or NOT! (in reference to the previous title)

I can't believe how not-right everything is. I was half-way through the next post, about graduation and the arrival of our friends, when I had to abandon my efforts to write about the devastation that I'm seeing from all over Japan.
Yesterday at 2:46pm Joisan and I were in the conference room at school - using the computer. Taran and Ian were at home - having a holiday.

The floor started to roll and the windows began to shake. I said to Joisan... oh! an earthquake! Joisan was happy that she was able to experience one before leaving in a couple of weeks. Strangely though, it didn't stop. We sat there waiting for everything to calm down and it just kept going and going. When it finally subsided it had lasted between 3 and 4 minutes. It felt like forever.

Early reports from the principals TV said it was a 6.9 and then a 7.9 and finally settled at an 8.9. It was centred in the ocean off the coast of Honshu and there was a great deal of damage done - though not too much up here in central Hokkaido. We were hit again within a few minutes and again after that one. They seemed to be coming right on top of each other and the difference in the location and depth of them meant that some were stronger than others. At one point Joisan and I were both under the table doing the "duck and cover" routine. I found it difficult to walk during them and after the third endless wave I started to feel a little stressed.

Eventually, many of the teachers gathered around the tv in the principals room and we watch the beginnings of the tsunami as the waves began to build and destroy. Joisan and I had watched the status changes as her friend Tiffany's plane had arrived at Narita about 2pm so we knew that she was there. We were a little worried about whether or not she would be able to get her connection to Sapporo but at 4pm when we left the school it seemed that everything would be okay.

When we got home I was able to get my friend Hiro on the phone (nothing short of a miracle!) She was safe, although not warm. She had no power and no water. She's in a city in central Iwate prefecture and many of the earthquakes were located quite close to her.

It was about 4:30pm when we began trying to phone the Narita airport to try to connect with Tiffany. I know she's a smart and resourceful and well-travelled girl but she's only 13 and she was travelling alone! I was a little worried! And she's only a loaner - I have to return her in less than two weeks!

Of course the phone lines were totally jammed and out of every twenty times I dialed I might have gotten a line through once - but only as far as a recorded message that said "we're really busy right now - please hold or call back later". It was very discouraging. I managed to connect with Shaun Iwasawa who had toured us around Tokyo when we were there in January. He and his wife and family are all safe and they tried to help us connect to Narita too. He had the added advantage of being able to understand the Japanese news updates - we were just waiting for the English version which was nowhere near as timely. It was from Shaun that we heard that Narita was closed for the rest of the day.

Unsure of what was up with Tiffany, Joisan and I redoubled our efforts to contact someone who could help us connect with her. It got discouraging pretty fast and around 8pm we tripped across some information that said that they had evacuated the Narita airport. I couldn't imagine what that would look like or what would happen to a 13 year old travelling alone! It was an incredibly stressful evening - eventually the Narita airport website was updated to include an advisory that stated that all passengers were being given food and water and blankets and they were being attended to by airport staff.

Around 10pm Shaun told us that they were beginning to allow planes to take off from Narita and Joisan and I discussed heading to Chitose to sleep at the airport in case Tiffany wound up coming in the night. After finally being able to talk to one of the information booth ladies at the Sapporo airport I was confident that Tiffany would not be coming in until the next day so, with my thousandth attempt at contacting Narita ending in that dreadful message again, and after sending off several emails and trying to call Tiffany's mother, we went to bed.

I was finding it very difficult to sleep and so I was incredibly grateful to receive a phone call at 12:45am from a Japan Airlines employee who had Tiffany with her and another stewardess in a hotel in Narita. I was able to talk with Tiffany and it was confirmed that she would be able to get an evening flight the next day. With that great news and a quick note to Tiffany's mother, I was finally able to sleep.

It was my intention to get up this morning and go for my weekly swim but I got a little distracted with the details of what had been happening through the night. I discovered that the aftershocks had continued with some real doozies around 4am. I am still a little worried because one of them in particular was very near the city where Hiro lives and it was at the shallowest depth of any of them.

At about 8:15am I received a call on my cellphone from the stewardesses and Tiffany. They were calling to say that she had been placed on the first flight Japan Airlines had leaving Narita this morning. Whew! We spent some of our morning reassuring our loved ones of our safety and then Joisan and I got ourselves off to the airport to get our girl. We were both surprised to see some damage on the road to the airport. Reports of issues in this area have been non-existent, and in fact the damage was fairly minor - some groupings of serious potholes and some trees and posts either down or leaning precariously. There was nothing dangerous and we made it to the airport safely. Tiffany landed safely and she has amazing stories to tell. Yes, the Narita airport was evacuated - and a good thing too as there was a ceiling of glass that came down. Yes, she was scared but she was also being very well taken care of! The Japan Airlines employees really went out of their way to be wonderful!

So, the latest news - although by the time I actually type it out and publish it - it will have changed again... the latest news is that since the 8.9 earthquake yesterday there have been 198 earthquakes greater than 4.5 and 24 of them were over 6.0. They keep referring to them as "aftershocks" and I suppose they are because they came after the initial incident, but when they are each strong enough to cause serious damage on their own I feel like they have earned the right to be referred to as earthquakes. The tsunamis continue to wreak havoc on coastal towns and every channel on the tv has an icon in the corner displaying the danger areas. Hokkaido has definitely seen some damage - but mostly in the southern area of Hakodate.

This evening we have had news of an explosion in a nuclear reactor about 200km north of Tokyo. They are currently evacuating people within a 20km radius of the reactor and I am so very grateful to be located in the backwoods of Hokkaido!

Love to all - I will eventually post the graduation stuff too but I wanted everyone to know what I know so it will have to wait until I can focus on something other than the ongoing quakes and tsunamis and reactor issues.

and all is right with the world!

Whew! It was a difficult few days here. Mum's surgery really threw me for a loop. I have spoken with her though and she is home now and all is good again. Now I can focus on really enjoying the last few months here and experiencing all there is to do!
We are within one week of our world changing - first with visitors arriving and then with Joisan leaving. Wow! I'm struggling to connect with Kelsey right now and get everything organized for her to start right after spring break. I've been reminded that the secretaries at schools in the Cowichan Valley are the real movers and shakers and they are the unsung heroes! I finally managed to feel like we've got some forward momentum today and I'm much relieved!
This week - aside from worrying about Mum - has been mostly about dealing with details that I've let go to this point. The major detail being the amount of overtime I'm putting in. I have been coasting along, blissfully unaware of my actual, official working hours. Consequently, I have been putting in many many more hours than I am supposed to. It seems a bit of a conundrum though... with not enough work to do - how is it that I actually put in more hours than necessary?? Well, it's a challenge - but you know me - I'm always up for a challenge! It seems kind of strange to have all the extra time acknowledged let alone compensated... I'm going to end up with about 35 days off in lieu of payment. Now if only I could translate that into an early ticket home...
Anyway, at this point it looks like I'll be able to take some time off when the school breaks are happening this year. It will be much better than sitting around the office doing... nothing! Actually, I have a big project in mind right now. I'm planning to write a comprehensive manual for the future Otaki AET's. Everything from the house and social details to the structure of the job and ideas for lessons. At least it will give me something to do with my office time for the next little while. (I want to say for the next few months but I doubt it will take me that long!)
This end of the year time seems a lot different from last years wind down. I'm missing Hiro again and it seems like I'm forgotten in a lot of what's going on. Oh well, my eyes are on the prize now... a few distractions and then the big trip home! Oh what a party that will be!!!

the latest and the greatest...

