Hokudai campus hanami

Oh boy, do I have pictures to share! Brace yourself, posts are coming!

Last weekend, we spent Saturday afternoon at a hanami party at the university. Kevin's department had a BBQ between the wings of their lab under two amazingly gorgeous cherry trees. 

The variety in the pictures before were called Somei Yoshino and are the early variety. The ones blooming now are the later variety Yaezakura. Personally, I find this latter variety more beautiful since the blooms are layered like roses and the color is more intense. To read more about cherry blossoms and varieties, click here.

We were told Sapporo and Hokkaido isn't the best for cherry blossoms and I guess, maybe compared to other more famous Japanese cities it's true, but I have NOT been disappointed and it's been a beautiful season to experience!

We left the hanami party, to run some errands and enjoy the weather. We stopped at this little pond on the campus for some pictures. 

 This avenue is pretty famous. At least if you google Hokkaido University it pops up. ;)

The campus and this road runs through town so lots of bike traffic coming and going.

Something unexpected and beautiful we've seen has been the Japanese maples in violent shades of crimson red.

Apparently some varieties open their leaves in this color instead of an ordinary green, then turn green for summer, then red again in fall. 

I can only imagine the beauty of fall here!

 

There was this massive weeping cherry tree on the campus too!

Amazing!

 

One of our neighbors shared her hanami experience with us. She rode her bike 300km to Hakodate in Southern Hokkaido and back. Hakodate is a coastal town famed for it's giant fortress and cherry blossoms. But she said, the variety of trees there aren't appealing to her because they look like "kaeru tamago" or frog eggs. What has been seen, cannot be unseen!

 

And yeah, I'm the person who stops in the middle of a sidewalk to crouch for a flower picture. You're not? ;)

Next: Mother's Day: Japan edition

Failed Hiraoka-koen adventure

Kevin had a 4 day weekend in honor of Golden week so we enjoyed lots of outside time this weekend. We puttered around our own little park here and enjoyed each other's company.

 The cherry blossom at our local Seishin riverside park had faded in the winds we had one night.. unfortunately. These were still hanging on though! :)

And there are some trees yet to bloom! Yay!

Tuesday, we set out to find Hiraoka koen/park. It's a trek when we googled it but walking has never scared us so off we set to the closest subway station and beyond. We had Kevin's map app to keep us on course...and we walked. 

Along the way, the flowers we passed were lovely. :)

 

Ok, so I really love daffodils and tulips! :)

Long story short, we got caught in this lovely whipping wind and rain storm. (note how far Mt Moiwa is, we were on the south side of it again...but faaaar)

 

Out of the blue, we found a little children's clothing store to wait out the rain in. Yay! Shopping! :) I could have bought the whole store but we only picked up a couple shirts for Elisabeth. 

Then we kept walking along our supposed route.. stopped and picked up lunch... kept walking... started wondering how far this park really is... sinking feeling we might be lost... omg where are we? ...well we might as well see what's out here... ok, there's seriously nothing out here anymore, just greenhouses and hills... uh oh. 

So yeah, long story short, we walked all together 4 hours that day, didn't find our park and missed it several kilometers in the wrong direction. OOOPS.

We ended up at a 711 and asked the cashier if she could call us a taxi (using our phrasebook since no one speaks English here) and then took a taxi to the subway station we came from. It was a 6 hour trek that day and we were exhausted by the time we came home. And bummed we missed our ume experience. 

Oh well. Perhaps next weekend. Bahahahhahhahahaha....

Grocery shopping in Sapporo

We have a three grocery stores in our area: Max Value (which is right at the Nakanoshima subway station and not stroller friendly), Co-Op down our street, and Seiyu (on Hiragishi dori).

Alueella on kolme ruokakauppa: max value (metroaseman vieressä), co-op (samalla kadulla) ja kauempana on Seiyu. 

We do our immediate needs shopping at the first two, but our big meal planning shopping at the Seiyu. The reason being, that the first two have a decent selection but Seiyu beats them out in both selection and price. 

Seiyussa teemme suurempia ostoksia, sillä siellä on paremmat valikoimat ja halvemmat hinnat. Toisista ostamme vain kiireessä ja päivittäistavarat esim. maitoa.
 
