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.

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

しちのへホワイトバトル!!!

L-R, B-F: Coach Adam, Mizuki, Simon,  Adam, Peter, Meena and Chris

It's an unwritten rule in Japan... anything you can do can be organized into a large event where you can compete against other folks (there must always be a clear winner, even if it's JHS students singing the school song, they can be judged and awarded some sort of prize). "CC, you're talking crazy", you must be thinking. I assure you, loyal reader, I am not...

Welcome to the しちのへホワイトバトル (Shichinohe White Battle) a tournament style snowball fight. There were two ALT teams this year, we were the ナンブボンバス (Nambu Bombers), a proud team of 7 ALTs from Towada, Shichinohe and beyond!

Towada Revival

I hope this becomes a thing, because it was great to hang out with folks I don't see very often, and in a setting where we could chat and stuff. Plus there was meat... lots and lots of meat. These 食べ飲みほうだい　(all you can eat and drink for a set time) places will be the death of me... This time it was at in 八光苑 Towada. 2000￥for all you can eat and drink! Woo woo! (well, 2500￥ if you're a dude)

Let's try......... SNOWBOARDING!!!

Good evening loyal readers! I hope You're all doing well this evening. I'm doing great for someone who has no hot water. I'm waiting for the official report as to what needs to be fixed (apparently they need to come from the big city to have a look and things before they can fix it), so it could take a month before they get out here... so I get to either use the public bath or go to Christina's (she's a sweetheart who's taken pity on David, Tim and myself). But if that's the worst thing, I'm not doing too badly, grand scheme of things.

Anyway, after my quiet two weeks off, I had a week of work then a long weekend. Yippie! As much fun as it was to relax mostly all on my onesies, I really really really wanted to get out of Shichinohe for the weekend. The lovely Tori answered my call and offered to put me up and teach me how to snowboard! Huzzah! So, it was back to Hirosaki for an action packed weekend. Tori and Kyle were at the tattoo parlour as she was getting more work done on her super-boss arm piece, so I caught a late train down to the city. I made a friend on that train, his name's Ken. He wanted to practice his English, so he started chatting with me. Turns out he likes rock music and used to play in bands when he was in High School, so I told him about Kyle's band playing Saturday night. 

New Year's Day in Hirosaki

Happy New Year!

After grabbing a few hours sleep, Nancy and I met up with Mel and Jeff at the mall hoping to find a promising Good Luck bag... nothing really caught out fancy though... except for an infomercial that was playing where Japanese women rubbed a tool with testical-sized-disco-balls on their faces... from the before and after shots, we guess that it's to move any fat you have in your face around and not a cure for acne, but... we really weren't sure...

The hell?