today was pretty long and boring. I had planning all day and i finished most of what i needed to plan for by the end of second period. I spent like two hours talking on Facebook. I feel sort of bad, but it's like i have nothing to do and i am all prepared for the week. I surf the web and look up stuff to learn about like hieroglyphics and other stuff. But it is so boring on no class days. I did however get my paycheck today deposited into the bank. It was what i needed. On my way to 20 thou. I also reserved my hotel room and paid for it in Japanese for Saturday. I feel proud that i did it all in Japanese. Thankfully, i have rikaichan to help me translate in Firefox. I love that application. Just search rikaichan and you can then get an active Japanese to English dictionary that all you have to do is highlight the text. I can't wait for Saturday, i want to do some shopping for friends and then have fun.

Not much to this weekend. Just staying home and relaxing. Watching some good movies and listening to good music. Tomorrow is payday so that should be good. Party in Sapporo next weekend, and i think that i am going to stay in a hotel in order to make it a two day trip should be fun. I guess i could always try and sleep in my car. Probably not. Going to the hot springs today to relax and warm up. Should be a nice slow day. Tomorrow is planning all day so it is going to be boring as ever. I got very little to plan for. I got most of it done. I just need to ask the third year teacher what to do for elective English and maybe get some things ready for the high school, but i think i got most of that done. There is never anything that i have to do for the other classes, because the teacher likes to make all the worksheets besides for elective English. Oh well, next weekend should be fun.

Today was my last day teaching English at Rankoshi Elementary. It was pretty good, and i will see most of the kids next year. Lunch was okay, but some of the kids were crying before it, as i suspect that maybe they made the wrong choice or something like that since it was self-burger day and they had a choice of shrimp or pork fillets for the burger. I guess, since there was more than one kid crying about something. Then after lunch, there was a girl that just shut herself up and was crying in a corner because she had broken a lunch plate. I guess embarrassment is killer for these kids. Class was pretty nice. there was a long meeting before the actual meeting i was supposed to attend. I almost fell asleep. That's one thing i do not like here is meetings. They are so boring, they are like church, everyone falls asleep and barely pays that much attention to them. Something to note is that apparently i think they teach a little sex ed in the elementaries. Or at least fifth graders know the biology of birth since i saw them using a picture of a baby in a stomach. I don't think i learned that when i was that age. It took till middle school for that. Then they teach evolution in schools which is just so nice sometimes. Japan is not a very religious country, or at least religion and politics rarely mix, though there are some Buddhist political groups, but they are just not crazy like the religious right in America. The kids called a human a monkey when we were looking for animals in a look for it activity in the textbook. It was the last one and they were looking real hard for others till one of them came up with that answer. It sort of brought a smile to me. I believe in separation of church and state very much. I think that any sort of teaching of creationism in public schools is so very wrong. Evolution has a process and evidence to back it up. Evolution is based on science, and creationism is based on religion. To teach creationism in schools is just wrong and crosses the line of separation of church and state.

Today was the last time i went to Kombu for this year. It was pretty fun. I bought a reindeer hat and Santa hat to use to teach the kids Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. It was okay. I did Japanese first, then went slowly through the song lyrics in English. Overall, it went pretty well. Sad that that was the last time i will see them this year though. The middle school classes were okay. Just grammar teaching today. Tomorrow is their tests so i am going to Rankoshi elementary. I made cookie dough yesterday, and tried to cook it in the toaster but it burned before five minutes was over. Sad. The dough is really good, i just used a basic recipe for plain dough and added a crushed up chocolate bar. Today i tried to cook it again and it turned out better, i did two and a half minutes, let it cool a little, then two more minutes. It turned out great, though i only did one cookie this time and made it bigger but thinner.

 

3d cards

charcoal seal

dear, seal, and bear meat products

 

 

Sapporo Factory Atrium

Dog statue

mini-pig

A meerkat

Monkey

Don Quijote

Twilight series Manga? Like they need that.

Disney Store

JR Sapporo

Today was a pretty good day. I started out early and drove up there. There was rain then it turned to snow in the mountains, and then back to rain. To my surprise, there was no snow in Sapporo at all once you got into the city. I first went to Sapporo Factory and shopped there for some incense and stuff. 12 flavored gummy bears is a good buy. Then i went to Tanukikoji for Don Quijote and Subway. I also bought a two dollar scarf with the Buddha on it. Very nice. I personally love all these Indian stores that one finds in Japan because the cloths are very nice, and usually not too expensive. Subway was nice. Don Quijote is where i bought a santa hat and Reindeer hat to use in teaching some of the elementary students Rudolph next week. At Sapporo Factory, there was a pet store and there were some weird ones there. I took their pictures. The mini-pig, meerkat- for some odd reason i feel like that is dangerous or illegal to sell that one- and a monkey amongst the exotic pets. Some ferrets and chinchillas, But some albino snakes and lizards as well. It is just sad to go to these places and see the animals all cooped up in cages. It almost makes me cry every time i go to one. Then i went to the ESTA building for some sauerkraut and BBQ sauce at Jupiter. The Pokemon Center for some Christmas stuff. Then i went to look at the Disney Store, but just like America, everything there is too expensive. The one thing i do like about Japan is the prices. They are usually even, and the price shown is the price paid. Tax is usually included in the sticker price. If not, then its just the nice round 5 percent. I really like seeing everything i pay for coming out to the price i saw on the stickers. On the way home, the snow in the mountains was kind of bad, there was like only 20 meters of visibility at some points. But thankfully they salt their roads here and plow them.

