This! Is! Squid Dance!

Epic.

A picture summary of the past two days

The speech Contest! I volunteered to hand out the prizes and count the votes.

Went to a 100Yen Shop and did a photobooth.  Freaky what it does to your eyes right!?

Rhapsody In Blue performed by the talented Rimner-san.

A Costume Parade.  I led my part of the parade, and took part in a play dressed as the Japanese Flag Bearer!! Papasan took 336 pictures, and I haven't gone through them all yet...

The best fireworks that I have ever seen in my life.  Set to music. And since we were given free beer for participating in the parade, I was very talkative.  Its funny, but you really do talk better in a foreign language after a Classic Sapporo beer.

Karaoke with Mamasan, Koh, Max, Nao, and Ashok. As always, finished with the American national anthem.

Coming in merely a few hours (as soon as I can): the squid dance. Brace yourselves.

Holy Squids that was fun.

Tonight was built up a lot.  Like a huge amount of pressure to be good, and I went in with expectations that were unrealistically high. But I was blown away; it was better than I could have ever dreamed.

First the build up.  Today I woke up late and went downstairs to find out that papasan's younger sister was in town with her two kids.  Then Kai and my Hostgrandma came in and I had the biggest family get together so far!  I liked my little cousins a lot, and we all played computer games together and talked about Pokemon and DS games.  For lunch we had...PIZZA.  From Pizza Hut.  But it was quite different-  all the toppings were different (my favorite was Camambert Pizza.) and the sizes were much more japanese (Read: The medium pizza in Japan is smaller than a small in America).  Still delicious, and a a long awaited delicacy.  While eating Pizza, we watched the earlier parade on TV, with lots of Kimon wearing people doing very elegantly rehearsed dances、 that were not the squid dance.

Suddenly we're all loading up in the car.  I convinced my little cousins to come along (somehow they weren't going to originally!)  When we pulled up, I was already really pumped- I could see a squid float with two robotic squids and the Ika Odori (In Japanese Squid Dance=Ika Odori) was blaring.

Little did I realize that that float was quiet compared to what was to come.  I walked up the street passing at least 20 squid themed floats, each of which was followed by different squid dancing teams. I was shocked- the parade was honestly boundless and kept going and going and going, with TONS of people dressed up with weird squid gear and costumes (I saw santa, power rangers, pokemon, a beer man, and obviously tons of creative squid gear.)

Oh. My. God. Amazing.

I was elated and couldn't wait for my turn. People were SO jacked up about dancing this dance. And the lights were SO bright and the noise SO loud and the people So enthusiastic.  People had obviously drunk a lot, and occasionally you would see a big  slosh of beer fly up in the air as they did the jumping part.

Me and my cousins (I forgot to mention their names: Kou, Sou, and Kai) found a free area right behind one of the loud bright music cars and got ready for the car to start driving.  The way the parade was set up was there would be floats or big cars that were COVERED in lights and loud speakers, and then groups of people would follow behind.  We were directly behind the last car, so we got to walk with it from one end of Hakodate to the other.  Which is about 2 Hours.  The squid song is 4ish minutes. you do the math on how many times I heard the same song.

Its infectious though; with each time I heard it I wanted more! My cousins all got into it too.  Mob mentality is great- I screamed so loud and jumped as high as I could, even when it was for things I didn't understand.  Oh, and I danced.  I squid danced like there is no tomorrow.

I could rave for hours.  And since your reading this and you probably know me, you probably will hear me rave about it, so I'll spare you for now.  But seriously, this is something that should be added to a list of things that should be done before you die.

High: IKA IKA IKA IKA, ODORI, ODORI!!!!! My ears are still ringing.  If anyone is interested, I'll load the song up for download.

Low:  For lack of a real low, I'll just say homework.

Hero: Papasan! I've been talking to him a lot more recently because its his vacation and he is home more.  Yesterday Jon met him in a video chat, and although neither could speak the other one's language, with me as a translator they somehow got to the topic of cars, and I was no longer needed! Cool how things like car language is universal enough to transcend the language barrier!

Call Me Ismail.

For Today I dined on whale.  It was like a very fishy chicken, and most interesting was the odor and color of the meat- its a very dark meat, darker than any other meat I have eaten.  The taste was bearable, but I definitely wouldn't order the whale burger again.

Yesterday I went to a Shodou, which is basically writing calligraphy with a big brush. It was crazy fun: I really want to do it more! 

We did one big sheet of paper, and I decided to write fire.  I think it turned out pretty decent, but wow it takes skill to do the big one well!  Skills which I do not yet have.

