Hippo Exchange Club

Hola todos!Como estan?Soy Nobu.Voy a Japon 15 de Septiembre - 11 de Octobre.Por que Nappi tienes ceremonia de "SHICHIGOSAN(3anos)" y Ginga tienes ceremonia de "OMIYAMAIRI(0anos)".Vamos a disfrutar!

About 20 persons gathered at Hippo activity on 25th of August.1 new person as member of this summer Japan exchange group joined this meeting. Welcome to Hippo!!!! She shared her experience of Japan homestay. ARIGATOOOO.So we were so excited.I like that I play SADA with many people. It's Soooo fun.OMOSHIROKATTAYO.This day it is special "Sing a long" and "Yellow cat" !!!! An-chan, Yutaro, Nappi so cute! So-chan Would you play Yellow cat next time, please! O.K.? Also It was so fun METAKATSU. Many persons request METAKATSU.

URESHIKATTAYO.Melvin shared his Japan homestay experience. We could see our friends (Kababa, Pare-chan etc)on his Japan photos.Mori also shared her Japan trip (go back hometown trip). When I looked her photos, I think Japan is so beautiful again!!!!Yutaro, Nappi tried introduce in Spanish! MATA YATTENE.Yohei tried to speak microphone first time. SUGOINE. MATA YATTENE.Hachimitsu-chan, Tiffany-chan,Jonathan-kun to kitekurete Arigatooooo.K.K. video SUGOINE. MATA TANOSHIMI NI SHITEIRUYO.I am sorry we couldn't have enough time that everybody can speak & singthe CD. (Only little bit introduce yourself)Shohei-kun,

Kenny KONDO WA IPPAI HANASHITENE.Rosemary, Yoko-chan would you try sing Hippo CD next time.Ginga participated Hippo at first time. My mom, thank you for your supported of "Gingin (Ginga)".

Next Hippo is mid autumn Hippo.Melvin will prepare moon cake and tea!!!!Wow! Vamos a disfrtar!We want to see so many hippo friends.

By Nobuchan

Hola todos!
Como estan?
Soy Nobu.
Yo fie a Bintan con mi familia. Estoy muuuuy contento. Entonces ahora yo y Nappi estan muuuuy neguro. Hehehe.
Erick, como te fue en Bintan? Muy bien? Espero que muy bien.

About 20 persons gathered to Hippo activity on 28th of April.
6New persons joined to this meeting. 3Singaporean ladies and Mutsukado family (Mom and daughter).
Welcome to Hippo. KITEKURETE ARIGATOOOO. MATA KITENE.
We were so excited.
We played SADA so many. This day it is special "Sing a long Dance a long".
Yohei (1years 6month) and Nappi (2years 9month) and Anna-chan (7years), their dance were so cool and so cute!!!!
It was so good timing that Yohei clapped his hands.
We have Hippo activity only once a month in Singapore. But little by little we are changing, growing. Of course Adults!!

We mimicked METAKATSU "ICHIRO" several languages. Rosemary and Hana-chan request some sean of ICHIRO.
And K.K. and Usagi-chan requested "ICHIRO" in Spanish.
Because they would like to participate Mexico camp next year. Wow. WATASHI mo IKITAINA.
This time, I was so fun in Spanish METAKATSU as everybody were enjoying together.

At Microphone time everybody spoke in several languages.
Usagi-chan first time tried introduce in Spanish!!!! Wow!!!! MATA YAROUNE.
Hana-chan introduce in Italian and Korean. MATA let's try introduce in Italian!
During Melvin heard sounds of Hana-chan's Italian, Spanish words (sounds) began to flow from his mouth. SUGOIYO!!!!
Kenny and Mori JIKOSYOKAI FUETANE. SUGO-I!!!!
Ivy introduce in HOKKEN GO first time. TAIWANGO TO SOKKURI. MATA HANASHITE.

K.K. and Ivy shared their experience in Japan. It was so fun!!!! SYASHIN SUGOINE!
MATA HANASHITENE.

