Baseball, Zoo, and other things. . .

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been a while since my last post, I've been pretty busy. Luckily tomorrow is Friday and I have a fun weekend ahead.

Anyway, last Saturday I went to a baseball game with my Okaasan and her cousin. Our team is the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Apparently the island of Hokkaido only has one baseball team. Nippon-Ham is the name of a Japanese company that owns or sponsers the team, I'm not sure which. Fighters is the team name. We were going against the Kyushu Softbank Tigers.

The game was a lot of fun. Unlike American baseball where the crowd may not get into the game that much or leave half way through it because their team is losing, Japanese baseball is very intense. Every time your team goes up to bat, all of the fans stand up. Each team has a band that plays cheers that the fans sing along to and the fans bang these plastic things together and do various motions for each cheer. Each player has a different cheer and there are cheers for homeruns and other things. I got most of them down by the end of the game.

Below is a video of one of the cheers. To the far right is the band, I don't think you can see them that well, but you can hear them.

And here are some pictures. Below right is Sapporo Dome, where the game was held. Below right is a shot of the field. Below below is a picture of the Fighters in the field.

By the way, my team lost. 0-1

On Sunday I went to Asahiyama Dobutsuen (zoo) with my Okaasan, my Oniisan, Daisuke, and two of my friends, Mal and Euna. The zoo was alot of fun. It had a lot of the same animals that an American zoo would have, but it seemed to have better exhibits for the animals. There was this huge thing that the Orangutans could climb on, an underwater walk way where you could watch penguins swim over you, and a tube in the middle of a room where you could see seals swim by.

After the zoo we went to Ueno Farm, a flower garden that had tons of different kinds of flowers. It was a pretty neat place to go to even in the fall.

On Monday school started up again. I guess this is my first official full week of school with electives and everything. I am taking a Japanese Culture class every monday for three hours. It should be a pretty interesting class.

On Tuesday two of my Japanese friends, Daiki and Yatsu, came over to my house and hung out and had dinner with my family. It was a lot of fun. They only live 10 minutes away so they wanted to find out where I lives so we could hang out sometime. There are a couple of good malls and outlets near where I live that would be fun to go to.

This weekend should be another fun weekend. Tomorrow night I am going to Yakitori with some friends. Yakitori is a type of Japanese barbecue. On Saturday I am going hiking up a near by mountain with a few friends and on Sunday I am attending an undokai, mini-Olympics. I am also going to a Halloween party on Sunday, even though it is the beginning of the month. (I will also be going to one at the end of the month).

Fun fact for the day: In Japan, instead of using lol in text messages and e-mails the Japanese use w. For example: That was a pretty fun time w. They get the w from the Japanese word for laughter, warai. So now you can do something different with you text messages.

Well that is all I have for today. I will try to make another post at the end of the weekend.

Stephen

Mostly Pictures

Well I've made it through my second week of classes, although I only had class twice this week so it wasn't really that hard. I just uploaded some pictures from Otaru and other places and I'd thought I"d post a few.

First up is a picture of my campus. I only have one good one so far, I'll have to take some more soon. The buildings on the left are the classroom buildings and the building on the right is the toshokan, library. The Campus itself is actually very small, smaller than e-town. But it has almost 2x the number of students. It gets very crowded and lunch is crazy.

As you guys know, on Saturday I went to Otaru with some friends. Well now I have some pictures of the place. On the left is Otaru canal, a famous waterway in Otaru. On the right is a picture of the town.

After walking through the town we went to Mt. Tengu. We saw some chipmunks and a great view from Otaru.

On Mt. Tengu I also saw Hananade Tengu, a kind of fairytale demon that is like Pinocchio. We also went to Le Tao to have some very fancy cake.

On Thursday it was the Autumnal Equinox, a day that means the start of fall and a time when dead ancestors are said to return home. I went to a pottery class that day with my host mother and brother and a friend from E-town, Mallory.



My Okaasan also taught me a simple form of Ikebana, flower arranging, ... but the cats destroyed it. In the left picture is Koko on the left and Kotaro on the right. Kotaro is a kitten who follows me around everywhere and always wants to play. In the picture on the right is Reio.

Well that's all for today. I'll be back later with more posts. Today I go to a host family luncheon and a baseball game with my family. Tomorrow I head off to Asahiyama Zoo, the biggest zoo in Hokkaido. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Stephen

The Weekend

Well I made it through my first week of class. It isn't too bad and all four of my Japanese teachers are pretty good. So far I've had two quizes and tons of homework due and it only increases from here on out. I have two quizzes tomorrow. Luckily they are not too hard and my host family actually helps me study and understand things better. It's like being in Japanese class, but more fun. My okaasan got me a notebook that I can use to write all of the new words that I learn. I am learning a lot and some of them are words that are solely Japanese, they don't have a very good english definition, so it is pretty neat.

Saturday I went to Otaru with some friends. Otaru is an old-fashioned port city near Sapporo. It is famous for its glass blowing and music boxes. We went to a number of museums and shops to check out the really neat things. People do some strange stuff with music boxes and glass. We also went up Mt. Tengu and visited a chipmunk park. It was a caged in area where you could hand feed chipmunks, kind of strange. The view from the top was amazing, you could see the Sea of Japan and the port of Otaru. In the winter this mountain is a sky mountain so I may make a trip back here in a few months.

