For this years field studies, we went to Niseko, Hokkaido.
Area of Interaction: Environment

Day 1
The first day was mostly on the plane to go to Hokkaido, for about two hours. When we arrived at Hokkaido, we went on a walk around the place. There was a massive change between the environment of Hokkaido and Yokohama/ Tokyo. First of all, the temperature was very different. Although I thought it would be a lot more colder, I think it was colder than Yokohama. There were also more greenary and less vehicles and large buildings.

After we arrived, we went on a small walk around the place to get to our campsite. There were very less people and cars but there were a lot of trees/ plants and huge lakes. I didn’t have a time where I thought it was crowded. The air also felt fresh, unlike in Yokohama where there are less nature.

When we arrived at the campsite, we separated in two groups – the group that made our dinner (curry), and the group that set up the tents. For making the curry, although we had the appliance, we had to make fire by ourselves and cut and cook by ourselves. After dinner, we went to the onsen/ hot spring/ bath then came back to sleep in the tents. There were different sizes of tents, and my tent had 6 people. It was really really really cold at night and the morning. In the morning, I barely couldn’t get out of my sleeping bag because of the temperature, and my hair was messy.

Day 2

On day two, we went hiking again, but this time we had less concrete, and we basically went around the campsite then came back before breakfast, which the Niseko Activity Center (NAC) made for us. Afterwards, we packed our things and went to HIS, Hokkaido International School in Niseko because a former teacher from our school was there. They had prepared lunch for us, and then we had basically time to practice our skits for the skit night. My group did Hunger Games (although we didn’t show it at the night). Later, we went to a Japanese agriculture high school near HIS, and they taught us how to make dry flower arrangement. It was heard because the flower was really fragile and easily broken (the flower arrangement in the picture isn’t mine).

After visiting the high school, we went to a farmer’s house to help take down her greenhouse, and then we make jack o lanterns because it was halloween soon. The jack o lantern in the picture is my jack o lantern (i was still working on it). It was disgusting to pull out the inside of the pumpkin, because it was all orange and slimy.

Day 3
On day three, my group, Group 2 did mountain biking in the morning, and rafting in the afternoon. We biked around Yoteisan Mountain, and the course was about 23 km, and it was about two hours. There were mud and dirty puddles, but I had fun. Our lunch was soba at a restaurant, and we had rafting after that – we had to put our dry suits on. As we were getting ready for rafting, it started raining hard, which made the temperature colder than before, and the water was really freezing cold. Despite how cold it was, it was really fun because we even got a chance to get in the water. We also got to eat wild eatable berries straight from the tree, which I don’t think we will be able to do in the urban areas. We also had a movie night at the end of the day and we watched Eragon.

Day 4
Day four was basically our last day, because the fifth day was mostly at the airport, in the bus or airplane. Day four for my group was kayaking. My partner was Kate, and we were suppose to go to an island with deers and eat lunch there, but since the waves were big that day, we had to go back when we were half way to the island. It was really tiring because we had to keep rowing to reach fast. Me and Kate were fast at the start, so we had to go more than some people, which was hard and really tiring. Lunch was burritos and soup. After that, we ate ice cream, and then played outside with balls. There were also animals there, like goats, rabbits and horses. At night, we had the skit night which was funny because my group practiced a part from The Hunger Games but at the end, we didn’t present it. I think one part of my favorite of this year’s field studies was the onsen/ hot spring.

This day was the last day of Field Studies and we woke up at around 6:00 to 6:30 to pack and load our luggage on the bus. My roommates were simply too tired from the day before (I should probably say, from the last 4 days :-P) and were snuggling in bed not wanting to get out. It was quite cold in the room and it felt really uncomfortable. (Yawn) We went down for breakfast still tired and the sleepiness still with us at 7:15 am. At 8:30 we got ready for our very last activity. (Yawn) It was lake clean up for me/group B. Shiho got most of the garbage. We found things like cans, pieces plastic, some books, a rope and a Mc Donald’s left-over. We headed to the Omachi wall where the other group was. Skye and Teddy were there too.

 The teacher gave us Bento boxes and we went on the bus at around 12:00. I was sitting next to Anju and we were talking about whether we should eat all of the bento or not. We ate most of it cause we were quite hungry but not completly everything. We ate our own snacks we bought instead. We arrived at Yokohama early which was great! It was around 5:30.

