May 18th-26th・５月１８日から２６日まで

申し訳ないが、今回は時間のため日本語なしで更新します。次回から絶対！m(__)m


Friday night nomihoudai was great! Started with a group of maybe 5 SatsuDai exchange students and a Japanese friend of one of them. By the end of the night we had around 15 people all crammed into the tiny back room of the bar. Spent most of the evening talking with Tristan, Suzanne and three Japanese girls who were all from Hokkai Gakuen University, which was a lot of fun. Managed to pace my drinking considerably better compared to Monday with the extreme sports guys haha

Saturday was the much-anticipated hanami (literally, flower watching)! Basically, every year in spring there's maybe a two-week period where the cherry blossom trees in Japan are blooming. During that time it's a tradition to go to a park with lots of cherry blossom trees and sit around, drink, eat, chat with friends, etc. So that's what we did! Me, Hokuto, Yuuji, Nara (another friend of Hokuto's and a super cool guy), Suzanne, and RaBekah. Normally during hanami in Hokkaidou you'd eat something called 'Genghis Khan', which is grilled lamb, but the preparation for that is kind of annoying so we just bought a bunch of sushi and snacks haha  Just sat around, chatted, ate, drank. Got kinda bored at one point so Hokuto, Nara and I went to buy some balls to throw around, which was a fun adventure and gave us something to do at the park.
After hanami, Hokuto, Yuuji, Nara and I got ramen at a place I'd never been that was just amazing, then went to a store called Mandai. Basically there are lots of 24-hour stores that sell used games, CDs, DVDs, books, clothing, etc all over the more rural cities of Japan. They're always pretty sleazy (from the outside they look like a gambling establishment, honestly, and they're probably run by the same type of people haha) but have lots of cool stuff to look at/buy for decent prices. The other guys played crane games for the most part, but I just wandered around and looked at things, reminiscing about my idol days :P

Sunday, went with Hokuto and Yuutaro (one of Hokuto's bandmates) to a brass band/orchestra concert on campus. Extremely talented performers, as one would expect, but what I didn't expect was how fun and light-hearted it would be. The band split into groups by instrument (sax, trombone, percussion, french horn, etc) and each played a different song, and everyone in the audience was given a card upon entering to vote on which group was best. During the second half, the conductor also invited people to come onto the stage and conduct a portion of a song. That was especially fun because even little kids participated and there were some…interesting results from that haha  Had a great time and really glad I went.
Hung out with Yuuji for a bit Sunday evening, although he didn't have a lot of time so we basically just ran over and got me signed up for a rental card at GEO. Will actually go look around and start renting at some other point.

Nothing particularly special happened on Monday or Tuesday. Hung out with Hokuto a bit Monday night and just kind of watched TV, chatted, etc.

Wednesday, joined a new class - intercultural communication. This is the one class I'm officially signed up for that's not for 'Japanese learners'. Went well, I think…the teacher went ahead and assigned me to June 12th for my presentation and afterwards he had me come to a meeting to chat for a bit and meet some of his colleagues. Was kind of unexpected and a bit out of my comfort zone, but I wasn't about to say no.
After class, went with Hokuto and Nara to see if a different GEO from the one near campus had better stuff (it didn't) and then went to an open air bath/sauna. Open air baths in Japan are that exactly - huge open areas with a few different kinds of baths…which also means a bunch of naked dudes, including yourself haha  I'm comfortable with it, personally, but I can see why other people wouldn't be. Spent maybe an hour or so in the open air bath chatting about various 'guy things' before washing up and moving to the sauna. Started with the hottest one…felt great, but after about 15 minutes it got hard to breath and I could feel my heart beating faster so we got out of there. Quick break, then we moved to the next level down for maybe another 20-30 minutes, and finally went back to the bath again for another hour or two. On the whole a great bonding experience and very relaxing and refreshing. Definitely want to go again.

Thursday, everybody went out for kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) with Hokuto, Nara, Yutaro, Tristan and Ryouma (another of Hokuto's bandmates). Ate 17 plates worth, which was at least 30 pieces of sushi and a piece of cheesecake lol   Tasted great!