Some of you will be happy to know that 2 seconds from my house is a church that I have been going to. It is called the Green Chapel and is a bright green color. This past sunday I went with some friends to a church conference. It was kind of like the Lifeteen things back home.

Today is Elder's Day, kind of like grandparents day in the U.S. except a national holiday, and I don't have school. Thursday is also a holiday, it is the autumn equinox. So luckily this week as a few breaks because things are going to start picking up this week. I just have to get through this week and then it is a fun weekend filled with a cookout, baseball game, and the zoo!

Stephen

School

School started for me on Monday, at least the Japanese class did. I had to take a Japanese placement test to figure out what class I should be in. There are 5 levels with another very advanced level. I go placed into level 3 which I am both nervous and happy about. Level three is probably where I should be, but in Japan this class is going to be a lot harder and I am going to have a lot of work to do. Right now we are actually review some of the stuff that we went over at the end of last year, so we will soon be learning a lot of new material.

I have about three hours of Japanese every Monday, Tuesday, Thrusday, and Friday. The class is all in Japanese too. This is very different from what class was like at E-town. I also get a lot of homework and quizzes. I had a quiz the second day of class. Luckily the teachers are very nice (I have a different teacher for each day of the week too) and my class is really small, only 7 people.

Next week electives start. I am not sure what I am going to take yet. Next week is more of a trial where you can go to a class to see what it is like and then decide whether or not to take it. I am thinking of taking a Japanese culture class and a Shintoism class. Clubs will also be starting soon. I might join Aikido, a form of Japanese martial arts, with some of my friends, and the photography club.

Even with classes and clubs I still have a good amount of free time to do things. Today I have to get my Alien Registration card, after I go with my Okaasan (host Mom) to take our kitten to the vet. Later today I am going to Karaoke with a lot of people. Some time in late September or October I may go hiking or rock climbing with some of my new Japanese friends. My Okaasan wants me to go to a pottery class with her next Thursday, go with the family to the zoo, and go to a Halloween party at her English school.

I have so much going on! But it is going to be a lot of fun.

Be back later

Stephen

Here! Part 3

Ok I am back.

I forgot to mention in the previous post that while in Kyoto I also walked the philosopher's path, a route taken by an ancient philosopher which is about a mile, to Ginkakuji (below).

It was after this that we went to Osaka for a few days. In Osaka I went to Dontonbori bridge (below left), and Tenjinbashi suji (below right). Dontonbori is a famous bridge in the Namba area where the Hanshin Tigers (Japanese baseball team) go to celebrate a victory. Tenjinbashi suji is one of the largest shopping strips in Japan.

I also went to Tenmangu shrine (below left), a shrine where students go to pray for good luck in school, and Osaka Castle (below right), an ancient Japanese castle.

After going to Osaka it was time to head back to Sapporo. We took a plane back. After staying in the dorm for a few more days I moved in with my host family.

My family consists of a husband and wife and three sons. One of the sons lives at the house. They also have three cats (two adults and one kitten). Their house is really nice. It is small, but very comfortable. I have my own room and toilet. My room is actually rather big, I have a bed, desk, dresser, and couch. The family has been really nice since I've gotten here. They don't speak a lot of english and I don't speak a lot of japanese, but we are able to get the jist of what we are saying. we use dictionaries a lot.

School starts tomorrow (by the way over here it is Sunday night), at least my Japanese class does. I took a Japanese placement test last friday to determine my level. I find out my score tomorrow. I have 3 hours of Japanese every week day except Wednesday. I am also taking electives, but they do not start until next week. I will let everyone know how school goes and other things about my host family and stuff I do in Sapporo. Let me know if you want to know anything in particular.

Stephen

Here! Part 2!

I have safely gotten back from my awesome 9 day backpacking trip across honshu and am now with my host family. Sorry I haven't been blogging much, I did not have my computer with me and access to another computer was limited.

Anyway, I shall fill you in on my journey thus far.

I made it to Japan with little problems, I made all of my flights. I also met up with other BCA students who will be in Japan. I stayed in a dorm for a few days before heading out on the Honshu trip. So it was back on a plane and off to Hiroshima.

In Hiroshima we stayed at a pretty nice hotel for about four days. Over those days we went to the Genbaku Dome (Atomic Bomb Dome) (left), Miyajima (torii on the right), and even went on a nice hike up Mt. Misen (view from top is below) in Miyajima.

I also did some more hiking up another near by mountain too. A lot of hiking was done in Hiroshima.

It was then time to go to Kyoto and Nara (Kyoto tower below)

In Kyoto and Nara I went to Byodoin Temple (below left), a local tea shop, Todaiji (where the largest Buddha in Japan is located) (below right), Inari (thousand torii) (below below), and tons of other famous shrines and temples.

 

 In Kyoto I also did some exploring of my own and found some pretty cool places while walking through the city. After Kyoto we then traveled to Osaka.

I will save Osaka and the rest of my trip for another post. This one is getting pretty long, and my laptop battery is about to die.

Stephen