A Big Decision

So I have been meaning to blog about this for a month but kept forgetting. But later is better than never! Anyway, last month I made a somewhat-big (but natural) decision…I am not re-contracting! I had originally thought I could possibly do three years, but I am definitely NOT up for it! Haha. A mix of missing my boyo and the need for a change in job lead me to this:




Yes, sorry for the blurry pics but you get the idea!

I could easily stay in Japan, but ALT-ing for three years is not for Jefu! Two years will be a good amount of time, though, I am not completely sick of it, and it has been fun. Man, I can’t believe I am leaving in less than six months! Eek!

Sapporo! Part Two

After getting the best sleep of our lives, we got up on Sunday and headed to see the snow sculptures in Odori Park. There were way more than I expected! It went on for blocks! It featured both the BIG main sculptures, and then lots of small ones (usually in the shape of cartoon characters or other famous people/characters/things). My favorite big sculpture was for JAL. It was a Disneyland-themed one with a big Stitch! It was so cute!!! It had a plane in the background with lights that lit up at night, too! It was cool! Fortunately it was facing east, as the ones facing west must have gotten dirty from the wind or something, as there were dirty specks all over them. Sad! Anyway, we wandered around and looked at all of the sculptures, which took forever! It is cool, as there were TONS of families there. It is good family entertainment, as it is free and kids love the cartoon-themed sculptures!

Speaking of families, I think the only thing people in Sapporo have to do in the winter is have sex (and eat), as they ALL had like 300 kids! There were kids ALL over the place!!! It was crazy. While I am speaking of demographics, I also loved Sapporo because it is like a college town! There were young-ish people everywhere, which was nice to see, since all of the young people run away from Gunma both for and post-college.

After the sculptures, we went to Spark, a soup curry restaurant. Soup curry is (I think) only in Hokkaido, and Spark was recommended by one of Cindy’s teacher’s sons who goes to college in Sapporo. Um, it was the best recommendation EVER! Soup curry is a mix between Japanese curry and southeast Asian curry. It is spicier (although you can choose your spice level) than Japanese curry, and more soup-y/water-y, so it isn’t a lot like Japanese curry, but it is way different than like Thai curry. I dunno, it is GOOD! We fell in love with it! We both got the chicken and vegetable curry, and it had an un-Japanese amount of veggies in it (i.e. any at all!). The restaurant itself was REALLY cool. It was like a college hangout (literally, as everyone was young) and full with a line out the door! I felt cool just being there! It totally didn’t feel like we were in Japan, as it had like reggae music in the background and it was just NOT Japan. MMMM it was good!

After that we wandered around a bit and did our oh-so-important omiyage shopping. Whenever you go on trips in Japan, you have to get your co-workers omiyage. And theoretically your friends and EVERYONE IN THE WORLD YOU KNOW. I was sneaky and never told my school I was going to Sapporo, so I got to skip wasting money on the bastards, woot! However, I refused to NOT get omiyage, so I ended up spending over thirty bucks on candy and treats for myself. Haha, I am the saddest person alive. Poor Cindy, on the other hand, had to get it for her teachers, her private students, and everyone that live in Hong Kong, apparently, as she had the HUGEST bag of omiyage EVER!!!! Crazy! Haha. Even the Japanese girl at the register was like, damn girl! Hehehe. After omiyage shopping we ended up back at the hotel for another nap. Yes, walking around and eating is incredibly exhausting, apparently!

We then woke up and did the most Jeff and Cindy thing ever. We woke up in the morning thinking we would go to this place that had a big maze made out of snow, as well as slides and other cool stuff that was very yuki matsuri-y. However, it was an hour and a half each way and we were too lazy for that. So what did we do? We of course went to Sapporo AEON!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA. We had seen it on the train the night before and it called to us! I am totally not kidding. So we trained there and checked out the Sapporo AEON. It is newer and nicer than ours, being 3 floors and all. However, I like ours better! It has better stores!

It was worth going to AEON just for the kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant we went to! We waited in a LONG line for it, and it was worth it! You order on computer screens and they have pics of everything, which is very helpful for gaijin! THEN the stuff that you order comes on this rolling track thing above your head! Like, your area will start beeping, and you look up and your sushi is whooshing towards you on a tray on tracks! It is hard to describe but it was freaking cool! And the sushi was SOOOOO GOOD! Oh my god! SO GOOD!