At Tea break we had Yutaro's Birthday party(?!).
Yutaro Tanjyobi Omedeto!!!
We ate Mori's hand made birthday cake. Oishikaltutta!
We sang "Happy birth day" in Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Malay. Wow. OMOSHIROINE.

By Nobuchan

Hoy yo ver Sr. Erick (Mexicano) y hoblo muuuucho en Japones.
Poreso muuuuy contenta!!!!
(Today I met Mr. Erick (Mexican). I talked him in Japanese. My Hippo friend who live in New York now introduced him to me. He also know Hippo activity in Japan.
I hope he also join hippo activity in Singapore.

About 20 persons gathered at Hippo activity on 24th of March.
5 new persons (Obata family, Gray and K.K. friend (gomen I forgot her name)) joined this meeting. Welcome to Hippo!!!! ARIGATOOOO.
So we were so excited. I like that I play SADA with many people. It's Soooo fun. This day it is special IRO ONI & Seven StepsI!!!! OMOSHIROKATTAYO. Also It was so fun METAKATSU. Special "Super Salad" in Chinese with K.K.kun. K.K.kun can sing this sean almost perfect in Chinese. K.K.kun SUGOIYO. I feel I will become sing this scene in Chinese soon when I sing with K.K.kun. Melvin SUGOINE METAKATSU in Korean. ISSYONI YARUNO OMOSHIROIYO.

Ko-chan (New person 5 years old) tried introduce in Spanish! SUGOKATTAYO.
Also Yutaro to Nappi mone.
An-chan, would you try introduce in some language please? TANOSHIMI NI SHITERUYO.
Kenny tried introduce Spanish. FUETANE. SUGOINE.
Hachimitsu-chan Tiffany-chan to kitekurete Arigatooooo.
I am sorry we couldn't have enough time that everybody can speak & sing the CD. (Only little bit introduce yourself)

Usagi-chan shared her Cambodia experience. Also K.K.-kun shared his Japan experience.
It was so interesting story and nice pictures. We want to hear & see again.

By Nobuchan

Monthly Hippo Activities:

Nobuchan and Yokochan has been kind enough to open up their house for Hippo activities on a monthly basis. Every month end (usually on Saturday afternoons), we will enjoy Hippo activities such as SADA (Sing Along Dance Along), Metakatsu and experiencing different languages. Each of us will try a new language each month as it is real fun!

Sometimes, more people will gather, sometimes less but without fail we will have the Hippo activities and recently the number of people has been rather constant. Without Nobuchan and Yokochan's persistence, we would not be able to enjoy Hippo activities every month! Gokurosama Deshita!

Sometimes, we will have visitors from Japan and sometimes we have our own members sharing their homestay or travel experiences. It is getting more and more like Japan and Korea!!!

For newcomers, you will be bombarded with many different languages, songs from different countries and people from different countries...Japan, Singapore, Malaysia...it's a melting pot of culture!

In order for you to understand more about Hippo and Homestays, feel free to join us during our monthly Hippo activities.

For more details, Drop us an email:
mail@hipposingapore.org

As we carry on to the top of Mount Fuji, the temperature drops to about sub-10 degrees celcius and you start to pile on your sweaters and cold wear. The rest house at each station is a buzz of activities. Oden, hot drinks, coffee are on sale but at cut throat prices and it gets worse as we go up.

The sky is a myraid of stars and constellations and in the distance the small lights of town flicker like stars. You start to feel slightly misearble as tiredness start to wear in. Keep moving to prevent feeling cold.

After the 9th Station, the slope gradient increases to a climb and the pace slows down to a crawl. You can see the line of people lining up to the top stretching all the way down to where you came from. A good few thousand people I think. I wonder how many people climb Mount Fuji per night???

You feel fresh as the coldness hits your face and you don't feel sleepy any more. You feel colder as your movement decreases from the slow pace. You need to move in order to keep warm. A few heat packs would come in useful now. The coffee in the vacuum flask has already turned cold. As you near the top, people start to settle down to get a good place for GORAIKOU, which is sunrise in Japanese. Now you really feel cold because you are not moving at all. Place something under your butt to prevent if from freezing. People start to get preoccupied with meddling with their cameras, tripods etc. People start to much on onigiri, mueslli bars, chocolate bars etc to fill up the empty stomach.