Friday's study abroad support group only had one Japanese student show up, so it was me, Michael (England) and Ching (Australia) teaching one student. Actually worked very well, feel like the guy who showed up learned a lot and it went much smoother than with a larger group.
Post-class, went to another of Hokuto's band (THE MARCYz)'s concerts. Other than THE MARCYz, every band playing that night consisted of high schoolers, so the crowd was pretty much entirely high schoolers outside of friends of THE MARCYz. Let me tell you, Japanese high schoolers en masse are not a force to take lightly…by the end of the night, one kid had a bloody/broken nose and another had lost a tooth. It was a rowdy crowd, to say the least, but at the same time it's kind of refreshing and encouraging to see that kind of energy. I feel like I kind of got a feel of what the term 'seishun' (青春) really means haha (it's a term that technically means 'youth', but has a specific nuance of nostalgia for that time in one's life - sounds straightforward, but it's a distinctly Japanese concept in spite of that)
Decided to hang out after the concert, first we went to a game center and just kind of wandered around. The Japanese guys I run around with are really into crane games, so they did a bunch of playing that and then we took a commemorative purikura together. At this point we realized the last train had already left, so we had no option but to go for all night karaoke…! So that's what we did haha   Lots of fun, of course, although staying up until like 7 in the morning isn't exactly a specialty of mine.

Saturday, slept in until like 4PM and then a bunch of the extreme sports guys came over that evening for a takoyaki party. Lots of drinking, goofing off, hanging out. Good times all around, although we were up until like 4 in the morning.

Sunday, slept late again (noon), then did a bunch of nothing before going over to Yuuji's place for some yakiniku with Yuuji, Nara, Hokuto and Suzanne. Very tasty, of course. Tomorrow it's back to school!

May 13th-17th・５月１３日から１７日まで

Quick summary of the last few days…
Helped with a 'study abroad support' class dealie Monday afternoon…games and so on  to help out Japanese students who want to practice English. Hung out with the extreme sports circle guys on Monday night, then we all went out drinking together. Intended to have a 'quick drink' which turned into a nomihoudai (all you can drink) and cup after cup of highballs (whiskey and beer), drinking games, etc. Lots of fun, although I got MUCH too drunk. Managed to forgot the key to my apartment at the bar, so crashed on the floor of Tristan's apartment lol…got a call from one of the Japanese x-sports guys at one point during the night and they, apparently, had gone to get the key for me (or something to that effect - I don't remember very well…) and were going to drop it off for me. Woke up the next morning around 4AM and had a mail saying that they had left the key in the apartment entryway and, sure enough, there it was. So yeah, x-sports guys really went out of their way and helped me out a lot ><

Tuesday morning classes were, of course, awful, but I made it through and somehow didn't miss any. Nothing exciting beyond that, really.
Wednesday, Japanese Society and Culture class again. Put with a whole new group of Japanese students but the discussion went very well. Don't really remember what happened Wednesday night…

Thursday, another full day of classes. Put with a new group of students - still only 3 others aside from me, but a much more focused group that I feel I actually clicked pretty well with for the most part. Managed to forget quite a bit of homework since I ended up noting what I could remember of assignments from Tuesday after the fact, which sucked…but now that everything's figured out I should be good.
Got registered for classes, finally, on Thursday evening. Same classes I've been taking so far (speech, composition, society/culture, reading comprehension, grammar) plus an intercultural communication class with Japanese students, which I'm really looking forward to. After that, went and chilled with the x-sports guys again, headed home, and that was the end of the day.

So far today I've gone and helped with another 'study abroad support' class and that's basically it. Got an etymological kanji dictionary today, which should make kanji studies much more interesting and easy, I hope. Going out for a nomihoudai with other exchange students and some Japanese people later on, then hanami tomorrow!

数日を早く書いたら。。
月曜日の午後に英会話のようなゲームなどをする日本人用の留学サポートという授業の手伝いをして、X-Sportsのみんなと月曜日の夜に遊んで、それから飲みに行った。軽く飲むつもりだったが、結局飲み放題になって何杯もハイボール飲んで酔っぱらい（笑　帰ったらアパートの鍵を忘れちゃった事に気付いて、とりあえずトリスタンのアパートに泊まる事にした。寝た途中に電話かかってきて、X-Sportsの人がなんか居酒屋へ鍵を取りに行ってくれて、トリスタンのアパートまで持って来る事に＞＜　朝４時ぐらいに起きたら「鍵は玄関に置いといた」というメールがあって、そのまま置いてた。X-Sportsのみんなに本当に助けられた＞＜

