International Camp!

So this weekend was extremely fun and tiring. On Saturday most of the international students and a lot of Japanese students took buses to go to the International Camp. The Camp is a two day event  filled with activities.

Our first stop was an Ainu Museum. The museum itself was an old-fashioned Ainu village. The Ainu by the way are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, kind of like the Native Americans, the Ainu even have a similar history. At the village we got to watch different forms of Ainu entertainment and we got to make our own mukkuri, an Ainu instrument that you make out of bamboo and play by pulling a string near your mouth to make a twanging noise. We also went around the village and took tons of pictures. There were real bears and Ainu dogs there too, in cages of course. But it was still neat to see there.

We then went to an Onsen hotel for the night. The hotel was at Noboribetsu, a famous place for onsen. An onsen is a hotspring that you go to to bath and relax. They are apparently very good for your skin and hair. The way you use it is you first go to a changing room where you take off your cloths and go to the onsen with only a washcloth. You then go to a fountain of water and dump some water over you before you go the the washing stations. The stations are basically a bucket you sit on under a shower head. Here you wash with soap and shampoo. Then it is time to enter the onsen. There was an indoor onsen and an outdoor onsen, and also a jet-massage pool, a cold water pool and a sauna. I tried all of them. It was a great time and very relaxing. I went with my friend Daiki and he showed me how to do everything. After you are done onsening you go to a shower and cool down and then go back to the changing room to dry off.

I went to the onsen once before dinner. Dinner was a huge buffet with all kinds of western and Japanese food. After dinner I went to Daiki and my friend Shun's room to hang out, and the party began. Tons of people came to the room and we all just hung out and had a good time. This went on all night. About 1:30 am I went back to the onsen with Daiki for a late night bath and then went to bed around 2:45. I woke up around 6 am to go back to the onsen one final time before going to a breakfast buffet and then heading out.

Our next destination was Noboribetsu Date Jidai Mura (a samurai village). It was basically the Japanese version of a Renaissance fair, with Samurai and Ninja and an ancient village. It was a lot of fun. There were tons of shops and attractions to go to. There was a ninja maze which was a building with slanted rooms and movable walls and other neat tricks. It was a lot of fun to go through. There was a haunted cat temple with a bunch of demon cat puppets. We saw a couple of ninja shows while we were there too which were pretty neat. Some of my friends even got to dress up like a ninja. We were only at the park for a few hours, but it was a great time.

We then took the buses back to the school and then it was time to go back home. Of course I had a Japanese exam to study for the next day, and all I really wanted to do was go to bed.

The exam actually wasn't too bad. This week should be pretty relaxing, I don't have too much homework or many quizzes to worry about. Plus this Saturday is my birthday so I have something to look forward to.

Well that's all for now.

Stephen