torsdag den 29. november 2012

Hospitaaaaal

こんにちは!

昨日、退院したからまた家に帰ってきました!!!(^O^☆♪

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Just kidding - not gonna write this in Japanese. This is probably going to be a kind of short entry,
but yesterday I was discharged from the hospital after being there for 5 veeeeery long days and was finally allowed to go home. It was so amazing sleeping in my own bed again. A lot of people came and visited me while I was in the hospital, it was super nice. My LP and host father + mother obviously came the most and the niece came to be there when I left for surgery and when I came back again. Besides from these lovely people a lot of other people made a surprise visit.

Which also reminds me, on a site note, that since I can't put my pictures on the blog anymore and people probably don't want to sit checking my Japanese blog all the time - I put almost all my pictures up on Instagram (erikarou - same as twitter or everywhere else or click on the link lol) I mean, there's an illumination in Odori from this month until the end of December, it should be amazing and super beautiful - so I'll take tons of pics of that and put them up!

The friend I went to Aikido with, her mother and little sister came and visited - she couldn't come herself because she'd gotten down with a pretty bad fever, poor thing. Eden also stopped by and entertained me for two hours, which was nice - poor guy though, it's a looooong way from where he lives. Then came the Host Family that was supposed to be my first one, it was super nice seeing them and I was REALLY surprised - I really didn't see that one coming. Then my homeroom and English teacher made a surprise visit - that was even more surprising that any of the others. I talked with her for an hour or two as well. She brought me magazines from Sarah - the South African teacher, with a lovely note that started out saying "You told me you definitely hadn't broken a bone - YOU WERE WRONG!" it really made my day, she also brought Danish candy, my presentation speech (have to do an hour long presentation on Wednesday - shiiiiit) and a test lol. What did you expect she's a teacher in JAPAN - of course they bring me a damn test to the hospital - oh well. Made me smile anyway.

The funny thing, in Japan no one really bring flowers (also they weren't allowed in the rooms, in case some of the others were allergic to flowers - oh thoughtful Japan - so you had to give them in the reception if you got them) but what they DO bring is CANDY and I swear - they bring A LOOOOOT of it. I have so much candy that I can never finish myself, thank God for Eden eating half my candy while he was there. The Host Family that was supposed to be my first also gave me some extremely expensive and extremely delicious high class chocolate - man when did I last eat THAT good chocolate? Was amazingly happy.

Other than that, the surgery went fine - the first thing I said (not sure if this was a dream or anything, because I was still high on anaesthesia haha) but it was "This is the first floor, isn't it?" in Japanese to the nurse "driving" my bed. I had surgery on the 2nd floor and my room is on the 4th - the 1st floor is where people "check in" so why in the world would I be there? It reminds me of the time where I was so tired that my brain blacked out and I found out the next day that I'd written "haha gay shoes" in a text to my ex. Just why? But oh well, after that I saw the niece and my LP - the first thing I said to them was "damn I'm so hungry" (still in Jap of course) they just smiled and laughed because I was completely myself and I was joking around with them, even though I wasn't allowed to sit up yet.

I shared a room with two elderly women who were super nice to me and always talked to me. the nurses was also all super amazing, the doctors as well. I was so happy that they all seemed so interested in talking to me and finding out about my country etc. all of them was also amazed that I spoke Japanese, it was so funny. But then again, I was pretty amazed that I was able to understand the terms and such that you use on the hospital in Japanese - I mean, NO one taught me any of that, so that was cool. I most admit, that my Japanese have become extremely close to fluent, I still lack in many places and of course a lot of people are still a lot better than me - but I'm really satisfied! Had never thought that I would learn THIS much in such a short time!!

Thursday I'm going back to the hospital to talk with a doctor, that'll be nice I think. Friday I'll be going to Emma and Marco's school and see my Aikido friend's speech contest - cross your fingers and pray for her to win - because she deserves it damn much, her English is flawless!! Then in January, around a week before I leave for Tokyo, I'll have surgery again - so that I don't need to have it in Denmark - I mean, they put metal in my shoulder, NOT fun in the airport where it would BEEP every time I went trough the scanner haha. Anyway, I'm enjoying my stay to the fullest, I have legit nothing bad to say about my stay - okay, I had a boyfriend, didn't work out, I just found out that the guy I REALLY like has a girlfriend etc. but that NOT going to put me down, I'll enjoy these last months to the fullest man! 