火曜日の朝はすごい二日酔いでキツかったけどなんとかいけてサボる事がなかった。それ以外に何もなかった（笑
水曜日は日本研究以外に何もなかった。その授業のグループディスカッションで全然違うグループになって、それでもディスカッションがうまくいけた感じ。

木曜日にまた授業で満載、難しい方の授業は別の同じクラスに行って、今までと違う同級生で前よりずっと気が合うグループだったので、安心。最近スケジュールがバラバラすぎて宿題も少し忘れちゃったけど、これからちゃんと整理してるようなスケジュールになるので忘れなさそうだ。
それからやっと授業の登録。その結果、スケジュールはもう取ってた授業（スピーチ、文章表現、日本研究、読解、文法）プラス日本人用の異文化間コミュニケーション？みたいな授業で、月曜日と金曜日の留学サポートの手伝い。結構忙しいけど楽しみ！登録が終わったらまX-Sportsのみんなと遊んた。

今日はまた留学サポート以外に何もなくて、今夜留学生数人と日本人数人で飲み放題で、明日花見！

May 8th-12th, Classes Continue・５月８日から１２日まで、授業の続き

Apologies for not updating for so long, been quite busy.

Had one class Wednesday, the culture class that's always done with a class of both exchange students and Japanese students. All new BSU students introduced ourselves in front of the class and had to talk about what surprised us most since getting here. I said that I've been to Japan enough times that not much surprises me anymore, but I feel that in Americans' minds the Japanese seem like a very serious people. Even so, when I came here the first time I saw that Japanese people hang out and goof off and so on just like everyone else, which was maybe not surprising but at least a little unexpected. This was all in Japanese, of course.
After the lecture (basic info on Japan and holidays) we got into groups. The teacher tried to pair Japanese with native English-speaking students based on skills levels of English and Japanese, so I was put with the Japanese students who don't really speak any English at all. Discussion was interesting enough - talked about how holidays in Japan and America differ, somebody asked me how homosexual issues in the US vs Japan differ (how open they are and so on), we talked about CostCo since those recently popped up in Japan, and we also talked about video games. There may have been a couple other things, but regardless that was the majority. In my experience Japanese people are somewhat shy and it's kind of difficult to get them to discuss things openly, so I went ahead and took the lead during the discussion - it was, as expected, a bit slow to take off, but once the discussion got moving the whole group came together and I feel like we all actually learned a lot. Very much looking forward to that part of the class.

Went to my Japanese friend Hokuto's band's concert that evening. Didn't know the way to the venue so I went with him and sat in the venue during their sound test and rehearsal and so on. Concert itself was a lot of fun, Hokuto and crew (called THE MARCYz) put on a good show and were much better than I had expected.
The guy after them, called Masashi, was a half-Japanese half-some other ethnicity with an acoustic guitar and, at one point, he was like "I was born and raised in Hokkaidou, just like everyone else here…right…?" and one of Hokuto's band members pointed out that there was "someone who didn't quite fit that description". I spouted out "yeah, I'm a bit different" and, based on my accent, he said "you're Japanese, then?" and I said "no, I'm an American" and walked up to the front where he could see me. He about fell off his chair and shouted "jesus your Japanese is amazing" then asked me some questions that I didn't fully follow and he was like "…okay, next song then!" which was pretty funny haha
After his next song he asked me if I knew who Chris Connell was, which I didn't and he was shocked…guess the guy's from Soundgarden and Audioslave, which are names I obviously did know. Masashi exclusively did English covers of that kind of stuff and, while he was very talented, to be honest that's not exactly my style. Still, after the show he came over and said hey, asked me about some other bands and I told him he's very talented (because he was). One more performer after that and then a good portion of us went to eat. Got Sumire, which is by far the best miso ramen I've ever had, and then I headed home with one of the Japanese guys who was there named Yuuji. Didn't know the way home so he ended up showing me the whole way back, which I felt bad about since he had to quite a bit out of his way, but he didn't seem to mind so hopefully it wasn't too much trouble.

