Completely irrelevant, belated picture of Goryokaku Tower, just because I finally got around to taking a photo of it this weekend.
SATURDAY: Sunset from Mt. Hakodate had to be postponed again because we lost Ashok (or never found him to begin with because he fails) and dinner @ Brasserie Carillon ran too late. Instead, a group of us crashed Goryokaku (and ran into a bunch of other HIFers there--it really is true about running into random people in Goryokaku all the time) and hit up Pabots for karaoke. Also, Brian and I figured out that we're what he calls "music soulmates" to the point where we were finishing each other's sentences during our discussion about favorite artists the other day. Post karaoke was watching Bryce break out his DDR moves in the arcard downstairs (upstairs? Don't remember).
TUESDAY: 7/7/09, aka the Japanese holiday of Tanabata! We had an early dinner of KFC (I'm not even kidding) so we could get ready for the festivities. Essentially, everybody writes down some sort of wish on a piece of paper and ties it to a special bamboo tree in the hopes that it will come true. Then in the evening, adorable small Japanese elementary to middle school aged children dress up in yukata/kimonos and go from house to house singing a song for which they receive snacks/sweets. SOOO CUTE. Pictures to be stolen from my okaasan will come later. Tanabata traditions vary all over Japan, so wikipedia it for more info if you'd like =)
WEDNESDAY: Speech Contest! DO NOT WANT. I wrote most of my speech the morning the 1st draft was due, and didn't actually do much editing of it out of combined laziness/apathy about the project. It was essentially a really sappy speech about my best friend, composed with the most basic grammar structures possible. Asaoka-Sensei also penned the last 3 lines of my speech during editing, since we were all required to have some sort of message. Ashok's speech was really good, not just because he opted to speak about American vs. Japanese culture (they love that kind of stuff), but also because his spoken Japanese is just kind of really freaking good, despite his "I'm Really Bad at Japanese" shpiel that he goes into so frequently. うそ。上手！ Seriously. Hands down best speech in the class, although Justin and I both agree---"Agnovi[mus] Ashokum esse verecundum."
THURSDAY: End-of-the-Semester-Final of death (okay, so it wasn't THAT bad, but it definitely wasn't enjoyable) and then freeeeedom. Juan attempted the 20 seconds/6 scoop ice cream challenge down the street, and about 5 more seconds and he would've had it. Classic example of polite Japanese culture also took place then when Chris' ice cream almost fell off his cone and the ice cream guy offered him a cup which he at first refused:
(N.B. I'm still using acronym tags so you can scroll the mouse over Japanese for English translations)
Chris: だいじょうぶでしょう。 (the でしょう makes it not rude)
Ice Cream Guy: だいじょうぶじゃないかもしれません (かもしれません shows a polite conjecture/disagreement)
The striking politeness of the exchange is kind of lost in translation, but in any case this is only an example of one of the most basic rules of Japanese etiquette/politeness, gah. Anyway, we then all bought and ate lunch by the seaside (海も山も見えて、とてもきれいな所ですねえ?). Austin turned out to be terrified of seagulls in a manner similar to how I'm terrified of spiders. Also FYI, he also has soft legs. Don't ask.
THURSDAY NIGHT: More karaoke at Pabots with Amalya, Erika, and Mikia (yay, people who sing and don't just drunkenly yell lyrics! Amalya also does a capella and likes musicals too, woo), before being joined by James, James, Jamar, Juan, and Ashok at which point we relocated to a bigger room and unashamedly sang boy band 90's songs from our childhood at the top of our lungs. Win. The few of us who didn't have trains/buses to catch home then got late dinner together after half-Asian James got us directions to a "本当に安いいざかや" (yeah, not translating that one) before parting ways. Reiteration about how lucky I am to live in Goryokaku so I can walk home pretty much whenever. Half-Asian kind-of-really-inebriated James (who still spoke better Japanese in his inebriated state than I ever will--he's in 最上級 at HIF) roadside and ignoring the bajillion taxis that pulled up. I couldn't in good conscience leave him alone so I waited with him until then and got to witness the whole spectacle, which in retrospect was pretty amusing.
WEDNESDAY: Speech Contest! DO NOT WANT. I wrote most of my speech the morning the 1st draft was due, and didn't actually do much editing of it out of combined laziness/apathy about the project. It was essentially a really sappy speech about my best friend, composed with the most basic grammar structures possible. Asaoka-Sensei also penned the last 3 lines of my speech during editing, since we were all required to have some sort of message. Ashok's speech was really good, not just because he opted to speak about American vs. Japanese culture (they love that kind of stuff), but also because his spoken Japanese is just kind of really freaking good, despite his "I'm Really Bad at Japanese" shpiel that he goes into so frequently. うそ。上手！ Seriously. Hands down best speech in the class, although Justin and I both agree---"Agnovi[mus] Ashokum esse verecundum."
