Snow

  In my home town, there is little snow. Because it snow rarely, I love snow. It is white and beautiful. When it is snowing, I forget cold weather. In Sapporo, it snow lot. First time I walked on the road where covered with snow, I become happy. And the first time I saw a crystal of snow, I impressed.

Last holiday, I went to skiing with my circle member. We went to Sapporo international skiing ground. I was very looking forward to go skiing. We went there early in the morning and back home in the evening.

 Do you like skiing or snowboard? Many of you certainly like them. If you have not ever done them, please try it. You will be able to have a nice time.

 The first time when I skied was many years ago. My families like skiing, and I had many chances to go it. Also I like it. However, I have not many chances since I graduated from junior high school. The last time I skied was three years ago.

　The last holiday we assembled at Sapporo station early in the morning. It was snowed on the day. I was little afraid about the weather. We go the ski ground by bus. In the bus most of us slept. I talked with my senior and enjoyed it.

 After a one and a half hour, we arrived at the ground. I was already exited. There is a lot of snow. At the day I chose ski because I am good at skiing more than snowboard. About half of us did snowboard. I think snowboard is very cool but very difficult. I want to practice it someday. I like skiing because it is easy to stop. High speed have thrill.

 My friend skied for the first time, so we taught him skiing. We slid down little and then talked little. We laughed a lot. It became very pleasant time.

 I was especially impressed with the snow. It was very soft and rustling. Ski board slide so smooth and I become delightful. I thought that I am very lucky to have chances to do ski.

At lunch, I ate curry rice. In the afternoon, we are all full and sleepy. We did skiing and snowboard more slowly. In the ski ground there are Christmas event. The event is that we can get some chocolates or candies from patrols. If I ride on rifts or gondolas with them, and talk to them “Merry…” , they return “Christmas”  and give us sweets. The patrols are very good at skiing, so it is hard to run after them. But we are lucky because we could ride on with a patrol. Time with patrol Santa was happy. It was snowed more hard then but I become glad.

It got dark and lights illuminated. I have never skied at nighters so it looked beautiful. On the bus to Sapporo station, all of us slept. I skied much and had a good time. I want go there again.



                                     picture is from(http://www.flickr.com/photos/katsuzin13/2196779537/)

Holiday in Maruyama Zoo

You may think that my favorite animal is only horse. Of course I love horse, but I also like animals very much.

Do you have been to Maruyama Zoo? People who live in Sapporo may have been there many times. I know two zoos in Hokkaido. One is Asahiyama zoo which is famous all over Japan. And another is Maruyama zoo which is close to Hokkaido University. When I came to Sapporo for the first time, I knew there is Maruyama zoo in Sapporo, and there are white bears. I had been hoping to go to Maruyama zoo since then. How nice the white bear in snow is, I thought.

However, the time passed in an instant. It becomes November. Yet there was no snow and I could go to the zoo by walk. That day, it was so cold and windy. I went there by subway and then walk. I heard that there are many smart shops and café around Maruyama. At a bakery near the zoo, we eat lunch. The shop was very nice both bread and interior design. I had a pumpkin soup and it was very delicious.

At the Maruyama zoo, I saw many people in spite of the cold weather. I was very happy to come to the zoo. First, I saw ressar-pandas. There were two little ressar-pandas. Those two children were born recently and names of them was advertized. All of them had fluffy and orange fur, so they were so cute.

There were many species of owl and hawk. I saw Ural Owl and Snowy Owl for the first time. Snowy Owl is bird which ride on Harry Potter’s shoulder. The birds were very beautiful and look smart. Next, I saw a show of a black kite (one kind of hawk). The black kite whistled close to my head and I was very moved as I forgot cold weather.

In the zoo, there were Lion and Tiger, white panther, giraffe, hippopotamus, too. I was worried about those tropical animals because the cold whether in Hokkaido must be hard to live. But, they were all in indoors. The room of those animals was warm, however, it was little narrow for them, I thought. The animals in Maruyama zoo was all have beautiful body and look healthy. The breeders must love those animals, I thought.

White bears were outdoors. There were some kinds of bears. I could compare bears. White Bears have slender face and long pliant body. Ural Bear (Higuma) is little small but I felt a sense of closeness. Black Bear is very big but look like teddy bear.

I wanted to see not mainly white bears but also wolves. I had never seen them. I love a story of wolves and I admire wolves. There are three wolves, and they are family. Wolves ran lively and their body was brawny. Their eyes were upright and cool, I was impressed. And I remembered a dog which had been in my home. He looked like a small wolf and so tender. At the same time I thought that why wolves in Hokkaido disappeared.

 Zoo gives us very precious chance to meet animals in other country. Zoo gives precious chance to think about us, too. Human is not only a living life in earth. When I see animals that we never meet in daily life, I am impressed and my heart becomes full.

