ささやかな毎日の中でどれだけ君を見つけただろう？

Because I'm leaving Sapporo in a few days, I created a "bucket list" of things I want to do before I hop on the plane. Today, I knocked off three of them in one morning. Not too shabby.

For some reason, I had not yet visited Maruyama Park (円山公園), which is only about a 25-minute subway stop (with a transfer from the Toho to the Tozai Line at Odori) from Fukuzumi. Within the park is the Hokkaido Shrine (北海道神宮), which is said to enshrine four gods: the god of Hokkaido, the god of developed land, the god of claimed land, and the god of Emperor Meiji. 

After leaving the Maruyama subway stop, I walked in a square before finding any signs directing me to the park. Hint for those wanting to go: Look for the big clump of trees. You can't miss them - this park is huge. (See map below.)

While I regretted not visiting the park during the summer months, we just had our second snowfall of the season this weekend and the grounds were covered in about 3-4 inches of snow. 

Gorgeous. 

If you follow the main road and veer to the right, you'll arrive at the shrine's entrance gate. As a lone traveler, I wasn't quite sure of shrine protocol, and although I probably could have broken a few rules of respect and not gotten in trouble because I am a foreigner (外国人), I wanted the full, proper experience.  A middle-aged woman was about 100 feet ahead of me, so I waited and watched for cues to bow, then mimicked what she had done. (This is a good principle to follow while traveling anywhere in most cases.) 

On the trail to the large shrine, you will pass smaller shrines dedicated to different deities. (Pictures of these were not allowed.) As you approach each one, stop at the entrance and bow with your palms pressed together in front of your chest. The woman in front of me also lingered after her bow, just gazing at the shrine in respect and adoration. 

If you continue to follow the trail, you will come to an area to purify yourself before entering the main shrine. Dip one of the ladles in the water and pour some over each of your hands, then use the rest to purify your mouth. If you're confused, just watch someone else. Better yet, if you stand to the side with a confused facial expression, someone will usually show you how to use the water properly. (I know this from experience. :P)

After purifying yourself, you can enter the main shrine. Etiquette for praying at a shrine can be found at Hokkaido Jingu's English site here, but the main points: deposit money, bow twice, clap twice, bow once more.

You can also buy charms for myriad of situations (love, health, school, even traffic safety) for anywhere from 600円 to 1200円 or another type of charm called omikuji (おみくじ), on which you can write your wish or prayer and then tie or hang it in the shrine's courtyard. Most of the wishes I saw were from high school students hoping to pass the entrance exam to their top-choice college.

So, about that third bucket list item... I ate lunch at KFC. (Yes, Japan's Kentucky Fried Chicken chain.) The most obvious question: Why? Well, for about a month I've seen MatsuJun's KFC commercial on TV a few times a week, especially during Arashi's Challenge Week in October, and the pot pie he advertises actually looks good. (And I don't even like chicken pot pies.)

NOTE: I did not take the above picture. The KFC outside of Maruyama Park didn't have any posters of MatsuJun in it. :( So I just found one on Google images. Thank you, anonymous photo taker! 

The box is expensive - about 600円 - and includes one piece of chicken, the pot pie, and then your choice of a small drink, fries or coleslaw. 

　
Yep, about $6 got me this. On the plus side, it was delicious, and not just in a fatty, full-of-unhealthy-ingredients kind of way. It was amazing and almost worth six bucks.

More impressive was "Christmas Colonel" outside the restaurant. I never would've guessed I would get into the holiday spirit after a trip to a fast-food hotspot.

Ho, ho, ho, Santa Colonel.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: The Eurythmics - "Who's That Girl"

走れ！走れ！（Run! Run!)

After finishing the JLPT this afternoon, the three of us trekked around Susukino (which looks like a ghost town in the daylight, with no neon signs illuminating the animated 3-D crabs above the restaurant entrances) for some last-minute shopping.

What did I find? That au finally updated the Susukino billboard to the new winter Arashi ad. About time. The other one had been up since I arrived in early May.

Click on the photos for bigger images. :)

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi - "Everything"

一生懸命頑張ったよ！I DID MY BEST!

The December 2009 JLPT is OVER. Whew. 

 Around 8 a.m., Jack, Maureen and I left for Odori (via Tsukisamu Chuo bus and subway), stopping at a 7-11 to buy breakfast (pasta salads). Although we confused ourselves about where the test building (a dental college) was and backtracked a few blocks, we managed to arrive with an hour to spare. Not that we really needed a map. In the end, we just followed a group of Chinese students whose faces were lodged in Japanese language textbooks to a group of about 100 other foreigners (speaking Chinese, Korean, French and English) sitting on the sidewalk for last-minute cramming. 

None of us had brought our textbooks, so we stood behind one of the building's pillars and ate our 7-11 salads. The doors opened half an hour later than the time written on our registration vouchers, so the 100-or-so test takers rushed to the elevators, kicking off their sneakers and cowboy boots and pulling slippers out of their bags on the way across the lobby. By the time the three of us reached the seventh floor, most of the others had already settled in their rooms. 

Maureen and Jack shared a classroom while I was two rooms down the hall. Each test taker was assigned a desk according to registration number, so I sat in the back next to two Chinese girls and a Korean man. Very few "Western-looking" people were taking the exam in Sapporo, apparently, as I was one of three in a room of about 40 test takers.

And then we waited. The Level 2 JLPT's three components (reading/grammar, kanji/vocab, and listening) total 2 hours and 25 minutes, but because of breaks between each round and instruction reading time, the test lasted from 9:45 a.m. to almost 3 p.m. 