At this time, the horizon starts to brighten up and you get a clearer view of the view around you. You can see the people around you clearer, you start to form the towns far below and the rocky volcanic rocks around you. It seems like eternity for the sun rise to peer out of the horizon. Check your camera equipment and make sure you have loaded in fresh batteries and everything is working for the crucial moment coz you don't want to miss capturing a shot of the sunrise which you spent the whole night climbing for...

At the precise moment that the sun peeks out to greet us (all the people on the mountain), the Japanese cry out "BANZAI!" at the top of their voices. I am sure those staying in the nearby towns below, would be jolted up by the cries of the thousands of crazy people who climb the whole night. Start clicking away to make sure you get that perfect shot! The next time I climb, I will make sure to catch the scene behind and around me, which shows people raising their arms and shouting "BANZAI!" The sun peeks out and rises. A truly beautiful sight. A sight to behold. You are simply awed by the beauty of nature and you think to yourself:" The climb was worth it". As the sun rises, it gets brighter still the glare hurts your eyes. At this time, you can either walk around the crater (takes about one hour), visit and send a postcard from the post office on the top of the crater, take in the majestic view or....just knock out and grab some zzz. As it gets warmer from the sun's rays, tiredness and grogginess sets in. Get some energy and top up on fluids.

It gets so glaring that you decide to make your way down. The way down is faster but do take care as it can get slippery as you slide and brake from the gravel under your feet. Catch a few shots down as you can see clouds and you will feel like on top of the world. There are some weird sign posts with weird english wordings along the way down. Catch these on cameras for your albums to add humour. The way down is faster but take care not to injure yourself or slip / fall. As you look back at the hordes of people behind you and the majestic Mount Fuji, you think to yourself: "What goes up must come down"

~~~There is a Japanese saying: "That you will only climb Mount Fuji once, anything more than that means you are crazy!"~~~ I think I am that crazy!!!

Melchan
22 March 2007

Labels: Banzai, Goraikou, Mount Fuji

We have been receiving pretty encouraging response for this special homestay in August.
We usually organise our homestay during the year end December holidays. That's when our members and general public are clearing leave and thus have the luxury of leaving the country for a longer period.

We had a successful homestay in Hiroshima during December 2006. From the response and feedback collated about 85% of the participants enjoyed the homestay and they really enjoyed the bonding and cultural exhange with their host families. Keep a look out for testimonials from participants and also a first family testimonial as the Koh Family participated in the homestay. Lian Soon, Lee Mee and Tristan is the first full family to participate in our homestay programs in our nine years history. Tristan had a exciting adventure which included a visit to the local A&E department in a Japanese hospital. Stay tuned for that.

This summer homestay is different as we have included a Mount Fuji Expedition. It is something different from our past homestays as we include some interesting activities. Not to mention, July and August is the months of Fireworks where Japanese enjoy summer in their Yukata watching fireworks display. Its quite an exhilarating experience because it is 90mins long! (A COOL six time longer than out NDP fireworks display!!!) I am trying to arrange the schedule such that we do get to catch the Fireworks!

I climbed Mount Fuji in Year 2000 and enjoyed the experience tremendously. It is not strenous but it does require some stamina and the ability to withstand the cold weather. As we get higher, the temperature drops. We also have to be mindful of altitude sickness which will set in if we climb too fast. I have seen dogs, obaasan (old senior citizens), kids, Japanese of all ages climb Mount Fuji. At the seven station, we had to give way to a group of Japanese carrying a person on a sedan. (maybe a handicap person or fractured foot). Even the handicapped climbs Mt Fuji. I talked to an obaasan who was 68 yrs at that time and she does not look a bit her age. She was climbing with her son and daugther. I met a Thai student who asked me to take her picture and learnt some Thai words along the way. Koppunkrap!

To be continued...
22March2007

Labels: Fireworks, Homestay, Mount Fuji