I could refresh my mind in the zoo. I want go there again. And I also want many people to go to zoo. Many wonderful animals wait at zoo!

Riding Horse

  I’m going to write about the sequel to last story.

  I enjoyed riding horse very much on the day of short trip with my family. When I ride on Jerom, I felt refreshed because his back was high. I touched Jerom’s neck. His body was warm and smooth. I thought he must give me a wonderful time. My family took each other by cameras. The time of trekking by horse arrived!

  At first, we did warming up in a small enclosure at LAKE TOYA RANCH. Horses walk in a round line. The top of line was instructor’s horse. The second horse was Hanako and the third was Kimuch and the fourth was Jerom and me. I noticed that holding horse by the bridle (a strap which control horse) was more difficult than I had thought. My horse Jerom gradually walked slow and went out from the line. Jerom did not want to walk, the instructor taught me. (Horses always want to eat and don’t want to use energy to move.)  I think horses are very honesty. I could make Jerom walking by showing signals.

Here, I touch about how to give a signal for horse. When you want horse to go forward, kick horse’s both side of stomach. When you want to turn horse right or left, pull the bridle the direction you want to go. I taught I could do this well by pulling bridle lower and outside. When stop, you pull both side of bridle toward your body. The horses of LAKE TOYA RANCH were all smart and well trained. You don’t need to worry.

  After we became to be able to handle horses, we went to trekking course. The course went between trees! And there were many trees and the course was slope. Interestingly, Jerom always hoped to eat leaves because there were lot plants around course. He tried to eat leaves but I must stop it. Jerom looked so lovely when he acted to eat. The instructor told me, “Horses are like children. They are very honest to their feel. They always study our expression and try to eat or rest as possible as they can. We have to make them noticed that they are working now.”

At the first half, Jerom went away from my handling. However, he came to follow me at last. I was really happy, I could communicate with Jerom! Jerom was so nice horse because he could climb slope and could go bad mud ways. I am lucky to meet Jerom. Of course people there, too!

After we finished riding, Jerom and other horses began to eat. Horse is how interesting, I thought. Horses at there turned out into free. They ran, played with other horse, or rested. I looked at horse for a long time until they went back to their house.

We stayed at a hotel with a hot spring in Noboribetsu. There was good spa and we can see colored leaves from it. It was so nice. At dinner, I enjoyed it with my family after a long time.

Next day, my family went back home. Left by my self, I felt lonely. But I want to say them, “Thank you for coming!”

Short Trip With My Family

Today I am going to write about my holiday with my family.

I really love my family and I spent very happy time with them.

 On last weekend in October my mother and elderly brother and elderly sister came to Hokkaido. It had been a long time since I saw them last. My family was busy with their work but they made time for this trip. I am very grad to meet them in Hokkaido. However, greatly to my regret, I could not saw my father because he had many things to do that day. I had a good time with them.

 My family flew from Haneda air port to Chitose air port. I got up early and went to meet at Chitose air port. When I rode on train, I was very looking forward to meet them. My mother and sister’s smile made me happy. I heard that my brother bought new boots and a jacket for this trip, and I’m grad to know that he was looking forward that day, too.



We rented a car and went to eat lunch at first. We have sushi in revolving sushi bar. Although I live in Hokkaido, I can not eat sushi very often. It was so good.





 At that time, trees on mountain turned bright red and yellow. It was really beautiful. We can saw that wonderful colored leaves through windows. I was very moved with the scenery. We went to Toya lake. There was an island in the center of lake. The lake was very large. It was sunny and warm. Besides, there was no wind on that day. We had very calm weather. I thought we were very lucky because only Hokkaido was sunny and whole Japanese Islands were rainy. This photograph shows “Kita” in kanji. I made this with my sister.

 

Next we went to ride on horse. We went to LAKE TOYA RANCH where we can experience horse trekking. There were many horses and riding people. I wanted to touch horses as soon as possible but our turn to ride horses did not come yet then. We waited at cafe till the turn came. At the café I had a nuts and dried-fruits cake. It was nice. Its picture is this. From the café we could see Toya lake and trekking horses.



  We went to LAKE TOYA RANCH. And then, two black dogs ran toward us and welcomed us. After we wore helmets, we were taught how to ride horse and each of us met own horse.

 My partner was Jerom. Jerom was a male horse who had light brown body and yellow hair. My mother rode on a female horse, Haruka. My brother’s horse was named Kimuch. Kimuch had short curly hair. My sister rode on Dorry. They were beautiful and lovely horses. Horses were absorbed in eating. Jerom  was not concerned about me. Every horse was well-behaved and gentle. Instructors were very kind and we were very amused by their talking.