We then headed back to Sapporo eki (btw, Sapporo eki is the COOLEST eki in the world! It is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge and has TONS of shops and is freaking NICE) and wandered around the streets of Sapporo. We didn’t wander just to wander…we wandered so we could eat more! Haha. We wanted man (Chinese dumplings) from the kick-ass man street vendor, yo! I looooooooooooooooove man more than anything in the world, and Sapporo loves their man, too, apparently! This place was YUMMY! So we ended up getting some, then walked some more and then had cantaloupe soft cream. They are famous for cantaloupe, too! MMMM it was good. Then we headed back to our hotel and slept off all of our food.

On Monday we checked out of our hotel and found that it was TRULY snowing outside! Like, lots of snow! It was so cool! I love snow! Maybe not super fun to walk in it with luggage, but I don’t care! We walked around and waited for Spark to open, as we needed soup curry one more time before we left, hehe. We had it and it was YUMMY, then we headed to the airport. Good lord, the Sapporo airport is CRAZY, as they must have literally over a hundred omiyage shops there. It is crazy, I don’t know how they all stay open, but they were all busy!!! We wandered around there, then flew back to Tokyo, trained back to Gunma (which was SO warm in comparison!), and our vacation was over, sad!

Anyway, I am really glad I went to Sapporo! It was my first time off Honshuu and it was nice to see the difference in culture and stuff! The city had a really good energy/feel. It was a city, but didn’t have a big city feel at all! The people were really nice and I dunno, it was just a cool place. They must not have that many gaijin as I got sooooooooo many gaijin stares!!! But I could totally see myself living there, even with the crazy snow and stuff! I recommend going there if you can!

Yay, the end. Next up, Hong Kong on Friday!

Sapporo! Part One

I am working on my Shanghai post, but it is annoying and Sapporo is more fresh in my memory, so I am gonna post about it before I leave for Hong Kong on Friday! So, here goes. BTW, I am no longer physically able to make summarized blog posts so this is long. Sorry!

Cindy and I started our crazy traveling February-ness on Saturday by heading to Sapporo for the yuki matsuri (snow festival). I was excited, as I had been wanting to go to the yuki matsuri since high school. I was too lazy to go last year, so I am glad we found a sort-of affordable package for it this year, woot!

For those who don’t know anything about Sapporo or the yuki matsuri, here is some info. Sapporo is the biggest city in Hokkaido, which is the northern-most island of Japan. It was my first time being off Honshuu (the main island)! Sapporo is Portland’s sister city, as it is the same something-itude as Portland. Because it is higher north, Hokkaido is COLD! It is always snowing and stuff, and the summers are much cooler than in Honshuu. It is also unlike Japan, in that there is tons of space! It is famous for its nature and its food! There is room for cows and stuff like that, so they are famous for cheese, milk, butter, ice cream, etc. On top of that, they are also famous for ramen and other foods! In other words, they love food! They are my kind of people!

The yuki matsuri is held over seven days every February. The festival began in 1950, and about two million people come from all over the world to see the festival. The main part of the festival is in Odori Park, where artists make huge sculptures out of snow and compete to see which sculpture wins. There are also smaller events throughout Hokkaido during the yuki matsuri.

Anyway, Cindy and I woke up wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too early (4 AM!) on Saturday morning to take the first train to Haneda Airport. Haneda is a LITTLE easier to get to than Narita, but it is still evil. I hate airports in Japan! We were worried about getting there on time, as there are two ekis (train stations) in Asakusa that are FAR apart (400 meters, two traffic lights and lots of stairs in between!) and we had to theoretically get from one to the other in nine minutes. SOMEHOW we were amazing and made it in FOUR minutes and got an even earlier and better train than we had planned on! We rock!

Anyway, we got to the airport and checked in. Um, domestic flights in Japan are SKETCHY, as you literally don’t need your ID. They never check! Scary! Anyway, all went well and we landed in Sapporo, woot!