Hmmm... well that title implies that there is something awesome to blog about and unfortunately, that's not the case. :(

It's now the last day of February and things here are in coast along mode now - we're all just keepin' on and hangin' in. We are looking forward to Tiffany's arrival on the 11th of March and Deb's on the 14th. Joisan and I have been brainstorming fun things to do with them while they're here. Unfortunately, due to the fact that March break is actually IN March, there will still be plenty of snow and the activities will be a little limited by it. It's quite possible that there will be some downhill and cross country skiing in the works though!

The kids went skiing/snowboarding yesterday and had a great time. It was the third time so far and they probably will have one or two more opportunities to go but we are running out of tickets! Joisan is keen to try going a bit later next time and staying for the night skiing. It looked pretty cool with the mountain all lit up last night when I went to pick them up. I think it would be fun!

Ian was a bit exhausted after his weekend. It was the Yukigassen weekend (the international snowball fight) and Ian was helping Ato-san with his deer burgers. They sold out both days and by the time all was said and done, Ian smelled like grease and felt more than a little exhausted.

Ian and I have both been having trouble sleeping lately and I'm not sure why. Hmmm... could it be that our daughter is heading back to Canada without us in less than four weeks... or that Ian's heading back without me at the end of May... or that we're still holding our collective breath that Taran will finish the school work he needs to do... wait! I know... it's that my mother is having surgery tomorrow. Of all the things I've been distressed about being so far away for (including birthdays and Christmas and the birth of my nephew) - this one is the worst. I would give anything to be able to get on an airplane today and be there for my mother tomorrow.

and the beat goes on...

Just over three weeks have passed while I struggled with getting the holiday blogged. Luckily for me, not too much has happened or else it might take another three weeks to get it up here - and where would that put us?!
The last few days with Mum and Aurora here were great! We had a potluck dinner with my adult Eikaiwa classes - awesome food and great company. We went to the onsen at the Mesuite and despite some trepidation Mum and Aurora both relaxed into the naked bathing experience! We all went out for an amazing sushi dinner at Wasabi, my favourite restaurant in Date. We hung out and visited and had a really nice time together. Of course it all ended way too soon and Mum and Aurora flew away on Joisan's birthday (Jan. 21st).
It was a bit of a blow the following week when I had to go back to work, but I survived. I was a bit depressed about the fact that I can't come home until August, but some good friends helped to pull me out. A well timed and bang-on email about saying goodbye to Mum and Aurora really helped (thanks again Kim!) and hearing that another friend is coming for a visit over March break made a big difference too (can't wait to see you Deb!)
On January 30th Ian and Taran participated in the preliminary playoff round of the Yukigassen. It's an international snowball fight. I know I wrote about going to watch the finals last year - but this year some friends of Ian's worked up a team so that he and Taran could experience it. Ian even trained to be a licenced referee. They were pretty stoked after completely dominating their first match but unfortunately, the professionals caught up with them and they lost the next two so they won't be competing in the finals. Ian has contacted the Yukigassen Canada organization though and he may (or may not) be a resource for them in the future!
Joisan and I both wound up taking a week off of work / school when we came down with influenza. We went and got tested and everything. Joisan really enjoyed having the swab stuck up her nose and into her throat - NOT! Her test came back positive and mine came back negative but since I had symptoms too they opted to give me the week to rest. We did a lot of laying around and drinking of liquids and eventually we recovered.
Since then, the most exciting thing that has happened is that Ian and the kids went skiing and snowboarding at Rusutsu. I'm a little anxious for them to go a bit more as we bought some prepaid lift tickets at the beginning of the season and there are still 7 vouchers left and only about 6 weeks to use them! We invested in a board and boots for Taran that we are hoping will be able to be taken back to Canada without too much difficulty.
We are looking forward to some excitement next month when Joisan and I both have a friend coming to visit! Tiffany arrives on the 11th and Deb on the 14th. We're busy making plans and jotting down ideas for things to do when they're here. They will stay until the 23rd (Deb) and the 24th (Tiffany) and Joisan will be heading back with her friend. She has finished the grade 8 BC curriculum and will be heading back to Cowichan so that she can participate in the Steps Ahead dance show. She is sooo looking forward to it! We are still up in the air about exactly when Ian and Taran will be going back but I'm here until August 9th or so. I can already forsee that blog updates in the future will become a countdown of sorts as I look forward to coming home!

2nd week of trip - Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto

Okay okay - the pressure is really getting to me now! It's lasted longer in the writing stage than it did in the doing it! Here it is... the second half of the holiday!
It was a bit difficult to leave Miyako. Even knowing that we were headed for another week of adventures and the chance to see my sister, I was sad to be leaving the "tropics" behind.
We were booked into a chain of hostels for the rest of the trip. It was really easy to like the K's House Hostels as they were very clean and comfortable and they had everything we needed - including easy directions to get "there" from "here". We followed the breadcrumbs and found ourselves where we needed to be - and my sister was already tucked into bed trying to recover from her travel ordeal (that's her story though).
Joisan continued to take excellent, detailed notes of our adventures which I'm using as the kick starter for my failing memory. Rather than get into a detailed day by day, moment by moment description though - I'm going to stick with the highlights of each city...

Tokyo
We were very fortunate in our Tokyo sightseeing day in that my mother had the foresight many moons ago to have taught a nice young man who himself had the foresight to relocate to Tokyo so he might be of use to us!! Shaun is currently teaching English at a private school near Tokyo and miraculously he had a day off of work on our only full day in Tokyo! He took us to several cool places. We started in Shibuya, where we could do some first class people watching. We parked ourselves at the Starbucks on the corner and watched while everyone crossed the street all at the same time because the traffic lights all change to red at once. Afterward, we headed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Municipal Government building to take advantage of the free observation deck on the top of the north tower. It was a beautiful, clear day and we were even able to see Mt. Fuji! There was a lot of walking through some of the unique areas of Tokyo. We had a bit of a `small world` moment in the middle of the Ameyoko shopping district when we engaged in conversation with a shop owner who's daughter had gone to high school at LCSS in the Cowichan International program! Eventually we ended up in Ueno Park where we parted ways with Shaun and headed for the Sumo stadium with hopes of getting some cheap tickets to watch the wrestling. It turns out that we would have had to line up first thing in the morning to have a chance of seeing any of the wrestling so we satisfied ourselves with taking a few photos outside as some of the wrestlers were leaving and then going back to the hostel and watching it on TV.
We had such a short time in Tokyo that we considered ourselves very lucky to find out about the huge festival that was on at the Tokyo Dome while we were there. There were booths from every prefecture in Japan, featuring the specialties of that region. We saw some dancing and drumming performances, we ate interesting things (tomato ice cream) and we bought some great souvenirs! It was awesome but a little overwhelming! When we had all had enough we headed back to the hostel to get organized for our flights to Kobe. Once we were packed we had just enough time for a quick walk to a very famous temple that was near our hostel. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go in and look around so we had to settle for a few quick photos outside.

