mixed feelings on going returning to Canada. Of course I'm excited to see my family, friends, and home again, but in many ways Sapporo has become my home. I've found family in not only my three host families, but also in the other exchange students and in my classmates at school. I've also made wonderful friends over the course of this year, and made memories I'll never forget. Departing is going to be very bittersweet, but for the time being, I'm focussing on the school festival and making the most of my remaining time here. Thanks for reading!

Spring and Other Adventures

My deepest apologies for the long wait between posts (again). I mostly delayed because I was hoping to show pictures from a trip to Hakodate, a city in in southern Hokkaido, but I unfortunately forgot to charge my camera battery and the friend I went with has been having trouble sending the pictures to me. However, since it's been a while and I now have pictures of other things to show you.

So, as I was saying, Hakodate. Hakodate is Hokkaido's southernmost city as well as it's most historic, and was a great place to spend a weekend. I was lucky enough to receive an invite from my friend and her host family to join them on the trip, and it was a great experience. Seeing as the trip was a few weeks ago, the details are a little blurry, but I remember all the highlights. We left Friday night after school, and explored the city on Saturday and Sunday and returned home sunday evening. The sakura trees weren't in bloom as we had hoped, but it was a great trip nonetheless.

Saturday was mostly spent strolling about and exploring the city, including some of the more historic buildings and churches. We also stopped for ice cream, and though I stuck to vanilla, most of the shops were also selling squid ink ice cream, apparently a rather popular flavour in Japan.  Saturday night we took a gondola up the Hakodate ropeway to the summit of the mountain overlooking the city.

The next day we mostly walked through the park and then took the elevator up Goryokaku Tower, another great place for views of the city. It also had a small glass floor section ninety meters above the ground and a series of diagrams detailing the city's history as a port. After the tower and lunch we spent the better part of the afternoon driving back home. 

Two weekends ago I once again went out of town, this time only for one day, for a rotary event in a small town called Naganuma. Also attending was the rest of the exchange students, several university students from China and Malaysia, Naganuma high school's tea ceremony club and  the school's band, many rotarians from the club, and a large group of Naganuma elementary school students. We got to hang out with the kids and bond over lunch, then set into the activities of the afternoon. 

The exchange student group in our blazers, with a rotarian and a couple students from China

Everyone who attended the event, minus the elementary school students

Me pounding rice to make mochi, a stick rice cake usually filled with sweet bean paste, and a popular snack in Japan

Which brings me back to this week. The term changed recently, so I have new schedule consisting of most of the same classes as last year, though now I'm also taking art and more Japanese than last year. Friday, however, I didn't have to go in class in lieu of a very long walk my school does every year. We walked about 25.5 kilometres, my feet are still feeling it, but it was a good challenge and something of a bonding experience. We also got to enjoy seeing the sakura trees in bloom. 

Speaking of the trees, yesterday me and a few other exchange students went to the park for hanami, best translated as flower-viewing, but that doesn't really sum up the experience. People come to the park to enjoy the flowers, have picnics and enjoy snacks bought from various stands set up in the area. There was a great atmosphere, a lot of fun, and this time I did get to take some pictures. 

We were lucky to see the flowers in time, as the sakura tends to be fleeting, and lived up to this reputation last night when most of the petals were blown away by the wind and rain. Still, they were wonderful while they lasted.

Snow Festival, Skiing & Another Move

Once again, sorry for the slowness of the update. Seems like every blog post is starting like this, and for that I apologize. Anyway, a lot has happened since the last update. I'm still really enjoying school, and my Japanese is getting better and better. Recently my studies have began focusing more on reading and writing Japanese, kanji (chinese characters) to be specific. It's very interesting, but also quite the challenge. I'm really enjoying it, though.

Last month Sapporo hosted it's most famous event, the Sapporo Snow Festival (Yuki Matsuri in Japanese). We had lots of snow this year (the second largest snowfall on record, according to my host mom) so it was a great event. The other rotary students and I were also lucky enough to get a tour of the site during preparation, making seeing the finished product even cooler. I could say lots about it, but it's easier just to show you. More information on the event and pictures of the sculptures can be found on the festival's english website here.

