おなかがいっぱい!

Today's Japanese title means "I'm full!" and today was one of the rare days in Japan when I truly felt like this was the case.  Most Japanese foods feel like collections of appetizers, and lack the feeling that American food gives of being so stuffed that you can't eat more.  But tonights dinner did the trick!

When I got down for dinner the table was covered in newspaper and there was a big grill like thing in the middle.  It was Yakiniku! This meant we cook our own buttery mushrooms, meat, and other veggies and eat to our heart's content.  Super yummy.

Anyway I kind of did today backwards, starting with dinner.  The only other thing of note that happened today was part three of pottery class.  Today was glazing!  I picked out a black glaze with a white crackly glaze splattered on top.  Now it looks like this!

Now I realize it looks red and white right now, but if I understood their Japanese it will turn black in the kiln.

High: Deeeelishious dinner.

Low: The anticipated quiz on Kanji tomorrow.

Hero: I met a random Japanese person on the bus who approached me wanting to practice her english.  So she spoke in english to me, and I spoke back to her in Japanese! It was a blast.

Deluge of Pictures: Flowers, Squids, Sapporo.

First off, the promised deluge of Sapporo pictures!  Minimal typing though, because I'm a bit tired.

Melon Soda floats.

The Pokemon Center.

Baseball!

New Fighter's Hat! 

The Famous Chocolate factory, where they make "White Lover Chocolate."

Here's the assembly line.

The Beer Factory! As a precursor to the following beer-themed pictures, the drinking age in Japan is 20.

Classic Sapporo Beer posters.  I bought a replica of the one in the top middle with the girl wearing the green dress.  I'm excited to put it up in the suite next year! Nothing says classy like vintage Japanese beer posters.

Beer Ice Cream! Surprisingly delicious. The smooth taste of Sapporo beer with the creamy texture of ice cream.

At the end of the tour there is a taste test of three glasses of different Sapporo brewed beers.  My favorite was the classic Black Label that is exported all over the world, although the dark Yebisu beer was amazing.

We passed by a random festival where lots of people dressed up carried this shrine.  Although they should probably invest in some longer clothes...

Jingisukan, or lamb steak grilled at the table.  A specialty of Sapporo.

Now to blitz the past two day's activities.  Yesterday was a class on how to cook squid!  Sortof gross, but I'm now a squid cooking fiend.  I know how to rip off what I call the "squid hat," clean it and fill it with rice to be boiled.  Delicious!

Here's the real squid expert, telling us how to sashimi squid.  You aren't allowed to talk during the process to avoid getting anything on the squid and ruining freshness.  Squid sashimi is quite tasty, and I can now go from the "buy a dead squid at the supermarket" phase to the edible phase fairly problem free.

Wearing mamasan's very manly apron and taking a big bite out of squid tentacles.

Today's class was Kado, or flower arranging! I never knew there was such an art to making an arrangement look nice, but I assure there is a huge process and many styles. For dinner tonight we went to "Bikkuri Donkey" and ate hambagus (different from hamburgers).

Tired! I'll try not to get backed up again so I won't have to do so many days at once!

High: Mamasan trying to say "wool."  I laughed harder than I have in recent memory.  I even took a video about halfway through this moment, I'll maybe post it later.

Low: I went to bed at about 3 yesterday.  More homework than I've ever had here.

Hero: My bed.

Baseball Done Right

Here is a youtube video demonstrating what Japanese baseball feels like as a spectator. This is Inaba(my favorite player)'s  fight song.  Although I took several videos of the cheering, none of them really captured the words as clearly as this video does.  Enjoy!

Thanks to Nao for sending this video my way.

The Break

It was a break from blogging and from school, and it was ridiculously refreshing. But it was very bad form for what should be a daily blog.  So now I'll quickly recount in words what I did, and tomorrow I'll recount it in pictures and videos!

Day 1: Mamasan drove me to the bus station, then I Traveled by bus on a rainy day to Sapporo.  Awed by Sapporo's size, traveled around looking at shops and things.  One of these shops was the Pokemon center that sold tons of pokemon memorabilia and figurines.  For dinner I ate ramen that was called on the menu the Japanese word for "Hell."  It was REALLY SPICY.  But soooo delicious.  After more exploring ended up going to karaoke and concluded with the American National anthem.