Hiroshima
Other than the mad dash to the gate at the Haneda airport our flight to Kobe was pretty uneventful. We went directly from the airport to the train station and took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. We were all pretty exhausted by the time we got on the train but it was still an enjoyable experience to have. We were pretty tickled to be offered something from the trolley - we felt like we were on the Hogwarts Express! We arrived at the hostel in Hiroshima and settled right into our beds. The next day was Taran's 17th birthday. We were able to find a place that served waffles for his special birthday breakfast but it was a bit of a downer birthday for him as our focus that day was the Peace Park and Peace Museum. We approached from side of the Hiroshima A-Bomb Dome which is a building that has been preserved as it was immediately after the bombing. We all seemed to feel the weight of the tragic history of the place and despite the sunshine we felt quite "low". We walked through the park, passing a memorial for the students who died in the bombing and the children's memorial where they keep and display the hundreds of thousands of paper cranes that are sent every year. We stopped and took some photos at the peace arch with the dome in the background.
We weren't allowed to use the cameras in the museum itself but anyone who is interested in it can find photos and explanations on their website here: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/index_e2.html I was very impressed by the impartiality of the explanations of the events leading up to the dropping of the bombs. The authentic artifacts were well explained and impactful. It was interesting and heartbreaking and I am so very glad to have seen and experienced it. I am grateful that we had the opportunity to go as a family and that the kids now have some context on the realities of war.
After the museum we went out for a birthday dinner for Taran before heading back to the station to catch the Shinkansen for Kyoto. Mum was sitting beside a woman on the train who had some great suggestions for things to do in Kyoto so by the time we hit the hostel we already had some plans made.

Kyoto
Kyoto was awesome. There were several special events while we were there, including a craft fair and an annual archery event that involved shooting arrows across the courtyard of a temple. We saw many of the "must see" tourist sights including Kinkaku-ji Temple (the Golden Pavilion Temple), Nijojo Castle, and the Gion District (the Geisha and Maiko district).
There were two things in particular that stood out for me in Kyoto. We went to the Kyoto Handicrafts Centre where there are 7 floors full of traditional crafts ranging from the truly magnificent (and incredibly pricy!) to the truly trashy tourist specials. On the top floor though, they have hands-on crafts that you can do. There were many different crafts to choose from - woodblock printing, cloisonne jewelery making, doll painting, etc. Joisan and my Mum both did a gold foil craft that involved brushing coloured foil onto a pre-glued background. They created amazing, original works of art! Having had a similar experience in Miyako at the basketweaving place, I think there is no doubt that a souvenier that is personally made is much more meaningful!
On our last day in Kyoto, after our walking tour of the Gion District where we caught sight of a few real Geisha, Joisan got her birthday present from Nana. She signed up for a Maiko dress-up experience. (The Maiko are the apprentice Geisha.) Girls can be dressed up and have make-up and hair done and then a photo shoot. We left Joisan to get made up and came back a half hour later. Joisan did not look like Joisan any more! Between Mum and Aurora and I we got a ton of photos and some of them are really good! I think Joisan enjoyed the experience and I certainly enjoyed watching and taking pictures! Now I just have to figure out a way to make myself actually do something with all of these pictures!
Our plane left Kobe at 8am which meant that we had to be on a ridiculously early train from Kyoto to make it to the airport on time. The sunrise at Kobe airport was a great bookend for the trip!
Being suckers for punishment, when we landed in Sapporo Mum and Aurora and Joisan and I decided to let Ian and Taran take the luggage back home while we took the train to Otaru, so that Mum and Aurora could check out the music box factory. We didn't count on the heavy snow that had fallen prior to our arrival and found ourselves inappropriately shod as we tried to navigate the snowy, icy streets. We did get to have a good look around and Mum bought a couple of stuffies to take home (coals to Newcastle!?!). After a major slip and fall for most of us we opted to cab it back to the train station and head back to Chitose. Ian picked us up and brought us home where we collapsed!
Whew! That's it! An all around awesome holiday! Now I can start working on the bits and pieces that have happened since we got back! We're gearing up for some excitement and some big changes here... Stay tuned!

First week of trip - 7 nights in Miyakojima

I realize that consumer confidence is low here and nobody really believes that I'm going to be updating this regularly again but I am! I am! If you haven't already checked out the Happy New Years post please do that while you're here.
So... on to the trip - and apologies for the book-like length and format of this post - I'll work on keeping things to novellas in the future! I have already posted a selection of our trip photos - be grateful I didn't post all 2000 of them!
On January 4th we got up at 4am so that we could be ready when our rides arrived. I say rides because we had to have two vans take the five of us and our five suitcases to the airport. Our friend Ato-san and one of his employees did the driving and we made it to the airport with plenty of time for our 7am flight.
We actually had three flights that day - Sapporo to Haneda, Haneda to Okinawa (Naha) and Naha to Miyakojima. We were met at the Miyako airport by Akiko and taken to our tiny condo. It was a self contained suite at Miyakojima Paradise with everything we needed except elbow room! We crammed ourselves in and managed to organize to make everything fit for the week.
After settling in we went for a walk looking for a grocery store. Along the way we met a woman who kindly walked us to the grocery store and exchanged contact information with Ian. Being that we were in the Okinawa prefecture and therefore much closer to the American base, there was plenty of western style food at the store. We bought what we were willing to carry and headed back to the apartment to deal with dinner. We were a bit wiped from the long day and the walk so we cleaned up and set up our futons and went to bed.

We got a late-ish start the next day which was okay since we still had to wait a bit for the bicycles we rented to be available. We made some sandwiches for our lunch and set out as soon as our bikes were ready - heading for a famous beach called Sunayama beach. About a minute into our ride Joisan made us turn back to fetch our bathing suits. Her arguement was that we would rather have them with us and not want to use them then be caught wanting them and not having them with us. As it turned out we grovelled at her feet for the rest of the trip because it was by far our best weather and swimming day!
We changed into our suits at the bathroom/shower building just above the beach and started our walk down the sand mountain (suna = sand yama = mountain... Sunayama beach!) We were completely awed by the picture - it's actually one of the most famous views of Miyakojima so it was really cool to be there in person. When we first arrived there was only one other person on the beach so we felt free to do whatever we wanted. Of course playing in the water was what we wanted! The air wasn't hot - only about 21 degrees (although compared with the frigid temperatures we had left on Hokkaido it was pretty tropical!) The water was slightly warmer than the air though so we were able to comfortably play in the water - jumping waves and body surfing - for about two hours. It was awesome! I pulled out our goggles after a while and we enjoyed watching the movement of the sand with the waves. Joisan spotted a crab that was the same colour as the sand and we looked at the growths on the rocks nearby. When we had thoroughly exhausted ourselves we sat in the sand and ate our lunch before Taran and Ian (and eventually Joisan too) started digging a big hole to ... where? In Canada when we dig we always say we're digging to China - being that we are in Asia now I'm not sure where they were digging to.
While we played in the water and sat on the sand in our bathing suits busloads of tourists began to arrive. They would troop down the sand mountain and take a few photos, look at us like we were crazy and then head back up to the bus. Some were even taking photos of us! We wanted to wait for the tide to surround the big hole but it was taking too long so eventually we headed back up the sand mountain to shower and change before heading back. Once we got back and organized again we decided to head for a larger grocery store that we had seen on our way from the airport. Mum was struggling a bit on the ride - the way there being mostly uphill. She was a bit gratified to learn that it wasn't all about the uphill though - she had a flat tire. We were able to get it fixed and get ourselves and our yummy sushi dinner back to the studio - not too difficult since it was all downhill to the beach! We were able to spread our sleeping out a bit since Ian and Joisan moved their futons to the small deck. Unfortunately the weather turned a bit in the night and Ian woke up at 5am to rain on his head.
There were some heavy winds and rain on day three so we stuck fairly close to the studio. We took advantage of a brief lull in the storm and went for a walk on the beach across the street. After lunch we played some Wizard and then Joisan and I braved the winds and went looking for some adventure. We made up a story to tell the others while we were walking into the wind. I can't remember all of it but it did involve being attacked by a group of evil ninja monkeys and of course we triumphed in the end (although Joisan maintains that she did the butt-kicking, I of course feel confident that it was my moves that sent the evil ninjas running!)
With a few noteable exceptions, the rest of our time one Miyakojima was spent in much the same way - lots of biking, exploring, braving the winds and the rain, and just enjoying the fact that it was closer to plus 20 degrees than minus 20!
Joisan took incredible notes that I could use to give a play by play of each day but we're already at such a length here that I think the highlights and the photos will suffice.