I love Japan <3 <3 <3



All in all, I think I'm one of the exchange students that tried most various things haha. I love it, having tried Aikido, breaking a bone because of it, being in the hospital, having surgery etc. it's all an experience!!

Soooo,
Thanks for reading and 

TAKE CARE !!! 

fredag den 23. november 2012

Hospital & Surgery - Hamatonbetsu & Sorry !! etc.

こんばんは!!

First of all, I'm SO sorry for not having written in a looong time (23 days). I suck at this blogging thing, I know, and I will try my best, but I will not be able to write at all from this Sunday till next Wednesday, because I'll be in the hospital recovering from surgery at the time, but I won't write about that until around the end of this entry, sorry 'bout that haha.

And then. FUCK YOU BLOGSPOT. I'm not allowed to upload anymore pictures without having to pay fucking MONEY for it. So please, check my pictures on the Japanese blog, because I can't upload more than there is in this blog. I HATE YOU. ):

Anyway, I honestly don't remember all the things I've been doing in these last 23 days, but I will try and put as much info and details in as I can handle, without killing myself. Since I can write my Japanese blog from my phone every day (not as long entries as here of course haha), I do that and I will be able to use that as a memory. Thank you, ameblo. I love you. 
So if you want to train you Japanese by reading some not completely correct Japanese or want to look at my pictures every day instead of when I have time to write here, then check it out. CLICK HERE shameless self-promotion. 

Anyyyywayyyyy, let's get STARTED.

November 2nd;
So, this day I went with Mikko to Odori, as always. We didn't do much, but we ended up in the lovely music store on top of 4pla. In this store, there was an event with the Visual Kei band, Royz. I absolutely love Royz, so getting to see them in real life was amazing. Nothing like hot Japanese guys in their amazing VK clothes to make your day a little better. There we met some friends of hers and talked with them for a while. Most of her friends returned home, but one remained with us. With this remaining girl, we went to take purikura whereafter I went back home.



If you are interested in Visual Kei music/bands etc. then check Royz out on YouTube, I love them. My favorite song by them is Noah.

November 3rd;
Just enjoying myself at home for once. I watched Moon Child, Aibou and ate tooooo much candy. Worth it.



November 4th;
Out with Mikko again. This time, as any other time, we went to Odori. Where else? We went there mostly because I just HAD to buy a shirt I'd seen in 4pla, I repeat, where else? Mikko had already bought this one shirt, which actually is the same shirts that the members if Royz is using, and I was just as in love with it as she was and just had to buy it. Before that we went to Cosmo and where I bought a necklace and a ring. Both matching and being absolutely amazing. Both Mikko & I also bought this amazing leather-look-alike jacket. We also went to the h.NAOTO store and so on. It was all an amazing and fun day - as always.









November 6th;
Found out that there was only around 3 months left of my stay in Japan - that is something that breaks your heart.

November 7th;
AIKIDOAIKIDOAIKIDOAIKIDOAIKIDO!!! Yes, I went to Aikido for the first time in my life and for people not knowing what Aikido is, then it's a Japanese martial art. It is absolutely amazing. I went there straight after school with my friend, who've been doing it for three years, her sister who's also at the same school as we are, joined us. We ate ice cream, took purikura and then went to practice. The practice was absolutely amazing!! The teachers were super nice, the practice was fun and so on - nothing bad to say at all. Also, you get your thoughts off EVERYTHING for these two hours that you practice.
We then went home to her house where I slept - the first exchange students out of 21 to sleep at a friends place. *proud*

November 8th;
My friend and I woke up at 5, ate her super delicious bacon&egg&rice whereafter we went off to school. After school I met up with my LP for a talk and dinner. It was super nice talking with her and the food was absolutely amazing. We ate and talked for some hours and then went to another place to eat dessert and talk some more. All in all a super day. It was also nice to return to the family's house again though.

November 9th;
RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, I SWEAR WE HAD MUCH RAIN.
I went to Odori with Mikko again though, we went there together, but had no time together since she had an event and I was going to buy some shoes. I found some super nice shoes that were super cheap and I just HAD to buy them. So of course I did haha. After I returned home I decided it was time for a change and I cut my hair. Byebye up-until-now hair.