Thursday morning, I gave two of the more difficult Japanese classes a shot. Just me and three Chinese guys, which meant that I was in the highest possible level of Japanese-as-a-second-language classes normally reserved for Chinese, Korean, etc people who've been studying Japanese seriously for years (I'm pretty sure…). First class was kind of a speech/presentation class which looks like it won't be too terribly difficult, and the second was a writing class focused on academic-style reports and so on, which may present somewhat of a challenge. Also went to the lower level class I attended the other day, which was expectedly easy but still good practice.
Didn't do much of anything post-class, sat around and read, watched TV, did homework. Eventually Tristan, Suzanne and I went and got soup curry at a place called 'Curry Leaves' right next to campus. Very cozy place, great food, run by really nice people. Went back home, watched more TV, slept.

No class Friday, so slept in late (until 9:00…!! haha), went to campus, did a bit of homework, met up with Hokuto and his friend Hitomi for lunch at this Chinese food place. Very very tasty, big portions and more than reasonably priced. Made plans to hang out, play video games, make takoyaki at Yuuji's place that evening and, until then, sat in SUICC and chatted about various things with Hokuto.
Stopped by a market on the way there for ingredients and so on, bought wayyyyy too much alcohol and headed to Yuuji's. Japanese friends ended up doing all the preparations, then we all sat around, chatted, drank, watched TV, played video games and made takoyaki. On the whole, a really good time :D

Saturday, we made plans to go to Tanukikoji, Sapporo station and then karaoke. Not too much happened in the first two places…good to see them, of course, but since I stopped collecting I have a hard time getting into shopping. Ate at an omurice place - pork cutlet curry omurice, super good although a little expensive - before going to karaoke.
Karaoke itself was, of course, amazing. Frankly, the rest of the day was mildly disappointing, so I'm glad karaoke was the last thing we did. Anyone who's been to karaoke with friends understands how much fun and how much of a pick-up/stress reliever it can be. Post-karaoke, stopped by a random ramen shop with Hokuto and ended up having some of the best miso ramen I've eaten yet. That combined with karaoke made for a very fun, fulfilling day.

Spent Sunday doing basically nothing all day. Beyond buying groceries, just watched TV, read, laid around the apartment etc. That's it, for now.

数日更新出来なくてすみません。

水曜日に授業が一つだけ、「日本研究」という日本人も留学生も一緒に取るやつ。ボールステート大学の留学生がみんな自己紹介をして、後で「日本に来てから一番ビックリした事」という質問に答えた。僕は「ビックリしたっていうか。。僕はこれで日本３回目だけど、アメリカ人にとって日本人はみんなすごい真面目なイメージがあるんだけど、日本に来たらそんな事が全然なくて、アメリカ人と同じように普通に楽しく遊んだりとかしたのがビックリした、っていうか意外でした」と答えた。
それから、日本の基本的な事についての講義を聞いてからグループディスカッション。先生が英語力の弱い日本人と日本語力の強いアメリカ人のグループ、そして反対のグループを留学生一人と日本人６人ぐらいで作った。なので、僕が英語のあまり話せない日本人のグループで。そして、留学生との授業を取る日本人でもあまりにもシャイで、僕がリード。それでも、少し進んでからすごくいいディスカッションになった。話題は：日本とアメリカの、ホリデー、同性愛の動向、コストコ、最後にテレビゲームも。全体的にはすごい勉強になったしグループディスカッションが毎週楽しみにしそう。

その夜、北斗という友達のバンドのライブに行った。ライブハウスへの行路が分からなくて北斗と一緒にライブハウスまで行って、練習もサウンドチェックもライブハウスで見た。ライブ自体もすごく楽しくて、北斗のバンド（THE MARCYz)もかっこよかった。
その次の演奏者はMasashiさんというハーフの人で完全に外国人に見えた。アコースティックギターを弾きながらアメリカのアーティストのカバーとかをしてた。途中で「私は外国人じゃなくて日本人です。北海道で育てた人でみんなと同じ。。。ですよね？」みたいなMCで北斗のバンドのボーカルが「いや、少し違う人もいますね」と言ったら、僕が「ちょっと違いますね笑」と言った。それで、Masashiさんが「日本人ですよね？」って言ったら僕が前に出て「いや、アメリカ人です」と言ったらMasashiさんがものすごくビックリして「日本語めちゃくちゃ上手いっすね！」とか言って、みんな大爆笑。そして、僕に名前を聞いてちょっと分かんないような質問も聞いて、僕からちょっと微妙な反応で「。。オッケー次！」っていう風に次にの曲へ（笑）　すごく面白かった。
また後のMCでも’「Chris Connellの曲をよくカバーしてます。ザックさんChris Connel知ってますか？」で僕が「知りませんね。。」と言って、またビッグリアクションのMasashiさん。まさかのChris Connelが知らないアメリカ人なんて！って感じで「SoundGardenとかAudioSlaveとか知ってます？」って聞かれて、僕の知ってるアーティストでMasashiさんが大喜び。Masashiさんのセットが終わってから挨拶しに来てくれて、アメリカのバンドなどの話をしてから「めちゃくちゃ上手いよ」って僕が言ってから終わり。本当にハーフにしか出来ない歌声だった。
Masashiさんの後のセットが終わったらみんなですみれに食べに行った。やっぱ油っぽいラーメンが好きな僕にとってすみれの味噌ラーメンは一番うまい。それでゆうじという後一人の友達と一緒に帰宅。