(After doing some googling by the by, I found out that Seiyu is actually a part of the Walmart big corporate thing. I don't know if I feel like this is a good or a bad thing, but whatevers!)

(on our walk home)

The other thing that I like a lot about Seiyu vs the others, is that there are two more floors of clothing and home stuff (a la walmart style), so if we need something (say, hangers), we can grab them there too. 

One stop shopping: the best.

Seiyusta saa myös muutakin tavaraa: kotijuttuja, vaatteita ym.
 

They also carry baby items, which most grocery stores don't. In fact, formula (if we fed her that), baby food (if she would eat it) etc can usually only be found in drug stores! I don't know if this is the case in some giant supermarkets (we've yet to see one), but it's kind of annoying that if I want to grab her some snacks that I have to make two stops. 

Also, our smaller grocery stores don't seem to carry all sizes or brands of diapers, wipes etc. Super irritating.

Täällä ostetaan yleensä vauvajutut esim. korviketta, vauvanruokaa jne apteekeista! Ei asia meitä kauheasti ole vaivanut, koska eihän toi tyttö ole koskaan kumpaakaan ottanut, mutta onhan se varmaan rasittavaa japanilaisten äitien mielestä käydä erikseen toisessa kaupassa. Vaippavalikoima pienissä ruokakaupoissa on huonoa, yleensä vain pari merkkiä tai yhtä kokoa. Seiyusta saa kaikkea niin senkin takia tykkään käydä siellä.

So on to what we bought.

Our meal planning this week was this:

pork curry donburi

ginger pork shogayaki

miso ramen

(beef) yakisoba (one of my favorites)

Tofu-veggie stir fry

Some meatballs for Elisabeth 

Eggs and bacon for Easter breakfast

Salmon dip ingredients for an appetizer to bring to the BBQ

Ostoslistalla siis tarvikkeet yllämainituille. Alhaalla sitten mitä ostettiin. 

This is what we came home with:

The Libero diapers we brought with us are running out, so time to try some Japanese Pampers. We also ran out of wipes, so I did some research and found out how to look for alcohol and paraben free wipes.

Elisabeth WILL NOT eat baby food, so the only "for baby" items we buy for her are these snacky foods that she gets at home or when we are out and about around town.

Liberovaipat loppuu, Pampersit tilalle. Myös Liberon wet wipesit loppumassa, uudet tilalle! Löysin blogin, jossa kerrotaan miten ostaa alkoholittomia jne niin helpotti ostospäätöstä, kun osasi oikeita sanoja etsiä paketista. Sitten myös vauvanaksu-keksejä vauvoille. Näistä Elisabeth tykkää ja ne on helppoja ottaa mukaan kaupungille! 

We picked up lunch since we were starving at this point. All this sushi for only 284 yen and 378 yen. So we had a sushi lunch that was amazing good (blows US and Finnish sushi outta the water) for only 652 yen, we had a sushi lunch. That's about $6.52 and even less in euros. Woot!?

N. 5 eurolla saatiin sushilounaan. Maistui paremmalle kuin Suomen ja USA:n sushit yhteensä ja oli vain ruokakauppatavaraa. 

Our meat products: bacon, pork, pork belly, pork for ramen, beef, salmon, ground chicken and in the middle naruto (a fish cake) for ramen. 

Lihatuotteet: pekonia, possua, possua, possua (rameniin), naudanlihaa, lohta, kanan jauheliha ja naruto keskellä (joka on siis öö kalajuttua jota laitetaan ramenin päälle).
 

Dairy/protein: Tofu, eggs, milk, yogurt (hopefully not as sweet as others we've tried), cream cheese

(what's up great value brand lol)

 Maitotuotteet ym: tofu (joo ei ole maitotuote), kananmunia, maitoa, jogurttia (toivottavasti ei yhtä makeaa kuin muut jota ollaan kokeiltu!), tuorejuustoa.

Our plastic wrapped produce: tomatoes, onion, carrots, maitake mushrooms, ginger, bean sprouts, cucumber, potatoes, shredded cabbage.