November 10th - 12th;
A six hour car ride and we arrive in Hamatonbetsu, an extremely small town in the north of Hokkaido - I swear it's small, it has to supermarkets and they were both around the same size as an 7/11. My school friends had never heard of the city before, so I had no idea what the hell I would think of it haha. All I knew was that there was a top class hot spring there and how can you NOT want to go then?! So we went there, arrived there and went to eat yakiniku - it's like a BBQ and I absolutely love it - it's the best thing on Earth. We ate till we could barely stand up and then we went back to the hotel where we enjoyed the hot spring and then went to bed.

The next day we went to the seashore not so far from the hotel and looked at the EXTREMELY, like two meters or something, tall waves and enjoyed the fresh, but slightly cold air. It was super nice and a lot of fun. I am a weird person, who likes trying things, so as the waves went back into the ocean I ran with them until the edge of the water and waited for the next wave to come. The next wave would come pretty fast and I would have to run as fast as I could not to get soaked. You have no idea of how fun that was for me. Best. Game. Ever.

Then we went to eat some lunch and then to see the swans. I wouldn't call them swans though, they didn't look like swans more like geese or big white ducks, I don't know, but apparently they are 'swans' in Japan. We fed them a lot of bread, also the small cute ducks, and everybody was surprised to see that I fed them straight from my hand and didn't care if they bit me. When they asked why, I was like "I'M DANISH AND A VIKING, I FEEL NO PAIN, no, but seriously - it doesn't hurt" so they tried and figured I was right. Glad I actually can teach useless stuff to people, life completed haha. 

After that we went back to the hotel where Sayaka and I went to the hot spring and then just chilled in the hotel room until the evening.

The next day, we went back to Sapporo. Even though it was a nice trip, there's nothing that beats Sapporo - Sapporo has my heart, body and soul. Well, at least the first and last one.

November 13th;
Nice to be home and of course that meant I had to meet with friends. I met up with Emma after school, who just returned from her school trip. We talked at Starbucks and she gave me some of my beloved KitKat that you can ONLY buy in Kyoto. Thank you, my lifesaver. Thereafter we met Mikko at 4pla & Emma got a glimpse at him. Then we took purikura, Emma went home and Mikko and I went back to 4pla where she wanted to talk to the guy she likes.

November 14th;
Wednesday again, you know what that means? I'm going to Aikido again!!
My friends family allowed me to come EVERY week and stay at their place, if I liked Aikido and wanted to continue doing it. How can you say know to THAT? So after school I went to Aikido again. This time my friends little sister and I went there alone, my friend had something to do at the school and would join us later. It was all as fun as the last time, but 1 hour in the 2 hour long practice, I fell straight on my shoulder while trying to perform a roll followed by a fall. It said a weird sound and hurt a little, but it wasn't anything bad, so I kept doing Aikido with my left side hurt the right shoulder, if anyone wouldn't have figured that out. It was fine. Then we went home and her mother, who is something in medicine not a doctor, but something took a look at my shoulder, we reached the conclusion that it was probably sprained and I got some pain killers I had to take 3 times a day.

November 17th;
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HOST MOTHER!!!
So, since it was my host mothers birthday, we went to the cinema and watched a Japanese samurai movie called のぼうの城 which means Nobou's Castle. It was super funny and interesting!! Would definitely watch that again, even though I didn't understand EVERYTHING this time, I did indeed get the big picture and I'm proud of myself for that. I mean, it was in full old-time Japanese, very cultural and the didn't exactly speak slowly, but yet I understood the most of it. It was definitely worth watching. If you ever get a chance to watch it, do so! I will definitely get the DVD as soon as I can. We watched this movie at Sapporo Factory - where there also is a BIG christmas three at the moment, so of course we took some pictures of that and then we went to a restaurant near the house.

At the restaurant we ate the most amazing food, it was so damn delicious - especially the super rare steak. After dinner we went to home and ate this amazing chocolate cake!! The only problem was that it was TOO much chocolate, I almost died afterwards. No kidding.

