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!

Winter in Japan

As we get into the end of November, Hokkaido is finally living up to it's reputation of being cold. Not as bad Canada, however, from what I've heard from folks back home. We got our first real snow last night, the first that stuck anyway, though slush was falling from the sky as early as Saturday. And the weather isn't the only thing changing - this coming Saturday I'll be changing host families as well.

In a way, it's hard to believe that I've been here for a little over three months now - the time really does fly. But at the same time I feel almost like a different person from the me who stepped off the plane three months ago and got her fist taste of Japan. I feel like I've grown a lot, become more confident and more sure of who I am. I've learned tons about Japan and it's culture and can now (to a certain extent) converse in more than one language. Today during home-ec I ended up getting a lesson on Japanese history from one of my former classmates while we were knitting, and I'm proud to say I definitely understood most of it.

It's been quite the journey so far - everything from discovering purikura to eating octopus (on a semi-regular basis, at that) to learning how to work a japanese toilet with all the extra buttons - and it's been a great one. More thanks to everyone who has made this possible for me, especially the Kanno family, my current host family (though only for a couple more days). They had to put up with me getting used to certain aspects of the culture, deal with my language skills and help me adjust to everything, and have been incredibly patient with me and wonderfully welcoming. I couldn't appreciate it more.

It's been a great three months, and I can't wait to continue my journey! Thanks for reading despite me being less than frequent with my updates, and I hope you're enjoying the blog.

School Trip!

As I've mentioned a few times, my school does an annual trip to western honshu for my grade. I just got back last friday, and it was a really great experience. I got to see a lot more of traditional Japan, as Hokkaido in general is very modern. For the most part, I really enjoyed the trip. While there were some frustrations with the very structured nature of some of the activities, all in all, it was a really enjoyable experience, and I feel I learned a lot and saw many amazing things. 

The first day of the trip we flew from Sapporo to Tokyo to Hiroshima, and then drove from the airport to the Memorial Peace Park at the hypocenter of the bombing. Driving through the bustling, modern city, it's almost impossible to believe that only a little over fifty years ago it was almost completely destroyed. Driving through the city, I didn't even realize how close we were to the hypocenter until we got out of the bus and saw what is commonly known as the A-Bomb Dome.

The Dome seen from across the river

We then walked to the museum dedicated to the war and Hiroshima bombing, whose displays had captions in English as well as Japanese, so I was able to learn a lot about the event. We had covered in it school, but actually being there was an entirely different experience. Though my classmates seemed stoic, I was on the verge of tears the entire time and still don't know how I managed not to cry. The thing that struck me most, however, was how Hiroshima has recovered. Though they said nothing would grow for 75 years, the city is lush and green and stands as a monument for peace. The mayor still writes a letter of protest every time any government announces nuclear testing plans, and the city is home to a yearly ceremony hoping for peace. It was an incredible place to visit. 

Day two we were split into groups and toured the park with guides who explained the monuments and other features. I admit I struggled to keep my focus during this section, but what I did learn was pretty interesting. After that, we drove to the coast and took a ferry out to Miyajima island, home to the famous Itsukushima Shrine and it's even more famous torii, which stands in the ocean. We were there at low tide, so you could walk right out to it, though at high tide it becomes partially submerged. The temple was really beautiful, as was the shrine. Also, the island was populated by some friendly deer and had a lot of interesting-looking shops that I didn't get a chance to explore (this is where the annoyed by the structure came in, it was a little too move-from-designated-place-to-designated-place-and-take-a-picture for me, but I still really enjoyed seeing the island).

The Torii

The Temple with a five-storied castle in the background

One of the dog statues at the temple

After lunch and the temple, we took the ferry back to Hiroshima and the tour bus took us to Hiroshima station, where I got to ride the shinkansen (or bullet train, as they are known in the west). As some of you know, I have a weird fascination with these things and I was super excited about it, which my classmates thought was hilarious. So what did I do on this long awaited train ride? Slept. The portion of the ride I was awake was really cool, though, those things go crazy fast and it was super smooth. I was distracted by something and didn't even feel it when the train started moving, it was really cool. The train took us to Kyoto, where we stayed in a Japanese-style hotel called a Ryokan. We had dinner in the room and slept on futons, it was great! 

