Nakashibetsu Yuki Matsuri

So today, I ditched work. Yeah, but it was for a good reason today! I went to see my kids work very hard on their snow sculptures. I'll be going to the Sapporo Yuki Festival this weekend, so I'll miss my town's festival. So this way, I can show my students that I care about what they do, and I'm not just an English teacher.

My student's noticed me right off. I felt like a celebrity (it's about time). I got a ton of "WHOA!" and "Andy-sensei da!" It was amazing, I'm not going to lie.

There were a bunch of junior high schoolers running around, but the hardest workers there were the elementary kids. God bless them! They really wanted to build their sculptures.

I think that building snowmen is a dieing art, but the Japanese definitly keep the art alive, AND they level it up by making giant snow sculptures. Take a look!

Setsubun

So Setsubun, for those of you who don't know, is a Japanese holiday that is all about casting away evil.

I got to dress up as an Oni today. Kind of a lame oni...but an oni nonetheless. And some of the kids got to throw nuts at me. It was a ton of fun! Afterwards, all the kids started throwing nuts, chocolates, and candies from the second floor. It kinda hurt...but omoshiroi.

Although I had about 5,000 peanuts in my bag, all the kids wanted to give me their nuts as well. They wanted to put them in my hand, or put it down my bag. They're so cute.

I come back to the BOE and there are more nuts waiting for me on my desk. And this time they are all covered with something! Some are sugar coated, cracker coated, some were covered in some sweet green cracker (It's pretty good), and some were even gummi covered. Yes, a fruit snack with a peanut inside.

Tons of fun!

Making a snowman

So today, I ditched an hour out of work to go back to my apartment to build a snowman (I felt it was an important thing to do). So, being from CA, I'm not too accustomed to building snowmen.

For my first ball, I kinda piled snow on the ground. My upstairs neighbor saw me:

"What are you doing?"
"Making a snowman."
"It looks like a mountain, more than a snowman."
"I'm not done yet."
"If you're going to build a snowman, you should start with a ball like so..."

I thought I was going to punch him. j/k He did try to help me when I had my bat problem.

So later today, I took his advice and re-built my snowman. He came back out and saw me:

"Ah! You're doing it the right way, I see!"
"Yeah."
"Good well...ganbatte kudasai! Do your best!"

:-/

Nikko

So Tokyo was friggin' awesome. And there was SO much that happened, but I just want to blog one day.

My man James and I went to Nikko, it's a 2-hour train ride from Tokyo. It's famous for its shrines and waterfalls. But apart from the sites, it was a really quaint town. It had a lot of character. In the day it's bustling with tourists (but no where near as many as Tokyo), and at night it gets really quiet. It's very much like a small town in an RPG game.

There was a river. The most beautiful river that I've seen in a long time. Definitly much better (and cleaner) than the "San Diego River." Despite all the white water, you can easily see the bottom of the river with all the rocks.

My experience in Nikko was truly magical. There is definitly something in the atmosphere that totally relaxes you and makes you enjoy your short time there. I can't say too much about it, other than you have to experience it for yourself.

OH! And if you're going for a hotel...I recommend the Turtle Annex Inn.

Sapporo Mid-Year Conference

Sorry I haven't updated lately. Truth is...life really has been boring and there wasn't much to report. But that has changed! Mid-Year Conference came and some magic was made!

I finally got some dancing in. OMG, it was glorious. They played a dance remix of "Seasons of Love." The words "cups of coffee" never sounded so good to me. lol

I also met a new friend. His name is James and he'd from York, England. His accent is really strong so it's kinda hard to understand him sometimes. I think he likes X-Men movies.

Anyways, Bev, Zof, James and I went out for tea. It was brilliant. My first tea, which included my first scone. Did you know a scone is like a bisquit? We had a huge heated argument with this.

They told me not to compare that tea experience to a true English one. It was very Japanesey...for one, the sandwhiches were rolled up like cigars instead of cut into squares. lol

I went to a beer bar where they had over 200 beers. It was a lot more enjoyable than I thought. The bar tender and his "girl friend" just got back from vacationing in California, which included a stop in San Diego and Tijuana. So we talked about San Diego, and they even knew the lingo! PB, OB, and TJ. The owner grew up in Hollywood, so it was fun talking about California with him.

