~Hokkaido Part 3~

School is starting tomorrow,and I just got an e-mail saying I have small test on Thursday!!???What the..Today is already Tuesday now only you tell me!!!Aiyo..Suan..Type this first..

29/08/2006

Fresh farm milk,toast,egg,ham,cabbage and cucumber for breakfast(soory,I can't help noticing how nice the breakfasts are...)Drop by at 大沼公園(Onuma park) before we head to another primary school visit(test you all,this is school number what???3??4??lost count?>0<).Here,I got my chocolate souvnirs all bought.Tried my credit card for the 2nd time.Felt so..proud,excited,happy at the same time.Weird huh?Well,maklumlah,this is my first credit card and its not a supplementary wehhh...Perasan.. This time its a boring 6year students who talked very little.So no need to elaborate here...

Next is also another school visit but this is a special school for students with problems like dylexsic,hyperactive,shut-people-out-hermit-type symptoms.But I found some of them pretty smart in a way,just maybe a bit slow..Truth to be said,I felt a little afraid of them at first yet relief to find that there are also human trying to adapt to the world themselves.Its just that they used the wrong way,glad to know there's this kinda school who helped to guide them along the right path..

Next,another sport looking forward to..We had カヌー体験(Canoe rowing).Unlike the ones in Malaysia,we were divided into 2gropus meaning 9of us in each boat and rowed.The view was spectacular but due to my limited memory space,I only got this....Sigh...

At night,we had another activity which was to attend a party thrown for us by the Rotary club..Rotary club as very well-known is formed by rich people,thus...Local delicacies,expensive shrimps,crabs,shells,beef..All is spread out for us to feast...my my..We had games there too and got ourselves vouchers to shop at...Seven eleven or other convenience store...huh??But we had fun anyhow...

30/08/2006

Chicken nuggets,egg with gyoza fillings,onigiri(rice wrapped in seaweed with fillings) for breakfast.First up,そば打ち体験(make soba,a type of Japanese noodle)We learned how to make the noodles from scratch.It was fun to watch,difficult to make.I wouldn't want to make it myself if given the option.Why make life difficult when you can get in in shops??Anyway,the noodles must be finely cut else it doesn't tastes nice..After that we 'lepaked' at the place until our next program which was 茶道体験(Japanese tea ceremony).Here we started to exchange phone numbers etc.It was kinda fun..

There's 7 kimono wearing ladies teaching us the art of Japanese tea.WE were sperated into groups and mine learnt how to walk with 6steps in one tatami(Japanese straw mat),fold the handkerchief to wipe excess tea etc.Everything is so damn detail that I really respect the Japanese having so much patience.. After the handkerchief folding session,we learnt how to make the 'bancuh' the tea ourselves.Next,we were ushered to a room where we were given cute little sweet cakes to eat while watching how the real Japanese tea was made.Every little action was with precision and softness,it really showed the elegance of the Japanese female.However....it took us half an hour before we can finally drink a bowl of tea..Goodness.Its not that unbearable if we were sitting comfortably..No,we were 座席(Zaseki)-ing.Meaning,sitting in the Japanese way,legs tucked away behind our heavy butts..One hours plus of that was killing everybody(I can hardly feel my leg after that,some had problem standing).The tea was really nice though,not at all bitter.

函館ワイン葡萄館見学(Hakodate wain grape's mansion)was on our list next and we got to see the factory how wine was made in Hakodate.We also sampled a few wine but I tasted only one and the rest fruit juice.I had enough of alcohol thank you.But the wine was really sweet and nice.Had wine ice cream too,it was simply delicious..

Had curry rice,more corn and watermelon for dinner and we head off to Yamada denki where I got myself a 1GB memory stick,frustrated that I have to cancel so many pictures due to the lack of memory space..

31/08/2006

Happy Merdeka Malaysia...I totally forgot it was Independance day until I reach home at night.So unloyal of me eh?Well......Anyway,again I shall start with breakfast.Nattou,seaweed,egg,ham,cucumber,cabbage and grapes..

First stop 歴史館(Museum).Learnt about the history of the town and was fascinated to find that all the experiments of making paper,beer etc in the olden days are all made in Hokkaido itself..Wow..

Next visit,another school albeit a short one.Had another boring time with 6 graders.The gals are pretty sweet though..The guys,anoying...