The tomatoes are about $2.85, onions, carrots and potatoes were about $1.85, the three little cucumbers were about $1.50, the bag of cabbage was about $1.00. The cheapest items were the mushrooms 67 yen each ($0.67) and the bean sprouts at 26 yen ($0.26). 

 Muoviin pakatut vihannekset: tomaattia, sipulia, porkkanaa, maitake-sieniä, inkivääriä, pavun ituja, japanilaista kurkkua, perunaa, kaaliraaste.

To me, the price of carrots, onions, and potatoes is crazy. Teeny weeny bags for way more than I'd ever spend in Finland. That's the difference I guess in cuisine as well though? Finns eat a lot of potatoes! 

Hinnoiltaan tomaatit voi verrata Suomeen, mutta kalliimmat ovat perunat, sipulit ja porkkanat. Prismassa saa kyllä enemmän kuin kilo perunoita reiluun euroon! Me saatiin 5 pientä perunaa. :D
Halvempia ovat sienet (reilusti alle euron) ja idut, jotka ois Suomessa ollut niin halpoja, ettei kukaan uskaltaisi ostaa, kun niissä on varmaan vikaa. ;) 

The fruit section here is also very limited in my opinion. Apples and oranges are easily $1.00 or more EACH and a small bag of them is about $5.00. Crazy! I have yet to see pears or much else. We do buy bananas however (just not this time), and they're more affordable at about $2 for a little bag. 

We also had at home already some garlic, which is about $2 for a few heads. 

Hedelmät ovat ihan hullun kallita täällä, eikä valikoima yleensä ole parempi kuin banaani, omena ja appelsiini. 

Pantry and other items: 

Banana chips, chocolate cookies (I'm obsessed with this brand, they have so many flavors and I love them with my naptime coffee), sugar (we haven't bought any yet!), wasabi, prunes (Elisabeth needs them!), bread, corn (for ramen), fresh ramen (that go in the fridge), sesame oil,  and green onions (because I forgot them in the picture above ugh).

The bread here comes in small bags (only 5-6 slices) and is ginormous and THICK. You can however also buy a small loaf and cut it yourself, but we don't eat that much bread, just with breakfast a couple times a week, so this suits us fine. 

They also ONLY seems to sell super white bread. :P It's delicious but not nutritious. Oh well...

Muut ostokset:
Banaanilastuja, suklaakeksejä (kahvin kanssa nam!), sokeria (ei olla ostettu vielä), wasabi-tahnaa, luumuja Elisabethille, leipää, maissia (rameniin), itse ramen-nuudeleita (jääkaappitavaraa), seesamiöljy ja edellisestä kuvasta unohtuneet kevätsipulipussit. 
Leipävalikoima on rajoittunut vaaleaan leipään. Vaaleampaa kuin ranskanleipää! Pienissä pusseissa on vain 5-6 siivua, mutta siivut täällä ovat ainakin 3cm paksut ja puolet isompia kuin Suomessa. Saa toki ihan kokonaistakin leipää ostaa, mutta ei me tota pullaa usein syödä niin ollaan hyllylle jätetty. 
 

We have a teeny-weeny fridge, so here's a shot of what's in it. :D 

Pieneen jääkaappiin kyllä mahtuu...

Top shelf: Eggs, yogurt, mushrooms, ramen, leftovers, butter

Middle shelf: meat, ramen, cucumbers, leftover rice, meat, bacon (hidden in back, miso)

Bottom: potatoes, bean sprouts, leftover spinach, carrots, salad dressing, yakisoba sauce, soy sauce, green onions

Door top: baby food that needs to get tossed since Elisabeth didn't like it, condiments for rice, cream cheese, Japanese mustard, ginger, curry roux cubes. 

Door bottom: Sapporo Classic (only found in Sapporo), milk, green tea (Kevin loves it!)