After a VERY packed and uncomfortable train ride from the airport (2 million people visiting in 7 days=a busy airport!), we got to the downtown area of Sapporo. It was so nice to see SNOW! Woot! It is apparently warmer this year than usual, since the world is ending and all, but it was still pretty cold. Hokkairo (heat pack thingies) and long johns were definitely needed! We were stupid and took a cab to our hotel, as it looked far away on the map. However, we realized that EVERYTHING in Sapporo is close! It is a SMALL big city! The cab driver totally knew we were retarded, but he was nice and drove us the extra long way to make us feel like we got our money’s worth (he didn’t rip us off, as the meter never went up). Needless to say, we walked from then on!

So, it being a Jeff and Cindy trip, we came with tons of recommendations on food to eat while in Sapporo! Well, more like Cindy did and I just followed her! Thanks, Cindy! Anyway, our first meal while there was ramen, mmm! They have a “ramen alley” in Sapporo which is just a bunch of ramen restaurants crammed in one alley. Mmm! We chose a place and each got corn butter ramen, which is one of the many famous foods from Sapporo. Their corn, butter, and ramen are famous, so of course it made for a good mix! Mmmhmm! After that we wandered around a little, then took our usual afternoon nap before heading out again. We trained to Otaru, a town which is about 45 minutes from Sapporo. It is famous for both its sushi and the canal that runs through the town, and it was a cute area. They were having a lantern festival for the yuki matsuri, and it went on FOREVER! It was really cute and peaceful, as the local people made little sculptures and various shapes out of snow, then stuck candles all over them. It is kind of hard to describe, but I will post pics of it later. It was done along a street and it seriously went ON and ON and ON. Cindy and I like finishing things in five minutes, and it wasn’t possible in this case, sad! We did our best, tho ;) We then made our way down to the canal, where they had more lanterns, as well as candles floating on the water. It was cute. There were tons of dates there, as it is a romantic kinda thing to do!

We tried to meet up with Teresa and her brother there, but it didn’t work out, sad. Anyway, after searching for a cheap sushi place for FOREVER there and failing miserably, we decided to go to a nice place. Man, it was yummy! We got kani soup (crab soup. Yes, Sapporo is famous for crab!), and a rice bowl with tons of sashimi in it. It was GOOD! I don’t dig ikura (fish eggs) that much, but they were so fresh that they were SO good! MMMMM! It was worth it for sure!

After that (well, after dessert, hehe) we made our way back to Sapporo, watched some TV and ASSED OUT, as we had been awake for 300 hours at that point!

(hmm, nothing happened in this post, but I want to break it in two so you are not too overwhelmed, hehe. Part two to come tomorrow, and stuff actually happens in it! Sorta!)

Valentine’s Day at Chuugakkou

So tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and the halls are abuzz with Valentine’s drama! Hehe. Well, not really drama, but I am sure there is drama out there somewhere! Valentine’s is a big day in Japan, as girls get boys chocolates. Then on March 14th is White Day, when the boys give the girls stuff (it is supposed to be something white, but it doesn’t have to be). Wikipedia has this to say about White Day:

“There are many theories about the origins of White Day, but according to one, the holiday began in 1965, when a marshmallow maker started marketing to men that they should pay back the women who gave them chocolate and other gifts with marshmallows. Originally it was called Marshmallow Day, and later it was changed to White Day.

Soon, the chocolate companies started realizing that they could capitalise as well on this day, and began marketing white chocolate. Now, Japanese men give both white and non-white chocolate, as well as other edible and non-edible gifts, such as jewellery or objects of sentimental value, to the women who gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day a month prior.”

Anyway, so Valentine’s is big and there have been TONS of chocolates in stores for weeks now. Like, it is crazy how into Valentine’s they are, Asians fall for anything! At least it is better than Korea which not only has Valentine’s Day and White Day, but also like 500 other naninani Days on the 14th of other months!

I asked two of my 2nensei girls what they did yesterday and they MADE chocolates! Damn, that is hardcore! I wonder who they are giving them to?! I want to be here to witness the drama and see who is in love with who, but I have a shucchou (business trip)! This sucks! I want to seeeee!

I did ask one boy if he is going to get chocolates and he said “No, it is just a normal week day to me!” rather bitterly. Hell yeah, he is young but smart enough to realize how stupid the day is :) There is hope! Or maybe he is just bitter and secretly wanting chocolate ;)