Exception #1 The Botanical Gardens
We were on a bike excursion to a vegetable market (where we bought goya - explanation to come!) when we spotted a sign for the Miyakojima Botanical gardens. Despite grumbles from Taran we went exploring and eventually - after a ride down a long hill (which we would need to ride back up eventually!) we found the Botanical gardens. We were all (including Taran!) so glad that we did. We did a bit of exploring through the many crafting huts that they had there - including some pottery, woodworking, jewelery making, indigo dying, weaving and one where you could create your own pattern in your flip flops. Along the path we ran across a cave that kept going and going! We wished we had a light with us to explore it further but we did our best with the flashes from our cameras. Mum really wanted to make a grass basket so after we paused to eat our lunch under the shelter (it was raining a bit) she and Ian and Taran settled themselves in the weaving hut while Joisan and I went to check out the other crafts a bit closer. We didn't find anything that called out to us particularly so we went and joined the weaving in progress. Mum was well into her beautiful basket and Taran was working on a knotted bag. There were many people working who tried to help me get started on a knotted bag but my brain and my fingers were not connecting so I just admired what everyone else was doing! One of the people there took a shine to Joisan and gave her all kinds of beautiful shells and things. It was an awesome way to spend a rainy afternoon!

Exception #2 Snorkeling!!!
On our fifth day we went on a snorkeling trip. We arranged for our host Loic to take us to the best snorkeling beach on the island. The deal was supposed to include transportation, lunch, equipment, training and the use of an underwater digital camera. Unfortunately Loic had some issues - he got sick so he couldn't go in the water with us and then he couldn't find the charger for his underwater camera. The weather was not as good as our previous swimming day but it was better than some of the days in between so when Loic was able to find another camera for us to use we decided to go for it! (A good thing too - because the weather over the next few days just went downhill and we would have had to scrap it altogether.)
Because Loic felt bad for making us wait while he found a camera for us to use, on the way to the snorkeling beach we were given a bit of an island tour. We stopped at a 7km long beach (Maehama Beach) that was absolutely gorgeous! It just went on and on - white white sand and blue green water! We also saw a cape where the China Sea is on one side and the Pacific Ocean is on the other. We eventually ended up at the beach with the coral reef (Aragusuku Beach) and after our safety chat and some guidance in putting on the mask and flippers we entered the world of Nemo. There are not enough words to describe how amazing an experience this was. We were all awed and impressed with the variety and proximity of the fish. It was a fairly cloudy day so the coral was not as brightly coloured as it can be with the sunshine but it was sooo amazing! We brought some rice from our lunch into the water and fed the fish from our hands. They swarmed around whoever had food and we got some cool photos with the underwater camera. We didn't know exactly how to work the camera though so we ended up with some videos we didn't intend which unfortunately used up some of the battery life. Still, we have evidence of our adventure and we were able to see clown fish behaving just like they do in the movies (hear Marlin's voice talking to Nemo...) "Out... and back in... out... and back in." We were at the beach for a total of about 4 1/2 hours - most of it spent in the water. Although the water was warmer than the air we were all a bit chilled by the time we were ready to go. We were so very happy that Nana took us to Miyakojima and took us snorkeling - we had a marvellous time!

Exception #3 - Irabujima Island Excursion
Taran was feeling out of sorts the day after the snorkeling so he opted to lay low while the rest of us took our bikes on the ferry to a nearby island. We were welcomed to Irabujima by a torrential downpour which was at least not cold. We pushed on and rode across Irabujima to a smaller island called Shimojijima where there were some interesting pools and beaches we had planned to see. Our ride across the island was not on a main road (because we got lost!) and seemed to be either flat or uphill and we consolled ourselves with the thought that the way back would be flat or downhill. The rain came and went and came again with a vengance. We made it to the pools which were partly fresh water and partly sea water - being connected underground by caves which went out to the ocean. While we were looking at the pools the wind picked up and made us change our plans a bit. We crossed the beaches off our list and looked for the shortest way back to the ferry. Distance-wise it was shortest to go around the airport on the cement retaining wall that separates the airport from the ocean. Wind-wise this was not the most comfortable route but with some judiciously timed walks and the eventual tail wind on the third side, we made it. With some guidance from a taxi driver to put us on the right (main) road we headed for the ferry. Of course, owing to Murphy and his laws, our different route was all uphill on the way back >:( We did make it home eventually - very much looking (and feeling) like a crew of drowned rats!

Exception #4 - Goya
Don't do it. We did and we offer you this sage advice... don't!
Goya = bitter melon. We are still unsure of why this melon has been cultivated and not exterminated. While Ian and Taran made a trip to the grocery store, Mum and I attempted to cook up the Goya we had purchased at the vegetable market. Raw, it tasted like butt. We went online and found some ideas for cooking it and did our best. Really really we did! Cooked, it tasted like cooked butt. DON'T DO IT! It's not worth it! We had bought it in a package of 2 so we gave the 2nd melon to Loic and Akiko before we left - we couldn't believe that he said they LIKE it! We went out for dinner on our last night in Miyako and the restaurant had goya chips on the menu. Joisan felt it was so important that we try it again that she paid for it. We all tried it and found that cut very thinly, deep fried with lots of batter and salt - it was more tolerable but it tasted like... deep fried butt!

There were other days - spent biking and getting lost and meeting kind local people; shopping and admiring the beauty of the islands, relaxing, playing Catan, eating yummy food. It was a great escape from the reality of Hokkaido and we didn't see one single snowflake!

Coming up next... week 2... Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto

Happy New Year!!

Wow! I started this oh-long-ago! Of course the extent of starting it was opening it up and putting in the title! Oh well, I'm going to use this as the beginning of the big update and the next one will encompass the trip...
My mum arrived on December 30th.

We picked her up at the airport at 8:40pm and brought her right home. She was really wiped - despite the comfy first class pod on the big flight to Narita she was unable to rest very much on the plane. I will also add that the flight from Vancouver to Narita is (barely) tolerable. To then have to add an hour and a half on the ANA flight to Sapporo is absolutely brutal. We found that ourselves each time we have made the flight.
Anyway, despite her exhaustion we pushed on with our plans and we prepared for our New Year's Eve celebration with Ian's friend Takaaki and his daughters. I had been given a very elaborate case with three layers of special New Years food from one of the people at the office, so we brought that and a few other things with us.





