Yesterday was so exhausting. Return flight times and waiting times combined were about 18 hours, but I endured and am finally back in Finland.
On last two days I still managed to get few more nice memories and experienced Susukino Tanukikoji Shopping Arcade myself. That is one busy place! And shop called "Don Quiote" was strangest shop I visited in Japan. Shop where customers can barely fit in and have to almost crawl in tunnels made out of sellable stuff. They had to be creative with their space since this multistory shop is located in normal high rise building. DO NOT go in there if you are claustrophobic, I can almost guarantee you will get a stroke in here. ;)
I also met one chinese person in dormitory who is actually coming to Oulu in autumn! We were both very surprised when we suddenly noticed this! Of course we exchanged mail adresses and telephone numbers.
Anyway, today is my birthday so I will not start worrying about my schoolwork and other mundane problems. Time to kick back and enjoy hot Finnish summer. Eh, did I just say hot summer? Please no, send me some cooler weather instead!!! :)
Have a good last month of summer vacation everyone!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sleepwalking...
Short last update here before I have to return this computer to HIT tomorrow and saying bye to few more people. Next one when I'm back in Finland, hopefully with decent amount of pictures.
Feeling awfully tired, sleep is really hard for some reason. I suspect it is the combination of stress and caffeine, which I will now eliminate my diet from now on until I'm back in Finland. It just isn't helping at all. Weather is not that hot but with lots of moisture in air it is quite unconfortable. Taking a hot bath at least relaxed me a bit, maybe next night will be better.
Been tossing lots of stuff to burnable trash bags which will go out for collection tomorrow morning. And uninstalling everything that didn't come preinstalled with the computer. Stuffing everything I will take back with me in backpack while I've been at it, can't say I haven't had anything to do in here.
I will eat out these last three days, no more garbage in apartment and better tasting anyway. Plus no hassle in shop with all those tiny 1 yen coins. I swear, those things are more useless than 5 cents in Finland.
Flight leaves early in thursday so I will be moving pretty fast to Sapporo JR station first thing that morning. Then it is time to travel for 18 hours and switch plane twice, once again.
Feeling awfully tired, sleep is really hard for some reason. I suspect it is the combination of stress and caffeine, which I will now eliminate my diet from now on until I'm back in Finland. It just isn't helping at all. Weather is not that hot but with lots of moisture in air it is quite unconfortable. Taking a hot bath at least relaxed me a bit, maybe next night will be better.
Been tossing lots of stuff to burnable trash bags which will go out for collection tomorrow morning. And uninstalling everything that didn't come preinstalled with the computer. Stuffing everything I will take back with me in backpack while I've been at it, can't say I haven't had anything to do in here.
I will eat out these last three days, no more garbage in apartment and better tasting anyway. Plus no hassle in shop with all those tiny 1 yen coins. I swear, those things are more useless than 5 cents in Finland.
Flight leaves early in thursday so I will be moving pretty fast to Sapporo JR station first thing that morning. Then it is time to travel for 18 hours and switch plane twice, once again.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Nakajima Park and Kitara Music Hall
Yesterday afternoon I went to check out these two places I missed earlier due to that sunburn I had in Yosakoi.
Nakajima park is pretty close to Gakuen Mae and Sapporo city center, about 2 kilometers from both. It is therefore literally park in smack middle of a city. It has that urban feel because you can hear some city noises in background all the time and high buildings sticking out from horizon. It is also very busy park and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants some peace and quiet. Otherwise it is a nice place, very good for a little picnic with your friends for example. Or a romantic rowboat trip with your lover.
In olden days this place used to be a timber yard but now it is a center for recreational activities like rowboating, childrens playhouses and of course, music. These pictures should be in sequence when you come out from subway at Nakajima koen station at north edge of the park.
Here you can see Houhei-kan. It's western style wood building. I think it is open to public but I wasn't feeling like going inside to check it out. Nice colors though.
Kitara hall is located inside the park at on one edge. It's very beautiful building, especially from inside. I didn't go to concert but instead just sat down and relaxed inside. Finally I also decided to go have a lunch at Kitara restaurant. They had really good strawberry and blueberry cake too.
Then I went around the park taking more pictures.
So how about today? I've been cleaning my room and clothes, and collected burnable trash in official Sapporo city trash bags. They are pretty strict about trashes around here. It's just the system is really inflexible with lots of regulations, some of which barely seem to make sense. Oh well.
Here is my evening dinner, spiced rice and gyoza. Gyoza are originally from China, basically small dumplings that you pour some spicy oil on top of and eat. Very good.
Tomorrow it is time for more cleaning, checking out my route to airport and probably time to pay off my internet fee as well.
Hasta pronto!