木曜日に普通中国人や韓国人が取るもっと高いレベルの日本語の授業に行ってみて、発表と文章表現みたいなのだった。二つとも行けるようでこれから公式に取るつもりだ。でも、その授業に一人のすごく子供っぽい中国人がいてちょっと真面目に勉強出来ないという様子だったので、先生も気付いてくれて授業後に「このグループはどうですか」と聞かれたら僕からちょっと微妙っていう表現で「もう一つの同じ授業があるんですけど、それはもうちょっと年上のグループで真面目なのでもっと気が合いそうですね」という事で来週からその授業に参加する。その後、火曜日に取った僕のレベル以下の授業にも行って、簡単だったけど良い練習になりそうだ。
授業が終わってからあまり予定がなくて、テレビ見たり宿題したり本読んだりしてからトリスタンとスザーンと「Curry Leaves」というスープカレーのレストランに行った。美味しくて雰囲気もいいし店長なども優しくて恒例の食事になりそうだった。それから、まただらだらしてから就眠。

金曜日に授業がなくて寝坊助。SUICCで宿題をしながら北斗と新しい友達の瞳さんと会って、昼食に誘ってくれた。中華料理で安くて量も多くて、美味しいレストランだった。食事しながら北斗がゆうじに電話して、後でゆうじのアパートでみんなでたこ焼きパーティーをする予定を作った。食べてから、北斗とSUICCで色々話して、ゆうじのアパートに行った。
パーティーはたこ焼きを作ったり食べたりしながらテレビゲームしたりテレビ見たりした。美味しくて楽しかった。

土曜日に狸小路と札幌駅に行く予定で、狸小路で食事以外あまり楽しい事がなくて、歩き回ってから札幌駅に行った。オムライス屋で夕食してからカラオケ！やっぱりめちゃくちゃ楽しくて珍しくAKBも歌っちゃった（笑
その後、北斗とラーメン屋さんに行って、今まで一番ビックリした美味しさだった。やっぱラーメンいいね。

日曜日は本当に何もなくて、食材などを買いに行く以外にアパートでテレビを見たり本を読んだりした。じゃあ、次回まで。

May 7th, Classes Begin・５月７日、授業の開始

Interesting day, to say the least. Took the placement test, finished in about an hour, came back afterwards for the beginner Japanese class all the students who just took the placement test would jump directly into (basically just to put us in a class for the time being, because I think pretty much all of us BSU students are above that level) only to be told I was being taken to another class. Teacher who took me there questioned me on how long I've been studying Japanese, what textbooks I used, where I studied, etc etc etc. Was put in a level 3 (I believe? out of 4 total levels) class with a new teacher and they had me introduce myself and everyone else ask me questions etc. About 5 minutes after I arrived, another different teacher came in and whispered with the one teaching that class for maybe a minute, then the main teacher told me/the class that they were discussing my classes and asked how good I am at kanji, to which I stated not so great and it became immediately clear that that presented some difficulties in my class placement. The introduction/questioning continued and then class returned to standard programming.

Following the class, the teacher met with me and had me try reading a passage to gauge my kanji understanding, to which she gave basically the same reaction as before - though not stated directly, it was clear my kanji isn't good enough to take the level of classes they were hoping I could enter based on my language skills otherwise. Even so, it looks like I'll be placed in higher level conversation and grammar classes, while reading and writing may have to be on the same level as the conversation class I attended today. Or maybe not, who knows. I'll find out tomorrow when I meet with my advisor and sign up for classes.