Takaaki really wanted us to stay over night so that we could all relax and enjoy ourselves so we brought our gear and headed over to the Finland cabin behind Takaaki's place.
His daughters were really lovely girls and we enjoyed their company very much. It is traditional to eat soba (buckwheat) noodles on New Years so Takaaki decided to go one better and we ground up the soba he had grown on his little farm and made flour and then noodles!





My mum ended up having to crash for a nap partway through the evening so she missed the grinding of the soba but she woke up in time for the rolling, cutting and eating! It was an amazing, ongoing feast that seemed to never end! Takaaki and his daughters cleared out at about 10:30 or 11pm and left us in the cabin to bring in the New Year by ourselves. We were really grateful for the opportunity to experience some of the traditions of a Japanese New Year - although we all struggled to make it until midnight!
On New Year's Day we cleaned up and came home where we were able to Skype with our family in Ontario and watch them ring in their New Year there. Mum was pretty tired but she still managed to put together an amazing roast deer and yorkshire pudding for us for New Years dinner. Yum! We had been given the deer tenderloin back at the end of November and I'm glad we saved it for the special dinner - it was awesome!
On January 2nd we were invited to a traditional mochi pounding party with my friend Natsumi and her family and friends. It was held at an old ski lodge that's not much used so it was very cold! We all took turns pounding the rice and then some of us (Mum included) helped to form the mochi balls. We only lasted a couple of hours before we were too cold and had to bail on the party and come home and get warm. It was fun while it lasted though.





The next day, January 3rd, Mum and Joisan and I went into Date to have lunch with my friend Yasuko and some Mice Club members and then go shopping. Mum was much impressed with the Daiso - a big dollar store type chain. It's one of my favourite stores and it was fun to turn Mum onto it! When we finally made it home we had to get ourselves packed and organized for our stupid-early departure for the airport. I'm all for leaving yourself plenty of time but wow! I could have used some more sleep!
Okay - that's it for now - I'll move on to trip stuff in the next entry. I apologise in advance for the length of the next entry... it's going to be ridiculously long! Two weeks of fun and excitement - coming your way!!

Christmas time is here by golly...

So, here we are, December 24th already! Santa Claus comes tonight! We've had a busy week and
obviously it just got busier as I am returning to this post having left it there for four days! Appologies to everyone - I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas at the right time but I got distracted. In my defense there really was a lot going on!
I enjoyed the lack of planning I was able to get away with for the month of December... I love teaching on a theme! They're totally into anything Christmas so it was an easy few weeks of Eikaiwa! I even started singing with the adult classes.
I was at a loss as to what to do for gifts this year, since we were here over Christmas. We talked a bit about it and decided that making some Christmas goodies was our best bet so I spent the better part of a week making and baking. We wound up with ten different cookies and treats and I found some good boxes and containers to pack them in so that they displayed nicely. Even packing them up was an ordeal though and it took the better part of one evening to get it all done. We have since found that people here have difficulty receiving gifts. We gave the baking away and within a day or two we got something back from many of the people we were giving to. We felt a little distressed about it since our trying to be nice seemed to put pressure on people to reciprocate - not what we were after at all!
Last week there was a ballet Christmas party at the Royal Hotel in Date. It was quite the big deal! It was a bit expensive (about $40 each) and the food was only so-so but there were games and entertainment and a gift exchange. The owner of the ballet school had a present for each of the dancers and there was a gift from her mother too! Joisan was asked to present flowers to one of the teachers which she did with grace (despite the teacher not being someone Joisan particularly likes!)
This week we had the Chugakko Christmas party which I managed to avoid having to help plan and organize! Naoko really got into it and had it all figured out so that I just had to show up and help decorate a bit. The kids used little pound cakes to make houses and they stuck the cookies and candies on with melted white chocolate. It worked really well.
Ian was lucky enough to get to play Santa for the preschool and kindergarten on Wednesday morning. There are some great photos that prove that despite his differing opinion he is actually a little skinny to pull it off properly. He had lots of fun and enjoyed answering all the questions they asked him.
Wednesday evening was the teachers Christmas party. We went to a new restaurant in Date and ate and drank our faces off! I took some photos of the food but in the interest of getting this actually posted today I will have to add them later. After we finished at the restaurant we went to the same bar as last time where we were privilaged to be treated very specially. The VP and I have made a promise that next time we'll go to karaoke afterwards. I think we were all just too exhausted this time!
Thursday was a national holiday - a day off for the Emperor's birthday. We cleaned and organized because it was the potluck Christmas dinner for the adult eikaiwa classes. We had a good turnout and some lovely food! It seems like there were a lot of things to do last week though and every time we got through one of them and I could check it off the list I felt a little weight lift from my shoulders. I gave out boxes of Christmas baking to everyone as they left the party - they seemed to really like it.
I had to work on Friday but the kids didn't have to go to school because of having gone to school last Saturday for the Warashibe festival. Ian took Joisan to Noboribetsu to the chiropractor and they did some last minute errands on the way home. I spent the afternoon making pies for Christmas dinner. We're getting better at making due with the ingredients we can get! We wrapped and organized all evening and somehow wound up staying up far too late as usual! Thankfully we have teenagers now and neither one of them was interested in getting up at the crack of dawn to dive into presents. It was a bit of a weird Christmas morning for us. I was first up and puttered around for a bit before the others started to wake up. Eventually we were functional enough to deal with breakfast before moving on to stockings and presents.
It was all fairly low-key and definately joy of giving was the highlight for all of us. Santa made sure that we had coffee (which we don't usually have here) and some Bailey's to go with it for that Christmas-morning feeling! Thank you Santa!
We lazed and played a bit before we had to get cracking on the preparations for dinner. We had invited about 20 people for a traditional Canadian Christmas dinner. Due to circumstances, only about 14 could be there but it was still a lot of pressure to get everything ready and able to be served hot.
I have never before dealt with a whole Christmas dinner by myself. At home it's usually more of a potluck thing where we all take a dish to be in charge of. This was a bit of a balancing act but with all of us contributing we managed to produce a wonderful dinner. Ian was really focused on making the hall a more intimate and welcoming space and his efforts really paid off! It was so pretty and the company was great. I'm not convinced that they were in love with the food but everyone stayed later than we thought they would, so clearly it was a success!
Sorry to be so long in getting this actually posted - hope you all had a marvellous holiday!

Booked!

