Akita: A snowman's paradise

I admit that when I first saw snow at Akita International University (AIU) I was so happy to see it. Coming from Hawaii, I am used to warm weather, beautiful beaches, and the laid-back culture. I have seen snow in Japan a few times before coming to AIU, but this is my first time living in it. This is my fourth time in Japan and during those other three times, I had seen snow at Mt.Fuji three years ago and at some other part of Japan I do remember when I was eight-years old.

After living in the snow for several weeks, I realized how much I miss Hawaii's warm weather, and how much I dislike the snow. I find it frustrating how the snow blows at my face when there is a blizzard and how cold my room gets when I stay in my room for too long. In addition, most of the campus except for the library is cold so I usually go to the library to stay warm and save money for heating. According to my friends, the two worst months for snow at Akita are January and February. Below are pictures of the snow at AIU.

Snow outside of the library

My Appreciation for Family and my Hokkaido Trip

Thanks to the help of my Japanese relatives I have finally returned back to Akita International University (AIU). It feels nice to be back at AIU because I get to be reunited with my friends from this university, and I no longer have to worry about returning back to AIU. It is too bad that some of the other students will not be attending the winter semester, had to return to their home country, or leave for study abroad, but I am happy to be back.

I am looking forward to taking a class about Tohoku Culture and continue studying Japanese this semester. Anyways for this blog post, I would like to talk about my trip at Hokkaido with my relatives this past winter break.

On my last blog post, I mentioned that I came to Hokkaido by ferry from Akita with two other students. The ferry brought me to the Tomakomai port at Akita, and I then transferred from Tomakomai to Sapporo train station by riding a shuttle. At Sapporo train station, I met with my Japanese relatives at the west entrance and I stayed at their house for most of my winter break which was about two weeks.

The first night I stayed with them, I was very nervous to talk with them because although I studied Japanese for about three years, I was not comfortable speaking the language. I felt that my relatives would be disappointed with my limited vocabulary or grammar because I thought that they would assume my Japanese would improve dramatically while studying Japanese at Japan.

Despite my fears, my relatives were far from disappointed, and they treated me with great hospitality by providing me with my own room, and they taught me a lot of Japanese customs that most foreigners do not learn unless they stay with a Japanese host family. My Japanese uncle taught me how to eat sushi properly because apparently, a lot of Japanese people do not correct foreigners that eat sushi incorrectly by dipping the rice inside of the soy sauce. Whereas my Japanese auntie cooked for me and washed my dishes.

Valley of the Hobbit and the Journey to Hokkaido

After four months of studying Japanese at AIU, I have finally arrived at Sapporo, Hokkaido with my Japanese relatives. I rode a ferry from Akita to Hokkaido, and it was not as bad as I expected. The boat shifted occasionally while moving across the water, but I did not feel seasick. The ferry was called the Shin Nihonkai, and for a ticket that cost 3500 yen it was well worth the admission. Here are pictures and the link for the both the English and Japanese website of the Shin Nihonkai.

This was the boat I rode from Tomakokai to Sapporo

Thanksgiving and a Taste of Malasada

Last Thursday night, I celebrated Thanksgiving with most of the American students, a few Japanese students, and a few of the other international students. For most of the Japanese students and a few of the international students that went, it was their first Thanksgiving.

It was nice celebrating Thanksgiving because although Akita International University (AIU) is an "international school," Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays that is not celebrated by most of the students at AIU. Usually Christmas and Halloween are celebrated at AIU.

The Thanksgiving party that I went to was a private party, and it was required that anyone who went to the party pay at least 600 yen entrance fee or bring food. For the Thanksgiving party, I had made yakisoba with my friend from the University of Hawaii, my Japanese friend, and another international student from Thailand. Both my Japanese friend and the student from Thailand were unable to go to the party.

As for the yakisoba, originally I wanted to use spam for meat, but because one of the American students complained about how much she dislikes spam, we used teriayaki meat instead. It seems like not everyone can understand Hawaii's love for spam.

The food we ate at the Thanksgiving party was very delicious. I was able to eat food that I have not eaten for a while since coming to Japan such as cake, potato salad, and macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately, the timing was very inconvenient, because their was a Dancing Contest at the same time in the same building on the same floor.

Aloha Akita Snow

Snow has finally arrived at Akita. I have seen snow a few times time before in Japan, but this is the first time that I will be experiencing what it is like to live in the snow. Right now the ground has become really wet because all of the snow on the ground, and it has become really cold. Recently, I have started sleeping with my long underwear and a long sleeve shirt because it is really cold in my room.

Snow outside my dormitory