Nakajima park is pretty close to Gakuen Mae and Sapporo city center, about 2 kilometers from both. It is therefore literally park in smack middle of a city. It has that urban feel because you can hear some city noises in background all the time and high buildings sticking out from horizon. It is also very busy park and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants some peace and quiet. Otherwise it is a nice place, very good for a little picnic with your friends for example. Or a romantic rowboat trip with your lover.
In olden days this place used to be a timber yard but now it is a center for recreational activities like rowboating, childrens playhouses and of course, music. These pictures should be in sequence when you come out from subway at Nakajima koen station at north edge of the park.
Here you can see Houhei-kan. It's western style wood building. I think it is open to public but I wasn't feeling like going inside to check it out. Nice colors though.
Kitara hall is located inside the park at on one edge. It's very beautiful building, especially from inside. I didn't go to concert but instead just sat down and relaxed inside. Finally I also decided to go have a lunch at Kitara restaurant. They had really good strawberry and blueberry cake too.
Then I went around the park taking more pictures.
So how about today? I've been cleaning my room and clothes, and collected burnable trash in official Sapporo city trash bags. They are pretty strict about trashes around here. It's just the system is really inflexible with lots of regulations, some of which barely seem to make sense. Oh well.
Here is my evening dinner, spiced rice and gyoza. Gyoza are originally from China, basically small dumplings that you pour some spicy oil on top of and eat. Very good.
Tomorrow it is time for more cleaning, checking out my route to airport and probably time to pay off my internet fee as well.
Hasta pronto!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Smoke and fire
Friday turned out to be a little more busy than I first expected. Early morning I made a quick dip at supermarket at Miyanosawa station and picked up another shirt and a wristwatch. I grew tired of fishing out my cellphone out of my backpack all the time so it should come in handy. I also took a picture inside of the bus to show you what kind of contraption they have for fare charging inside. It can handle subway cards, coins and even bank notes.
I briefly met with president Nishi just to say goodbye to him. He told me he was going to Switzerland on his next trip with his wife and wished me a safe flight back.
Then after that I just remembered I had promised Tsuyoshi that I'd find Mr. Kudo before I leave so I did just that. He was just talking with his seminar so I introduced myself and we had a nice chat. Turns out he had lived in states for a few years so his english was good. He had met some of the students who came here earlier too from Oulu. We ended up going for a lunch in a ramen restaurant (finally tried miso ramen) and then his students took me to see nearby Ishikari Beach.
This was first time I saw this much litter on ground in Sapporo area. Some people had left plastic and metal items on the beach so I was instantlty reminded of my wednesdays speech. Smell of the sea is bit different than back home too, don't know why.
After returning from the beach I went to say hello to Mr. Horuichis seminar. It was awfully hot in there because boys were running some calibration checks on their electrical owens so I went to cool down in library instead. Daily Yomuri had interesting article about solar powered compressed air power plants and I ended up thinking if these kind of things end up being deployed in northern sahara for example. Idea is to make plants simpler and easier to operate as getting water just isn't practical at some areas.
In evening after 17.00 we had big get-together mostly from mechanical engineering department. Total of about 40 people came to eat and drink. And there was smoke, lots of smoke. This event lasted until 20.00 clock, and it was pretty dark by then. This is why group picture looks like it does. :)
I also recieved small gift from seminar people and four memorial cards where everyone had written little something for me. Thank you very much to everyone if someone from the party happens to read this.
Mr. Horuichi took me back with his car and since I had mentioned him that I was looking at buing new pair of shoes. He quickly looked for a large shoe shop that would be open at this late hour from his nav-computer. So maybe 10 minutes before they closed up we barged in and I managed to find very nice pair of walking shoes from "Large size" department. Turns out my feet are just over the normal size treshold in Japan (27cm) so I was bit lucky here. Shoes were bit expensive but since I had plenty of saved money so it was ok to splurge a little here.
So here is a picture of yesterdays haul:
Today in evening I will probably go see that Nakajima park. Weather is very promising, half-cloudy but still reasonably warm and comfortable. Next week looks little bit rainy.
Vi ses senare!
I briefly met with president Nishi just to say goodbye to him. He told me he was going to Switzerland on his next trip with his wife and wished me a safe flight back.
Then after that I just remembered I had promised Tsuyoshi that I'd find Mr. Kudo before I leave so I did just that. He was just talking with his seminar so I introduced myself and we had a nice chat. Turns out he had lived in states for a few years so his english was good. He had met some of the students who came here earlier too from Oulu. We ended up going for a lunch in a ramen restaurant (finally tried miso ramen) and then his students took me to see nearby Ishikari Beach.
This was first time I saw this much litter on ground in Sapporo area. Some people had left plastic and metal items on the beach so I was instantlty reminded of my wednesdays speech. Smell of the sea is bit different than back home too, don't know why.
