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.