The journey continues...

Excited Nicki is excited!

Once we'd recovered, Nicki and I set off to explore more of the South Island. We debated various forms of transportation, but ultimately decided upon the InterCity bus service. Our first destination was Christchurch. This is an interesting city to explore. It is still very much under construction, there are cranes dotting the skyline in every direction. We figured two days would suffice for exploring and hitting up the museums/galleries/botanical gardens/street art that we were interested in seeing.

Recipe request: Vegetarian Hash

I've been trying to use up some of the dry good that I have kicking around my apartment, currently that includes dry soy beans and TVP. I posted a pic of my first attempt and was sassed/asked to supply the recipe. It's nothing fancy, but it's a fairly quick and painless dinner, and is yummy with raw or steamed veggies.

Lake Towada and D-Fly's birthday

A hearty "hullo" to my dear readers.

As we are currently balls-deep into Fe-brrrrrrrrrr-uary I hope you are all keeping nice and toasty warm. (Or nice and cool, for my fans south of the equator). If memory serves, this was the most brutal month weather-wise last year for me It strikes me that it's a month of extreme weather no matter where you live on this big blue ball.
... okay, that's enough with the scrotal references. Jeebus. Where is my mind?

This was *supposed* to be a post about Okinawa...

Sage advice... who knew.

Birthday weekend report...

Dear Gramma,
I am doing well out here in the small town of Shichinohe. How are you? 
I hope you're doing great. I miss you a whole bunch.
I first wanted to thank you very *very* much for the generous birthday present. I put it to good use during my birthday weekend! It happened to be a long weekend in Japan, as well as Canada, so my birthday was a holiday here, too. I like to think of it being a holiday in those countries cuz it’s my birthday and I’m just that special.

Late night Beach Party & 仮面ライダーライブ！ (Kamen raidaa raibu =Skyrider Live!)

The following Friday I was invited to a beach party. I made the drive up to Rokkashomura in the evening and we met at the mall for dinner. There's a yummy Indian place just inside the main doors of the Reev. I decided to try the 'chicken burger' which looked like a pita in the photo, but, in reality, it was na'an bread folded in half and filled with delicious and spicey goodness. and despite the rain, we got ice cream and drinks and went down to the beach where we sang Beach Boys song, and longed for our beach umbrella and beach blanket. We stuck around long enough to have the rain water pool about our knees on the tarp we hunkered down on to enjoy our treats and have the tide come in and soak one of my shoes.

Enjoying ourselves, dammit!

We quickly escaped to Joy's for the rest of the evening, dried off and hung out.

This may seem like a strange thing to blog about...

My beautiful motherland.

...but I went to Canada to visit my family as it had been about a year since I had been away. The time has flown by this year, for the most part. I wonder how year 2 will feel.

Anyway, because this is not just read by my Mum (Hi Mum!!! *waves*), I thought I would stick up a few photos from that whirlwind tour.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 4: Hachinohe-Away!



Canada is big.

Very, very, big.

Google maps will tell you that it takes 28 hours to drive from Winnipeg to Vancouver. To drive out East, Winnipeg to Sydney Nova Scotia, Google Maps says 40 hours.The Trans-Canada Highway is over 3500 km long (closer to 3700 clicks).

Big.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 1: Shichinohe Sights

There's a town right behind me, I promise.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 2: Train Tracks to The North

Another early morning and we made out way to Sendai station and completed our trek to Aomori via rail. It was a lot more scenic after Sendai, with the mountains making appearances and more rivers near the tracks. I think I belong up north, as it really felt like I was going home. Calming and peaceful.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 2: Train Tracks to The North

The JR pass is a glorious things for visitors to Japan. Any time you ride on the JR line, albeit regular train or bullet train, you are covered. It is not available for residents of Japan... even temporary ones such as myself. So I picked up a smaller version of it, which would cover 5 days worth of rides on JR lines, but not the shinkansen, only regular trains. So, we slow train-ed it up north, and since we couldn't make it all the way up to Aomori in one day this way, we stopped in Sendai for the night.

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Disneyland.