November 18th;
Wasn't alive this day, because I legit died from the cake.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
You know what I wish for christmas? A sense of humour. Please, can someone give that to me?

Well, I went to my Aikido friend, Yuuki's, little brother's event at his school. He asked me so sweetly when I was eating dinner the last time and how can you say know when an extremely cute Japanese boy that's 12 years old ask you if you would come? You can't. So I woke up early and took the train to Oasa - out of Sapporo, where Yuuki's father and little sister picked me up. We went to the house for a short while, where I said hi to Yuuki before heading to the little brother's school. We spent a good deal of hours watching his show and I can tell you that it was all worth it. All the performances were cute and I understood what was going on haha. It was SO worth it. 

While at the school, it started snowing!!!!

After that, we went to eat ramen and then watch Yuuki perform at the Aikido festival in Sapporo. She's so cool and she really knows  her Aikido. It's so cool.
Then they drove me to a station where I took the train to Sapporo and met up with Tyler, Museon, Marco and two girls from Asahikawa. It was nice seeing everybody again! We took purikura, the girls went home and so did we. All very nice, but fast.

November 19th;
I had a sick headache this Monday and didn't go to school because of it, it probably came because my shoulder still kind of hurt. It hurts a lot in the morning, because I probably sleep weirdly in the night, but it's not really bad during the day, anyway I stayed home and didn't really do anything, but stay in my bed all day and looking out the window on the nice and pretty snow.

November 21st;
A to the F to the S event.
So we had an AFS event this day and therefore didn't have to go to school. We were going to a primary school to make the Japanese food/snack/whatever called Mochi. Google it. It taste super good, I love it.
We arrived at the school and did a short self introduction in Japanese - as always. We then played fruit basket etc. where we said the colours in our mother's tounge as well. Then we had to take a picture, when we took the picture I hold the hand of this little girl, who just started walking after the picture and she held my right hand while doing so. Since my shoulder was in a pretty bad state this day, that hurt REALLY fucking bad. Everybody was also like SHIT! and I just followed as good as I could trying to keep the pain inside me. 
After that the AFS people got put into two groups and since I couldn't participate in the mochi making, because I only had one useable hand, my group had one more person than the other. My group started by playing with the kids, while the other group made mochi. It was all much fun!

I was in the same group as Michelle, who I really couldn't figure out. In Asahikawa she just randomly started talking to me, being all nice and so on. I didn't expect that from here, since she deleted and blocked me on Facebook and we ended on prettyyyyy bad terms. This day we talked a lot though and it was nice not having to avoid each other and so on, I mean, Michelle is and have always been a nice girls - it was just all too much etc. so oh well, it was all nice - she also readded me on Facebook today - so I guess that means peace, right?

Then we went to make mochi, I just looked as the others made it. They were all pretty good at this and it was funny to look at. It was all very nice.


During the event, Eden gave my an early Christmas/late Birthday present! Suuuuper cute and just what I needed. He really knows when to give what, huh?

After the event I went with Eden and Noah to Sapporo station to find a jacket for Eden. Noah had to go early and we finally found a jacket for Eden, but when he was going to buy it ... You needed your passport to buy it, so we just reserved it for Friday (today).
Then we went to Starbucks where he treated me to a cup of coffee, it was really nice and we sat there for at least an hour talking about God's know what. We also came across the point that I actually do owe him money, since he ALWAYS treat me to things and so on. He then made me a deal, I could pay him back in hugs. 1 yen, 1 hug. Of course I agreed to that and asked if I then owed him 2000 hugs, since that's how many yen I supposedly owe him, NOPE I owe him 8000, only 7999 now, but I'll be DAMN busy if I have to give him THAT many hugs on 2 months - I mean, that's probably more hugs that I've given my entire life.
This will be fun though.

November 22nd, yesterday;
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVELY LITTLE SISTER, SARAH, BACK IN DK!!!!!!!!!!
So as you can see, my little sister turned 14 yesterday, but I was a little distracted and kind of forgot it, because I had long day. 