THURSDAY: End-of-the-Semester-Final of death (okay, so it wasn't THAT bad, but it definitely wasn't enjoyable) and then freeeeedom. Juan attempted the 20 seconds/6 scoop ice cream challenge down the street, and about 5 more seconds and he would've had it. Classic example of polite Japanese culture also took place then when Chris' ice cream almost fell off his cone and the ice cream guy offered him a cup which he at first refused:
(N.B. I'm still using acronym tags so you can scroll the mouse over Japanese for English translations)
Chris: だいじょうぶでしょう。 (the でしょう makes it not rude)
Ice Cream Guy: だいじょうぶじゃないかもしれません (かもしれません shows a polite conjecture/disagreement)
The striking politeness of the exchange is kind of lost in translation, but in any case this is only an example of one of the most basic rules of Japanese etiquette/politeness, gah. Anyway, we then all bought and ate lunch by the seaside (海も山も見えて、とてもきれいな所ですねえ?). Austin turned out to be terrified of seagulls in a manner similar to how I'm terrified of spiders. Also FYI, he also has soft legs. Don't ask.
THURSDAY NIGHT: More karaoke at Pabots with Amalya, Erika, and Mikia (yay, people who sing and don't just drunkenly yell lyrics! Amalya also does a capella and likes musicals too, woo), before being joined by James, James, Jamar, Juan, and Ashok at which point we relocated to a bigger room and unashamedly sang boy band 90's songs from our childhood at the top of our lungs. Win. The few of us who didn't have trains/buses to catch home then got late dinner together after half-Asian James got us directions to a "本当に安いいざかや" (yeah, not translating that one) before parting ways. Reiteration about how lucky I am to live in Goryokaku so I can walk home pretty much whenever. Half-Asian kind-of-really-inebriated James (who still spoke better Japanese in his inebriated state than I ever will--he's in 最上級 at HIF) roadside and ignoring the bajillion taxis that pulled up. I couldn't in good conscience leave him alone so I waited with him until then and got to witness the whole spectacle, which in retrospect was pretty amusing.
FRIDAY: First day of 中休み break! Mister Donuts for breakfast (om nom nom）was followed by 3 hours of intense shopping with my okaasan, who was super excited that I didn't have schoolwork and wasn't busy for a change. I found out really quickly that no matter what answer I gave to "which of XYZ do you like best," the shopping cart somehow filled up with sweets. For once, my usual strategy of making an ambiguous "Mmm" that was open to any interpretation didn't work and anything I liked or hadn't tried before was added to the shopping cart, and any replies of "I don't like XYZ" were out of the question for fear of violating Japanese rules of politeness. Yeah, thanks a lot Japanese etiquette, aka the reason I'm eating so much all the time because it's incredibly difficult to politely refuse things.
Things progressed in in a similar fashion when we arrived at the kimono section where I was made to look at row after row of full sets and choose my favorite kimono/obi, which my okaasan immediately purchased on the spot, at which point I pretty much broke every single rule of Japanese etiquette and (with complete disregard for Fukihisa-sensei's warning at the beginning of the program about using the phrase でも) argued futilely about her buying it for me, only to be met with my okaasan's insistence that it was on sale and that I should humor her because it would make her happy if I wore it. So, I am now the proud owner of a gorgeous red kimono complete w/ extra sashes, proper shoes (geta), and a matching handbag to go with it. I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of in love with it, but I also feel really really guilty about it too. Shoe shopping commenced afterward, and at this point whenever she insisted that I try something on and asked if I liked it, I lied and said that that X was too big/small or that I didn't have any outfits to match X, and about 3 shoe stores later she gave up and we returned from our shopping adventure.
FRIDAY NIGHT: As promised, my okaasan took me to the musical at Goryokaku Kooen about the history of Hakodate and the star-shaped Goryokaku Fort which served as a rebel base during the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was really cool, even if I couldn't understand anything, and the costumes/scenery/special effects/lighting were all amazing. My okaasan also insisted on buying me pretty much everything offered by the vendors, including cake, tea, a cute Goryokaku flashlight you were supposed to wave around during the "Oh Hakodate" song (see video below), and a CD soundtrack. She also kept asking me to pose here and there so she could take pictures too, gah. Anyway, post musical was dinner in the form of burgers and then finally crashing after a long, really fun first day of break.
Historical musical about Hakodate and Goryokaku Fort, now known as Goryokaku Kooen (Park). The musical actually took place AT the park too, which was cool.Musical! Opening song, minus the first line because my camera is slow and fails.
Dance, dance, we're falling apart to halftime.
More updates to follow later. Study time =(
Nice videos! I sometimes become mildly jealous... =)
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