How did I do? I have no clue. Check back in February when I receive my results. Until then, I have hope.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Yuna Ito - "Koi wa Groovy x2"

THIS HAS GOTTA BE THE GOOD LIFE

At 10 a.m. Jordan, Emma and I jumped into a taxi and rode over to Minami Tsukisamu Elementary School, where we were scheduled to explain American/New Zealand culture to the school's fourth graders. 

Yesterday we were given basic instructions: Introduce yourself in Japanese. Teach the students everyday English words. Eat lunch with your class. Take a group photo. In addition to those instructions, we had a sheet of questions specific to each class. Mine included "What other countries have you been to?" and "What are some of America's traditional foods?" Jordan's sheet also had questions like "What do you think of this class?" (Um, 最高だと思う？）

As soon as we arrived, we exchanged our outdoor shoes for slippers, as is custom, and were introduced to Kobayashi-sensei, the school's principal. For half an hour, the four of us drank tea and discussed our cultural backgrounds and Kobayashi's expectations for the day. Surprisingly, we were the first group of exchange students to visit the school as a request by one of the fourth grade's teachers. If today's activities went smoothly, future exchange students at SatsuDai will continue this next year and so on. No pressure.

Kobayashi-sensei is the principal I wish I had in elementary school. His office door is normally open, he said, so students often come in and talk to him in casual form, more like a parent-child or friend-like relationship. Because the door was shut during our talk, the students realized we had finally arrived and huddled outside the door. (The windows were partially transparent, so we could see their shadows in the hall.) The first time the door opened to let a staff member in, we heard a student yell, "ああ！外国人だ！” (AH! Foreigners!), confirming the others' suspicions, I guess. From then on, we were celebrities. :P

I was the first to be summoned by my student guides, three boys from 4-2, so I followed them to a classroom where - BAM! - the other 32 students popped those paper firecracker things and welcomed me in. "ようこそ、モアランド・セーラさん！” (Welcome, Sarah Moreland!) had been written on the blackboard and my picture (the one on my SatsuDai student ID card) was hanging, blown up in size, in the front of the room.  

Then came 35 self-introductions in English. Some of the boys were so nervous to be speaking in English that their friends had to wipe the sweat off their faces with their handkerchiefs. Then I stood in the middle and introduced myself in Japanese and then taught them how to say different words in English, like "flag" and "home economics room." (I didn't choose these, believe me.) 

Afterwards, the students quizzed me on kanji compounds, which ended up completely opposite of what they expected. Once they realized I could write kanji, the students asked me why I could write characters that neatly, and the teacher mocked the kids, joking that they needed to step up their game if they wanted to write better than me. (Haha...) The teacher asked me to write what other kanji I knew, so I stayed on the safe side and wrote 道 (road) and 花 (flower). My kanji's now hanging on the blackboard with the other students' work. Yes!

We then played games similar to American ones, like musical chairs (known as いすとり) and a game called ハンカチおとす, which is played like "Duck, Duck, Goose" but with a dropped handkerchief instead of a tap on the head. 

After a jan-ken-pon tournament, the students presented me with a construction-paper-and-string book with photos of and messages from each of the 35 students and the classroom teacher. 嬉しい！

Next came my presentation of American and Hoosier memorabilia. I passed around postcards of Indiana and Indianapolis and showed the students one of the 2009 Indianapolis 500 checkered flags I had brought as a possible gift. One of the kids got so excited when I talked about race cars, he yelled "それ、大好き！" (I love that!) I then used the leftover change I had from the Chicago airport back in May to show the students what American money looks like, explaining about George Washington and Abe Lincoln (in Japanese, YES!) and how some American quarters have pictures of each state on the back. Good analogy: The teacher compared the quarters to if, say, Tokyo, Kyoto and Hokkaido each had its own quarter. Something to ponder.

While the other students served lunch, Jordan, Emma and I were given a tour of the three-story school by the students themselves. Science rooms, computer labs, library, art room, even the girls' bathroom...  My class's teacher was trying to get the students to use keigo with me, but he eventually gave up and talked to me about American school systems instead.

By the time we returned to the classroom, food had been served - bread, teriyaki chicken, daikon (radish) salad and milk. I ate at the same table as the students (just sat in a bigger chair) and talked to them about their hobbies and what they wanted to be when they grew up. I got answers like yakuza, bakery shop owner and pro swimmer.

After lunch had been cleaned up, we said goodbye. However, this was the longest goodbye I think I've ever done. After each student shook my hand, they built a tunnel with their hands and as I ran through it, they ran to the end to keep it going. Once we reached the hallway, they shook hands with me again and started a round of high fives. Even after I returned to the principal's office, they kept yelling "BYE BYE!" It seems Jordan and Emma got the same treatment, as the students kept shaking their hands and popping into the office to say bye. 

Another highlight:

Student (to the principal): かっこい人は？(What about the cool person?)

Principal: まだ来てない。(He hasn't come yet.)

Later I realized they were talking about Jordan. :P

Or two:

Student: いくつ、今？17? 18? (How old are you now?)

Me: 21.

Student: へ？！じゃあ、結婚してるの？(Eh?! Then, are you married?)　

Needless to say, the school plans to have exchange students come back in the near future, and because Emma has another 3 months in Sapporo, she might get to return before she heads home. 

As we walked to find a taxi, the students followed us out of the building and kept yelling, "Bye bye!" It's hard to not feel happy after an experience like this, and easy to remember their words as we left:

"忘れないで！" (Don't forget about us!)

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Lady GaGa "Speechless"