The next day we spent the morning with the group, seeing of Kyoto's most famous sights, such as the Golden Temple and the old imperial palace with it's 1000 golden Buddha statues, as well as wooden statues of other deities and a huge 42-armed statue in the centre. Because of their sacred nature, visitors are not allowed to photograph the statues, so I don't have any pictures, but they were incredibly beautiful, and the place had an amazing presence, especially taking into account how much time and effort it took to make them. 

The Golden Temple

In the afternoon we split up into our groups again and were free to explore Kyoto. My group took me to a few other famous temples as well as just wandering around the streets of one of Kyoto's more traditional areas. It was really cool seeing all the older style buildings and food and there were lots of people (mostly girls and women, but some men as well) walking around in kimonos and yukatas (sometimes seen in Sapporo, but not nearly this much) which was great. We also met a couple Maiko. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's some of the places we visited:

Kyoto and the gate to one of the temples

The temple 

From left to right: Yui, two Maiko, and me

A small bamboo forest

The next day was our free day, so my group caught a train to Nara and explored the area, checked out the gift shops, went to another temple, and met some deer, which Nara is famous for. They were very friendly, almost domesticated, unlike the deer in Canada which tend to very shy. They would walk right up to you and didn't mind if people pet them, it was crazy. At the suggestion of my Japanese teacher, I bought some biscuits to feed them, which was fun until suddenly you're surrounded by deer and one bites your rear (didn't break the skin but left a bit of a mark). Still, it was nothing you'd see in Canada, and quite the experience. 

Me and some deer in Nara

Next we got on another train to Osaka, which was quite the city, especially since we were in the very heart of it. Very busy, lit up and colourful. It sort of reminded me of Las Vegas, if Las Vegas was cleaner, about fifty time less sleazy and fifty times more Japanese. So I guess it wasn't that much like Vegas, but it was the closest comparison I could think of, as I haven't been to many big metropolitan centres. It wasn't somewhere I'd like to spend a whole lot of my time, but was definitely a cool place to see. 

Osaka at night

The next day we explored one more temple, had lunch, and then headed to the airport and flew back home. Overall, it was a great trip, and I had a wonderful time! 

Finally an Update

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't updated in so long, been busy with school, preparations for my upcoming school trip, and other ongoings in Japan. It's starting to cool down here as fall heads in, and the leaves are just beginning to change colour. According to my teachers, in a few weeks the colours should be brilliant.   School is going well, and my conversational Japanese is getting better and better. I'm beginning to make more friends at school and doing more things outside of school with my classmates.  For example, purikura, a type of Japanese photo booth I mentioned in an earlier post. Here are a few of the pictures:

from left to right: Yuuka, me and Akina

I also recently celebrated my birthday in Japan, making me seventeen years old. It was my first birthday away from my family, so the day started off emotional and gave me my first real bout of homesickness. However, my classmates were able to cure that with their gifts and their hugs, making me feel like I'm really a part of the 5C family. My homeroom and the other girls at school have just been amazingly welcoming and really make me feel like I belong. I couldn't be more grateful to them and my host family. Me and my host family celebrated at night with Ramen and Jingisukan (two of my favourite Japanese dishes) for dinner, and then delicious cake. It was a birthday dinner unlike anything I've had in Canada, but it was a lot of fun and certainly memorable.

Jingisukan, a famous Hokkaido dish

And chocolate cake, yum!

Last weekend, we had another gathering of the rotary exchange students, at which we went and sang karaoke and then had dinner. We got to meet D2510's outbound students who are heading off to various clubs in Canada and Australia next year. They were all great to talk to and I couldn't be more excited for them. It doesn't actually seem like that long ago that I was waiting to learn where in Japan I was going, almost hard to believe I've been here almost two months! I've also been spending some more time outside of school with the inbounds, great people and I love hanging out with them. 

As of late, I've been sorting out preparations for my school trip which leaves the morning of Monday the 22nd (still saturday night for most of you reading this in Canada). We'll be visiting four cities: Kyoto, one of Japan's oldest and most historical cities, known for it's temples, shiners and castles. Osaka, which is one of Japan's economic centres and according to my classmates, has awesome food. Nara, which has some famous Japanese landmarks and tame deer wandering around town. And Hiroshima, where we will be visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. My class is also making one thousand paper cranes for the occasion. Over all, I think it will be a great trip and I'm super excited! 

Still loving Japan and I'll try to update sooner next time! Thanks for reading and putting up with the delay! 

