the blizzard

today i had a skype chat and then i went up to Sapporo for Costco. I got pickles and some cheap chicken breast amongst other things. On the way back i went to a Book Off and got some Cambridge books on linguistics, and i ate at Victoria, a sort of steak and salad bar place. it was okay, but for some odd reason the demiglace sauce tasted like hayashi rice sauce. Then i drove home in a literal blizzard. I guess all this driving will be good for me. I got plenty of winter and blizzard condition driving under my belt. Going to watch Kouhaku on television for new year's. It's a four hour music program every year with a whole bunch of enka and jpop performers. I hope it will be good.

haven't done much lately. I read a little and watched the internet TV stuff. I am almost done with the 7 seasons of Star Trek Hidden Frontier. I think i have finished with my own conscript and i have worked more on my own conlang as well. Seeing avatar has given me a little interest in the movie language of the Na'vi. It is kind of interesting in that there are no voiced plosives but rather ejectives and voiceless plosives. Kaltxì, frapo. ayngaru lu fpom srak? aah, the interests of a linguist, so wide and diverse sometimes people are a little weirded out when i say that i can read a little egyptian, russian, korean, hebrew... I do love writing systems though. I hope Na'vi one day takes over Klingon hopefully. Payday was today and i got my money and i have 5500 in the bank now. i gotta save all i can for grad school. I just feel like i have been hibernating here. everything fun is about 2 hours away from where i am and costs at least 50 bucks for a trip.

I have my web cam all set up now, so i can do video chat with people on Skype. Here is a pic. It isn't too bad of resolution for only 15 bucks. Now i just need to find out how to make videos with sound. I tried it but i couldn't get any sound on the one i tried. Just another day of rest for me now. I got until the 17th of January, and boy is that going to be a long break. I might just add another trip some where like asahikawa to go and see the zoo there. Though probably not. I guess i will just have to save up so i can go to Tokyo or Kyoto for Golden week. That would be fun to see the sakura in Kyoto or Tokyo. I cleaned today and did laundry. I still wish i had a drier, not just to dry clothes but also to get lint off of them easier. They all seem to use like the lint rollers here for their clothes.I filled up my propane tank outside, and thankfully it was warm today. The only good thing about the snow in the winter is that it lets me be almost eye level with the tank instead of a foot under it.

Xmas

Today i woke up early and drove up to Sapporo. It was an okay drive and not too snowy. I first went to the early movie showing and saved 6 bucks by going to the first one. It was avatar subtitled so i could understand the English in it. It was great. 3D is not really my thing, but Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana were really good. Also, you gotta love the political satire that was underlying it. Overall, great effects and visual and orally great to see. Then i went shopping for a little bit. I got a webcam, sauerkraut, gerkins, a multi-green colored scarf, and some jam all at very good rates. the sauerkraut and gerkins were on sale at Jupiter so just 3 bucks each for a large jar. The jam is almost a kilo and for 3 bucks as well at Don Quijote. Overall, a pretty nice Xmas. I still wish i had some friends here though to hang out with for the holidays.

Tiramisu Christmas Cake

I got home yesterday and was pretty tired since i didn't get much sleep at the hotel. I went to get my Christmas cake after 12 and it was nice. I have pics above. I chose the tiramisu cake and it is pretty good. About 7 inch diameter. Chocolate sponge cake with the cream and then cocoa powder dusting on top. Japanese food gives me good ideas for things to make when i get back to the states since it is hard to make them here, and to find some ingredients that i want. I still have yet to find any place where i can get fresh cilantro. Some ceviche would be great right now. I also saw this thing in a magazine about using Chinese cabbage and putting like ham and cheese between each leaf after cutting the whole thing into quarters. It looked good to just do that, but then they like baked it and put some more cheese on top. Then i think i have a good idea for how to make like Greek style nikuman. Then i have an idea for like meatball nikuman Italian style. I probably should start making a list of this Japanese-international fusion cooking.

Bounenkai

Last night, we had the year end party for the middle school. It was at the Hilton in Niseko, and was pretty nice. The Hilton was a nice piece of Americana in Japan. They had a nice foyer, and the hotel connected to the lifts for the mountain. They lead to the harder slopes, but still it was right there are the hotel. The food was really good and was served Chinese style on the lazy susan in the middle of the table. The dessert was really good. It was creme brule without the brule really but with honey on top instead. I really enjoyed it. The first party included a quiz game and i only knew like two or three answers. I just couldn't understand most of it. The Japanese sure are a lot more open when they drink though. The second party was at the pub and there was onion rings, chicken legs, cucumbers with wasabi miso, and seafood pizza with wasabi on it. I don't like wasabi, but i am just getting a little more tolerant of it. I still don't like it though. We also had karaoke there. Then we left the Hilton and people went home or to the Green Leaf Hotel. It was okay. There was some more drinking and speaking in one of the guys rooms. It was a nice hour and a half of talking about things like what they do, skiing, and the schools. But then one of the teachers was talking to another about his homeroom class and how they have sort of gotten worse this year comparing them to another one of the teachers there. It was a little mean, but at least one of the other other teachers said that he doesn't think that it's true. Drunk Japanese conversations, what can you say. Then we went to sleep, and i didn't do too much of that. I just can't sleep on a feather pillow. Breakfast was good; it was a Japanese-western buffet so spring rolls and pickles, and miso soup and the likes. I am really tired from it, but at least today i can go and get my Christmas cake and chicken legs.