Spent a bit of the afternoon meeting various new people, making plans, etc, then went and checked out the nearby Book-Off (for like the 4th time haha), picked up the book I ordered the other day, did some looking around at a big department store called Aeon? I think? and went to try the first of what should be many ramen shops. Check the album here for updates on my ramen-tasting adventures :P

今日は特に面白い一日でした。初めてアカデミックの事を札大でやって、日本語のプレースメント試験を受けた。１時間ぐらいで終わって、４０分後に今日みんなが取るBeginnerの日本語のクラスに行ったら、先生に別の授業に行くと言われてあの授業まで移動された。移動中は「どのぐらい日本語を勉強してる」、「何の教科書を使った」、「どこで勉強した」、などを聞かれた。新しい教室に入ったら自己紹介してから他の生徒（知り合いでもw）に質問を聞かれた。質問タイム中、また別の先生が入ってきて静かな声で先生と１分間ぐらい話して、終わったら僕の授業の事についての話だという事が分かって、「漢字はどうですか」と聞かれたら一番苦手だと答えたらやっぱりそれは困るのがすぐ分かった。それから、また少し聞かれたりしてから普通の授業に戻った。

授業が終わったら先生と話して、漢字のレベルを評価する為に短い件を読ませた。前と同じ反応で多分大学の方々が僕に取って欲しかった授業は全部取れないというのが空気で分かった。それでも、会話と文法は今日より高いレベルのを取れて、今日と同じレベルのリーディングとライティングの授業を取るかもしれません。明日授業のスケジュールを作る時に分かる。

それから、SUICCで色々な人と会ったり、予定作ったりしてから買物。近くのブックオフでゲーム見て、アニメガで注文した本を買って、Aeon（名前は合ってないかも）で見たりした。買物終わったら、この札幌にいる時間にしてみたい「ラーメン冒険」と呼んでるのを初めた。あの詳細はこのアルバムに。では、また！

May 6th, Otaru・５月６日、小樽

Otaru yesterday went fantastically. I guess it's a port city? of some kind? that's now a tourist area and as much as I'd like to write in detail about what all happened there the best option is really to just link to my Sapporo Facebook photo album. I've been finding myself occasionally writing the same things both there and here, so to save myself time I'll go ahead and link to the Facebook photo album when what would be written here is conveyed through pictures there just fine.
Placement test and classes begin today…!

昨日の小樽すごく楽しかった！で、このブログとフェイスブックでの札幌アルバムでも同じ事を書くのがたまにあって、そうなる場合はここでそのアルバムへのルンクを貼る。
では、今日からプレースメントの試験を受けて授業も始まる…！

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100596666178573.1073741825.58215933&type=1&l=074d301980

May 4th-5th, Kiwami・５月４日から５日まで、きわみ

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

May 3rd, Golden Week Begins・５月３日、ゴールデンウィークの始まり

Not much happened yesterday, essentially spent the day trying to find things to do. Spent the morning in the library on the internet taking care of things I missed since leaving the US. Made plans the night before to eat lunch at Kiwami with other exchange students and messaged Kaname about going as well, but all the exchange students other than Tristan and I couldn't go and Kaname wasn't responding so just the two of us went. The owner there remembered me from yesterday and gave me a really hard time about eating the spicy miso ramen ("Did it hurt going to the toilet?" etc haha), which was hilarious. While waiting for our food I got a call from Kaname; turns out he's in Kyushu and won't be back to Sapporo until early July, so there goes potential Golden Week plans to hang with his family and good times running around with him. Still, will get to see him for a few weeks at the end of my study abroad at least.

Post-Kiwami, Tristan and I sat around in his room for a while watching TV then went with Suzanne (another BSU exchange student) to introduce ourselves to one of the other exchange students in our apartment complex named Vanessa. Exchanged contact info, found out about a Golden Week tour thing today that we'll be leaving for in a few hours. It's led by one of the SU teachers and some Japanese students will be coming along, so that should be fun.