Day 2: Baseball! After an early wake up, headed for donuts and then off to the baseball game. Although traveling in Sapporo as a group of 6, they only had three baseball tickets left when we decided to buy them.  Then after buying these 3, one person lost their ticket, so it just ended up being me and Nao going to the game.  But wow was it a blast!  You get to the game about 2 hours early, because its free seating and fills up fast.  luckily this gave me time to buy a melon soda, a "tornado potato" (basically a huge curly fry on a stick) and a Fighter's hat.  When the game started I hear my first song, which consisted of people clapping beats I don't know, cheering cheers I don't know, and waving around specific items that I don't have.  Disorienting.  But AWESOME!  After a while I caught on how to do some things, like yelling in unison with them "GO GO, LET'S GO INIBA!" (Iniba being the name of my favorite player.)  Lots of shouting and yelling, and lots of fumbling to learn players songs (each player had about 3 different unique cheers.)  After the game, met up with Max and Brian who were also at the game and headed to get Soup Curry, a specialty of Sapporo.  Super delicious.  Finished the night hanging out, talking, and playing the game "fantasy" with Brian and his friends, which ended in hysterical results.  Another great night sleep in the hostel bed.

Day 3: The Day of Factories!  First to the chocolate factory, where the famous "White Lover" chocolate is made.  It is amazingly tasty, and the tour was pretty cool.  It started with the history and science of chocolate. but concluded with a view of the conveyor belt and the assembly line.  So cool! Next up: Italian(ish) food for lunch, where I ordered what looked like a big fried mozzarella ball in marinara but the ball was filled with rice.  After a filling meal: Beer museum time! We saw the evolution of Sapporo beer's humble beginings all the way to its now world reknowned status.  The tour culminated in Beer ice cream (SO GOOD.) and the beer tasting, where for a chap price you can try three of their top beers.  It was an excellent tour, and excellent beer.  Next up we explored some more of Sapporo, including going to Don Kihote, the Japanese equivalent of Walmart but with crazy stuff inside.  I really wish we had these stores in the states, the costumes and props they sell are amazing.  Dinner was Jingisukan, another one of Sapporo's famous dishes.  It's basically lamb steak cooked at the table along with vegetables on a grill that is shaped like a large lemon juicer.  Very delicious, but since it wasn't quite filling enough I headed to a place called the "Fruitscake Factory" and bought a pastry and yogurt, which I ate in the park talking to friends.  What a nice day.

Day 4 (Today):  Woke up early, headed to the bus station, and returned home.  My phone had died on day 3, so I hadn't been in contact with my host family which worried them, but luckily I had bought them chocolate from the factory as a gift so I didn't feel as bad.  I think mamasan might have even went to the station to pick me up, but turned around once she got there and discovered that I had got off at an earlier stop.  I felt pretty bad but was able to explain to her that my phone had died and I was terribly sorry.  Luckily, I knew she wasn't mad because the rest of the day I spent laughing and having very positive interactions.  For example: The mamasans finally met! I videochatted with my family and introduced them to my host family! Truly magical to watch them try to communicate.  Unfortunately though papasan was downstairs unaware I was video chatting, because he was watching Harii Potaa 3: Azukabann.

Now its bedtime, but stay tuned for pictures!

High: The meeting of my families!

Low:Making mamasan worry because my phone died!

Hero: Both of the mamas in my life for bonding together over being moms!

Sapporo!

I made it safely! And its awesome! Some Highlights so far: going to a baseball game. going to the pokemon center. drinking Sapporo beer in Sapporo.  Seeing big bright night lights on a scale only comparable to NYC.  Drinking melon soda floats.  Karaoke, culminating in the american national anthem.

I leave you with a teaser picture of what looks like the eiffel tower, but is actually the Sapporo TV tower.  More on Sapporo later though, for now bedtime!  My bed is really comfy in a nice hostel, but I feel bad about typing very much.  So see you tomorrow (or monday!)

High: Its all been really fun! Probably baseball though.

Low: Moot.  This is a vacation. 