After returning from the beach I went to say hello to Mr. Horuichis seminar. It was awfully hot in there because boys were running some calibration checks on their electrical owens so I went to cool down in library instead. Daily Yomuri had interesting article about solar powered compressed air power plants and I ended up thinking if these kind of things end up being deployed in northern sahara for example. Idea is to make plants simpler and easier to operate as getting water just isn't practical at some areas.
In evening after 17.00 we had big get-together mostly from mechanical engineering department. Total of about 40 people came to eat and drink. And there was smoke, lots of smoke. This event lasted until 20.00 clock, and it was pretty dark by then. This is why group picture looks like it does. :)
I also recieved small gift from seminar people and four memorial cards where everyone had written little something for me. Thank you very much to everyone if someone from the party happens to read this.
Mr. Horuichi took me back with his car and since I had mentioned him that I was looking at buing new pair of shoes. He quickly looked for a large shoe shop that would be open at this late hour from his nav-computer. So maybe 10 minutes before they closed up we barged in and I managed to find very nice pair of walking shoes from "Large size" department. Turns out my feet are just over the normal size treshold in Japan (27cm) so I was bit lucky here. Shoes were bit expensive but since I had plenty of saved money so it was ok to splurge a little here.
So here is a picture of yesterdays haul:
Today in evening I will probably go see that Nakajima park. Weather is very promising, half-cloudy but still reasonably warm and comfortable. Next week looks little bit rainy.
Vi ses senare!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Presentation done
Official program is finally over. Presentation went ok, although as usual I had some trouble sleeping on previous night. And it was pretty damn hot in that classroom since sunshine was back today after being gone for almost two weeks. Hoping for better quality of rest for tonight. ;)
There were about 40ish people watching and Mr. Akiyama also did a presentation after me about past student exchanges in US. I talked a bit about myself, Oulu and then about plastics/recycling and why we should pay more attention to how we use natural resources.
Anyway, I will go to the school only twice more. This friday, and then last visit on tuesday to return this computer and meet few people in evening party.
There were about 40ish people watching and Mr. Akiyama also did a presentation after me about past student exchanges in US. I talked a bit about myself, Oulu and then about plastics/recycling and why we should pay more attention to how we use natural resources.
Anyway, I will go to the school only twice more. This friday, and then last visit on tuesday to return this computer and meet few people in evening party.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Presentation ready...
Weather changed pretty rapidly here. We are at under 15 C in evening with chilly wind and rain. I have to say I am enjoying this quite a bit, since having to deal with hot and clammy weather for a month straight was really getting to me.
Wednesdays presentation is also now ready. o/
Tomorrow I will clean out the apartment, there is going to be pre-leaving check early in the morning on Wednesday.
After wednesday I will have to come up with cunning plan to destroy these gift cards I have. ;)
Wednesdays presentation is also now ready. o/
Tomorrow I will clean out the apartment, there is going to be pre-leaving check early in the morning on Wednesday.
After wednesday I will have to come up with cunning plan to destroy these gift cards I have. ;)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
10 days to Go
So, this journey is closing on its last week as I'm writing this in my room on this cloudy sunday. This week was pretty uneventful, expect for small party on friday and teachers recreation event saturday.
Fridays party was just a normal barbecue thing, but this time we had more fish and less meat. Don't have so much to add about this except that I was just talking with Mr. Takezawa about wanting to see fireworks and boom! As I was walking towards Teine station local hospital started shooting some fireworks since they apparently had some small event there. I didn't get good pictures of them though, but it was nice surprise.
Saturday I had agreed to participate in small Go tournament with some of the teachers. I met with 5 older teachers, including Mr. Takeda who had showed me how to play few weeks earlier. I was slightly anxious as I heard that every one of them were dan ranked players. Fortunately Go has a very good handicap system in place.
While I was walking to our meeting place I snapped a couple of pictures from south side of Sapporo JR station.
This is outside view of "Daimaru", which is large high quality shopping mall next to JR station. They have some expensive merchantize there, let me tell you.
We met at Keio Plaza hotel and went for buffet lunch first at restaurant called "Glass Seasons".
It's a nice looking place, but I do have to say food wasn't even close to best things I've eaten here. Probably because it was buffet lunch so cooks went for quantity over quality. :)
After that we headed to a Go Club. It was very interesting see this and experience not only playing the game against several good players, but also see all other people playing around me. There is a steady clapping of stones hitting goban (go board) and after-game discussion going on during busy hours. Many of the players were pretty old and this observation was also backed up by the teachers own experience. There are now quite a bit less younger players than in the past. From what I gathered to actually become a Pro Go player is very hard so no wonder there are less people trying to go for that occupation these days.
I do have to say this was a lot of fun and I genuinely felt I learned quite a bit about playing. I played total of 5 tournament games and one extra game while waiting for last official game to finish. So how did I do?