Whew! It took many days of internet searching, much reading and conferring but we are finally booked and our travel dreams will come true!! My Mum arrives on December 30th and we'll have a few days of relaxing and showing her around here before we head to the Hawaii of Japan... Miyakojima. We have a full week there to explore and there won't be any snow!! I'm so excited! On January 11th we will fly to Tokyo and meet my sister. We have two nights in Tokyo and plans to watch a live Sumo Wrestling match while we're there. We found some cheap flights to get us around instead of the train so on the 13th we will fly to Kobe where we'll pick up a rental car and drive to Hiroshima. The only thing that I absolutly don't want to miss is the Peace Museum in Hiroshima so we're doing that right off. Then we'll drive back to Kyoto and turn in the car and stay there for four nights. Kyoto is the heart of cutural Japan and the main place to see original buildings that were not destroyed during the war. We found some inexpensive train/bus tickets so we'll be able to get around fairly well I think. On January 18th we will all fly back to Sapporo where we'll show Aurora and Mum around a bit more before sending them back to Canada on January 21st. I'm SO excited! We'll have lots of news and pictures to post in Januay for sure!
For now though, I'm still reaching to find anything to write about. Life just keeps on keeping on. Not much new or interesting. Last week was the AET Conference in Sapporo. It was in the same place as last year so I felt very much at home. Katherine (the JET AET from Date) came up on Wednesday evening and I drove us to Sapporo. Joisan ditched school for the two days and came with us as she wanted to explore and do some Christmas shopping. I did have to really think about it before I would agree to my 13 year old exploring downtown Sapporo by herself but in the end I realized that not only is it a very safe city (crime is very low here) but I was able to navigate the subways and find my way around last year when I had even less Japanese than I do now!
We had a great time - Joisan took herself to the JR tower and to another shopping centre where she was able to find a Subway for her lunch! I skipped the JET socializing and took the subway to meet her at the JR tower for dinner and some shopping. The next day I missed some of the afternoon session - which was really not applicable to me anyway - and met her for some more shopping. We did really well and finished up most of our Christmas shopping. There are some photos somewhere - I'll add them soon.
On the way back from Sapporo we stopped at Costco where I managed to spend almost $400. Wow! It goes fast! We are planning a Canadian Christmas dinner for the 25th and we'll probably have around 20 people for that. I was very surprised to find a turkey at Costco - last year we couldn't find one anywhere!
I've been going to Yosakoi (Japanese Folk Dancing) for about a month and a half now. Unfortunately, it seems that my back is suffering - despite much warming up and cooling down. There are many low, bending moves and lots of jumping. I've been careful about my knees - particularly since they dance on a concrete floor covered in carpet. There have been "twinges" over the last few days though that tell me that my dancing career is at an end! Too bad :(
I am completely wracked by guilt most of the time due to my lousy blogging lately. The computer situation at school has deteriorated again - I no longer have access to the internet on a regular or reliable basis. However, it is my New Years resolution to be posting at least once a week after we get back from our travels. I'll have lots of cool photos and stories to share then I'm sure.

Hassles...

So, as the title indicates, there have been a few hassles of late - not the least of which was Joisan bugging me about not updating the blog regularly!! But as I told Joisan, there really hasn't been much of note happening.
We went to see Harry Potter two weekends ago. Anyone who has seen it should please skype with us soon - we are anxious to talk about it!

Until last weekend the weather was warm and balmy during the day and a bit chilly at night. On the weekend there was a bit of a wind storm and it blew in some serious arctic air! We had about ten centimetres of dry snow over two days, along with some serious cold. The roads were a bit treacherous for my drive to Date Chugakko on Tuesday but I made it safely. Thankfully, we are back to balmy sunshine during the day and the snow is retreating quickly!

Ian has been busy over the last couple of weeks, helping his friend Takaaki-san. He has been harvesting Nagaimo - a long potato-type vegetable and also helping with a structure Takaaki is building. They are working on the foundation for a pizza oven that Takaaki will build outside his back door. It's a bit weird and the poor planning and execution is driving Ian crazy but he still goes to help.

Last weekend, with the help of Takaaki-san we were able to order some discount lift tickets for the local ski-resort. We have been looking at the 2nd hand stores for ski and snowboard stuff so that we wouldn't have to rent them this year and we were able to find a great deal for some skis and boots for Joisan. Taran, with his skookum sized feet have been more of a challenge to fit in the land of tiny people. Today though, I think I may have found something!!! In desperation I went to the Hokkaido JET forums in case anyone had posted any equipment for sale and there it was!!! A posting only 3 days old!!! A snowboard with step-in bindings for sale - complete with size 30 (cm) boots!!! (Picture the following in slow motion...) I ran to the conference room where Taran was working and yanked the shoe off his foot... I frantically (in slow motion) searched for the size of said shoe... (suspenseful music here) a 30!!!! (Switch to hyper-speed) I raced back to the computer and frantically registered for the HAJET forum so that I could post a response saying that I would buy the set (for the equivalent of about $40 mind you!!) I haven't heard back about it yet but I'm feeling like it was meant to be!!! It's a good thing - I need something to go right just now.

We found out this week that the cheap train passes that we had been counting on for our January holiday with my mum and my sister are not available when we need them. (Never trust the internet - lesson learned!) Mum and I have been frantically working on alternatives to make all our travel dreams come true... details to be posted as they are determined.

Sorry for the lack of photos to break up the monotony of my ramblings. There hasn't been much to take photos of... I'll work on it for next time!

Bad habits...

So, I've found that despite the stringent web filters, I can access Webkinz from the school and office computers. This of course has directly resulted in the blog not getting finished on time! I do have to be careful though since Webkinz has a distinct fun and games look about it - I don't want everyone to know I'm goofing off! Not that there is much else to do while sitting at the office or the Chugakko. I think we Canadian teachers are definately much too efficient in our planning and prepping. It astounds me how much time here is spent accomplishing NOTHING!
Last week was pretty low key for me but all the teachers were stressed out about the Pro-D happening here on Friday. I really like some of the ways they do Pro-D here. I know I said this last year when we all went to observe classes at Date Chugakko, but this year it was here at Otaki. All of the Junior High School teachers in the district came here last Friday to observe four classes. Usually there are more options available for observation but because Otaki is so small there were only two periods with two classes in each that could be observed. It seemed like there were endless meetings leading up to the big day. Joisan and Taran were asked to not come to school that day since the conference room where they spend most of their time was going to be used for meetings.
Having the day off, and not wanting to sit and do nothing all day, Ian took the kids to Lake Toya where they went for a very brief and very cold swim! They were rather excited about the whole thing when they came and picked me up on their way home. They've got big plans to do it again soon and aparantly I have to do it too! Oh joy!
Friday night I went out with the teachers to celebrate their successful Pro-D presentations. We went to a restaurant that I've been to before with the teachers. It had wonderful food. Part of the experience is always in the presentation of the food too - and it was beautiful! There are always several courses and lots of drinking. One course involved cooking your own meat and mushrooms on a super-heated rock that they brought in, and then dipping the meat in a special sauce... yum!
I offered to be a driver this time - particularly since I wasn't one of the ones who had worked so hard - but there were enough drivers already so I enjoyed being a drinker. The licensing in many of the restaurants is different here - you can bring in your own alcohol and they just serve you food. The drinks in most of the restaurants where they provide are typically limited to sake and beer so I was happy that we were able to bring our own - red wine for me please!
After the restaurant we went up the street to a bar. It was the ground level of someone's house that had been done up. It was a little funny to look around and imagine the space as someone's home bar - with a few more chairs! I had some of the best sake I've ever had while we were at the bar. I took a photo of the bottle in hopes that I can find it somewhere and buy some!
The principal and vice-principal were kind enough to pay the whole bar tab so I left with money in my pocket.
Saturday was the kindergarten school festival. It was much more fun for me this year because I know all the students now. They do some really cute things and I've gotten some good ideas for things to do back home. Ian took Joisan to dance and they were able to pick up the next of the Harry Potter movies so that we could get ourselves prepared to go see the new movie soon.
Sunday I did my swim (I've lost count of how many weeks now!) and the rest of the day was mostly lazy. Ian had made a bunch of pastry and cooked up some of the pumpkin from Halloween so I made four pumpkin pies. I wanted to give a couple of them away. On Monday I dropped one for the Hashimoto-sans on my way home from Date Chu. They have a farm near the Chugakko and they have gifted us with vegetables and deer meat on many occasions! They also donated several pumpkins to the Chugakko Halloween party this year. Ian also gave a pie to his friend Takaaki-san and I shared one with the adult English class. I don't really know if anyone else liked it but we really enjoyed the taste of home!
On Tuesday morning I woke up with a burst blood vessel in my left eye. It was fairly high up so it wasn't totally obvious but by Wednesday morning it had gotten worse and looked bloody awful! (small pun intended!) I had removed my contacts on Tuesday evening and it was looking so bad that I didn't dare put them back in. When the nurse at the Chugakko saw it she insisted (along with everyone else) that I needed to go get it looked at. Ian was going to be taking Joisan to dance anyway so I cancelled the Warashibe and went in with them. Ian and I had actually diagnosed it on the internet the night before and the eye doctor came up with the same diagnosis - subconjunctival bleeding. It sure looks gross - but actually it has definately improved since Wedensday!
Enough with the procrastinating... I'll post this right now and do another update asap. I'm really missing everyone right now!