My last half of my Sapporo trip included some sight seeing and lots of shopping. I got to see the Christmas lights at Odori Park. I spent the night at Jessica's apartment and had a blast. She took me out to an awesome Indian restaurant and my first Purikura. Apparently to do purikura, you just push a bunch of buttons until the photos pop out. And afterwards you feel like a super star cause you just did a photo shoot. AH! That was awesome.

OK, Enough is Enough

OK, whichever divine being is sending me those bats can stop now! I got 2 more bats today. It's going to suck my blood and I'm going to have to teach night classes. I'm not ready for that!

A bat sent from above

So last night, I had a really crappy day. I quit my brass band. As much as I love the arts, it really was a lot of work. So I felt terrible letting down about 30 people.

There were many reasons I quit. Another big one, is that I wasn't really making any new friends out of the experience. Everybody is really shy and it's hard to communicate to people when they're shy. So I considered it failure too.

So I sat in bed surrounded in my gloom wondering, "WHY am I Japan?!" I really wanted to go home last night. I wanted to go back where it was easy to communicate with people andpeople didn't view me as stupid.

After a rough day at work, I relaxed in my bed, surfing the internet. I look at my light fixture and I find out there's a bat sleeping on it! I ran out of my room, not screaming cause I was afraid I'd wake it up and all hell would break loose.

I knocked on my upstairs neighbor's door to see if I could get somebody to take care of this. She must've talked to about 5,000 other people before we got an old lady to come over. She came over witha partner and she had two giant nets with her...after explaining the problem and taking her to the bat, we finally got it out of my warm room and out into the freezing rain.

After looking back at this, I can't help but to think that this was serendipity. Somebody or something knew I was having troubles in the Land of Sunshine, so they sent this fuckin' bat to my room to brighten my day and bring a little laughter into my life. A chance to meet my neighbors, and use my poor Japanese to communicate with them, and have fun! So...don't worry. The kid is alright!

Abashiri Halloween Party

About less than a week ago, I helped my friend James out for a Halloween party. It was a lot of fun. TONS of kids...made some of them cry in the haunted house even.

Afterwards, we went for Nepalese food. It wasn't Italian food like I thought (Naples, Italy)...so I was surprised to see that everything was covered in curry other than marinara sauce. (MAN! I miss good Italian food! I miss it more than Mexican food.) But it was delicious, very delicious.

The next day, James woke me up and a group of us went for a morning walk to the local McDonald's. The food tastes just like home, nothing too special (fat and calories...lol). Then we did some cleaning at the Echo Centre. THEN! The beach!

The beach was GREAT! Other than us, there was NOBODY there! The water was glassy, there was good weather, and there was beach glass. The biggest trip for me was the strange foliage. There were no palm trees, but there was some sort of beachy grass and lots of deciduous trees. I described it as an "alien landscape."

OH! And we also ate at an Italian restaurant, and good Italian food at that. It was very good. Actually reminded me a bit of Italy. I thought it was a pretty fancy meal...and it only cost us about 1,200 yen ($12), I think.

So that's it for this blog. For all my California friends reading this, know that I'm always thinking about you guys, and I'm very concerned for your well-being. Be safe, and don't do anything too stupid. lol

Mata Ochi

So today, I taught my Halloween lesson at Mata Ochi Elementary school. Probably my second favorite school thus far. I gave them all costumes to wear during the lesson, and they thought that they had to give them back to me. I told them that they were a present from me, they were like, "YATTA! THANK YOU!" And they started to run around the room with joy. Geez, you should've been there. They were SO happy! Then I gave them their second gift which was a goody bag. Same reaction. Jumping around...yattas. I have enough warm fuzzies to last me the rest of my JET experience.

So, I learned that my job isn't necessarily to teach them English. My job really is about internationalization, and maybe at most...get them excited about English. Which, by the way, I know I'm doing.

I always hear them muttering some new English word that I taught them, or repeat a line from their English play that they are performing this Saturday: Look at my vest! Look at my vest! (or) String Cheese! String Cheese!

I love my job. I'm going to go to their English play this weekend. Unlike most JETs, it's not required of me, but I want to. They like me...they really like me!

Also, today was my last time teaching at the school. The teachers told me that when I returned next year, two of my students will be going to Nakashibetsu Junior High. It was a somber moment, cause it reminded me that everybody has to grow up sometime. But that's OK, cause I teach at Nakashibetsu Junior High too...and I will get to see them again!