Days 11-12: 週末（weekend!)

[You can perhaps tell by these uncreative titles that my Japanese vocabulary remains limited. Oh well.]

This past weekend felt like a mini-vacation in itself, a break from the heavy studying material of the days before. Saturday morning, I woke up in a leisurely manner, to find instructions on the kitchen table written half in Japanese, half in English – for how to make pancakes! Okaasan had work in the morning, and set up the griddle and batter for us to help ourselves to a pancake breakfast.

Once home from work, Okaasan and I went to an afternoon concert, two sopranos and a pianist, half Japanese music and half Western classical. It was a short bike ride away, and rather enjoyable; interesting to hear a lightly different style, and a style I'm familiar with in a new context. During their encore they invited everyone to sing along.

By the way, bikes are everywhere here. Everyone seems to have one to commute with, and not just young folk.

Later in the afternoon, in the middle of running some errands, we stopped at a convent at the outskirts of the city, established during the Meiji period (once the ban on Christianity was lifted) and still active today. Visitors are not allowed inside the walls of the convent proper, but the outer court was a beautiful site that attracts tourists regularly.

Saturday evening, we finally got the chance to meet Okaasan's husband (Otoosan, as it were – "father") over dinner, along with Mariko and Kento. Dinner featured a bunch of different small plates, and we shared some sake to go along with it. Back at home, Kento, Mariko, Nick and I stayed up late and chatted while Kento and I worked on our homework.

I did NOT eat this

But I did eat this

And this

Come Sunday, I really didn't do much of anything but more resting around the house, and some studying. As I was working on updating my blog, Okaasan plopped a big bowl of ramen down in front of me – delicious (and especially because it didn't have many assorted items like squishy wheat gluten).

Then, in the evening, since the weather was nice and clear, Okaasan took Nick and me to Mount Hakodate (Hakodate-yama) to see the famous view of the city. We rode up the ropeway to the observation station at the top of the mountain and it was absolutely packed with people clamoring to get their own photo of the view as the sun sank into the horizon.

Before we left, we went to a less-packed area and got a different angle of the city below. Then, when I looked up – would you believe it? – the Big Dipper was right there above me, as if it had been placed there just for me. It was, well, surreal.

Well, the weekend is over now and it's back to work. Here's to more adventures.