Snow snow snow. It is up to my waist on the snow banks now. At least the high school teachers were saying that this much snow is unusual, instead of it being a warm winter as i previously heard. I had classes at the high school all day and it was okay, but not great. The high school is just very different in feeling from the middle school. I don't think there were any special needs kids or classes there at all, which begs to question: Where do all the special needs kids go to after middle school? I guess they just stay at home or do something else like trade school. One more day of classes then the party tomorrow night. I am thinking of taking the train to Sapporo on Christmas, but i guess i will need to call people for Xmas before i go, or the next day because of the time difference.

Didn't do this much this weekend because of the stupid snow. I had to dig my car out of it today since there was at least two feet of snow on the car. It is getting a little annoying, and i hope this is a normal amount, since people sad this was a warm winter already. Went to the hot springs to have lunch and just relax. Then i went to get gas and to the recycle book and game store. I am thinking of getting a Japanese PS3 if i can get the games i want for it. It is regional free for the ps3 games, but the ps2 and PS games are region bound, so i have to get the Japanese versions. Not a problem. I have been playing games in Japanese for about 10 years anyways. Gotta love the perks of speaking Japanese. Then i think that i could sell some of these games for a nice profit in America when i am done with them. FFX in Japanese would be awesome. The grocery store seems like it is ready for Christmas with the offering of smoked turkey legs, chicken legs, whole birds, and Christmas cakes and pizzas. It has changed since last week, so there was a lot of new items, but i didn't buy any of them. I have my cake and chicken coming on the 23rd at Lawson's. I think i have found the right spicy spice for me. The Japanese tougarashi pepper seems to be the right heat for me in like the ichimi or shichimi spices. Nothing like a nice bowl of ramen with shichimi and a good broth. Don't really have any plans for Xmas yet, i will have to see how the snow goes. I might just hibernate here for a while since the snow practically is blocking me inside of my apartment. For some odd reason i do not feel like i am really that interesting or doing anything super different. Sure i am teaching English in another country, and i do know the language real well. But for some odd reason i do not feel like this is anything that special. Odd, but just how i feel.

Snow? Again?

The snow continues. It stopped for the most of the day until the end of school, now it has started up again. 2 more days of classes, then the break. I can't wait. I have classes at the high school on Monday, and then classes at the middle school on Tuesday. The students are getting anxious as well. They have sort of tuned out the classes a little. Plus, there seems to be a little more problems with bullying this week. One of the first years is always getting picked on, i think, by the others. Then another this week had this pencil case incident in science class that i don't know the details about. The only thing was is that one day in class he was angry and didn't really talk at all, which was odd since he is one of the kids that actually says "hello" to me. Then there is a girl in the third year that is very withdrawn and silent. I have only had her in two of my classes. I think she is probably going to be a hikikomori in her life at this rate. The one incident this week is that one of the third year girls was saying mean things to her outside of the counselor's room where she eats lunch i guess, instead of in the class with everyone else. I heard this from the teacher, and the other teachers talked about this in the teacher's room. I feel so sad for some of these kids that get picked on, and i wonder why? They all look normal to me, and it's like what the heck. I just want to deck some of these kids that are so mean. The bullies are usually the kids who don't do well in classes anyways. Why do the stupid always pick on others in order to make themselves feel better? I just wish there was something I could do.

More snow

The Karaage i made on Monday. It was pretty good, but now i do not know what to exactly do with the oil per Japanese trash protocol. "Put in caking agent and then soak up with paper towels and put with combustible trash" What? Where the glork do i get a caking agent? I miss garbage disposals.

