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. 

Lake Towada Snow Festival

After the rather large scale adventure of the previous weekend, my plan was to relax at home and give my wallet a chance to cool off... Well, that was the plan, anyway. Instead there was a last minute hang out with my neighbours, cheap sushi and the purchase of additional controllers and a copy of Super Smash Bros (to be fair, Tim bought the game and one of the controllers, as he said that one could simply not have an N64 without sufficient controllers and a copy of 'Smash Bros) for Tim, David and I to play to round out our evening.

Mt Fuji

What have I gotten myself into... 

Okay, cats and kittens, now, some of ya'll know I dig the outdoors. I've been off on overnight canoe trips many times and have done a little backwoods camping. I love proving to myself that I can do something that other folks say they can't (or tell me I'm crazy for trying). I also like adventures, exploring and just getting out and doing something. So when Chelsea mentioned she was going to climb Mt Fuji during the long weekend with some other folks, and asked if I wanted to join, I jumped on it. JR railline had this wonderful Three Day Pass which saved us so much coin on train fare, it was amazing. Still, though, it was a crazy long day which began at 5 am Saturday September 15th. I walked down to the Shichinohe-Towada Bullet Train station to catch my ride down to Tokyo.

It's almost go time...

Aki Matsuri (lit: Fall Festival)

Hey folks, the Hirosaki weekend posts took a week to get up cuz of all the classes I had (still no internet at home except for on the iphone... which I can't make into a hotspot unless I jailbreak it... it may come to that...)

Anyhoo, ever since going back to Shichinohe, I joined Tim and David (fellow ALTs, but both are from California) and started some informal Taiko drumming lessons in the Shinmatchi neighbourhood of Shichinohe. Good times were had (I shall add a picture of the shed we were practicing in, I just forgot to load it on the flash drive) a super busy weekend resulted from it!

Thursday, September 6th, all the neighbourhoods gathered in town and competed (I'm not sure what we were competing for... but we got lots of cheers for being the group with the most gaijin... however that didn't get us enough points to win. Maybe next year.) After the winners were announced, a much better taiko group performed and put us all to shame.

Suited up and ready to smack some skins!

Weekend escape to Hirosaki pt1

I got the offer to go on a weekend adventure with some other ALTs this past weekend... And as long as updating by smartphone doesn't make me too angry, I'll bring y'all up to speed!

We set out on our journey Saturday morning and hit up the international festival in Itanyanagi (think micro Folklorama) met a Scottish JET named James. Yay! There was short bread and black tea. I was pleased.

To the beach!

Now to continue with the beach adventure.

Welcome to the WOOOORLD of TOMORROW!

Howdy folks,

Sorry for the delay in updating, I was trying to resist doing this at work, but, since I have no idea when I`ll be online in my apartment, I say nutz to work ethic. So, I`ve been setteling in  alright, but, it`s very strange not having a cell or `net connection at home to keep me in contact with you lot. Thankfully I live near a couple of other ALTs (assistant language teachers) and they have been great for inviting me a long to go shopping and hang out with folks.

My towel and tissue gift from my bank. Who needs a toaster!?