last day at school

The language school runs week to week, so every Friday there is a 'graduation' for those students who are leaving. Everyone gathers in the lounge and the graduating students get a certificate, and people take pictures.

Today about 20 people had their last day. Some had been here a few weeks, some as long as three months. Today was also the end of the schools 'Summer Course' which is six weeks long and includes a lot of cultural activities. Lots of good memories and good friendships were made, so it was a very emotional moment.

Here I am with a couple of friends: Krisna and Jason.

odds and ends

This week was just a few small trips. The weather has changed.It cooled slightly to about 28 C, and it has become generally cloudy with a couple of days of very heavy rain.

On Thursday morning about 7 students met at the school at 5:45 am for a tour of the Central Wholesale Market. This is where the food comes in from the countryside to be bid on by brokers and then distributed to stores and restaurants. We got there early to be able to see the bidding take place, and we were given a guided tour of the huge facility.

That same day, in the afternoon, I joined some students on a tour of the Asahi Brewery. It covered the basic brewing process, and showed the machines for putting bear into kegs and cans at amazing speeds. And, best of all, there was free samples afterward.

Yesterday, I took a bit of time on my own and went to the Hokkaido Shrine, in Murayama Park. It is a new-looking building.

Generally, since Sapporo was built starting in the 1800's, it doesn't have the historical or spiritual feel of other cities like Kyoto. On the other had, the parks are large with a lot space and trees.

Today I went on a day trip with the school. It was supposed to be a trip to Josankei, a hotspring town about an hour from Sapporo, where we would do some hiking before going to the hotspring. However, the heavy rain has caused some landslides there lately so that trip was cancelled. Instead, we went to a large bath house in the city.

Bon festival

The Bon festival is a traditional festival celebrated throughout Japan. It is a time for families to come to their homes and remember ancestors. A big part of it is the Bon Dance, which everyone takes part in. In Sapporo it is held in a part of Odori Park, with a big stand for drums and singers, and people doing the Bon Dance around it.

The school organized a trip to the festival dance, which was only a few blocks away. They also provided yukatas and several of the students dressed for the occasion:

At the park we watched the dance for a while, and some students took part. The dance seems to consist of a  few simple movements, but people really get into it and add their own style. It's obviously something that Japanese people know very well, having grown up with it. It is a very lively expression and an interesting aspect of the culture.

conversation class

In the middle of my second week already. Wow, the 4 weeks are going to go by extremely fast. On Tuesday there was a "conversation class" at the school, in which Japanese speakers met with the people learning Japanese to allow them to practice. There were about 10 or so Japanese, of all ages. During the conversation class there were games organized to bring people together, and it lasted a couple of hours.
Afterward, several of us students were hanging in the lounge, and a couple of Japanese girls from the conversation class were there, waiting for their English class to start, so we continued speaking in both English and Japanese.
After their English class was finished, they joined us for dinner at a restaurant that specialized in Okonomiyaki. This is a kind of omlette full of all kinds of ingredients, which you cook on a hot plate right at your table.

The restaurant was an the 10'th floor of a shopping center near the train station, and we hung out afterward for a bit, taking pictures.

Susukino festival

Yesterday late afternoon, several of us gathered in the lounge at the school, before walking several blocks to the Susukino area for the festival.

At the festival, a main street was closed to traffic to make room for taiko drumming and a parade of people in traditional costume.

Several side-streets were also closed to traffic and filled with tables serving food and beer. 

It was a great chance to meet more students and it was a lot of fun in the lively atmosphere.

I get the feeling that the locals have a kind of 'work hard and play hard' kind of lifestyle. Certainly between the festivals and the beer gardens there is a lot of beer being drunk. The Susukino area is one of the largest nightlife areas in Japan outside of Tokyo with a lot of clubs and hostess bars etc. This created a funny juxtaposition of traditional and modern during the festival, as girls from the bars were still outside to advertise:

first activity with the school

Today was the third day of classes. In addition to the 3 hours of class time every morning, I signed up for private lessons that take place in the afternoon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So with homework, I'm actually pretty busy. The school is on the 2nd floor of one of the tall commercial buildings in the center of town, and it has a lounge area that is great for hanging out after class, doing homework, and meeting other students. It's also air-conditioned!

Funny how different people react differently to the heat. On days when it already feels scorching hot early in the morning, some students arrive with an exhausted look, face flushed, hair stringy from sweat. Others don't seem to be affected at all. Unfortunately I fall into the former category. I've heard others say their rooms are pretty hot at night, so I'm not alone there.

Yesterday there was a fireworks competition in Sapporo, and there seemed to be a lot of excitement about it. About 40 students from the school went to attend. It was held at the banks of the river. I've often noticed that rivers that run through cities in Japan have very wide flat areas between the water and the built-up concrete banks. I guess the areas provide room in case of flood, but in the meantime they make great public spaces. The concrete banks formed seating areas and they were packed with people by the time the fireworks started. We got there quite early and put down a large tarp on a grassy area under a bridge, and we all sat there. Being under a bridge turned out to be a good choice, since there was a brief rain storm that delayed the fireworks but about half an hour. This was the first activity I attended with the school, and it was great to meet more students. They are mostly quite young and a lot of fun. I met a couple of students that are staying at the same share-house, and I was relieved to hear that they had the same first impression of the place as I did.

The fireworks show itself consisted of about twenty separate displays, each a few minutes long and sponsored by a different company. The result was one spectacular display after another - like every few minutes was a grand finale.