Friday/It's not fog!

Happy Friday to everyone out there in cyberland. I was dreaming/hoping for a really nice/sunny day but to no avail. Just west of my house is a plateau, on which one of my schools is located. It's hard to call it "fog" when I can see from my front door just how low the cloud cover is. Driving through this rather intense/surreal soup, I was left wondering if I would even be able to spot my school located a mere 50 meters off the side of the road. The kids were mezmerized by it but sadly, as magic rarely last forever in this world, by eleven o'clock things had returned to a more mundane overcast day.

Why is the office so busy today?

I feel a bit like venting today. Last Novmeber it was a nasty sinus infection, one of the most painful things I have ever gone through, and today it's a debilitating - at least for a elementary school teacher - throat inflection. It has been getting worst for a week and I had been waiting for it to turn into a full blown cold but it never did. Today I woke up and it felt like I swallowed an irrate cat and I had had enough. I feel discourged because I eat so many vegetables I feel like a grazing cow somedays; I am forever washing my hands up to the elbows but I still get sick. I guess that is the price one pays when working in close contact with so many kids. I want some chicken soup so bad (most days it's pizza). I should also add that I have already been to the doctor and at this point am well on the path to recovery.

It's all just so normal

I have found myself getting settled into a daily routine of work that I will diligently serve until I go home for two weeks in August. I have many goals but since they are basically boring and routine, they are probably best left to myself. I do have many commitments during this period, but they are sort of the decorations put over the facade, not the structure. This doesn't make me sad in the slightest, I really am a robot at heart. However, this all makes for poor blogging fodder. I guess one blip that stands out is the Stony Plain delegation arrive in July which I hope to help with. I am unaware at this point as to what degree it will upset my routine. I'm getting not much. Running, badminton and writing are all things I plan to make a habit of during this time and since I have already written today (besides this blog post) running will be next to cross off my list. I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday and profusely apologize to those expecting something remotely Japanese.

Morning Rush

My classes were cancelled today. Needless to say this was something I learned only once I arrived at school. I dedicated the morning to finishing up some pressing emails and working on a phonics worksheet. Now I move to update my blog which will leave the afternoon free to write. The only problem being that its Monday and there's not exactly a lot going on. One thing of note is that we have opened up all windows in the building which are numerous and big. This has brought the outdoors in and with it a slight breeze. I have my sweater on. Other than that, after three days of rain, it's nice to have the sun and fresh air inside. This is a practice I plan to bring back to Canada with me.

Not on the tour....

Yesterday after talking to my parents the phone immediately rang again inviting me to an event which I could have sworn was planned for the next day (today, not Saturday). In any event, I was told to be be ready in exactly an hour by the Kobayashi's and then escorted to a remote park in a hilly area. The event was of great interest to me, focusing on mountain vegetables (Sansai), which are plentiful around Shikaoi this time of year. Sadly the weather was uncooperative, ranging from complete downpour to faint misting. The original plan of picking vegetables ourselves was scraped in favor of just eating under the protection of long hut made for Yaki niku barbecue (because we had a lot of school kids - my students - in the group). A group of adults had graciously gone earlier and collected the vegetables we would use. With the arrival of Spring comes one of my favorite Japanese foods, Sansai ("san" meaning mountain and "sai" sort for vegetables). These are early vegetables - the first green of the season really - and are picked when they are still very young. They don't look like your average corn or broccoli. Being young plants they are packed with all the nutrients they will need to grow; add to this the soft edible meat owing to their early harvesting and you have one of my favorite foods. Anything with sansai is good but my favorite method is tempura with just a touch of sea salt. I have made sure to include a picture of its production. The grilling was no less tempting with yakisoba, flavorful BBQ'd lamb, and grilled wild mushrooms and onions (ainu negi). Japanese cuisine at its finest and the perfect excuse to skip my run at short notice. The one awkward picture of Mitagaku-san (very nice man that organized everything) explaining the different wild plants we were going to eat was due to me holding one edge of the paper and taking the picture at the same time and a spider crawling near my hand.





I want to remind all my readers that all small thumbnails to the left side can be enlarged by clicking on them.

My Weekend Pt. 2

The second half of the trip was spent at a small mountain onsen run by a friendly extended family. The image was taken from a ridge above the hotel and shows how precariously the hotel is perch on yet another ridge with the Furano valley in the distance. This is the real thing with a rare view of mountain peaks right from the outdoor pool. Best. Onsen. Ever.


The first thing James does when entering a room is scout out the tea-making possibilities.


This sunset from the first night was included.



Many hiking paths from the easy to the extreme extend to the front door and ever employee is an expert in the area. The mountain is extremely volcanic - though at the moment for the most part dormant - hence a good place to build an onsen (hot springs). Furthermore, it's also a good place to hike because we don't often see this kind of geography in Alberta.


The view from my futon on the floor looking out the window in the morning. The distinct impression was that we were seated on a cloud. What fun!


Last morning.

My Weekend Pt. 1

Having less time to update than I had initally thought, I am going to split my update into two parts and cover our time in Otaru here. As can be seen from the pictures - really poor weather - even though we pushed back our dates to try and out last the weather in Sapporo (to no avail).



Above, our hotel. Small and right on the ocean, it wasn't busy when we were there. I would love to stay there again but next time would want to plan out the meals better.



Edit: Looking up from the otherside of the hotel.



Because of the weather, there was lots of this in the hotel room. Cozy and good for visiting.



We did, however, feel particularly adventurous, and went out at the first sign the rain was letting up.

I'm Home

I saw James and Stef off to Honshu today to continue their Japanese adventure. While I am getting my life back to normal please enjoy these pictures of me pointing to volcanic steam vents in Daisetsusan National Park.

Picture from Susukino

A slight change in plans due to weather left us in Sapporo last night to wait out the rain. Needless to say, looking at the picture, everyone arrived smoothly in Japan. Excuse the image quality as I have not had a chance to edit the picture or re size it because I'm using the hotel's computers. Yesterday we saw a wonderful exhibit about the human body (the one that's touring the world) and then an exhibit of very very old Buddhist art that hasn't been displayed in public for years. Today we are off to the ocean after the tiniest bit of shopping and some tea.