Pretty well as a matter of fact, 2-1-2 on win/draw/loss. Given that I have very limited experience I was especially happy to win two official games (obviously with handicaps given the caliber of players I was facing) and also the extra match with 6 stone handicap. Best player of the table was honorary 8th dan and against him I made couple big errors. :) Afterwards he explained to me couple move sequences that I should avoid and I did so on next games. One game actually ended up as a draw, which is quite rare. Calculating points for that game was quite exciting. :)
My final position was fifth but the competition was very close. If I just had captured one more stone on my draw game I could have finished in top three. And alternatively with one more lost stone I would have ended as last.
As a reward, I got 4000 yen gift card and this nice fan. If you've ever watched Hikaru no Go or just some old movies you can often see players with fans trying to keep cool while waiting for opponents move.
After our tournament we headed to old and famous hotel called "Sapporo Grand Hotel". It has a feel of quality but it is not glitzy like many new hotels seem to be.
Other people had played golf, bowled, rock-climbed and played tennis. Winners recieved small prices.
We had a nice dinner there and there also was a bingo competition. Funnily enough bingo ball machine was malfuntioning and caused quite a few funny situations with multiple balls flying out of it at inopportune times much to the chagrin of the user. Oh, and I had to make a speech. Well, actually just more like few comments on go tourney while pictures of me playing were shown with projector. ^^
Today I have to keep making my presentation for this upcoming wednesday. After that I don't have much official program so it is time to clean the apartment, possibly make one last sightseeing trip if I feel like it and then it is time to leave.
o/
Fridays party was just a normal barbecue thing, but this time we had more fish and less meat. Don't have so much to add about this except that I was just talking with Mr. Takezawa about wanting to see fireworks and boom! As I was walking towards Teine station local hospital started shooting some fireworks since they apparently had some small event there. I didn't get good pictures of them though, but it was nice surprise.
Saturday I had agreed to participate in small Go tournament with some of the teachers. I met with 5 older teachers, including Mr. Takeda who had showed me how to play few weeks earlier. I was slightly anxious as I heard that every one of them were dan ranked players. Fortunately Go has a very good handicap system in place.
While I was walking to our meeting place I snapped a couple of pictures from south side of Sapporo JR station.
This is outside view of "Daimaru", which is large high quality shopping mall next to JR station. They have some expensive merchantize there, let me tell you.
We met at Keio Plaza hotel and went for buffet lunch first at restaurant called "Glass Seasons".
It's a nice looking place, but I do have to say food wasn't even close to best things I've eaten here. Probably because it was buffet lunch so cooks went for quantity over quality. :)
After that we headed to a Go Club. It was very interesting see this and experience not only playing the game against several good players, but also see all other people playing around me. There is a steady clapping of stones hitting goban (go board) and after-game discussion going on during busy hours. Many of the players were pretty old and this observation was also backed up by the teachers own experience. There are now quite a bit less younger players than in the past. From what I gathered to actually become a Pro Go player is very hard so no wonder there are less people trying to go for that occupation these days.
I do have to say this was a lot of fun and I genuinely felt I learned quite a bit about playing. I played total of 5 tournament games and one extra game while waiting for last official game to finish. So how did I do?
Pretty well as a matter of fact, 2-1-2 on win/draw/loss. Given that I have very limited experience I was especially happy to win two official games (obviously with handicaps given the caliber of players I was facing) and also the extra match with 6 stone handicap. Best player of the table was honorary 8th dan and against him I made couple big errors. :) Afterwards he explained to me couple move sequences that I should avoid and I did so on next games. One game actually ended up as a draw, which is quite rare. Calculating points for that game was quite exciting. :)
My final position was fifth but the competition was very close. If I just had captured one more stone on my draw game I could have finished in top three. And alternatively with one more lost stone I would have ended as last.
As a reward, I got 4000 yen gift card and this nice fan. If you've ever watched Hikaru no Go or just some old movies you can often see players with fans trying to keep cool while waiting for opponents move.
After our tournament we headed to old and famous hotel called "Sapporo Grand Hotel". It has a feel of quality but it is not glitzy like many new hotels seem to be.
Other people had played golf, bowled, rock-climbed and played tennis. Winners recieved small prices.
We had a nice dinner there and there also was a bingo competition. Funnily enough bingo ball machine was malfuntioning and caused quite a few funny situations with multiple balls flying out of it at inopportune times much to the chagrin of the user. Oh, and I had to make a speech. Well, actually just more like few comments on go tourney while pictures of me playing were shown with projector. ^^
Today I have to keep making my presentation for this upcoming wednesday. After that I don't have much official program so it is time to clean the apartment, possibly make one last sightseeing trip if I feel like it and then it is time to leave.
o/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)