I went to school for around 3 hours and then home, to go to the hospital. Since my arm still hurt 8 days after I hurt it, we thought it might be dislocated or something, so we decided to go to the doctor - just in case. It took around 4 hours and I got x-ray 2 times from a very hot, young nurse. Wouldn't mind him giving me x-ray more times than that. The doctor then showed us the pictures. Turns out I'd broken a bone. Who could have known? I thought that would hurt a looooot more. I mean, Eden called me hardcore when I told him, because I haven't whined at all or haven't been in intense pain - I even lifted up a 7 year old kid at the AFS event, like really, how could you have known? But I will apparently need surgery two times to fix this, one time here in Japan - on Monday - and one time in Denmark around 2 or 3 months after. So this Sunday I will be put in the hospital until Wednesday next week and I will have surgery on Monday. I'm just glad if I can start sleeping well again, because I swear it sucks to sleep with this shoulder!!

But yea, that's pretty much all I did yesterday.

November 23rd, today;
Today I went with Mikko to buy a jacket we got for half price in 4pla. It is around 20.000yen, but both of us got it for around 10.000yen - amazing! All because we always come and talk to the owner of the store and basically am on a pretty friendly level with him. I swear, he's the funniest guy ever. I wish I could just pack him down my suitcase and take him to Denmark - he always makes me laugh so much that my stomach hurts. So that was good, we also talked to him a little while. Before buying the jacket we went to McDonald and ate chocolate pie, then we went to Parco and bought Cherry Coke, which my friend neither had tasted nor known existed until that very moment. We sat down on a stairway and drank it while talking and having fun. We obviously also took purikura. Then we went home and yea, then I've been writing my blog haha.

I will update you again after my surgery and try to do this a little more often haha, sorry.
Thank you VERY much for hanging in there and still reading my blog, I love you all and it warms my heart that people actually care to read it.

Take care!!

fredag den 2. november 2012

Hello November! ☆

こんにちは!!

PICTURES IN THE NEXT ENTRY TOMORROW

So, I basically suck at this blog thing. I'm sorry, I have a looooot on my mind all the time, so I guess that's a good enough excuse haha.

A lot have happened and I will probably forget most of the things, but there's of course still SOME things that doesn't leave my mind haha. Especially that ONE embarrassing episode ..... Haha.

As you know, I had my Debate tournament on the 30th and 31st of October (why on Halloween, why God why?). But the weekend before the tournament, we went to an all boys school called Hokurei, in Sapporo, to have a practice match. This team was apparently super strong. So it would probably be good practice, but this team was also very sneaky - that's what we'd heard at least.
So we went to this school and had our match. There was this one cute guy on their team who kept looking at me haha, that was a little distracting. During the match they weren't half as strong as we thought, so we were 100% sure that they used a different speech not to give anything away before the tournament. We also used our old speech, but that wasn't that much different, but they were sneaky enough to look weak and listen to our speech before the tournament haha. After the game we all ate candy, drank some refreshments etc. it was nice - that guy was still looking at me, I was just about to go talk to him, but we had to go home, so yea, I would see him again at the tournament. 

After that I went with my friend to watch the Hunger Games, since the day of Halloween would be the last day that it would be in the theaters. It was super! I can't wait for the next one.

The two days of tournament were extremely long, well, they felt like they were. We went to the tournament in Jozankei, a little city next to Sapporo, on the 30th by school bus. The bus ride was about 70, 80 minutes and during that time we were completely nerve racks haha, I mean, we were just reading up on our data, but we also ate so much sugar that we got all hyped as well. I can tell you that big amounts of sugar and being all nervous isn't necessarily a good combination, we survived though. It was one hell of a bus ride, all the girls were laughing, singing, reading, sleeping and eating big amounts of candy - of course I was no exception. It was amazing haha. We then arrived at Jozankei hotel and the nerves started kicking in x10! I mean, we were facing SOME of our opponents, not all had arrived yet, but even the ones who were there was enough to almost scare my to death. Stage fright and a lot of people you KNOW you'll have to compete against, isn't a good mix. 
As we were waiting for the elevator, this guy from Emma's school, that I met at the tournament we won (his team was the second place, they were strong!) and who I've later talked to on Facebook and got to know, came up to me and said hi. He wished me luck and so on and I did the same. We both hoped to get a match against each other again, since it was really interesting and exciting the last time. He is super good and English - even though I speak Japanese with him - and I'm not going to lie, he's cute, haha.

