The Winter of our English Content

On the tail of Thanksgiving, winter has finally come - sort of. A single day of heavy snowfall, blanketing the town on Monday, has given way to melting today. We get one day of winter wonderland before moving into the grey and slushy middlingly-cold that's all too familiar to anyone who's ever been to North Dakota or Minnesota between March and June. Here's hoping it's just a fluke!




Additionally, here's a short conversation that played out in class today:

Me, In Japanese: "In Middle School you'll have homework in English class, so it's a good idea to practice writing now."
Student, in English: "OH MY GOD!"

Nothing can terrify Japanese students like English. I think I give them nightmares.



That last picture is of Temple Dog, who lives next to the lot where I park my car. He's called Temple Dog because he lives in a temple, and is a dog. I've never been accosted by demons of any sort near that parking lot so I think Temple Dog is doing a good job.

Thanksgiving: The Fattening

Being an American is similar in many important ways to having herpes. Among the myriad similarities is the fact that once infected, you're a carrier for life. It was in this spirit that I decided a good thing to do would be to invite an improbably large group of friends to my apartment and to cook two Thanksgiving turkeys, something I've never done before.

I'm still waiting for the pictures to come in but my kitchen looks like this right now:



Here's a picture of some food that I stole from Justin:



And we looked like this:



Look at all those foreigners crammed into my apartment! Who needs fire codes, anyhow. Despite a harrowing all-day journey, everything turned out well and everyone was made comfortably bloated. After eating, we all headed out for a night of dancing and karaoke, which I'm not really looking forward to seeing pictures of (although I'm sure I will). God bless!

Good luck 2011 applicants!

Yesterday was the deadline for US applicants to submit their initial applications for the JET Program for 2011. I just wanted to post a short update and say, good luck! My best advice now is to find something to keep yourself busy, and to apply for other things and make plans for if you don't get in - the JET application takes forever, and it really helps to pass the time. And the unfortunate reality is that many otherwise qualified applicants won't get in, simply because there aren't enough spaces for everyone CLAIR would be willing to hire. So don't put all your eggs in one basket!

Nevertheless, I hope this blog has been a help to applicants and that I'll see some of you in August! Good luck everyone!

Travels, Pt. I

This update will be something of a dumping ground for various pictures I have floating around from October. Chronology and relativity will be a bit strained, but hey, it's an update.





This is Asahidake, the highest mountain in Hokkaido, and the surrounding area. We traveled here for a friend's birthday and spent the day hiking and going up most of the mountain. At Asahidake, one rides a ropeway most of the way to the treeline, and then kicks around up at the top. Asahidake is an active volcano, and is full of vents belching sulfur. I'm still waiting for a bunch of pictures from this trip, because certain people are very slow at updating them. No names. This was in early October.



This is what's known as a ryoukan, a Japanese-style inn. The Monbetsu Crew traveled to Furano, Land of Lavender, for an ALT conference and we stayed here overnight. Ryoukans are meant to be fairly old-fashioned, and more involved than a standard hotel stay. You get a single tatami (rice straw mat) room like this one, with fold-out futons for sleeping on. They are actually wonderfully comfortable. With the normal stay, you get dinner and breakfast at the inn, and have a good soak in the tub before bed. More like a traditional resort than a hotel, ryoukans are popular in secluded areas but can also be found in cities, like Furano.



Nothing terribly exciting. Waiting for the bus to go home from a small town on the outskirts of Asahikawa, after a long weekend.

Finally, a special preview of my upcoming Halloween update:



Buddhist pilgrim. The effect is better when I have my staff, but it will have to wait.

On The Road in Hokkaido

Sorry for the complete lack of updates in October! I've been quite busy, and I'm still waiting for some pictures from other peoples' cameras. Over the next week or so I'll try to get through a backlog of updates I meant to post, but didn't get a chance to. October was busy!

Today's update is actually from this week. At long last, I've got a car! I present the Daihatsu Opti, on a rare clear day:





I picked up this bad girl two days ago for a great price, and it's been quite fun tooling around in. The universal comment I get is "It's so cute!" Look at the size of those little wheels! In Japan, cars are classified as "Light" (yellow plate) and "Regular" (white plate) vehicles. The classification is mostly based on engine displacement, along with a few other restrictions. Light cars, like mine, have several fees lowered and bureaucratic hoops removed to encourage people to drive them. This is great! The downside is that they are clown cars. I can fit in just fine, and I can fit one other person of not-exceptional height, but anybody in the back seat is going to have to get comfortable with new methods of folding themselves. They can consider it a cultural experience.

I'll be taking her out for out first road trip this weekend, to go volunteer at a kids haunted house a few hours away. I will try to get pictures, as well as post later about the Halloween experiences I've already had in the last week or so.

As for the weather, it's been getting quite cold, in addition to a pretty dismal amount of rain. We had some snow a while back, but nothing that stuck; further inland, however, there's a good deal of snow on the ground. Winter is on it's way!