EVENT OF THE DAY!!!着付（kimono wearing).WE were given a short brief about how expensive the kimono is and were asked to take good care of them for they were all personal kimonos by the sensei's themselves.How noble of them to take out their precious belongings to let other people wear..There's 2 types of kimono that day,one,the famous 振袖(Furisode) kimono where usually single gals wear and the one we usually see in the 成人式(adulthood ceremony in Japan where gals age 20 will attend) and another kimono is the rare はかま(Hakama).This kimono is only worn to graduation day by students.Very little own this type of kimono what more try them on.There's only 2 hakama so we were to draw lots to see who could wear them..Suprise suprise,Aratan and I both got to wear the Hakama.It's special alright and I got comments like,"you look so much like a student!!" duh,its for students to wear what..It looked more like a Korean stle traditional costume to me.But of course the Furisode looked more elegant so....We managed to try on the furisode as well!!Yay,that's 2 different typed of Kimono for us.We exchanged with another 2 gals so the 4 of us are the lucky ones...Here are the picts of this session..

3pretty nicely posed gals in the furisode..

Cool eh?

The obi of my furisode..

Upfront..

The blurry picture of all the elegant ladies and macho guys..

I have nicer picts with Aratan,wait til she mail to me k??Til now I already felt very lucky to come here,especially getting to wear the precious and rare traditional costume..My...

01/09/2006

Its already the first of September..How time flies..Early morning,our host Ojiisan took Aratan and I to Hakodate for shopping.He left us there to do his errands.We took the tram train to the souvernir buying spot..

Saw these..

Ate these..

The burger is special not the usual chicken,shrimp,beef type.The had crab burger,the local Jinzhikan burger etc.It was delicious!!We had our last ice cream there before our Ojiisan came and pick us up.Exchanged presents with Aratan as a farewell gift..

Then we head to see the sunflowers said to grow beautifully in the summer..Sadly,we saw only two types of sunflower,the withering one and the one yet to bloom..Dismayed,we left for home and prepared our dishes for the farewell party at night.Everyone was to prepare something to represent each country and again I made cucur..Bah..The ingredietns was prepared earlier what..The rest made delicious desserts(Taiwan),hot chili toppoki(korean),dry Nasi Goreng(Indonesia),Stir fried dishes(Taiwan),Hotdog and pasta(America) etc.It was damn nice and I was envious that everone can cook so well(Vowed to learn)

Then it was an emotional scene where all foreign students goes out one by one with their host family and say a word of appreciation to them.Some gals were crying,the rest smiling.Went home and had another small party ourselves..

02/09/2006

Woke up early in the morning an had 4different types of sandwiches.Then it was time to say goodbye.We head to the Hakodate hotel earlier than our host family with the other foreign students.Aratan was suprsingly quiet and I saw watery eyes most of the time when we talked along the way to the hotel..Me?I was more than nervous about the speech contest I have to take part at the hotel.

The bus that fetched us everywhere...

Everyone commented on the baju kurung I wore whereas I was cursing myself for listening to Aratan to wear it.Everone is comfortably in their shirt and jeans..Bah...Was very nervous with my speech but I gave my best.It's pretty obvious my topic was the most serious among all the speech but too bad it wasn't the best..

It was deja vu,with people prasing saying I did well etc and no doubt will get prize yadayadayada..But I know better that the more you hope for it,the more suprise you'll get.True enough...I didn't get any prize.There's only first,second and a prize for best effort,I got non.Got the participation cert and 1000yen though..Again,everyone was shocked..For the gal who got first place(Sweet little thing but..)stammered all her way and was reading her speech out.Her speech was,grammatically wise, good and precise but she lacked presentation skills.I'm not biased here but I would give her place to the Indian guy who got 2nd place.He was good alright.

Paticipitation gift..

Well,this time,unlike the first failure if my speech contest,I felt not that gloomy at all.I was more contented with the new found friends I made and the time spent with my host family..(This is not an excuse ok).I suprised myself for being able to smile after losing the contest without feeling awkward.I guess its the experience that counts..And really,I had little time left in Hokkaido,why spent time feeling gloomy?

It was time for Ika (squid) dance...the last dance everyone danced before ending it with loads of picture taking..

Then it was time to say goodbye.I was one of the 11 to go first as I opt for the Kansai plan meaning we leave earlier than thos staying in Tokyo..Hugs and goodbyes..Ang Ji Heoun made funny faces to me before I left,my emotion all weird and uncomfortable.Aratan made me promise that we will meet each other again and plan to go Hokkaido again...We shall see..

Board the plane,got back and after endless train changing.I reached Suzuka just on time to board the 2nd last bus..Got back here at 9.30pm,all tired out for I was carrying about 20kg worth of luggage..Now,its back to reality where I have small test on Thursday and Friday,exams starting on the 22nd....The end....