Jerom



  

Sorry, in the next blog, I will write about riding.

                                                           (To be continued… )

A Horse Live With An Old Man

  Today, I am going to write about a story about a horse. I heard this story from my grand father when I was a child. Since I was impressed by it, I remember the story today.

The horse was raised by my great-grand father in time of the Second World War. I heard that my great-grand father was quiet but self-possessed person and had a tender heart. My great-grand father was a farmer. He cultivated farms to raise crops. He sold woods to earn money for the help of family budget, too. He went to neighboring towns with his horse everyday to sell the woods. Way to the town was not short, so it took a lot of time.

In that time my family was poor and my great-grand father worked very hard. After he finished the working on the farm, my great-grand father and the horse started out to neighboring towns. Because they left their house at sunset, after the work of farm was over, they came home late at night. When great-grand father was so tired from working all day, he sometimes fell into sleep on the wagon during coming home. But he could reach his home! The horse was very wise, my grand father said. The horse memorized all the way from house to next town. Although the way was very long, the horse could walk along all by himself! It is hard for human to memorize the long way, too. But the horse never forget, stopped, ran away, and being lazy. How reliable the horse is! I feel happy when I imagine the walking horse with an elderly man under the stars in the sky. It should be nice a wise horse take us by himself at night. And I can feel how my great-grand father loved his horse. There was very marvelous friendship. Horse was our family then.

But such peaceful life was broken. In that time, Japan began the Second World War. Many boys are went to foreign country and never returned. Many agricultural horses were also taken by war for carry weapons. My great-grand father’s horse was too. My family had only one horse, it was so sad to lose the great lovely horse, I think. The horse should feel so sad too. When the war is over, humans can return their home as long as they live. But, horses cannot return their home because horses can become foods for humans. There was no food for beaten people in foreign country. I feel very sad when I think about the horse was eaten. If there was no war the horse could surely live more.

  Today, my family has no horse. Also has no room for horse in our house. There is truck instead of horse. My great-grand father died but he lived a long life. I regret that I could not hear about the horse from him. However, I can feel full of warms when I think about them. At the same time, I wish the world to be peace.  

My Favorite Animal "Horse"

I am going to write about my favorite animal. The animal is horse.
 This picture was taken when I went to Hidaka area in Hokkaido. I touched these horses and spent happy time.

I think horse is very attractive and lovely. At the same time, horse is friend of human. Many people live with horses and we are given many good things from horse. Today, I want to write about characteristics and history of horse.

 

・Body of Horse

 Horse can run fast. As you know, horse’s leg is long and slender.  Race horse’s leg is especially slender. Compare with other animals, horse have a very characteristic point. Each leg of horse has only one hoof (a nail). For example, cow has two hoofs in each leg. Many other animals have some hoofs. We have five nails in a hand too. Few hoof and long leg make horse possible to run fast.

 Horses have hair on neck and tail. Hair of neck is short and hair of tail is long. Kind of horses have hair on their legs. I think moving hair with wind is charm.

Horses eat plants so they have many flat teeth. Those flat teeth can crush plants. Because horses have many teeth, their heads are long. Horse eats plants so is called herbivorous animal. Such animals should escape from hunter. Because of it, horse has very good eyes to find hunter.

In addition, horses have wide back, strong muscle and tough born. These things make speed and power of horse. Horse which cultivates soil has thick born. Contrary, a race horse has light and shin born. It is so poor that  race horses sometimes break their legs.  Horse’s body shows great fascinating points.

・History of Horse

 Do you know horse was as big as rabbit? In 54 million years ago, there was no horse which like today’s horse. Ancient horse lived in forest. In the forest they ate leaf and they were very small. First species of horse had 4 fingers and 4 hoofs. Next species had 3 fingers and became little big. 3 finger-horses began to live in grassy plains 20 million years ago. From the time, horses had become bigger and been able to run faster. In 2 million years ago horses was as big as present horse and had same number of hoof. During this process, many species came into existence. Donkey and zebra is this. In 4 thousand years ago, first wild horses were raised by human in east Europe. Since then horses had lived with human. Of course there are wild horses today, but the number is very few.

・Live with Horse

 Horses live with humans all over the world. They are not only pets. They work with humans and they are good partner of us. There are many works of horse. First, horses pull heavy things. When in farm, they pull big shovel to cultivate the soil. When in road, they pull a cart and a horse-drawn carriage. Horses can carry humans. We can go some place faster and can cut the time when horses pull us. We can go more far place too. But, there are mamy cars today, it is a pity I can not get chanses to ride horses. Second, horse can run fast. When in a race, horse can impress people. However, it is sad that we used horse in war. Finally, I think it is important role of horse that to cheer up   and heal us. Horse’s tender eyes always make us cheerful.

                                                                                             (To be continued.)