Keeping Busy!

Been a very busy week for me, and haven't had time to update, but I've been doing lots. Last weekend me and the other inbounds went rafting as Niseko, which was great fun and a good bonding opportunity. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but there were some pretty good rapids. Thankfully, after my grand canyon trip, they didn't intimidate me much, and I think everyone had a great time. We also got a chance to look around Otaru city, which was really pretty and had some pretty cool merchandise. That same weekend, my host mother took me to a summer festival, which was a lot of fun, and I got to try a few Japanese snacks (and got free cotton candy just for being a gaijin, apparently, perks of being an exchange student!), saw a traditional Shinto shrine and got to watch several troupes doing various styles of Japanese dance.

Some of the festival's colourful dance costumes

This week Rotary also threw me a welcome/early birthday party (I'm seventeen in a couple weeks) during which we had dinner, I gave a presentation on myself and where I come from, and several rotarians gave speeches I couldn't understand much of. While I can keep a decent conversation with my friends from school, formal Japanese is much more of a struggle for me. Many Japanese words have multiple forms for different degrees of politeness, so understanding polite, business Japanese is a bit of a struggle. However, it would seem I have gotten very good at talking about food in my host language, so it's become my go-to conversation topic. 

My early birthday cake, reading Melissa Amelia Lye Happy Birthday. According to my host father, Japan has the best cakes in the world.

Yesterday my host mom took me to Shiroi Koibito park, which contains a lovely rose garden, a few gift shops, some antique displays, and a chocolate factory. The whole place gave off a Willy Wonka vibe, complete with animatronic musical numbers and bubbles. It was a cool place to visit, and I got to try sweet potato soft serve ice cream, which surprisingly tasted much like vanilla. I also got to decorate a Hokkaido shaped cookie.

The official cookie of this blog

School is continuing normally, and I'm still enjoying my classes, especially with my Japanese gradually improving. Reading and writing are still pretty big challenges, especially with kanji, but I have a pretty solid grasp of hiragana and katakana. I'm making friends and having a wonderful time. 

Time Flies

So today marks exactly one month since I left Canada for Japan, and I'm still having a wonderful time. Today on the walk from school to the train, I managed to have a successful conversation completely in Japanese, and fully understood everything everyone was saying. My grammar is still a mess, I keep forgetting my particles, but still pretty happy communication is becoming easier. Of course, I've had conversations before, but this was the first time nothing flew over my head and I didn't have to slip back into english or get anything translated. Fun fact, a few times since I've been here I've attempted to say something in Japanese, but used Spanish instead. I don't even speak Spanish save for a few basic phrases.

Anyway, things is Japan are continuing as usual. Everything is starting to feel a little more normal, but I often look around, realize where I am, and want to dance I'm so excited. I think I'm settling in fairly well, the heat should finally start dying down soon, and I no longer get lost at school all the time (to my credit, the layout of that place is crazy). At school I've joined the calligraphy club at school, which meets twice a week and is great for helping me to learn kanji, the ideograms taken from Chinese that the Japanese use for many things. Calligraphy is an art form that doesn't really have a western equivalent, so learning it has been interesting, though fairly difficult.

An example of my (not very well done) calligraphy, that word is 'tomodachi' meaning friendship, and that's probably the 40th draft. The small writing on the side is my name is katakana.

My friend Sari's mother, a native Japanese Speaker, told my parents that Japanese was a gentle language, and when I do calligraphy, I feel I finally understand what she means. It makes me feel closer to both the language and the culture, and I really enjoy it. One of my school friends, Yui, has been practicing calligraphy since she began elementary school, and writes beautifully, though even still she goes through piles of paper before getting a satisfying result.

I'm also continuing to get along with my host family, though I haven't been able to spend much time with my younger host sister Anri, due to her being very busy with sports and school. It's currently exam season in Japan, so most students are currently very intent on studying. However, I have still been bonding with the family, we eat dinner together almost every day, and last weekend my host parents took me to the zoo. Most of the animals were just relaxing in the shade because of the heat, but there was a baby orangutang who showed off for us, and we also got to watch the big cats eating lunch.

Me and my host parents, Naomi and Tatsuo hanging out with a family of plastic polar bears.

All in all, it's been a great first month, and I can't wait to see what's coming. 

Note: When I wrote this it had been a month, apparently I forgot to post it until now, sorry!