Well first off, I now have me my computer back in action, woohoo. It was 4 weeks of me cut-of
f from the world outside Japan. Thanks to Dad and Holly harassing Dell Canada and Mom sending me her laptop 'Utilities and Drivers' CD to me. Drama let me tell you. Well I don't really want to write about it. But in a nutshell language barriers are annoying and Dell Japan is useless.Anyhoo, over the last month I've been to two snow fe
stivals. One in Sapporo and the other at Lake Shikotsuko here by Tomakomai. This winter has been the complete opposite of my winter last year. To start it's snowed here for the past 2 months straight, whereas last year I wore a fleece sweater and I was good. The other Chinese teachers wore giant parkas but they are kind of wusses when it comes to cold weather (let's say 10 degrees celcius). I know some South Africans who are like that too, but I won't name names as they're probably reading this blog.... But I've been really enjoying the snow. Not the shoveling aspect, but the sleding has been a blast with the kids. Hikari no Kuni is huge, with a mini mountain to hike up, so sleding down it is super fun.
stivals. One in Sapporo and the other at Lake Shikotsuko here by Tomakomai. This winter has been the complete opposite of my winter last year. To start it's snowed here for the past 2 months straight, whereas last year I wore a fleece sweater and I was good. The other Chinese teachers wore giant parkas but they are kind of wusses when it comes to cold weather (let's say 10 degrees celcius). I know some South Africans who are like that too, but I won't name names as they're probably reading this blog.... But I've been really enjoying the snow. Not the shoveling aspect, but the sleding has been a blast with the kids. Hikari no Kuni is huge, with a mini mountain to hike up, so sleding down it is super fun.The first snow festival I went to was the big one in Sapporo that Hokkaido is famous for. It's on the Japan list of the top ten things to see in Japan. It's held in Odori Park situated in the downtown co
re. They transfrom it into a winter wonderland. There are about 10 giant snow sculptures, probably another 50 smaller ice scultptures, and a snowboarding and ski jump in the middle, where Olympic athletes do trick jumps from. My favorites were the Egyptian themed scultpture and the alcohol ice scultptures. They had a baileys igloo that you could go inside and drink baileys from, but it was closed for the afternoon when I was there with my friends, so no baileys for me. Bummer. That day we also went to a big snow boarding competition, which was pretty much a bunch of Japanese girls screaming hysterically at dirty long haired European snow boarders. Karen, Jen and I went to meet guys, but we were no competiton for these cutsie girls, so we left early without finding ou
t who the winner was. The hightlight was when the Toyota mascot snow boarded down the giant jump and totally bailed at the end, bouncing around in his cute yellow donut costume. Good times in Japan, but the poor little donut man walked away with a limp afterwards....awww.
re. They transfrom it into a winter wonderland. There are about 10 giant snow sculptures, probably another 50 smaller ice scultptures, and a snowboarding and ski jump in the middle, where Olympic athletes do trick jumps from. My favorites were the Egyptian themed scultpture and the alcohol ice scultptures. They had a baileys igloo that you could go inside and drink baileys from, but it was closed for the afternoon when I was there with my friends, so no baileys for me. Bummer. That day we also went to a big snow boarding competition, which was pretty much a bunch of Japanese girls screaming hysterically at dirty long haired European snow boarders. Karen, Jen and I went to meet guys, but we were no competiton for these cutsie girls, so we left early without finding ou
t who the winner was. The hightlight was when the Toyota mascot snow boarded down the giant jump and totally bailed at the end, bouncing around in his cute yellow donut costume. Good times in Japan, but the poor little donut man walked away with a limp afterwards....awww. The second snow festival at Lake Shikotsuko was a smaller venue, but more interactive. It had a series of ice caves with differen
t materials stuck into the walls that you could touch. I went to this one with the Goto family: Hiromi, Fuyuki and their daughter. Fuyuki and Hiromi are both English highschool teachers who have travelled entensively around the world. They're very interesting people. Fuyuki has this whole theory on why global warming is bunk. Anyways, it's over my head, I'll save that for another day. But the first cave we went to had Japanese yen coins throughout it, and the second one had pine branches with a funky green light that really helped to illuminate them.
t materials stuck into the walls that you could touch. I went to this one with the Goto family: Hiromi, Fuyuki and their daughter. Fuyuki and Hiromi are both English highschool teachers who have travelled entensively around the world. They're very interesting people. Fuyuki has this whole theory on why global warming is bunk. Anyways, it's over my head, I'll save that for another day. But the first cave we went to had Japanese yen coins throughout it, and the second one had pine branches with a funky green light that really helped to illuminate them.In a month from now I'll be in beautiful Thailand basking in the warm weather, and probably getting very sun burnt. My trip is set for March 21 to the 28th. My other friends are planning on travelling around
for another week after I head back. Right now we're still trying to figure out where we're going and what we want to do. I'm all for the beach and some buddha watching. It just wouldn't be a holiday without a picture of a giant buddha. But I'll keep everyone posted.
for another week after I head back. Right now we're still trying to figure out where we're going and what we want to do. I'm all for the beach and some buddha watching. It just wouldn't be a holiday without a picture of a giant buddha. But I'll keep everyone posted. Oh and don't forget to keep me posted on your lives. I just recently discovered that my sister got married in Vegas and I still haven't been told the exact date of the nuptuals. Seriously people, I live halfway across the world, so I don't hear about things like this through the grape vine if people don't email me.
-Lindsay
2 comments:
Love the pictures sis. What an amazing experience you are having!
Hi Lindsay
I was happy to see your experience with the Goto family. They are a great family. Would you be able to direct us to them with some contact details as we are family friends and lost touch for a few years.
Sudhakaran.
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