Hero: The Nippon Ham Fighters and their fans, specifically the person who sat next to me in the crowd and helped teach me what to sing.  (Brace yourself for some culture shock, because Japanese baseball games are about 10x better than american ones.  Every player has a theme song.  that everyone knows.)

Tanabata, the best holiday ever conceived.

Phew! Done with my Speech, done with my final, and now its the 4 day break!  So time to bring everything up to speed.

When we last left our heros, it was Tanabata, on 7/7/09.  What a holiday! Picture the fourth of July- fireworks, hot dogs, beer, picnics, etc.  Now picture halloween- kids walking from house to house dressed up getting candy.  Now fuse them together into the ultimate holiday, and Tanabata is born!

In class, we hung up papers with prayers written on them onto a bamboo tree, and all over Hakodte you would see various decorations.  Wehn I got home I helped set stuff up- we had guests coming! My host cousin Kai, my host grandma (who I met for the first time) and several of mamasan's friends.  Those friends ended up bringing watermelon, which is a very kind gesture in Japan.  My host family goes all out on Tanabata.  One thing I helped set up was the barbecue grill and chairs in the front lawn.  And to think I complained about not having a fourth of July!  I even got my hotdog!  

Although as seen by the grill, there are also some not so classic American dishes, like the huge barbecued squid in the middle of the grill.  Also, the "Ikameshi" which is the dish I showed a picture of yesterday-- It's a squid head chopped open, stuffed with rice, cooked then sealed and served.  Amazingly very delicious!

The main event of the holiday though are the kids! While we sit in front of the house eating food, drinking, and talking, kids go from door to door singing the traditional song.  And once they sing it...you give them a prize! Our family gave out water balloon yoyos, which were a big hit (although really hard to make!)  Traditionally kids dress in Kimonos, but nowadays only about half of them do.  If you're interested in seeing the song, see the video I attached at the bottom!

At night fall, we all continued eating and talking.  Kai and his little friend returned home victorious, with all kind of toys and candy.  And next, to make the holiday even more fourth of julyier, Sparklers!

It was a blast!  But the next day I had my big speech, and I had to have it completely committed to memory.    So time to study.  I'm sort of tired maybe I'll do it in the morni...

"KURISU?" It's 7:40AM the next day, and I still haven't fully memorized my speech.  ahhh! On the plus side, it was raining and I tend to sleep really well when it rains.  It also meant that mamasan offered to drive me to school, since she had planned to drop shinon off anyway!  I practiced the whole way and it went great! After school, returned home and studied butt off for today's test which went surprisingly well!

Afterwards, time to treat myself to ice cream. Meanwhile one of my crazy friends Juan Miguel decided to do the "Challenge."  8 scoops.  20 Seconds.  Do it, and its free.  He did it in 23 seconds!! beastly.  And painful looking.  but unfortunately, not within the time limit.

Tonight, dinner was great and the TV shows were greater.  Some highlights included a show where they show a man and a woman, but both are dressed like women.  You have to figure out which one is which! Another AMAZING show they would never have in america is the one pictured above.  People have to do a set of challenges in a random sleeping person's hotel room at 3:00AM.  For example, this person had to transfer two lobsters from one tank into another with his bare hands without waking the woman in the back.  I don't know who comes up with this but my god please move to America. This is awesome.

High: Tanabata, the ultimate holiday.

Low: Tanabata, the ultimate procrastination of homework day.

Hero: Mamasan for driving me to school when it was raining and practicing my speech with me until I had it committed to memory! 

And here's the video of Tanabata! Things of Note: mamasan's laughter which happens all the time and brightens my day, the crazy assortment on the grill, the tons of kids singing all the time, and me saying "I like this festival" in japanese!

Final!

Ahhh my Final is tomorrow! So once more I'm putting off blog writing.  Oops.  But Daijyoubu.

PS- Daijyoubu (pronounced Die Jyoe Bu) is not only one of the funnest words to say, but I use it all the time.    Its meaning is roughly: "I'm good." or "okay!"

It deserves to be introduced into the english language.

As a temporary distraction from my lack of blog writing, here is a food I ate at yesterday's festival, and this once again this morning for breakfast.  Anyone know what it is? Answer coming soon to a blog near you.