Speaking of skills, here is the other kanji I drew.  These are on smaller pieces of paper but I liked the way they turned out better.  Going from the top clockwise, its Power, Courage, and Wisdom.  I think courage turned out the best!

I stayed up terribly late yesterday and  plan on remedying that tonight, but the last thing worth mentioning is going to a Japanese music concert! We watched a bunch of Japanese banjos and flutes, and then learned to sing an incredibly hard song, pictured above!

High:Painting yesterday!

Low: Yesterday staying up late...

Hero:Today at the concert we also learned an awesome dance that involves some intricate hand flourishes, and afterwards an old Japanese woman who smiled at me earlier said that I did very well.  Made my day, she was very sweet!  I will definitely bust out this dance at Yale sometime for some laughs.

Thor, God of Thunder and Mochi

Too tired to function yesterday, so I forgot to write.  Yesterday I went to a free class that was offered on how to make Mochi and Soba- it is so cool! But of course I epically forgot my camera, so the picture above was taken with a friend's camera.  Mochi is rice that has been smashed to holy bajeezus and then coated with different toppings, like red bean paste.  IT is crazy delicious, and I even got to take a turn as one of those badass mochi beaters.  Next we made Soba-  also crazy delicious.  The process of making it was crazy- it starts out as powder, then becomes dough, then looks like a pizza crust, but they keep stretching it till it looks like a huge piece of fabric.  Next, they fold it up, slice into thin slices, and voila, Soba noodles!

The best part of yesterday was bonding with mamasan.  I found out that just like my real American mom, mamsan every year volunteers but every year says she won't do it again.  I also found out that she absolutely despises one of the other volunteers (coincidentally the president), to the point where it makes her very upset.  If only mamasan spoke english or Mom spoke Japanese, there would be some serious bonding.   I found out today that this host family's past kids haven't been very talkative, so I'm really excited to be the one to remedy that!

Today was the IS project- I'm done! It went alright- I got really nervous to the point my hands visibly shook, but overall it was really funny and lighthearted.  We even id the ika dance, so how bad could it have been?

Tonight since I didn't have an inordinate amount of homework, mamasan and I went to go look at the night view of Hakodate from Mt. Hakodate- supposedly the prettiest night view in Japan, the 3rd prettiest in the world.  It was spectacular.  It was slightly cloudy at first, but it just built up the excitement as the clouds lifted away and unveiled more city lights.  After the famous night view, mamasan showed me another spot that also has a nice view, but isn't a very nice place because its the famous smooching look at point.  We looked at the view quickly and returned home.  

High:Finishing my IS project for good!

Low: I messed up a bit today, but I think it'll be fine tomorrow!

Hero:Mamasan!  Because when she came to class everyone knew her (even though most people hadn't met her). She thought it was very funny how popular/famous she was.

The Eye of The Tiger

Today was the day of Mamasan's big tournament!  It was very intense minivolleyball, which is not an oxymoron.  Mamasan did some amazing dives and saves, and in the end her team won 3 out of their 4 matches!!

And of course there was an award ceremony at the end- the winning four teams get a box of beer and a new mini volleyball, while the losing four teams get a big box of laundry detergent.  Although the latter seems like a humiliating prize, laundry detergent is actually a very common present in Japan, found in all of the local "Gift Corners" of the grocery stores.

Speaking of Grocery stores, when I went to the grocery store to day I was surprised to be greeted by yet another random Japanese mascot.  This one was "Yakult Drinkable Yogurt" man promoting Yakult's newest product.  Gotta love Japan.

High:Today was an overall very good day for understanding people, and I felt like I have learned a lot.

Low:Test tomorrow! And I keep feel like I'm forgetting some big piece of hw...

Hero: How could it not be mamasan and her team after their awesome match today!

Japan is my cup of tea

Lots to catch up on!  So on the day of the eclipse, I had my instructional class on how to hold a Japanese Tea Ceremony.  It's ridiculously complicated! There is specific ways to hold/fold the napkin, a specific way to whip the tea up, and specific ways to hold the cup (rotating it twice before drinking it!)

But the end result is a very peaceful and absolutely delightful cup of Green Tea.  Which I'm a huge fan of.  The only hold up of the ceremony is remaining sitting on your feet for an extended period of time.   It really hurts!  Japanese people make it look easy.