Day 5: Tokyo Disneyland

Twas an early morning that we got a move on, breaking our fast (guess whose been reading a Song of Ice and Fire...) with eggs and apples purchased at the near by grocery store. Bidding a fond farewell to Asakusa, we rode subway and trains to Komagome to check into our new accommodations  I figgered that Ashley should try out the capsule-life, and so off we went to Capsule Inn Komagome (which is actually called Rosuko Sauna, thankfully I found a review the night before and so we didn't get lost). As it turns out, we weren't allowed to actually check into the Inn until we were going to stay for the night, so we dropped our luggage off in a locker and were on our way. We picked up a mixed bag of baked goods from a bakery we passed on our way back to the Komagome JR to help keep down the day's cost (one thing my co-workers warned me about was that everything at TD is expensive, so we took a few previsions).

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Ashley's Arrival

Tokyo Day 3

Super-secret entryway to the Hostel

It was a cloudy day in Tokyo, so I spent the morning exploring the Asakusa subway station and the shops in the Ekimise. You can get a view of the Tokyo Skytree from there... when it's not cloudy and raining... so I didn't get a very good look. Haha.

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Punkspring, Breakfast & a giant spider!

The Departure Point.

Recipe Requests

I know spring is trying to come to Aomori, I see it in the hours of bright & sunny the cut through those of blowing snow. Even the sun has started to get up as freakishly early as I do...*shakes fist at the weather* In an effort to keep warm while really wanting to be able to open my windows to let some fresh air in, I made up some pretty nifty soup and some tasty chicken.

Finished curry product all boxed up for lunch!

給食 "School lunch"

A post devoted to the sometimes delicious, sometimes mysterious kyuushoku.

As a kid going to public school in Winnipeg, I always brown bagged it. Well, for a while, in elementary school it was a really sweet Empire Strikes Back tin lunch box with matching thermos but I digress. My Dad always packed me a lunch. Now that I'm a grown up, I like to pack my own lunch. However, if you want to spend time with the kids, you must eat like everyone else and take part in school lunches.

I really do work, honest!

Although perhaps my previous posts do not indicate otherwise, I *do*, in fact, have a job out here. I am an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) based out of the Chubu Kamikita Board of Education office though the JET (Japanese Exchange and Teaching) Programme. JET has been around for 26 years and works with various local government ministries to find placement and provide support for English teachers in Japan. For the official definition, go here.The only prerequisite was a completed Bachelor's degree from a recognized institution (however having TESL/TEFL certification is always a bonus, which I had. As is teaching experience... which I didn't have, unless you count boating lessons at summer camp... which I doubt. Haha.)

Sign by the entrance to the office parking lot... chubukamikitasomethingsomethingsomethingcentaaaaa. :p

Quiet Saturday Adventures in Baking

What's shaking, cats and kittens? I'm laying low this weekend and decided to try a couple of ideas I had for some healthy treats.

Yeah yeah, quiet you. They are.


I've made these without adding any sugars or salts to the mix.

Rokkasho International Cultural Exchange Fair

Greetings and salutations. Spring grows ever closer and we continue to hope that each snowfall is going to be the last... However knowing what kind of a fickle  cruel and downright strange lady Mother Nature is, I'm not holding my breath.This weekend I (along with fellow Winnipeg JET Dana) had agreed to help my Rokkasho-living Vancouverite friends Ashley and Thomas make up Team Canada for the Rokkasho International Cultural Exchange Fair. Dana and I were tasked with preparing a dish to bring along to represent our Motherland. Oh Canada, you and your cultural mosaic... I really need to learn how to explain that in Japanese, as I am often asked what 'Canadian Food' is and am at a loss... So if someone could help me out and lemmie know how to say "Canada is made up of people from many different countries all over the world and the food is simply a variation of that which was brought along with the people when they immigrated" that would be super good. Cuz saying 'poutine and butter-tarts' just isn't going to cut it for me. 

Hokkaido Holiday!

Chelsea and I headed out to meet up with a bunch of folks in Hachinohe before it was time to board the overnight ferry. We all met in a ramen shop and I had my first bowl of Japanese ramen. I know. I know. Why did I wait so damn long? Well, it was delicious and worth the wait. Then we were off to Hokkaido for the Sapporo Snow Festival (雪祭り).

Megumi, Ben, Dan and Erica