Ended up skipping Kiwami for lunch. They open every day at 11 and we had to be back at the apartment complex at 12:15 to leave for the Golden Week tour, and that would have been cutting it close.
Met up at the apartment entrance a bit after 12:15, there were 7 of us. Met a new person named Ching, girl from Australia. Delayed slightly because everyone was trading contact info and so on; ended up having to walk to Sumikawa station since we missed the bus. Got off at Odori station and after a bit of getting lost we met the people who would be showing us around.
Had heard they were students from another school of one of the SU professors, so I was surprised when we met up with three Japanese ladies who were probably in their 30's? or maybe a bit older? instead of college-age folks. Not bad, just unexpected, although it was, admittedly, a bit awkward at first. Still, didn't take long before I realized what a great opportunity we had to spend some time with people who weren't part of the generation we'll spend most of our time in Sapporo with and get to see a different viewpoint.
Had to change the restaurant reservation because we ended up with one more person than expected, which bumped lunch back to 2:00 instead of whatever time was planned. Spent most of the hour until then wandering around trying to find some kind of shop? That we never actually found haha
Restaurant was in a huuuuuge department store, like 7 floors or something, on the top floor. Fancy stuff, food was like $12 but very very tasty; had an oyakodon/tempura set. After the restaurant we went back to Odori station and took the subway to a station near Maruyama Park, from which we'd walk to Hokkaidou Shrine. Extremely pretty area, even in the rain. I've been to Meiji Jingu before, but there's something about a shrine that's not sandwiched between Shibuya and Harajuku that makes it so much more impactful. Did the usual Shinto shrine stuff - cleansing, prayer, bought a protection charm. There ended up being a Shinto wedding going on, which was extremely lucky as that's a fairly rare thing to see in person. After maybe 30 minutes to an hour at the shrine we all headed back.
Four of the seven who went to the shrine went to Kiwami afterwards. Standard miso ramen instead of the spicy stuff this time, since my stomach was such a mess the day before. Two more days to challenge some higher levels of spiciness, so I figure a quick break can't hurt haha (or so I thought at the time…)
Popped over to a grocery after Kiwami, bought some alcohol, walked back to the apartment and drank one of the things I bought - highball in a can, which was decent - watched some TV and went to bed.
Fairly uneventful day today. Typical library internet usage, decided to venture out with Tristan and see what we could find lunch-wise. Went with a place called Katsuya and had sauce katsudon. Tasty, although nothing special. After that, internet was finally installed and I spent the majority of the rest of the day sitting in my apartment.
Planned to go to Kiwami for dinner, as tomorrow's the last day they'll be open, but we arrived only to find out that they had run out of ingredients and they were, at least when it came to serving ramen, done. Got a picture with Masuda-san, the owner, who told me to come tomorrow if I can, and I plan to if tomorrow's plans end soon enough. Speaking of plans, a bunch of the exchange students are planning to do yet another 'Golden Week Tour', this time to Otaru - which, based on when I went in 2011, has a beach. I'm sure there's more haha, but I don't know what that is. How exciting~
昼はきわみに結局行かなかった。毎日１１時からやってるし１２時１５分にアパートで待ち合わせで時間が問題だった。
１２時１５分プラスちょっとにみんながアパート前で集合、７人のグループ。Chingというオーストラリア人の留学生に初めて会って、連絡先を交換したりする事で遅い出発。バスに乗るつもりだったけど、間に合わなくて結局澄川駅まで歩いた。それから、大通駅まで乗って少し迷ってからガイドと会った。
札大の先生の別の学校からの生徒だと聞いて、うちのグループと同じ年齢かと思いきや３０代かもうちょっと年上ぐらいの女性３人組。がっかりはなかったけど最初は変な感じだった、正直。だけど、この留学で普段一緒に遊べない人とこういう風に絡んで、別の意見などを聞けてすごく貴重なチャンスだと思ってきた。
人数が予想より大きくなった事でレストランの予約も変えて、それまで１時間。その１時間、行く予定のお店をずっと探して、結局見つけられなかった（笑
レストランはすごく大きいデパートの一番上の階。僕が食べたのは１０００円ぐらいで親子丼と天ぷらうどんミニセット。ちょっと高かったけど美味しかった。それからまた大通駅に乗って、円山公園へ。北海道神社まで歩いて、行きも神社自体もすごくきれいで落ち着いた。明治神宮には行った事があるが、新宿と原宿の真ん中に挟んでない神社ならもっと自然の力を感じて、神道の良さももっと分かる。自浄とお祈りで、お守りを買った。神道の伝統的な結婚式も行われていて、すごくレアに見れた事だ出来てラッキーだと思う。後３０分間ぐらいで北海道神社が終わって、西岡に帰った。
帰ったら、７人の中の４人がきわみに行った。後２日間もあるし休憩でも良いと思って、腹の為、普通の味噌ラーメンにした。
きわみの後はラルスという食べ物屋に行って、アパートに帰った。そこでのんびりハイボールを飲みながらテレビを少し見てから就眠。
今日はほとんど何もなくて、昼食にトリスタンと軽く散歩しながら食べたいレストランを探した。「かつや」というのにして、ソースカツ丼を食べた。福井のとはやっぱり全然違う（笑
それからインターネットがやっとインストールしてから一日中アパートでネットで遊んだ。
夕食はきわみに行く予定だったけど、着いたらもう食材がなくなったらしくて終わったって。という事は、明日もうラーメンがない。すごいショックとがっかりだった。店長の増田さんと写真を撮って、「明日来れたら来て」と言われたので明日の予定が早く終わったら行くつもりだ。と言えば、明日は小樽に行く予定で、２０１１年に行った時からビーチがあるしか覚えていないんだけど、楽しみ〜（笑
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