Monday, August 5, 2013

Closing Ceremony and Day in Osaka

We had the pleasure of attending the International Geographic Congress opening ceremony at the Kyoto International Convention Centre on Monday morning - this is the place the Kyoto Protocol was signed and a huge venue.

In attendance were also the Prince and Princess of Japan so we security was very tight and we were unable to take photos in the venue. The Prince spoke to the group of his own involvement with Geography and his research into domestic chickens.

The students who won gold medal from the iGeo were presented with these - so that was pretty special.

After the ceremony it was time to say goodbye and head on our way with Team UK to Osaka. We caught the Bullet Train from Kyoto to Osaka - was pretty fast and we made it in 15 minutes. Such an amazing way to travel in Japan!

After finding our Hotel we needed some rest time before we headed into Osaka to meet Team UK for dinner and a shop around. The kids had a great time playing arcade games in this awesome city.

Isaac with his Silver Medal :)

Extra seat in the aisle is a great way for the team to sit together


Photos from in Osaka 









Sunday, August 4, 2013

And the results are in

We had the closing ceremony last night for the iGeo which was a chance for the competition to reflect on what had happened via a video, thank our Japanese hosts and award the medals.

Well done to Isaac who gained a silver medal - a fantastic effort and we are very proud of the whole team.


Excursion Day and Steve's Bday


Today we headed off with 1/2 of the iGeo countries to visit the Enryakuji Temple complex in the mountainous area of Mt Hiei. We walked for about 3 hours in the mountain area (mostly down hill) and saw some amazing temples along the way before stopping for lunch 
Back Seat Bandits

Happy Bday to Steve in his 'bird day' Tshirt ;)

Max checks out the view





After lunch at a restaurant on the mountain we headed to the edge of Lake Biwa - one of the worlds largest fresh water lakes with an area of 674 sq km. We had a lecture about the history of the are before spending some time exploring the museum + aquarium





Touring Kyoto in the hot hot sun

Saturday afternoon we had time with some local students and our guide was called Zena - she took the team to the Golden Temple and then took the students around central Kyoto for the afternoon. Here are some pics of our adventure









Friday, August 2, 2013

iGeo - Kyoto Update

Sorry we have not had much time to blog lately but wanted to give you some pics of what we have been up to around Kyoto.  On Thursday the students were in the field so Steve and I spent some time in the Kyoto centre.

Well protected fruit at the local supermarket



Snack shop in central Kyoto
 These are from the market streets in the city centre - you can get anything you want here from traditional food and drinks to socks and teapots.

Tsukemono Shop - traditional pickles  - you serve them with steamed rice as a small side dish

There are many fish sellers - these ones were cooked and ready to take home
 In the evening we took the students from NZ, UK and The Netherlands to the city centre to check it out after the days work.

 Friday afternoon the students were doing a workshop and Steve was doing his turn at marking so I explored a very very hot city along the river and found this amazing traditional street








On Friday afternoon after the written fieldwork test there was an origami workshop for the students who worked as a team and created these masterpieces


Max and Isaac at the Origami Workshop 

Last night we had the poster presentations - this is a non-competition part of the iGeo but students and Team Leaders are given four stickers to share with the teams they think have done the best job on their countries geographic poster on the theme - traditional wisdom to modern knowledge. We look at fishing methods in NZ


Britt and Isaac doing an awesome job sharing our poster 






Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Testing Times by Max

We were all very excited to enter the exam room this morning to undertake the first part of the iGeo. The Written Response Test was split into 6 questions which required good knowledge and interpretation skills to a really high level. I found the test challenging but not impossible and once I got into it I actually enjoyed it. Isaac felt the test was 'alright', Britt thought there was a lot of time constraint as it was longer than an NCEA exam in the same time.

Later on in the exam time we found we were against the clock in a race to get it finished in time. Rock's favourite question was on World Development and Britt's was on Sustainable Tourism.

