#Tomikawa junior high

[gftales]

Hokkaido Day 3 Part 4: Playing in the snow and visiting Tomikawa Junior High My first snowman: Tomio-chan. As someone was rolling a huge ball for the base, I jumped in and made the middle and head. Look how wide the arms are -- like she wants to give you a great bug hug! The name was thought of by someone else in following the name of the junior high we would visit right afterward -- Tomikawa. Somewhere between arriving to eat lunch with the elders, and putting away our outside shoes in Tomikawa Junior High, I lost my glasses (I had them in a pocket). It was probably with Tomio-chan or when making snowballs...  The last three pictures are of the entrance of Tomikawa Junior High. I want to make a more detailed post later on the games we played (karuta and making origami) and the questions asked by the third year class. That'll have to wait until later, though.

[gftales]

Hokkaido Days 2 and 3

A brief preview/summary of the next days we spent there. There was so much, that I have to split pictures and explanations into pieces. I thought it would be nice to write my impressions in one short post first. I saw and experienced many things in the time we spent in Hokkaido. The people of Hidaka were very warm and the days spent there will remain in my memories for a long time. The food we worked together to make in the cooking class was delicious, but I think my favorite moment was the after-dinner activities when we could interact with the children. Playing the gesture game (charades) with the kids and then seeing the wadaiko performance was both fun and exciting. These same kids who we cooked with earlier were performing something on stage that requires hours of hard work. It was an exciting performance and I could feel the joy and determination from all the members. The next day, we saw the fishermen at work and enjoyed a wonderful lunch by the people at Ishisaki fisheries. It was my first time eating such fresh seafood and the atmosphere was so warm as we sat around the low tables with the cold winter blowing outside the little building. I created my first snowman and threw my first real snowball (the little ice-fragment ball four years ago in San Antonio doesn't count!) there. From there, spending the last moments in Tomikawa junior high school, I was touched by the lively students who were trying hard to communicate with me. We played Hokkaido style karuta -- the one where the first stanza is read and attacked instead of the first stanza being read and second stanza being memorized beforehand to attack-- and made little origami hina dolls. I know that the memories I made in my time here will be held dearly in my heart.