After introducing ourselves, Tristan and I went to Book-Off and this book/CD/anime stuff store, which are right next to each other and maybe a 10-minute walk from the apartment complex at most (if I was still into collecting stuff…oh boy). Tristan wanted some Doraemon manga for reading practice and I was looking for a book called "Modern Japanese History Told Through Souvenirs and Region-Specific Railroad Specialty Goods" (my rough translation of the title). Ended up just asking the store clerk, and they had what Tristan was looking for but not mine, which isn't surprising since the book I want was released not too long ago and Book-Off specializes in used goods (think Half-Price Books).

Next, we popped over to the book/anime/etc store and I spent maybe two minutes looking around the books section with no idea where to even begin, then eventually just asked a store clerk where it was. First one employee looked, then two, then they both came back and asked if it was alright if I had to wait a while, then three employees were looking, then four, then the store manager…turns out their computer said they had one copy so they had at least half of the staff digging around to find it. I spent maybe 10 minutes waiting and watching this flurry of uniformed Japanese people frantically digging through shelves, before finally one of the original two told me that even though the computer said they had one they couldn't find it, so I asked her if it could be ordered. It could, although she warned me it would be a while since it's Golden Week. Went ahead and put in an order, should be here in 7-10 days. So yeah, that was an adventure haha

After fun shopping we got some groceries, went back to our own rooms at the apartment complex and I just watched TV and fought with my insides because the spicy miso ramen finally got the best of me >.>

Woke up at 5:30 this morning - internal clock is still a bit off - and ran to 7-11 to buy breakfast and try to withdraw from their ATM, which didn't work (Golden Week…). Heading to eat lunch at Kiwami in a couple hours, will NOT be getting the spicy stuff this time. Save that for tomorrow :P

昨日は本当に何もなくて、結局一日中やる事を探してた（笑
朝は図書館でネットのいつもやる事をキャッチアップした。前の夜、他の留学生ときわみで昼食を食べる予定を作って、かなめも誘ったんだけどトリスタン以外の留学生が行けなくてかなめからも返事が来なくて、結局トリスタンと僕だけが行った。着いたらオーナーさんが僕の事を覚えてくれて、辛味噌の話で結構盛り上がって僕を突っ込んだりしてすごく面白かった。（トイレ痛くなかった？、腹大丈夫？とか笑）　食事を待ってた途中にかなめから電話が来て、今九州にいるらしくて７月の最初頃ぐらいまで札幌に戻らないっていう話。ゴールデンウィークの作りたかった予定もかなめとの楽しみにしてた時間も急になくなって、ちょっとがっかりした。でも留学の最後の３週間ぐらいはかなめと遊べる。

その後、トリスタンのアパートでちょっとテレビ見てからスザーンと会って３人でバネッサという他の留学生と挨拶しに行った。連絡先を交換して、今日ゴールデンウィークツアーみたいなのも分かった。後３時間でそのツアーに行くんだけど、札大の先生がガイドで４人ぐらいの日本人の生徒も行くらしくて楽しそう。

それから、トリスタンとブックオフ、本やCDやアニメグッズの店に行った。トリスタンはドラえもんの漫画が欲しくて、僕は「おみやげと鉄道名物で語る日本近代史」という本が欲しいからだった。ブックオフで店員さんに聞いて、トリスタンの欲しい漫画があったが僕の本は結構最近発売になったので中古の店ならなさそうでその結果は予想してた。それから、アニメなどの店に行ってちょっとだけ探し方分からなく本を見たりしてから結局店員さんに聞いてみて、まず二人が探してくれて、時間がちょっとたってから「時間は大丈夫ですか」って聞かれて、それから３人になって４人も、店長さんもすごく必死に探しまわって、結局最初の二人の女子店員さんに１こがあるはずだけど見つけられなくて申し訳ないっていう。注文の方を聞いてみたら出来るっていう事だったので、ゴールデンウィークで時間がかかると注意されて結局注文した。後７日間か１０日間ぐらいで届くらしい。

それからちょっと食べ物や食材を買ってからアパートに戻って、テレビ見ながら辛味噌で腹の様子がヒドくてトイレに結構いたりw、それから就眠。

今日はまた時差ぼけのせいか早起き、セブンイレブンで朝ご飯を買ってお金を下ろして見て（ゴールデンウィークでやっぱり出来なかった）から今図書館でまたネットで遊んでる。後一時間できわみ（辛味噌じゃなくて普通の味噌ラーメンで笑）、それからゴールデンウィークツアー。では。