Ylähyllyllä: kananmunia, jogurttia, sieniä, ramenia, edellisen illan ruuat, voita
Keskihyllyllä: lihaa, ramenia, kurkkua, keitettyä riisiä, lihaa, pekonia ja piillossa takana misoa.
Alahyllyllä: perunoita, ituja, pinaattia, porkkanoita, salaatinkastike, yakisoba-kastiketta, soijaa, kevätsipulia
Ovessa ylhäällä: roskiin menevää vauvanruokaa, riisin mausteita, tuorejuustoa, inkivääriä, japanlaista sinappia, curry-kastikekuutioita
Alhaalla ovessa: Sapporo Classic olutta (saatavilla vain Sapporossa), maitoa, vihreä teetä. 

Time to get ready for our party so I'm gonna have to end it here! 

Be back soon hopefully! :)

Lupaan kääntää myöhemmin! Pian alkavat grillipippalot alakerrassa! :)

This week's recap

Wow, this week flew by! 

Just another regular week here. Elisabeth took some great naps earlier (3+ hours!) and I took advantage of my alone time by spending it on pinterest (lol), drinking LOOOOOOOTS of coffee, learning more Japanese, and crocheting!

Highlights of this week:

On Monday, I did laundry. It took LITERALLY ALL DAY to do it. I had two loads going, one without a dry cycle (it's a 2-in-1 machine) and one with. The without one (Kevin's shirts) took a few hours to wash (no friggin' quick cycle?!), and the one with...oh, I don't know. 

Like seriously, I lost count. 

I started it sometime early afternoon, maybe noonish? It wasn't done till like after 6 pm. Oh, but they were still wet... so I split the load and put it into two machines and set the dry cycle. Ummm it went until sometime in the morning when Kevin went and got it. I dread doing laundry now! Every time it's something new with those machines. GRR!

I thought these appliances were supposed to make our lives easier? It really makes me miss my fantastic beautiful 7kg Samsung washer at home, complete with a quick cycle that washes in 1h 6min. It even sings when it's done! ♥ Oh, and our dryer downstairs... ONE hour! ONE! ...sigh, these are just some of those homesick things...

Tuesday...I don't even remember what I did Tuesday. Is that bad?

Wednesday, we went to the grocery store and picked up dinner for a couple nights while Kevin was at school. (Tofu stir fry & beef yakisoba) I love going to the grocery store with a plan. We spend MUCH LESS and get MUCH MORE it seems. What's not to love about that?

Thursday and Friday, we did the usual walk around our closest playground (closer than the one I've shown before), it's just 2 little blocks away. :)

On both days Elisabeth decided I was spoiled with long naps and free time and decided I ought to spend more time getting her to sleep than she actually sleeps. Oh fun! I love to meander around the neighborhood for an hour while she sleeps for 30 min...

Saturday, we went grocery shopping in the morning (and bought a ton of stuff) and then in the afternoon, we went downtown to Bic Camera (which is more than cameras) and then walked to find an H&M near Odori park, then came home and made pork curry donburi again and hung out with our neighbors.
(H&M here has some pretty different stuff than Finland!)

Today, we ate a wonderful Easter breakfast (bacon, eggs & toast) and then took a walk again. It's SUPER warm today, very sunny and for once (!) not windy! Perfect weather for our afternoon/evening which will be the building's BBQ! :) It's in celebration of spring as well as a goodbye and welcome party for neighbors (including us!)!
Sounds like fun to see what a Japanese BBQ party is like! :)

I'm going to try to find time (since it didn't happen this week) to blog about some topics and I've even been taking pictures for them and all. Woot?! I've never been a "planning" blogger before, but my how things change.
Upcoming topics I want to blog about:

• what we bought at the grocery store/grocery store info in general
• our neighborhood and the houses here
• our experiences of traveling with a baby -- a first look (since we're not too far into this yet)

Now here's the fun part... tell me what you want me to blog about! :)
Yes, you!
I will do my best to cover the topic if I can!
Just leave a comment on this post, send me a message on facebook/skype/email or whatever social media you know me from!

Can't wait to hear from you!
(otherwise this blog might be a little...boring if it's just about our day to day walks and laundry debacles!)

Who can tell me what bird is in this photo?
Mikä lintu kuvassa? 

Suomeksi melkein sama: 

Viikon alussa Elisabeth nukkui ihanat pitkät päikkärit (3+ tuntia), jolloin sain aikaseksi blogata, juoda liikaa kahvia, virkata ja oleskella netissä. Ihanaa! Viikko menikin tosi nopeasti ihan vaan kotona ollessa.