After the exam we had a chance to rest our mind for a couple of hours and have some lunch - Beef Curry, Rice and Salad before venturing out into the hot sun at 3pm for a fieldwork exercise.

It was enjoyable walking amongst the picturesque Kyoto but the heat soon got to us and we all found ourselves consuming copious amounts of water + Pocari Sweat.

We have had another great buffet dinner which was enjoyed by all.

Tonight we have a 1.5 hr lecture about the fieldwork exercise which will happen all day tomorrow.

Over and out from Max


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Test time


This morning saw the start of the testing with the Written Test - Here are the kids before they went in. Anna is marking a section of this so will be inside for the next couple of days with a red pen ready.

Atlas at the ready :)


Kyoto - let the iGeo begin

After a busy morning of packing our bags we headed to the airport for our flight to Osaka and then 1.5 hr Jumbo taxi to Kyoto. On arrival at the iGeo Location - Hotel Heian-No-Mori we went for a quick walk around a local temple which is a place to wish you luck for exams









In the evening we had an amazing opening ceremony complete with a brass band from a local orchestra who played 5 numbers. The teams then needed to introduce themselves and we got to see all 32 countries including three new one - Kazakhstan, Mongolia and USA








Lex's opening address






Monday, July 29, 2013

Sightseeing Day 2 in Tokyo

We started the day off with some team prep for our poster presentation and hotel made breakfast while the masses headed off to work in the many high-rises around our Hotel in Shinjuku. Steve had our day planned out super well - starting with a walk and shop to one of the craziest department stores we have been to - 6 floors and everything (actually everything) imaginable from Hello Kitty Onesie, Bento boxes, Passionfruit Kit Kats, paper clips, fake Chanel bags, crazy dress-ups etc etc



Steve in his element at the Cat Cafe


Isaac loving the cats as much as his face mask 

It's not only bowls of milk available at the Cat Cafe...


Menu of the cats - just so you know who you are patting 


Calico Cat Cafe - 5 Star rating from NZ iGeo Team
From there we headed to what had to be the highlight of the day - The Calico Cat Cafe. Cat Cafe's are places where you can pat and play with cats as many people are unable to own them as they live in apartment buildings. You can pay extra to feed the cats - which makes them want to hang out with you more and order drinks and snacks. We were all amazed by the variety of cats - including the munchkin cats (ones with really short legs) and huge massive cats.


You pay by the hour after our time was up we washed our hands and headed to a Ramen Noodle shop next door where we ordered by selecting what we wanted using a vending machine and handing over tickets to the chefs.

Kujoji Temple


We caught the train to Hamamatsucho following lunch to visit a Buddist Temple and Tokyo Tower - an replica Eiffel Tower with a Japanese twist - painted red and white. The day wasn't so clear so the observation deck wasn't amazing but it still gave us a great sense of what a vast built up area Tokyo is. On a clear day you can see Mt Fuji but unfortunately we missed it today so made up with it by getting delicious ice creams before we headed to Shibuhya.

Shibuhya is the site many people will be familiar with seeing in Tokyo as it is the home to the giant intersections. It also has many great shops and we stumbled across the 100 Yen shop, 3 coin store, another 6 floor electronic shop and an amazing craft/building/everything you could ever need shop called Tokyu Hands - a great number of rolls of washi tape brought by the Team Leaders :)

Shinbuhya Street Scene

When choosing somewhere to eat we stumbled across a place which was easy to say no to - A whale Meat restaurant. Not only did they have a million signs outside but they also had a pamphlet explaining their viewpoint on why whaling was good. Pretty sad from our NZ viewpoint.

Whale Meat Cafe Menu
After finding a great non-whale restaurant we jumped into the train to head home to out hotel for our final night Tokyo - we haven't scratched the surface of this amazing city but we have a job to do in Kyoto and these kids are ready and rearing to go!

Anna :)

Before crossing the road 




Isaac's quote of the day about being in the train - " If your not touching people it's not really busy"