The next day, I learned to play Go!  Go is a fantastic game that I really like, because it is really easy to learn but incredibly hard to master.  Here is how my experience went:

I walked into the room sort of late and everyone I knew already had a partner.  The only person who was left over was in the far corner with the board already layed out.  I sat down and introduced my self, and asked "So is this your first time?"  to which he responded "No."  Very intimidating.  And he had his fan out, which I learned several minutes later that all Good go players will do, to signal how they are feeling.  I had pretty much convinced myself that I was going to lose.  Our game lasted about 30 minutes...and I won! It felt awesome.  It even inspored me to start reading

"Hikaru no Go," a famous manga that actually brought about Go's current popularity.  This picture was taken at a time felt very Japanese, because I was reading a MAnga in Japanese sitting in Lucky Pierrot, and drinking a soda I bought from a vending machine.  Kirin soda tasted like a smoother version of Coke.

After I got home I sat down my backpack and camera, and rushed out the door with Mamasan to go see the new Harry Potter!  But first, dinner.  We went to a Yakisoba place and I had the absolute best Soba I have ever had in my life.  I definitely plan on going back.  Harry Potter was great, sort of sad but great.  But the real shocker to me was that after the movie was over...noone left! In Japan, everyone sits until the very very end, after the credits are over.  Very different from America, but sort of cool.  Even if I was getting antsy.

The next day (Friday! finally!) went quickly, and the best part of school was getting the bowl that I made, now fully glazed and done!  Here it is!  Friday night I went to Goryokaku, and hung out with friends while drinking drinks made in Hokkaido and eating dried shredded squid.  

Today was a very lazy day, but spent recovering from an incredibly exhausting week of work.  The reason I missed updating my blog for a few days was because I was literally staying up doing homework for 3 days straight, and was too tired to write.  But now I'm all caught up on sleep and ready to attack a new week!

High: Today I had Mini-volleyball again! And this time I brought my friend Koh with me who also liked it a lot.  Hooray for Mini volley ball! Mamasan has her big tournament tomorrow!

Low:Lack of sleep

Hero: Kate Selker who's currently in Paris doing all kinds of cool things! Like hiding notes for French people to find, and fearlessly exploring.  <2

Go, Harry Potter, Yakisoba, Tea ceremony...

coming tomorrow morning.

日食

The Japanese  word for eclipse is ni-shyoku, which broken down means "Eating the sun."  Today there was supposed to be a partial eclipse but instead the sun was completely eclipsed

by clouds.

My day was still a lot of fun, but homework lasted until now and I still have about an hour left.  And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.

High:Playing soccer with Koh after school.  It felt great to run around.

Low:My legs hurt a TON today during the tea ceremony, but I'll explain that tomorrow.

Hero:Mamasan for bringing me passionfruit juice at like 2AM while I was studying.  

Museum!

Today after school I went to the museum that had stuff from the Ainu people (the indigenous tribe that lived here before the Japanese.)  After looking around (but no pictures; its a museum) we used origami paper to make what is basically deluxe paper snowflakes.  It was a lot of fun!  I'm keeping today's entry really short because I want to sleep more today. But I'll make up for it some other day!

High: I found out I'm going to see Harry Potter with mamasan on Thursday!

Low: In two days we have a big paper due I haven't started...

Hero:  My real family who I'm slightly homesick for! That includes you grandparents!!

PS- Ratatouille in Japanese is called "Remy's Tasty Restaurant!"

Love Parade and Flower Fire

Yesterday:

First off, the Love Parade! It was Shinon's high school festival, so mamasan and I went and met Shinon there.  The school is an all girls school and it was packed with highscool girls and some boys who were visiting the school. 

 It was madness! I went to a fashion show and a band concert, and afterwards ate a green tea waffle and got all kinds of little candies and stuff.  The highlight of the trip was the Fashion show though.  So much screaming! The girls in each class made a dress, and anytime their class or one of their friends was on stage they would chant or yell "Cuuute!"

After the festivities, it was time for me to study, after all I had a test! But I found another distraction, because later when papasan wanted to go to the hardware store I tagged along.  And wow I'm glad I did! the store was huge, and randomly also included a petstore.  Dogs and cats are much more expensive than in the US, with  even cheap dogs going for a bit over $500.  While I was looking at the dogs, I see an employee with his hands in a cage.  I go to inspect and it seemed like he was trying to catch a brown blur.  When it finally slowed down enough, I recognized it as a ground squirrell.  As a pet! it blew my mind.  But this thing was absolutely fast as all get-out, and I could already tell what was going to happen. Yep! There it goes, it escaped!

Next thing I know, there is a chipmunk loose in the store, tailed by several employees.  It got inside a rack of stuff, and to get it out they needed 4 people (myself included, I volunteered quickly to help with this strange occurance). Super fun.  Only in Japan.