Maanantaina pesin pyykkiä. Suomessa se on ehkä lempikotityö, täällä se on ehkä kamalin. Siihen menee KOKO PÄIVÄ, eikä ne pyykit edes kuivu (koneet sekä pesee että kuivaa). Koti-ikävää on eniten kun ajattelee 1) elukat ja 2) Samsung pyykinpesukone ♥

Tiistaita en muista... ööö.

Keskiviikkona mentiin ruokakauppaan Elisabethin kans ja ostettiin parin päivän ruuat. Kauppalistan ateriat olivat tofu-vokki ja naudanliha yakisoba (nuudelijuttu). Tätä ei voi englanniksi ilmaista, mutta aina kun syön seuraavana päivänä lounaaksi edellisen illan tofu-vokkia, tulee sana mieleen: riisipöperö. :D 

Torstai ja perjantai meni siihen, että päivän jatkuva tavoite oli saada tytön unille. Haahuilin ympäri lähikatuja aina tunti kerralla ja neiti nukkui makeat 30 minuuttia. On se kivaa meille kaikille kun 7.30-9.00 välillä on vaan 2-3 päikkäriä ja kaikki kestänyt 30min. :P 

Lauantaina käytiin aamulla ruokaostoksilla (ostettiin paljon kaikkea!) ja iltapäivällä keskustassa shoppailemassa Bic Camerassa (joka ei ole vain kamerakauppa) ja sitten H&M:lle. Jossa siis paljon kaikenlaista mitä Suomessa ei ole. Sitten syötiin possu-curry riisikulhoa ja hengailtiin naapureitten kanssa.

Tänään syötiin pääsiäisaamupalan: pekonia, kananmunia ja paahtoleipää ja sitten mentiin "nukutuslenkille". Nyt se parvekkeella nukkuu ja toivon mukaan nukkuu kauankin! Kerrankin ei tuule ja on ihanan lämmin ja aurikoista!

Iltapäivällä alkaa talon grillijuhlat/läksiäiset/tervetuliaiset (?) ja uskon, että se tulee olemaan tosi hauskaa nähdä millaiset japanilaiset grillikekkerit on! :) 

Toivon mukaan saan aikaa lähipäivänä bloggailla lisää. Aiheeksi olen suunnitellut jo (siis en yleensä näitä postauksia suunnittele):

• mitä ostetaan ruokakaupasta/ruokakaupoista yleensäkin infoa
• naapurustoa ja täkäläisten taloista
• kokemuksemme vauvan kanssa matkustamisesta (näin vähän karkeasti, koska olemme vielä alussa asian kanssa)

Mutta, nyt jotain kivaa! Ehdottakaa ihmeessä minulle aiheita, josta haluatte kuulla lisää! Lupaan tehdä parhaani löytää tietoa ja kertomista asiasta! :) 

Minusta vain vähän tuntuu, että blogista saattaa tulla tylsähkö jos on vain meidän arjesta (päiväunista ja pyykistä). ;)

Laittakaa kommenttia tähän tai viestiä facebookiin/skypeen/s-postiin! 

Saturday: Nakajima park, Susukino & Ramen dinner!

We had a really busy and fun Saturday! 

We decided to take advantage of the great (but cold and windy!) weather and walk to Sapporo station. Things didn't go according to plan, but it was still a great walk! 

We headed North up our street to Horohira bridge. It's really close to our subway stop. The views were amazing, it was a really open spot! They even had a large arch so you can get up higher to really take in the view. 

Definitely beautiful! 

I love that it's mountains as far as the eye can see. So different from home. 

Then we walked on to Nakajima park. If you remember, our hotel was at the north end of this park and we mistakenly meandered through a bit of it on our first day. 

We haven't been back since, so it was nice to really walk through it! 

Signs of spring...

...even though many places look like this...

Nakajima park is home to Kitara, a concert hall. (pictured) There's also the museum of literature. (snooze)

What I liked was the beautiful little pond! In the summer months you can rent little rowboats!