Day three of the continuous seeming snow fall here on the island that gets its weather from Siberia. The snow was so high this morning that i couldn't close my door to the car because snow was getting in the way and getting compacted. I saw the sun for a little bit today, but it seems like it is going to keep on snowing for the rest of the week. The weather website has avalanche advisories for the area. I guess if it doesn't stop and start to melt by tomorrow, then i will not go to the concert in Sapporo on Saturday. Guess it is better that way, i don't know if they still have tickets, and it was just going to be for one hour. I will have to try and get the band at another one of their "lives"- the Japanese term raibu, for a performance by a band. School was okay and it has been pretty nice this week. I didn't have to prepare any elective classes this week. I have had to prepare flashcards for the third years, but that isn't hard.I have only two days of classes next week, and it seems pretty easy. Then we have the end of year party on the 22nd at the Hilton and then staying at the green leaf hotel. Gotta pay about 180 bucks for it all, but hey, it's the Hilton. I made bags of candy and chocolates for the teachers for Xmas. I will give it to them tomorrow so they will all hopefully have them before the break because sometimes they just take days off, and you never know who is going to do that. I used the rest of the candy i had. Then i had bought ferroro rocher at Don Quijote and a bag of chocolate assortments at Costco. I hope they like them. I still need to bake the roll of cookies that i have. I got my Xmas presents from my parents, and i really liked what i got. It's kind of weird that i am happy to get toothpaste for Xmas, but there is probably a multitude of reasons why Japanese teeth are so bad and i toothpaste might be one of them. I love my snuggie. It is very warm. I put a picture of the Karaage i made on Monday. Then i made pineapple chicken tonight. I can thicken now with cornstarch. I wonder why i didn't get it right before. I feel really stupid. I was a little worried about it thickening because of the Pineapple in it and you know bromeliads. They really like to mess up some protein structures. They tenderize and break down proteins which is why you can marinade meat in pineapple juice and have ham with a pineapple slice. But, you can't use pineapple in Jello because it messes up the gelatin(protein) and it won't set. I do love cooking, and i guess it is best to keep things as a passion and not an occupation. I would like to go to school or take some classes for like pastry making, because i hate dealing with pastry and i sort of suck at it. I would love to do a world cooking tour and go to like some classes to learn cooking in like Greece, Italy, Spain, and India. Xmas will be a little sad this year because i am away from family. but i got a book about German LDS saints after the war, and i can't wait to read in depth about my grandparents. Thank you so much for the presents Mom, frankly, it was everything that i wanted. Toothpaste, a snuggie, and books. So weird when as a kid you only wanted toys, but as you grow up the little daily things are the things you like and want the most.

Snow, snow, snow, by the feet. It has been snowing all day for the past two days. I am kind of sick of snow by now. I am good for the rest of my life. But i still like colder temperatures. No Florida for me. Classes have been okay. The third years had a reading test today and i had to grade them as well. They were okay, but one was really bad and couldn't get past the first page. I felt bad, but i gave him a 10 out of 100. I just want the snow to go away.

Pic Post

Pics from the Mini-volleyball tournament with the first years

Hot Food vending machine

Ski Archives

Tengu Masks

No Smorking inside of McDonalds Please

Posted pics from the min-volleyball tourney. Friday was a nice day. My elective English lessons went over okay. I didn't use my second sheet i prepared. I guess that means i am ready for next times. Saturday i took the car in for an oil change then i went grocery shopping in Kutchan. I went all the way there because i needed some window washer fluid and some stuff for the home from the Homac next to the store. I also bought an umbrella, finally. Then i went to the mini-concert by the high schoolers. There were only five people in the band, and they were okay. I think the middle school band was better, though the bass and drums were very good. You trumpets, they are just not good sometimes. Then today was pretty awesome. I spoke on the phone for an hour on skype and didn't pay anything for it. Skype is awesome and much cheaper than my current cell phone plan. Then i drove up to Otaru to relax there. The weather here in Japan is so spit-spotty. It was light snow here, then the roads were covered in Kutchan, then by Niki and Yoichi is was clear and clear when i got to Otaru. And mind you this is just a different of like 50 miles. It will be raining one place, snowing the other, and then clear in the last one. So weird. I drove up to Mt. Tengu and rode the ropeway to get a good view of the city. It was pretty nice except for the observation area being freezing and covered in ice. Then i went to the middle of the city to just look around. Didn't do much. Then i drove over to the mall "Wing Bay." I looked at some of the stores there, but i do not really need anything. Then i went to eat at the Mc Donalds just because it is the only place i can actually get an all beef hamburger and not some sort of meatloaf with onions and stuff burger that the Japanese call a hamburger. it's good, but it's not a hamburger. Then i walked past the stage area where they have live performances and was just so moved by the one that i saw. They were called Kibaco, and it is an electronica band and has one girl vocalist and one guy on the other electronica and bass. They were awesome. Very good. I just had to buy all their CD's. One good thing about these live performances at these places is that their CD's are very cheap, in comparison. Three of them cost 35 dollars, and that is normally the price of like one regular one here in Japan for mainstream. I looked on their website and they are doing a concert at the planetarium in Sapporo next week, so i might go to that for ten bucks. Watch the aurora and the stars and listen to them is the plug that their site gives. Should be awesome. Anybody want to go with me maybe who's in Sapporo. I am going to check on tickets tomorrow. Then i drove home and went to the hot springs. Overall, a very nice relaxing day.