Yakiniku

The Music and Art Teacher, with a surprised look

The pillow they gave me as a thank you. I think I'll call it Lussy

Today was pretty fun. I went to play with the band for the artisan culture festival. Then we all went back to the school and played all the pieces for the parents since this is the last activity of the year for the club. Then everyone went out to Niseko to Mokumokutei to have an all you-can-eat yakiniku lunch. It was pretty good, but for some odd reason the sausages there tasted a little like yellow cake to me. Weird. Before we all left, the 2nd and 1st years gave thank you notes to their 3rd seniors. Then they gave the teacher and me thank you gifts. I got a really cute lavender scented cat pillow. Overall, a pretty nice day. The sun is warm, and the roads are pretty much clear from any snow. I guess they must salt them. I just wonder how much they do it. I will see tomorrow when i go to Sapporo for Labor Thanksgiving to have some fun. I want to go and look for some more christmas decorations and of course go to Tanuki street for Don Quijote and Subway for lunch. I might see a movie, if there is a good one on. 

One night of snow

my 45 cm Christmas Tree

It's getting colder here and the snow is here. The main roads seem to be okay since they plow them. I went to the hot springs and then to Kutchan for some grocery shopping and a X-mas tree. All of the stuff pictured came with it for just about 10 bucks. It is pretty nice and the lights flash, thought the lights aren't on a string, they are on a loop. I play with the band tomorrow and i hope i do not suck on the one song that i have only played once. Should be fun though. Pretty much a day to just stay home and keep warm. 

Snow Snow Snow

The flu is here and about four or five teachers are out with it. All the first year teachers have been out sick, so since that is where i have my desk with the other three of them, i might be next. Though i think i might have already caught the flu. I have had a cough for the past three weeks with mostly just phlegm in the morning, but now its gone. Everyone wears masks in the teachers rooms. Today i had plenty of classes which was a nice change. Though there was some conflicts in the morning, they got sorted out. Lunch was a carbohydrate and protein overload, with a little too much fat. We had fried rice with fish in it somewhere, curry lo mein with pork, a steamed chicken salad with cucumbers, and then pork rib chunks i think. I think it was rib, but it was just layered with fat and the meat. It was pretty good tasting, almost like BBQ, but the fat layers were just a little too much for me. It was pretty good, but still a little much. I guess i need an apple now. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow with a day off. Then, the three day weekend is coming up.

Observing and being observed

Today and yesterday were observation days. Yesterday the 3b class was pretty well behaved for themselves. The class went well and i only skipped one line on the reading. I am sorry i just have a huge link in my mind from "fish and chips" and "they tasted great." i skipped the part where "Mr. white took Yuki to a shop which sold fish and chips." i just have to comment on the food first before anything else. It went well, and the superintendent was there. The parts i do understand the most in the meetings afterwords are the praises. So that's kind of good, and true but i sometimes i just think it should be a natural thing to be aware of student's reactions and places where they may have trouble. Today i went to Onari after 3a elective English. The elective class was good, and the Onari kids are always awesome. Taught the littler ones fruits, veggies, and i like. The older ones got days of the week and school subjects. Lunch was chicken curry and was pretty good. Then i came back to the middle school after Onari for two English elective classes. The first was okay, but it felt like most of the kids weren't paying attention. I had to speak a lot of Japanese because the teacher has been sick and i wanted to spare his voice because he sounded strained in the beginning of class. After the double translations class using the wingdings as an "alien language" and using stitch, i did my preposition class for the the other 2nd year class. A person from the company came over to record me and i think i did pretty well. It definitely went over better than the first preposition class i taught. I used more sheets and examples. Overall much better, i am glad that one was video taped instead of the first one. My second elective classes are usually better than the first ones for the a or b classes. It just keeps snowing and snowing, i have to fill up my gas tank for the heater this weekend for sure.

Snow Days and Blow Days.

Tiramisu Ice Cream

These are pics from the past few days. Yesterday, i just had another regular day, sort of. It appears that now the 1B class is out for the rest of the week for the flu, till Friday. So i had planning till lunch. It was pretty boring, and i was waiting on the English teacher to come in so i could find out about the lesson plan for the elective English lessons, that i am going to be recorded by the company for. Today i left before school started with the band in order to play with them for the Sub-prefectural music festival. I think a lot fo the kids were astonished that i was there playing with them. It went pretty well i think. I did well on my parts and didn't suck like i did on saturday. Just one more thing to play for with the band on Sunday.  Then i went to Kombu for lunch, and the teachers and kids were astounded that i could use chopsticks. It sort of gets a little old hearing everyone say how well you do things that are just natural and you do not even think about. But also, they constantly remind you of it almost every time you meet them. I have been asked to show my eyes to the same people numerous times and they are still astounded. Today it snowed a little and now the mountains are pretty much covered in it. The valley doesn't have any snow yet, so i hope that i will be able to drive to Sapporo on Monday for the holiday.