After Nakajima park, we walked north through Susukino and to Tanuki-koji (the shopping street, one of many). We looked at some souvenir stores and took in the smells of the restaurants. By this point, Elisabeth woke up and we were pretty hungry, so we didn't make it to Sapporo station as planned. Instead, we went home for a snacky lunch and made dinner plans! 

 (the photos above are all susukino)

(Tanuki-koji is blocks of this!)

We met our friend on Saturday night for some authentic ramen, Hokkaido style with a miso base. Yummmmmm. It was the biggest bowl ever, piping hot, and so so good. I forgot to take a picture though!! I know, I was bummed after I realized it too! :/ 

Elisabeth even tried some of the ramen noodles, she slurped it like a pro. I was a shy slurper, Kevin was not. We had so much fun and it was really a popular local spot -- always a line, all seats at the bar full. And for only 750 yen a bowl (about $7.50), a real deal too! 

After we ate, we went to the Susukino district downtown, known for party spots and bars. We went to an izakaya, a Japanese bar...with Elisabeth! Hahaha, gotta start 'em young. ;) She wasn't the only kid there though, it was more like a pub in a way. They had some food there too, and we actually sat at the bar (vs a booth) and were able to see into the kitchen and watch them cook. Fun! Kevin tried some Japanese whisky, beer, and sake. I had ginger ale and grapefruit juice. :) 

They actually have deals here where you can drink as much as you want for a set price for a set time (i.e. 1200 yen for 2h) if you also purchase some food. Pretty good idea! (especially to purchase food and not just drink unlimited amounts of alcohol, sounds like that could be trouble!) ;) 

It was the latest we've ever stayed out, we weren't home until just after 10 p.m. Wild and crazy, I know!

It was really fun because we got to see the infamous Susukino at night, on a Saturday. It's really known as the fun drinking part of town so seeing some Japanese nightlife was great! 

We saw this on our walk home from the subway station. We actually had just been talking about how little tagging or graffiti you see here... Then we found this in an underpass tunnel. LOLZ!

Miss Muffin has woken up (after an awesome long nap!), so it's downstairs for some lunch for us! I'll try to be back with yesterdays happenings soon :)

Lauantaina käveltiin keskustaan Nakajima-puiston kautta. Mutta ensin pysähdyimme maisemia ihailemaan Horohira-sillalle. Nakajima-puisto oli sulanut paljon siihen verrattuna mitä sinne viimeksi eksyimme. Varmoja kevään merkkejä oli! Ihastuttava pikku lammikko oli jo sulanut ja kesällä voi ilmeisesti vuokrata pieniä soutuveneitä!
Susukinoon käveltiin seuraavaksi. Oli tarkoitus Sapporo asemalle asti kävellä, mutta matka jäi Tanuki-kojiin,  sillä Elisabeth heräsi ja nälkä oli kaikilla. 
Illalla tapasimme yliopistolta kaveria, joka vei meitä paikalliseen ramen ravintolaan. Nam! Oli iso kulho misopohjaista ramenia, pienen possupalasen ja vihannesten kera. Kuvata unohdin, hupsis!
Ruoan jälkeen mentiin vielä lasilliselle izakayaan, eli japanilaiseen pubiin. Täällä siis kaveri kertoi, että harvemmin japanilaiset baarit ovat sellaisia kuin Suomessa. Täällä pidetään pubi/ruokameineingeistä enemmän kuin pimeessä tanssimisesta ja kovasta musiikista. (veikkaan, että hänen käsitys on tullut Fat Lady opiskelijapippaloista Tampereella ollessa, hehehhehe). 
Täällä erikoista baarikulttuurissa oli se, että voi tiettyyn hintaan juoda niin paljon kuin haluaa tiettynä aikana. Esim 12e 2 tuntia. Mutta sitten siinä tarttis ostaa myös pari ruoka-annosta tms. (jos juo ihan rajattomasti pari tuntia niin suosittelisin jotain muuta sinne mahaan kans, käypä idea!)
Oli kiva nähdä Susukino-aluetta lauantai-iltana, oli meno ja meininki siellä! Tultiin kotiin vasta klo 22 jälkeen, mikä on myöhässä meille!!!!! :O 
Oli hauskaa! :)