The group on top of one the sculptures during preparation. From left to right: Tyler (Australia) (he doesn't much like heights), Me (Canada), Josh (Australia), Dylan (Australia originally, but moved to Japan a few years after his exchange here. He often participates in rotary events with us), Alicia (America), and Hannah (America)

Me in front of one of the sculptures

Some of the incredibly well done details on the sculptures

More detailing

The sculptures are lit up as night falls

In more recent events, last weekend sponsored another trip for us inbounds (current exchangers), the outbounds (the students who will be starting their exchanges come summer), and the rotex (last year's students) in which we went to Niseko, one of Hokkaido's most famous ski resorts. The event served as both an orientation weekend for the outbounds (similar to the one I attended way back around this time last year) as well as a chance for all of us to bond and hit the slopes. Despite some bad weather on the drive out, the snow was good on the hill and it was a lot of fun. We also attended a joint rotary meeting and gave short speeches. 

And that brings me back to this weekend. On friday my host family and I enjoyed our last night together by going to the Sapporo Beer Museum and eating Genghis Kahn (lamb and vegtables that you grill yourself on the small grills at every table), one of my favourite Japanese dishes. Being below the drinking age, I did not try the beer, but I hear it's very good. Yesterday I made the move from the Miyazawa's to the Dekura's. Though I will definitely miss my old family who I was very close to, I think living here will be an amazing experience.

The Dekura family runs and lives in a Buddhist temple here in Sapporo, which I was given a brief tour of yesterday. It's an incredibly beautiful place and I feel very, very lucky to be able to live here. It's also a taste of traditional Japanese life as I'm staying in a tatami mat room and sleeping on a futon. It's a really great place to live, and I think I'll learn lots. I'll try and have pictures of the temple up soon, thanks for reading!

Update

Oh gosh, I'm getting worse and worse at this blogging thing. Sorry for the wait! I really should write these things more often.

Winter break and Holiday season has come and gone here, and was a lot of fun. Admittedly, spending christmas away from my family in Canada for the first time was a little lonely, especially since Christmas isn't actually a holiday here so both my host parents worked. Still, I got some great gifts and had an early christmas party with my host mom's family.

Aiko (my host cousin), me, and my host mom, Hiroko

From left to right: Kenta (my host cousin), me, My host mom Hiroko, Aiko (my host cousin) and Yuuko (my host mom's sister and Aiko and Kenta's mom) 

I also had Christmas dinner with Yuuko and her family, we had okonomiyaki, an Osakan dish made by frying cabbage, meat, and other vegetables in a batter to make a sort of pancake. Hardly a tradition Christmas dinner, but delicious all the same. 

Christmas, however, was more or less overshadowed by the coming of New Years (called Oshogatsu in Japan). New Years day I was introduced to osechi ryori, special dishes only eaten on new years, it included lobster, a lot of other seafood, pickled vegetables, and may other things, much of which I couldn't name. We also had ozoni, a soup with mochi (rice pounded into a paste and moulded into the desired shape), which was one of my favourite dishes so far. 

Holding some mochi (seriously one of my new favourite foods) with the new years dishes on display

After breakfast, we went to the nearest temple for the Japanese tradition of asking for good luck for the year and drawing a fortune. Though it was chilly, it was still a great experience and I really enjoyed it. 

My host dad Hideo and I in front of the temple

Next, we headed off to my host mom's parent's house where we met up with Yuuko's family again. Aiko and I got dressed up in kimonos, courtesy of my host mom's mother, Yasuko, who let us wear them and helped us get dressed. Yuuko was also nice enough to do our hair, it was a super cool experience, and I was very glad to get wear one.

Sitting next to some Japanese flower arrangement and art in the Kimono

From the back, so you can see how the obi (waist sash thing) is tied

Aiko and I in Kimono

We changed out of them, had dinner, made cotton candy and played some games before going home to finish New Years, making it a wonderful day for everyone.

Since then, school has started again, and I've gotten to try skiing in Japan a few times, a couple times with my host family, and a couple times more with school. Skiing in Japan is mostly similar to in Canada, but for the most part the ski hills have been smaller and the runs a little more open. Also at a couple of the ski hills I could see the ocean from the chairlift, an experience you definitely don't get in Canada. Yesterday I went snowboarding with another exchange student and some people from her rotary club, which was a lot of fun, though today I'm crazy sore. I've also done a bit of cross country skiing here, fun, though I'm rather out of practice.

We've also had to say goodbye to Thomas, a student from Australia, although we're welcoming to new students, Joshua and Tyler, hailing from the same country. I haven't gotten to meet them yet, but very much looking forward to it. Sorry again for the ridiculously slow update and hope all of your are doing well. Until next time!