Montag, 24. August 2009

BEEEEER!

dad`n`me did a lil beer-testing.



THE winner of the lil competition!

"STRONG SEVEN - HARD AND CLEAR" ^^
Alc. 7%


some of the other participants :







testing...

me: "how is it...?"
dad: ".........:/"
me: "ok, I`ll take a different one."



Sapporo is the biggest city in Hokkaido (northern island of Japan)
Sapporo is also the place of the first japanese beer brewery.
(but I`ll get to this interesting story later...)





yeah, it was fun!

:)


but still, you can`t compare bavarian w/ japanese...
it`s if you would compare BMW w/ Mitsubishi....HA!


(Sa - 25.07)

Donnerstag, 20. August 2009

Mittwoch, 19. August 2009

luggage & temple (yeah, that breakes it down^^)



that`s pretty much the stuff, what was in my backpack when I came to Jpn.
Minimal luggage! ^^



the house.



view from the front of the house



sis



we drove w/ the car to a temple.







I really like the mood, which temples & shrines are giving you.
(kinda similar to old churches.)
Especially when your almost alone in an old one.
This one was a bit crowded, but well...



When you enter a temple-area, you usually first wash your hands @ these springs.
you take some water w/ one of these "water-spoons" and pour the water over one hand, then on the other hand.
some people also "wash" there mouth w/ some fresh water.



you also can buy in every temple an "Omikuji", this is something like a "fortune teller". You pick your omikuji out of an big box & then open it.
As far as I know there are 3 different kinds, small-, middle- & big-luck.
On each Omikuji there is also written how it will go in your job/love/life/whatever...
(but that`s a bit tricky to understand, so I`m just happy over some luck.)



in the middle, the red characters are saying "shokichi"
(小吉 ー しょうきち)
small luck...but hey it`s luck, right!? :p

The most common Omikuji is "just" a white, folded paper.
In this temple you could choose between several ones.
Fist time I saw one like this & it`s the best so far.
It is a small fan & you really could use it :D.



many people hang there Omikuji on trees/bushes/etc. somewhere near the temple.



But i took mine w/ me...the little fan is just way too kewl!! ;)



dad`n`me



sis`n`me


(Sa - 25.07)

Samstag, 15. August 2009

"fishing"...

my (host-)mom is a kindergarden teacher & they had a excursion to the sea, to go fishing. The headteacher asked my mom if I wanted to come w/ them. Sounded like fun, right?!





it wasn`t really what I expected under the term "fishing" (or maybe I just interpreted the japanese expression a bit different ;)
the kids (~30) were divided into 2 groups. every group had a rope, which came out of the sea.



they had to pull on it to get a (astonishing) big net (one net, 2 ropes) out of the sea.
(some fishermen & I helped ;)











you don`t believe what was all caught in there...
(or what the fishermen put in it...who knows ^^)



the kids definitely had fun.





sorting out the tasty ones







this are these "flying-fishes" ^^


ATTENTION! now it`s getting a bit bloody...




but you got to prepare them to grill, right!? ^^



preparation : done!



one of the fishermen was so nice to prepare some Sashimi (raw fish - YUMMY!) for us.





& he even decorated the plate...what a poser :D
(the white "fish" on the left side is squid.)



yeah, that was the basic lunch, grilled fish, onigiris (rice ball) & some green tea.
but there was also some Sashimi (as seen above), shells & a more fish...^^







Peace out!

:)


(Th - 23.07)

home sweet home,...

well ok, it`s more like my second home ;)



living room




tatami room w/ outfoulded futon (-> for the night)




folded futon (-> daytime)




japanese bath.
@ first you wash yourself on the right side & when your clean,...



...you go into the bath-tube filled w/ hot water & chill a bit.
(it usually has ~43degrees -quite hot- but still in summer (hot as hell) it`s relaxing)



granddad & -mom sorting green pakrikas after there size & shape.
they grew it themselve & sell it.