Before the tournament started there was an opening ceremony, where the president or something of Debating in Hokkaido had to speak for us. He's the coach of the debate teams on Emma's school and he was the one we won over (they had won 3 years in a row, all the years the tournament had been running, we were the first to beat them - so we're pretty sure he doesn't like us the slightest), but this guy decided to make some sudden rule changes. He decided that only 4 people teams could compete - he knew we were a 6 person team - so we had to cut off our supporters, who really helped us before. BUT that's not all, no. This guy changed more rules. He said that you don't just go to the finals by winning this time, you have to get enough POINTS to get there. If your team beats a stronger team then you get more points, my team was an A team which meant we didn't have anyone higher than us to beat to get extra points, we would only get good points by beating other A teams - it also counted on most best debaters and 'communication' points. The last rule change was that you were able to win, lose and come in a tie this time.
The fun thing is, we called in advance and asked if we could compete with a 6 person team and at that time, of course we could. Come on man.

We then got the table telling us who we were going to have matches against and of course, this fucking guy who none of us can stand, made us ONLY compete against B teams, which meant that it would be legit impossible for us to get in the finals, no matter what we did - because we didn't get any freaking extra points. Come ooooon!! It was nowhere near close to being fair. We KNOW he doesn't like us, so these sudden rule changes etc. of course they're made to make us lose to him this time.

Oh well,
Then the tournament started and I was pumped - so was my team mates and we won one game after another - so it couldn't be any better. We won all our games this day. We kind of forgot about the whole point thing. After that we just went straight home and I had to rewrite our speech for the next day, since we got some new info and so on.

The next day, the final day of the tournament, we had two games and then it would be the finals. In the first game we won and the second we got tied. Which was NOT fair. It was our victory, because the other team didn't have an attack NOR a summary - I mean, if you don't have any of these then you can't freaking win!!! You can't get in a tie either, I don't get, it's just not fair. My teacher told me, that it's of course because of him, but also because they might think it's unfair to have a foreign person on the team. Come on man, I've been studying English as long as they have, it's not my fault that I'm fluent - it's not my first language either man. But also, one of the judges of this game didn't understand English AT ALL, so why he voted against us can be the whole foreign thing. One thing that also pissed me off a little was how the judges ALWAYS gave the teams that were against us tips on how to beat us after the game - right in front of us. We never got any tips though. All that unfairness and none of the Japanese people speaks up. I don't get it, but oh well - it was fun anyway.

Then the teams that would be in the finals got announced and sure enough, we didn't make it. We got the paper showing us our ranking, it wasn't bad, but we could see that it was mostly because we didn't beat any stronger teams that we didn't make it. That and the unfair tie. We had enough best debaters (I even won once!! Which doesn't happen for the constructive speaker often) + we had the highest communication points of ALL. Those points you get if you're trying to help the other team understand by explaining and you aren't rude etc. so yea. The unfairness sucked.

Then it was the time of the finals where my beautiful embarrassing moment also occurred.
During the finals the guy from Hokurei (his team won it all) kept looking at me, it was cute haha. I didn't even realize until my friend made me aware of the fact that he looked at me from the stage. While the judges was deciding who would win, there was a break and I sat down on my table - as I had been in all the other pauses - I talked with my friend and they told me that I'm so bad - it's a joke we have - and right when I confirm how bad I am by sitting on the tables etc. the table collapses with the loudest BANG ever. Everybody got silent and looked at me, who was sitting on the floor laughing my ass off, turning scarlet. I sat there for all in all 10min hiding my face and laughing so much that I actually started shaking. Everything fell off the table as well, at least my friends took it easy. They just laughed at and with me while I crawled back onto my chair. Damn it was embarrassing - but still, it's an amazing memory to have hahaha.

After the tournament, the day of Halloween, Misato and I met with Mikko and Miwa in Odori. We took purikura and went to '31' - which is what Baskin Robins is called in Japan - to eat some ice cream. There was over 10% off so there was so many people. It was wild seeing all these Japanese people who dressed up, because they do it good! Like legit. They are always amazing at dressing up.

Yesterday I went to Odori as well, I will go there tomorrow as well. So tomorrow you'll get an update on this weekend + pictures from these other days as well.

Well, thanks for reading aaaaand......

Take care !!