Okashi

Remember Tomomi san? She surprised me again the other day with another beautiful omiyage from her trip to Tokyo. That girl's kindness makes my head spin! 

This delectable thing was in the shape of a seal (I think?), and was made from a soft cake outer layer and contained a sweet, light anko (red bean paste) filling. 

Smiling Macaron, with chocolate ganache. 

 The next day, I was also able to get my act together and somewhat repay Tomomi for her uber kindness. I picked out a sakura macaron and a chocolate madeleine from the okashi section of Boni Moriya デパート, and attached an attempted origami heart on which I wrote "Thank you for being my friend" in Japanese. I hope she likes it. 

Square Eyes

Assignment blues, relieved only slightly by delicious distractions.

Sam, the other student from UTS, kindly let me have eat one of the precious Mi Goreng packets her mother sent to Hakodate from Sydney. 

God Save the Queen

Abe Sensei's Friday Excursions, Episode 1. 

Being half a pom myself, stepping into the Old British Consulate of Hakodate made me feel rather culturally confused and homesick. The Union Jack adorned most surfaces, as well as excellent Engrish, there was a carpet map, overpriced British memorabilia and an over the top tea room. I became very nostalgic for a cup of tea in my grandmother's favourite chair. 

After the consulate, we meandered to the nearby Hakodate Museum of Northern Peoples. Photography wasn't permitted inside where all the rad artefacts were cased. 

Sculpture depicting Ainu mythology. 

     

   Dinosaur wallpaper. Yep. 

Shake, Rattle and Roll

Over the past few weeks I have become ever so busy! Between struggling to figure out what's going on in Japanese class, teaching Japanese people how to spell "culture" in English class, going to meetings, making sure I don't play in the wrong key during practice with the HUE Wind Orchestra, cherry blossom viewing parties, and baking in the rice cooker, I haven't had too much time for blogging. I apologise for my prolonged absence > < 

As stated above, lots has been going on. However, before you are bombarded with a backlog of sakura photos, I want to tell you about the EARTHQUAKE we experienced the night before last. My hanging towels were moving to and fro as if a small child was inside pretending to be be a ghost; then my bookshelves, desk and clothes rack chattered together like loose teeth. It took a while to realise my body was also moving uncontrollably, shuddering and swaying with the moving earth. After hearing about Emmie chan's traumatic first hand experiences of the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake, and after the recent strong earthquakes in Ibaraki, I was a little bit nervous about all this trembling. Time passed quite slowly but I think the shaking only lasted about 40 seconds, maybe a minute. Luckily, this one was only a toddler quake. Nothing broken, just a few shocked gaijin. Some of the guys the next day even referred to the experience as "fun".  It was certainly a new experience to add the the list of 函館の経験!

The epicentre was off the east coast of Northern Japan and was recorded as a magnitude 6 in Aomori, and a magnitude 4 in Hakodate. 

(　ﾟдﾟ)ァラヤダ ！

Grandma and Grandpa おばあちゃんとおじいさん

Some of the Chinese exchange students live in an apartment instead of the dorm. Their landlady, who lives in the house next door, is incredibly kind and friendly. We bumped into her on the way home from class one day and she promptly invited us to her house for curry the next weekend. 

Japanese hospitality ♡

This was my second bowl. 

Their two energetic puppies, Kousuke and Rikko. 

おじいさん was sitting by the heater. 

Sweet puff snacks. Suitable for both humans and puppies. 

     

After dinner, おばあちゃん showed us some precious photos from her past, including many exchange students they'd had stay over the years. 

Danbi さん

Jinjinさん

Imouさん

Kananさん was enjoying the Korean drama in the background.

Hi-5's all around. 

おばあさんとおじいさん：本当にいいありがとうございました！ごちそうさまでした。

Looking back on Golden Week

Tomorrow night, Golden Week will be over. The time off class has been lovely, but I didn't really get up to much mischief. Too expensive to travel, too much homework to start, too much sleep to catch up on. I've accepted the fact that I am an old person in a young person's body. The weather has also turned sour and unpredictably rainy these past few days, making it even less appealing to venture outside. However, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, so we've made a few trips to the park (with the rest of Hakodate) to ooh and ahh and take unjustified amounts of photographs. But I'm still hoping for a sun streaked afternoon to really appreciate them! Here is just a teaser of many, many sakura photos to come...

More food adventures.

Homemade chicken katsu-don. 

WHOLEMEAL BREAD in the supermarket. 

Daikon salad.

Nabe!

Mister Donut. Always there for you.