amused sisley (1)

Since I'm in an unusually good mood today, and because I have loads of time to do so, I'll be sharing one of my happier stories here on my blog. I feel that I've been contaminating this space with far too much negativity lately, so I'd like to present to you one of my happiest memories. It's a condensed version of the three weeks I spent in Hamamatsu, Japan in the summer holidays.

I had always been interested in some sort of cultral exchange program, but I was never determined enough to join in the end. However, when the poster for the programme was posted in our classroom that day, I jumped to the idea of it. I had heard of the program two or three years ago in fact, but never did I think that I'd participate. However, this time, I felt the strong urge to apply. So, with the company of some friends, I simply signed up and went.

It was a programme that I never thought I'd be able to endure. It lasted for a long, long time -- three weeks, and it actually required us to bathe together. The idea of it seemed distant and unfathomable, but I told myself that I wanted to go and signed up. It wasn't until the day before that I started thinking, "what if I happen to hate it? How am I going to get through twenty one days?" I was very nervous on the day before going there.

For the first time, I left Hong Kong without my parents, and it was an unforgettable experience. I went through the customs and boarded the plane alone (well with my friends actually), and I felt invincible for being able to get things done by myself.

The first day, well actually night, we arrived at the dorms. The dorms were fine, but the food and environment were incredibly average, so average that I became worried. I didn't have enough food, and didn't bring any with me. The food lacked taste, and wasn't filling at all. At night, things became overwhelmingly dark for me, as I felt lonely and hopeless somehow. Actually, I wasn't the only one. I still recall us girls from Hong Kong ranting about how hard the coming days would be.

But we were incredibly wrong.

The second day, we instantly changed our minds. They distributed to us an activity-packed, exciting schedule. Every single day was interesting, and that gave me a great deal of hope and anticipation. The first activity set for us was actually an hour of shopping, where we went to a nearby shopping area and bought a bunch of life necessities. I was more than thrilled to dash around the drugstore, picking up a few interesting products. Then, I went to the supermarket where I stocked up on enough food for the coming nights.

If you know me, you'd know how much I love shopping in Japanese stores. That was the first time I ran around my beloved stores shopping for things for my own lifestyle, and it was satisfying. I was overwhelmed by the amount of freedom and independence I had there. It felt like we were genuinely living there for a period of time, instead of the normal travelling where you experienced luxury. After that, we became incredibly pumped and ecstactic. We even bought cushions at the 100-yen shop to help us sleep better, as the terrible rock-like pillows prevented us from sleeping well.

And I can ensure you, that wasn't all. After that, we discovered that on most days, 3pm to 6pm was our free time, so we were free to run around the neighbouring (extremely rural) area near the school, and it was whole new concept to us. It really felt like we were living on our own, almost completely deciding by ourselves where to go. I don't know why, but maybe after too many months of studying torture, it was a very precious luxury. Almost everyday, we went out and explored, taking walks to the nearby convenience stores, shops, post office and even just aimlessly going out for a walk. The area was very rural, with at most five other people in view. There were literally no obvious shops at all, the biggest ones blended perfectly into the other residential houses, with them looking just like any other average house. The road to the nearby convenience shop was a long, 15-minute path passing through a huge field, with the footpath being surrounded by lots and lots of greenery. It wasn't something I normally enjoyed seeing, but perhaps because life was very hectic for me back in Hong Kong, the endless green calmed me down and was the perfect detox experience.

And that was only the very, very beginning. I obviously can't mention everything in detail here, since it'd get very, very lengthy, so from here onwards it'll be the biggest, most major highlights, as well as summarized experiences.

We were taken to a lot of places. Excluding the shopping experiences (which I'll try to put in the second part since it can literally take up a thousand words). We went to museums, a lake for sightseeing, hot springs, shrines, natural wonders and even attended a festival. It was such a rich, all-rounded experience. We kicked off the sightseeing with a boat tour around Hamanako (a nearby lake) and visiting Kanzanji (a shrine). We then went to the Suzuki History Museum, where we saw lots and lots of cars, and saw how cars were made. A few days later, we went to Okuni Shrine (Hamamatsu's most famous shrine), where we actually got to experience a genuine, authentic religious session and drank their rich green tea. Later, we went and Sakichi Toyota's museum (the founder of all your Toyota cars), which was actually his old home. It was incredibly eye-opening to me, seeing how the Japanese innovated so many intelligent things. Near the end of the trip, we also went to a natural cave, where we had a relaxing time looking at rocks. We ended all the sightseeing with a visit to Hamamatsu's famous Air Park, where we got to see and even sit in Japanese aircrafts. (Youtuber Kanadajin3 has a video on it). We also went to the hotsprings and Fuji Mountain, which I'll mention in detail in a later post.

Two things that never got better were bathing and eating. Starting with bathing, I'll elaborate on why sometimes I'm not suited for Japanese culture. Even after 21 days, I still can't stand taking baths with everyone else. It's not just because I'm rather conscious of my fat, it's also because I don't like seeing people naked -- it frightens me. It was relaxing to be able to take full, slow baths; it was fun to be able to experience the authentic Japanese bathing culture (which I'm happy because it's authentic); however, it was very uncomfortable to me. As a result, I spent twenty days covering myself carefully and showering in the corner by myself. At first, I was so scared I wanted to cry, but I eventually got used to it. It's still not something I enjoy, but I'm getting more and more used to it. On the twentieth night, I was able to shower properly, so I considered that as a huge breakthrough.

The food also, obviously, never got better. Besides getting accustomed to it, there were days when we had nicer food, such as curry rice or fried chicken. As days passed by, perhaps because I became contented with the food, the weak taste of the food weirdly calmed me. Since dinner was early, I got hungry at night, but since I regularly stocked up on food, I had tons to eat. It almost became a routine for me to drink a small carton of soymilk, eat a bit of peach, sometimes with bread of cup noodles every single night. It was through doing so that I got to test out different foods there, as well as satisfy my year-long craving of peaches and soymilk. I also fell in love with the 'soft water' and Iyemon Green Tea from the vending machine at school. The soft water felt literally softer, smoother and more gentle (hey you never know until you try it right), and the green tea had a perfect blend of powderiness it was amazing. After drinking the mellow but incredibly aromatic Iyemon Tea, I refused to drink any other brand after returning to Hong Kong.

And that's all for the first part, since I was forced to cut it into quite a few parts as it got too long. If you're not too done with me yet, please go check out the other parts coming too:D