Just a short post to mention that I recently opened a new blog dedicated to the study of the Kanji. This is the address: http://sangorrin-kanji.blogspot.com/
It is more like the diary of my own study rather than a systematic approach to learn them but I hope it is useful for other people!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Mt. Kama - 鎌ヶ岳 (かまがたけ)
Last weekend I went to Mie prefecture (三重県) for a hike in the Suzuka mountains where I had already gone for two other hikes, Gozaisho (御在所) and Fujiwara (藤原岳). This time I climbed Mt. Kama (鎌ヶ岳) which is 1.161m tall. Similar to the hiking trail to Gozaisho, the starting point for Mt Kama is Yu-no-yama-onsen(湯の山温泉). This time instead of going by train I took a direct bus from Nagoya Meitetsu bus station (1 hour bus ride - 1280yen each way).
The hiking trail is really beautiful!! It crosses many streams, rocks and nature. In fact I managed to see a huge snake on my way!!. Sometimes there are difficult parts where you need to use your hands but in general, anybody with a bit of experience can climb it. In the picture above, you can see the views of Mt. Gozaisho from Mt Kama.
The hiking trail is really beautiful!! It crosses many streams, rocks and nature. In fact I managed to see a huge snake on my way!!. Sometimes there are difficult parts where you need to use your hands but in general, anybody with a bit of experience can climb it. In the picture above, you can see the views of Mt. Gozaisho from Mt Kama.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Helsinki, Finland
My flight back home to Nagoya was quite cheap at the cost of having to spend one night in Helsinki.
But looking it from the positive side, I had a whole morning to visit Helsinki. So after spending the night on a bench at Helsinki-Vantaa airport I took a bus to the city center (cheap urban bus number 615). The last stop of the bus is in the central train station, a good place to start walking around.
My first impressions about Helsinki were quite good. Houses were beautiful, everything seemed to be ordered and clean.
Also despite it has a very good economy, the city didn't look very big. Maybe a good place to life if you don't mind the cold.
As we see, somebody didn't mind about that :D
On the other hand the level of life is quite high. Fortunately, there is always a cheap McDonalds to survive.
In Helsinki, like in many other European cities, there are trams on the streets. In Spain there are few places with trams I think, notably Bilbao (probably the best tram in the universe of course hehe)
I read that one of the main buildings in Helsinki was the Cathedral so I went to have a look. Honestly, it was not so impressive.
Although I didn't have too much time I decided to take a boat to check Suomenlinna, a famous fortress in some islands near Helsinki that are included in the Unesco world heritage.
It was a good decision. The trip by boat across the frozen sea was awesome. It looked like those documentaries about the Antarctica or something hehe.
The fortress in the islands was huge and worth visiting it. Also there were very nice views both of the city and the partially frozen Baltic sea.
But looking it from the positive side, I had a whole morning to visit Helsinki. So after spending the night on a bench at Helsinki-Vantaa airport I took a bus to the city center (cheap urban bus number 615). The last stop of the bus is in the central train station, a good place to start walking around.
My first impressions about Helsinki were quite good. Houses were beautiful, everything seemed to be ordered and clean. 
Also despite it has a very good economy, the city didn't look very big. Maybe a good place to life if you don't mind the cold.
As we see, somebody didn't mind about that :D
On the other hand the level of life is quite high. Fortunately, there is always a cheap McDonalds to survive.
In Helsinki, like in many other European cities, there are trams on the streets. In Spain there are few places with trams I think, notably Bilbao (probably the best tram in the universe of course hehe)
I read that one of the main buildings in Helsinki was the Cathedral so I went to have a look. Honestly, it was not so impressive.
Although I didn't have too much time I decided to take a boat to check Suomenlinna, a famous fortress in some islands near Helsinki that are included in the Unesco world heritage.
It was a good decision. The trip by boat across the frozen sea was awesome. It looked like those documentaries about the Antarctica or something hehe.
The fortress in the islands was huge and worth visiting it. Also there were very nice views both of the city and the partially frozen Baltic sea.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Mazury - New year's eve 2009-2010
I spent New Year's eve with Maria and part of her family in Mazury, a region with many lakes in the north east of Poland.
The small and hidden village where Maria's uncle has a house was called Racibor. It is so hidden that it doesn't appear in google maps. The closest place is Spychowo.
Poland in general was cold, but north of Poland was even colder so smoke was coming out of many chimneys. This region reminded me about a comic I drew last year, titled Mayak.
Yeah, it was cold hehe probably the coldest place I had been until then, with temperatures around -16C.
But I was born in the Basque country, so it was not long before I got used to the cold :P
Maria's uncle's house was in a beautiful location near a lake whose surface was completely frozen. Although at the beginning I hesitated whether it was really safe to walk on the lake, finally I decided to cross it. Next day, we found out that it was a bit reckless from my part (^^).
One night we all rode sleds pulled by a tractor. We went to the forest in the middle of the night and had a barbecue there, surrounded by wolfs (a few weeks before they found a huge wolf nearby).
Inside the house it was very warm, thanks to a firewood. They had two dogs who were quite calmed until you would put a balloon nearby!
I played billiard long long hours!!I kind of started getting the hang of it. When something like this happens i can't help it and it's hard to stop myself!
I did not mention anything about the delicious and abundant food that we had. In the picture just a few dishes that we ate. It was very tasty and I learned many polish words for food :D
More pictures at Maria's website here and here.
The small and hidden village where Maria's uncle has a house was called Racibor. It is so hidden that it doesn't appear in google maps. The closest place is Spychowo.
Poland in general was cold, but north of Poland was even colder so smoke was coming out of many chimneys. This region reminded me about a comic I drew last year, titled Mayak.
Yeah, it was cold hehe probably the coldest place I had been until then, with temperatures around -16C.
But I was born in the Basque country, so it was not long before I got used to the cold :P
Maria's uncle's house was in a beautiful location near a lake whose surface was completely frozen. Although at the beginning I hesitated whether it was really safe to walk on the lake, finally I decided to cross it. Next day, we found out that it was a bit reckless from my part (^^).
One night we all rode sleds pulled by a tractor. We went to the forest in the middle of the night and had a barbecue there, surrounded by wolfs (a few weeks before they found a huge wolf nearby). 
Inside the house it was very warm, thanks to a firewood. They had two dogs who were quite calmed until you would put a balloon nearby!
I played billiard long long hours!!I kind of started getting the hang of it. When something like this happens i can't help it and it's hard to stop myself!
I did not mention anything about the delicious and abundant food that we had. In the picture just a few dishes that we ate. It was very tasty and I learned many polish words for food :D
More pictures at Maria's website here and here.
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