Joisan on pointe!!!

This week was all about the ballet performance on Saturday. There were extra rehearsals almost every day so there was very little else happening for us. The parents were allowed to videotape the dress rehearsals but not the performance because there was a professional videographer who would be making and selling the official video (at a ridiculous price!!) I was totally prepared to not film the performance - despite the fact that we didn't have a proper dress with full make up. My camera failed me at the first dress rehearsal though so I got permission from the ballet teacher to film the second one - despite the fact that the film crew were already there. I was just in the middle of filming Joisan's dance when one of the other mothers came over and made me stop filming. I was really upset! At that point I was feeling so lonely and isolated from the whole show that I pretty much fell apart. I was able to hide the tears in the dark and get a grip on myself before the lights came up but when the teacher and the other mothers came over to talk to me about it I fell apart again and totally embarassed Joisan. It was so difficult to try and follow all their stupid little rules without even knowing what all of them were. Anyway, we were both feeling fairly low but we managed to push through.
After our bag lunch I did Joisan's make up and then I went to check out what the rest of the program looked like.
There were several choirs and a couple of school bands. The dance was the finale. By the time Ian and Taran arrived I had seen that many people were video taping the choirs and bands so I decided I would film the ballet. I was very subtle about it and I managed to get everything on tape. Trying to load it on here though has been a challenge - I don't know if it's just too big (even though it says it's not) or if the internet connection is just too slow. Anyway - here are a few photos and I'll have to continue to push Joisan into letting me post the video on YouTube!
After dropping us off in the morning, Ian went to Date to get some flowers for Joisan and Satoko (her duet partner). He did good! This is the amazingly beautiful bouquet that he got for Joisan - and the photos don't do it justice!

Snow!!! Halloween and stupid busy.

As promised, this week was nuts! Clearly, despite many attempts otherwise, we left all our planning and organizing much too late! Of course - that lead to an overwhelming feeling of crazyness and although I did start this on time - I was not able to finish it until now.
On Tuesday we got the snow that had been forcast. It seemed to have just started when I got up but it accumulated quickly and by the time I left for work it was a little scary! I was running late to get to Date but still took it slow because of the snow. I have to figure out what happens if the weather is too bad for driving on a Date day... I'm not excited about doing that drive this winter! The snow actually continued through Wednesday and by the time it quit for good it was up to my knees! Thankfully it is all but gone now and hopefully we won't see any more for several months (ha ha!)
On Wednesday I spoke to the English teachers in the area again. Personally, I thought it was a great talk - very interesting, a little entertaining, and informative too! I didn't feel very successful afterward though because all the feedback I got from the organizer was that I took too long! He hadn't told me there was a time limit and I thought I'd done well to keep it as short as I did! Grrr. I think I'll say no next time he asks me!
Seeing that it was the end of October, I kept all the lessons focused on Halloween. I played Halloween bingo, Halloween concentration and various other games to build vocabulary. We even made paper plate masks - totally fun!!!
While I was focused on making some truly fabulous cookies that looked like green witches fingers,
Ian and the kids decided that a haunted house was essential to this year's Halloween party. They planned and shopped and prepared diligently.
We determined that to be able to make it dark and scary enough we would need to do it in the garage. Consequently the car had to give up it's warm and frost-free resting place and the transformation began... In the end we had a gory, science lab gone awry theme going on with a display of a bloody cut up body, various creepy bits and pieces, a skeleton that swung down from the ceiling
and two dummies positioned to look scary. The second one was particularly scary as it involved a severed head and when you walked by it jumped up and tried to grab you... (it was Taran in disguise!) The whole thing finished off with a walk through a "graveyard" where the names of the families attending the party were written on the gravestones. We downloaded some spooky sound effects and of course there were cobwebs and spiders everywhere! It was pretty awesome!!! The Otaki cable TV came and filmed it and they promised me a copy of it on DVD. I'll be sure to post it as soon as I get it! The haunted house was really the highlight of Halloween for me.
I had four parties on Friday and it was more than a bit stressful! I started with the pumpkin carving party at the Chugakko during 6th period. Joisan and I beat it out of there as soon as the period ended so that we could make it to the kids party in Date that I was "helping" with. "Helping" is the new word for "running" or "doing" you know! I was really grateful that Joisan was willing to come and help as she was invaluable at the face painting station. There were far too many children there (about 30!) and the age gap was far too big (3 yr olds up to 12 year olds). I will recommend that they have two shorter parties next year instead of the big one. It was a bit chaotic but in the end everyone had a good time. I got out of cleaning up again because I had to boot it back to Otaki for the childrens party at the guest house. I was a bit frustrated with it because there were only six kids signed up for it (and most of them Jr. High kids) and we ended up with 14 kids! And only a few of them made any effort to dress up. I was really lucky that I had enough spare stuff to be able to give prizes to everyone. We played some fun games - including a "mummy wrap" but they really loved the haunted house - as did the adults at the next party. Unfortunately I couldn't run away from the clean up at the last two parties - since they were at our place. Although Ian has already done a lot of it, the rest is still waiting for me! It will feel good now to be able to pack everything up and put it away for someone else next year!
On Saturday I had to go to Noboribetsu for the district English recitation contest. Two of the girls entered were students that I coached at Date Chu so I wanted to be there to support them. Luckily there was no dance, so Joisan went with me and we made notes on all the contestants and tried to figure out who would win. Aparently our notes didn't match with those of the judges though since they totally messed up as far as we were concerned! One of the Date Chu girls did place third - although not the one who had done the best as far as we were concerned!
Anyway - I think it must be very difficult to judge these types of contests and I'm grateful that I won't have to be involved next year!
Taran had a bit of a cold this week and we are all out of Cold FX :( I did my best with some lemon/honey/ginger tea and he did catch up on some sleep on the weekend so it looks like we made it through without it this time!
When all was said and done, Joisan decided to carve the mini pumpkins...
Well, it's time to get this up - and almost time to get started on the next one!!

Phew! A Quiet Week!