Today: Test went fine, it was definitely hard but I think it was alright.  After class we had a special required lecture on Japanese linguistics- it was pretty interesting and I definitely learned things, but it could have been a tad shorter.

K time for interesting stuff! After school, I went to a Mikia's house for a birthday BBQ! Since I'm the only one who lives close enough, I was the only HIF kid to go, but it was sooo fun!  Mikia has three little host sisters that quickly fell in love with me, and we played games and ran around and had fun.  Immidiately after returning home I donned a Kimono, because it was time for fireworks!!

Traditionally Japanese people wear kimonos to all festivals, but now its split about 60-4o against probably.    I felt super Japanese, and since you only wear boxers underneath it was very nice and breathable.

I got an awesome picture of mamasan.  Anyway though- after watching HUUUGE fireworks, eating a shaved ice, and buying some pokemon cotton candy (of course), I went home and started homework.  And now its bed time.  It was a marvelous day!

High: Finding out what Ratatouille is called in Japanese.  Take a wild guess, and I'll post the answer next post!

Low:staying up mad late yesterday

Hero: Mikia's little siblings! So cute!

How do these relate?

Today was a really long day, but full of fun. TEST TOMORROW AHHH!!  Bedtime. Tomorrow, I will tell the tale that connects the above chipmunk and hardware store.  Logical connection no?

Huge Fun at Mini-Volleyball

Today (technically yesterday...I'm writing this the next morning) was awesome! Early in the morning I headed off to a new culture class: Japanese candy making.

Japanese candy was very fun to make, and the base is almost always a red bean paste.  First we would watch the professionals do a step, then we would copy them and struggle to do what they made look easy.

But it worked out fine! Our candy was pretty darn tasty and I brought all the extras back home for my family.

Here's what the professionals candy ended up looking like.  That mushroom is actually candy!

Next we went to the Russian Festival.  The russian festival consisted of a big play, russian food, lots of sodas, and a gift area.  The play was absolutely packed full of people so we couldn't get in.  Instead mamasan and I bought lunch and ate it together.  I also bought a Squid-Ink soda, which didn't taste too different from big red.  Russian food on the whole was pretty good, even though mamasan didn't like the specialty russian drink she got- it was fermented black bread made into a tea.  Had a really interesting flavor- sort of tasted like the chicha they make in Peru.

When we were leaving, two other HIF kids ran into us and Mamasanoffered them a lift.  We all ended up going to one of mamasan's favorite relaxation places: a small chinese tea shop.  It was really cool, with a ginormous menu full of different exotic teas.  We stayed and talked for a long time, and I learned new vocab that ranged from "ninja star" to "a manly man who eats meat."

Finally after a fast dinner: MiniVolley time! So fun! It's played on a small court with a badmitton net, and you aren't allowed to jump.  The ball is a big inflatable rubbery one, but aside from all these differences the rules of Volleyball apply.  Super duper awesome.

Alright time to get going! Today I'm going to another festival, this one for Shinon's Highschool!

High: MiniVolley.  Also everyone there was so nice! There was a guy and a girl there about my age, and the boy really liked pokemon and soccer so we bonded fast.

Low: I had a stress dream last night that involved having two huge papers due tomorrow that I hadn't started.  I think I had it because tomorrow I have a big test and all sorts of stuff due....but that's not going to stop me from having a blast at today's festival!

Hero: Mamasan! Not only is she completely badass when she's all decked out in her Volleyball gear, but also when I woke up this morning I realized she had sewn up my Davenport shirt that had a small rip in it!

♪Whoah-ohhhhhh Hakodate!♫

Today was the day of a big outdoor spectacle that told the history of Hakodate.  It was superduper cool! The pyrotechnics,  costumes, staging and lights were fantastic, and while I'm sure the dialogue was also wonderful I didn't understand most of it...

Walking in there was one of those put-your-head-though-the-slot-and-take-a-picture things, so of course I had to do it.  It made me become Hijikata Toshizo, the hero of Hakodate who was a complete badass during its history.

There were lots of really epic scenes, some happy and some sad. 

Here is depicted when Perry and the Americans first came to Japan! Woo America! At least for right then.  Later in the spectacle we dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.  But luckily no one tossed me out and I got to see the happy sing along ending involving chanting about Hakodate.

High: The amazing spectacle!

Low: not understanding nearly a single word of the play... but I got the meaning pretty well (I think) so I still had a blast.

Hero: Hijikata Toshizo, who is actually crazy badass and I really didn't know much about him before today.  He's the Davy Crocket of Japan.