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Oh man, I've missed so many updates in the last few weeks. I may just skip them entirely, and the last few weeks of my life will be a complete mystery for you.
Or not.
Anyway, it's a shame, because I did some interesting stuff. Jonno was visiting for the last 2 weeks-ish and we did a lot of traveling around.
Between getting enrolled in my Japanese language class at the local Institute of Technology and the mountain of paperwork that entitles, my new secretarial duties, and various other on-going tasks I'm dying to put off like paying bills and planning trips and the rest, I've been pretty frustrated with how slowly things go at work. Unfortunately right now I don't feel like doing anything, I have a lot to do, and four more hours to be here. Dang. Might as well tell some stories then, eh?
After my last entry I met Jonno on the way to Furano. We stayed in a ski hotel which was cute, and spending time with my peeps was really nice. We accidentally took the local train to Takikawa, however, instead of the express, which meant hours and hours on the train. Noooooo >,< There was wandering, meetings, and drinking, while culminated in a game of Kings that reminded me how I need to start playing that game more often with other ALTs when we hang out. Wandering Furano itself was a little boring, considering it's more of a summer town and a skiing town, so pretty much everything was cold and quiet. I did, however, get chocolate beer and cheese and pumpkin flavored ice creams!
I took Jonno around to my various Eikaiwa classes, which resulted in a lot of free treats and a midnight trip to the top of one of the biggest mountains around. The top boasts a handful of tv towers light with beautiful colored lights. It was pretty scary though, since our driver was trying to go up an ice-coated mountain with narrow roads and very small (or absent) guard rails and spun out pretty many times. We made it okay, and it turned out being a pretty cool experience. Also, she took us on the tour of The City by the Sea, which included an excellent view of the oil refinery in the wharf that looks just like a scene from FF7. Sweeeeet. This week also featured many foreigner parties, almost every night lol It's fortunately got me in a good habit of seeing my friends fairly regularly and I'm really looking forward to keeping up that trend. I think we all hit our loneliness breaking points over the winter and are now more assertive in spending time together. Now that Jonno is gone, though, I'm looking forward to unwinding a bit (I didn't stop moving or use the internet for two weeks pretty much!).
On Saturday we climbed a local caldera and park trail around boiling lakes and hot springs. I usually go in summer, but it was pretty sweet in winter too because everything was steaming and packed with snow and ice. In fact, we had to pull ourselves up the moutain using ropes because of all the ice. It was a great workout! lol On Sunday, however, our plans to Sapporo got a little complicated. The earthquakes in Chile caused some tsunamis and even though it turned out to only be about a foot tall wave by the time it hit our beach, they cancelled all the return trains from Sapporo to my area. We ended up having to take a late night local train connecting to a train that was 2 hours late going across the island. We got home around midnight! Still, I would do it again because I met a new Japanese friend with whom I can network with in the future, hopefully. Though next time we have a tsunami warning, I try any pleasure trips.
As for my spring plans, Erika and I are planning to start training for a half marathon ^.^
In sadder news, my beloved lunch lady is being transferred to a different school after 18 years here! It's so sad :( I vowed to come talk to her every day until she leaves, and so it's kind of evolved into an hour or more of me sitting with her in the snack window sipping tea and eating snacks lol It's really nice to finally be able to talk casually with a Japanese person. You can't really connect until you get beyond small talk. I'm optimistic for what this is doing for my future, too. I'm going to try to send her notes through the ALT that works at her new school. Her replacement is nice enough, but I wish she was staying :( Damn the Japanese job transfer system!
Or not.
Anyway, it's a shame, because I did some interesting stuff. Jonno was visiting for the last 2 weeks-ish and we did a lot of traveling around.
Between getting enrolled in my Japanese language class at the local Institute of Technology and the mountain of paperwork that entitles, my new secretarial duties, and various other on-going tasks I'm dying to put off like paying bills and planning trips and the rest, I've been pretty frustrated with how slowly things go at work. Unfortunately right now I don't feel like doing anything, I have a lot to do, and four more hours to be here. Dang. Might as well tell some stories then, eh?
After my last entry I met Jonno on the way to Furano. We stayed in a ski hotel which was cute, and spending time with my peeps was really nice. We accidentally took the local train to Takikawa, however, instead of the express, which meant hours and hours on the train. Noooooo >,< There was wandering, meetings, and drinking, while culminated in a game of Kings that reminded me how I need to start playing that game more often with other ALTs when we hang out. Wandering Furano itself was a little boring, considering it's more of a summer town and a skiing town, so pretty much everything was cold and quiet. I did, however, get chocolate beer and cheese and pumpkin flavored ice creams!
I took Jonno around to my various Eikaiwa classes, which resulted in a lot of free treats and a midnight trip to the top of one of the biggest mountains around. The top boasts a handful of tv towers light with beautiful colored lights. It was pretty scary though, since our driver was trying to go up an ice-coated mountain with narrow roads and very small (or absent) guard rails and spun out pretty many times. We made it okay, and it turned out being a pretty cool experience. Also, she took us on the tour of The City by the Sea, which included an excellent view of the oil refinery in the wharf that looks just like a scene from FF7. Sweeeeet. This week also featured many foreigner parties, almost every night lol It's fortunately got me in a good habit of seeing my friends fairly regularly and I'm really looking forward to keeping up that trend. I think we all hit our loneliness breaking points over the winter and are now more assertive in spending time together. Now that Jonno is gone, though, I'm looking forward to unwinding a bit (I didn't stop moving or use the internet for two weeks pretty much!).
On Saturday we climbed a local caldera and park trail around boiling lakes and hot springs. I usually go in summer, but it was pretty sweet in winter too because everything was steaming and packed with snow and ice. In fact, we had to pull ourselves up the moutain using ropes because of all the ice. It was a great workout! lol On Sunday, however, our plans to Sapporo got a little complicated. The earthquakes in Chile caused some tsunamis and even though it turned out to only be about a foot tall wave by the time it hit our beach, they cancelled all the return trains from Sapporo to my area. We ended up having to take a late night local train connecting to a train that was 2 hours late going across the island. We got home around midnight! Still, I would do it again because I met a new Japanese friend with whom I can network with in the future, hopefully. Though next time we have a tsunami warning, I try any pleasure trips.
As for my spring plans, Erika and I are planning to start training for a half marathon ^.^
In sadder news, my beloved lunch lady is being transferred to a different school after 18 years here! It's so sad :( I vowed to come talk to her every day until she leaves, and so it's kind of evolved into an hour or more of me sitting with her in the snack window sipping tea and eating snacks lol It's really nice to finally be able to talk casually with a Japanese person. You can't really connect until you get beyond small talk. I'm optimistic for what this is doing for my future, too. I'm going to try to send her notes through the ALT that works at her new school. Her replacement is nice enough, but I wish she was staying :( Damn the Japanese job transfer system!
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