Despite it being a quiet week I still didn't get this finished on time. I'm trying - really I am!
I was back to Date Chu this week after three weeks off. I started working with the two speach contest participants again as they prepare for the next level of competition. I'll be attending the contest next Saturday in Noboribetsu. I'm looking forward to making a day of it as we haven't been to Noboribetsu before.
Taran and Ian played soft tennis on Thursday evening - I didn't go so I can't say exactly what the differences are but it is played indoors and I believe it is a different ball. I think it's a weekly thing for the time being so it will give Ian and the kids something to do.
Joisan went through a few costume options this week. There were fitting issues with a couple of them since her duet partner is a bit larger and difficult to fit. Unfortunately, the second costume - the one Joisan loved - did not fit either of them so she had to trade it in for one that she's not fond of. We did have it long enough to take a photo of it though...


On Friday night Joisan and I went to Date to have a karaoke girls night. I made Joisan promise that she would sing at least one song - since I was paying for her to be there. It's a pretty neat setup. You pay a flat fee and you get a choice of food and as much as you can drink! I was driving so Joisan and I were both drinking juice and pop but they have some pretty great options here. Joisan's a big fan of the melon soda so she enjoyed that in various forms! She even managed to work up her courage and she sang several songs! She's got some big plans for if one of her friends comes for a visit.
Saturday was a bit busy between Joisan's dance and shopping and organizing for the busy week ahead. I have to speak on Wednesday for the district teachers meeting so I have that to plan, on top of four Halloween parties to plan for! Next week is going to be pretty busy!
On Sunday I went for my swim (seven weeks in a row...) and then after lunch we all went to the big mall in Tomokomai. Aside from all the other stuff it's always worth it to go just for the amazing takoyaki! I promise to take anyone who comes to visit!
So - that's our quiet week... next week is going to be much busier - I'll work on getting that one done on time!!

I Love Hakodate!

Here we are - on Friday morning - and I'm blogging!! I'm right on schedule!!! So, this week was fun! We had a fairly slow start to our holiday but eventually (by noon) we headed out for the 3+ hour drive to Hakodate. It is an old city with a lot of mixed architecture, owing to its history as the first "international" port city in Japan. There were a lot of Europeans who settled there and, compared to the other Japanese cities I've seen, it has a very unique look and feeling. The majority of the city is quite flat with the exception being Mt. Hakodate at the end of a peninsula in the instep of the "boot" of Hokkaido. The night view of Hakodate from the lookout on the mountain is touted as one of the three best night views in the world. Ian had actually been up there before, when he was here 25 years ago and I'd seen pictures of it but I was excited to see it with my own eyes. With the help of their iPods and the Kindles and one stop for a leg stretch along a breakwater, the kids survived the drive. After a quick stop at the tourist information centre we made our way to the guest house we had made reservations at. I was not expecting a great deal of the place since we were able to book it for two nights for less than the cost of one night at any other place we could find. Fortunately, we were pleasantly surprised. It's actually a "rider house" - kind of a hostel for motorcyclists.
The building is over 120 years old and very typically Japanese with its narrow, steep stairs and clutter, but it was clean and Chica, the owner, was very nice. I would reccomend it to anyone looking for budget accomodations in Hakodate. After we got settled and sorted out we headed out for some food. On the reccomendations of several people we wound up at a place called Hamburger Luckey Pierrot. Luckily for Joisan they had more than just hamburgers. Ian went for their "Mt. Hakodate Mega Burger" which came with a special card to say that you ate this burger!
Once we finished dinner we decided to pick up a few supplies for breakfast and then head to one of the local public baths. Taran had done the communal bath thing once before in Otaki after our family swim but Joisan has steadfastly avoided the experience. She has recently realized that she has only a few months left to experience all she can of Japan though so she is trying to put herself out there and have every experience she can. When reminded of this resolution she was able to steel up her nerve and come for a bath with me. She did really well and (I think) somewhat enjoyed the experience. When we are all scrubbed clean and shiny we went for a drive up the mountain to check out the view.
It really is quite impressive! The pictures don't do it justice. We had arranged to rent bicycles from Chica so the next morning Ian and Joisan and I got up early and went to the famous Hakodate Morning Market. It's quite something!
Streets and streets of endless shops filled with seafood that is so fresh that much of it is still alive! We wandered around in and out of shops looking at everything before we stumbled onto a place where you could "fish" for a squid and then they would clean it and cut it up for you to eat.
Joisan caught us our breakfast - which squirted water at us!
They cleaned it and cut it up as promised... but when we were given out plateful of fresh, raw squid it was still moving!!! Here's a little video of what happened when we dunked the tenticles into the soya sauce...
then we had to eat it!!! That was quite the experience let me tell you! And Joisan joined in!!! We biked back to the guest house to connect with Taran before we took off exploring on the bikes again. Unfortunately, the weather turned for a bit so we had to bail on the bikes by the late afternoon. Taran wasn't much interested in seeing anything so we left him to read his book and Ian and Joisan and I took the tram up the mountain and had dinner in the restaurant with the million dollar view! It was a pretty magical evening. We also were able to see the first concrete utility pole in Japan!! I kept saying it was something to write home about so... here's a picture!
Afterward we picked up Taran and headed for a different public bath house. (Two nights in a row!! Way to go Joisan!!!)
The next day, before we headed home we went to check out a famous fort shaped like a pentagram. It was lovely - but you could see how it would be particularly beautiful during the spring when all the cherry trees are blossoming! There was a booth set up in the middle of the park - just in front of an impressive looking building - where they would let you dress up in Japanese outfits and then the man would use your camera to take photos. Josian and I were really excited to do it and in the end he pulled Ian in and put a costume on him too! (Taran had already taken himself back to the car - party pooper!)
We went the long way through Date on our way home because Joisan needed to get her wrist xrayed. She had smashed it when we stopped at the breakwater to stretch out legs on the way to Hakodate and she had suffered the whole time because she didn't want to ruin the holiday by making us go to the hospital. They couldn't see her on Thursday evening so Ian took her back on Friday morning and (surprise surprise) she has ANOTHER small fracture. I swear that kid is made of bone china!
Friday morning we had some excitement as we learned of our new nephew / cousin! My brother and his wife had a baby boy on Thursday October 14th! "He who has yet to be named" was 8lbs 14oz and 22 inches long! I've seen a few photos and he looks very much like Taran did as a newborn. I feel really sad that we weren't able to be there to support Wyatt and Danielle and share in the welcoming of our baby. I really wish that Star Trek type transporter technology would just hurry up and get developed!
The students and staff of Otaki Chu Gakko were back from Canada on Tuesday night but their first day back to school was Friday. It was fun to hear all about their trip - I haven't seen very many photos yet but I'm sure I will eventually. From what I heard so far they had an amazing time (of course - who wouldn't enjoy going to Cowichan!!)
We have been invaded again by the kame mushi (stink bugs) and it seems really out of control. I managed to get one of my bosses to bring over a machine to try and exterminate them. Ian did a big clearing up and covering of everything and we spent Friday evening next door while the poison did it's thing. Unfortunately the effects were not very long lasting and we are again waging war. Ugh!
The weather this weekend was mostly wonderful! Saturday was the elementary school festival and I really enjoyed it - even more than last years! I rode my bike and stopped at one of the farms on my way home for some fresh veggies! This really is a cool place to live! Joisan's dance schedule is all mixed up as she prepares for a performance at the beginning of November. She is doing a duet... on pointe!!! I'm so excited!! I think she is a little excited about it but she's really looking forward to the possibility of coming home in time to participate in the Steps Ahead dance show this year. I hope it works out for her.
So, I did start this on Friday morning but it's now it's late on Sunday night and I'm desperately trying to get this done and get off to bed before this day officially ends!