Jenny :-)

This day I felt like I was going to go back to Yokohama which made me feel sad :-( … This day was a one day hike and we had Indian curry at the top. My shoes were soaked because the ground was WET. We were with Skye and Teddy (One of Evergreen Guides’ dogs). Skye is half Husky and half Shibaken. But also Teddy’s mother! Indian curry was very delicious. The ‘Chai’ (a type of tea) was very good too. I liked it! The dessert was homemade (?) cakes. It was really good.

Around the end of the day we presented our skits. The topic everyone had to put in was ‘foam’. Our group totally failed… First when my group tried to make the story of the skit, we struggled but we made a perfect one after the Indian curry lunch but we couldn’t do a good one like our practice. The game we played at the end was fun especially because I got to know more about Hakuba, out-door sports and everyone’s knowledge :-P Around the end of the Final Night Party, I got a stomach ache so I went back to my room before anyone else… On the last day, we have to wake up at 6:30 so, my roommate and I slept early. I think everyone was open minded at the Final Night Party.

Jenny :-)

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On the 3rd day, there was already an activity waiting for us right after breakfast at the hotel like the 2nd day. We split into groups and did team building games. Team building games are games/activities we play that need team work and needs people who are a communicator, thinker,open-minded snd risk-takers. After we played games then had our BBQ! (Some people’s stomach was dying for food :-P ) ;-) It was yummy but my stomach got full fast! :-o Then it was time for another activity, which was Rock Climbing (for group B=me)! Meanwhile, Group A did cleaning Lake Aokiko. I’ve done rock climbing once before but I always wanted to do it again, so it was perfect :-) I did 2 of the rock climbing wall’s and I was the 2nd girl to go to the very top of the wall for both of them!! Yay! :-P We had dinner (which everyone was waiting for) at the hotel after and we had ice-cream for dessert! After was free time and time for bed.
My favorite part of this day was rock climbing at Omachi wall. I would like to do it again sometime.

Jenny :-)

The morning of this day, I woke up at 5:30… outside was already noisy and some of my room mates awoke too. This day, we were divided into 2 groups, A and B for our activity, canoeing and MTB (Mountain Biking). I was group B so I went canoeing first. My group for canoeing was Marii, Akari and me. We played “tag while canoeing” which was quite hard but, fun. The ball didn’t hit the boat I was on :-) Yay! (?) Canoeing was harder than I thought but my group managed to communicate and co-operate with each other. We did MTB after that and I went on beginners, but at the end I thought I wished I went to “extreme”. MTB finished and we packed our stuff for going to the hotel (Yamano Hotel) at 17:00. Me and my room mates were sad because our room was tatami. For the free time, we just watched TV and tried to get idea’s for our skit’s. But we forgot about our skit because we made people in 6th grade for people or animals in TV which was super funny and we were laughing all (or most of) the free time.

Jenny

The morning of first day was mostly on the bus (cause it was 5-6 hour ride) while going to Hakuba, Nagano. I wished we could go to the hotel the first day but tent were better than I thought and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the orienteering and treasure hunt when we got divided into 6 different groups and tried looking for things listed in the list of things we had to find. I think my group communicated to get the things, so it was great! On the list there were things like feathers, red leaves, dead bug :-( , white rock etc. We also got bonus points if we answered the answers for the “bonus” question’s. The first bonus question was a riddle, and was quite hard. At the end of the activity, when we shared what we got, most of the groups got all the things which was great!!! :-) After we made our tents with our room mates, we had dinner Grandmother Sue made for us. Then we did the campfire and we sang songs or told riddles or scary stories while having our hot chocolate with marshmallow on top. When we went back to the tents, it was really cold=FREEZING! Everyone wore a lot of clothes and slept or chatted. Some other girls were yelling+shouting “Shut Up!” to other tents or to the boy’s (even if them theirselves were loud, shouting … :-( ) But, I thought that the first day was enjoyable then I thought!

Jenny :-)

This year, for camp we’re going to Hakuba in Japan! :P I think the hot air-ballooning, hiking, rock climbing and canoeing will be really exiting. Well, to be honest, I think everything is going to be fun! I’ve done hiking last year, and rock climbing many times but I’ve never done hot air-ballooning and canoeing. I’m also exited about what we’re going to do, but going to Hakuba only with my friends and teachers for 5 days could be exiting! Can’t wait!! :D

Jenny :D