I am so sick of sitting here correcting and marking papers for my san-nensei (10th graders). Talk about driving me nuts. No matter how many I seem to mark, there are always more, more, more. I am meant to have these ready before they graduate... at first I laughed at the idea, as if I wouldn't... but now, I am really beginning to worry.
I can barely mark 5 in a row without getting sleepy.
BAH!!!!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Hokkaido - a few candid snaps.
Finally! Some photo's from my adventures in snowy Hokkaido, early February. Thanks to my friends who actually take good pictures, I have some nice ones to show here...
First - what it means to be drafted into the Sapporo military... snow sculpting! Of course, that's exactly what comes to mind when I think of the army... grand artistic endeavours! I wonder if they make some huge stencil for chiselling out this baby? I doubt art classes are a part of military training... though in Japan, you never know!
Us crazy kids who went skiing/snowboarding... that's the before shot, and there's a reason there isn't an after shot. Let's just say I was in no condition to be photographed. I could tell from the looks I was getting as I walked back into the building after I got down the slope... icicles coming off your hair is not a good look!
On our last day, I took the opportunity to do a bit of spontaneous dancing in the snow. It was unusual, and unbeknownst to me, caught on camera...
A snowy evening in Sapporo.. preeetty!!!!
Aaaw. Me and Miffy - childhood friends reunited.
Our first night. Priority: finding a nice izakaya where we can stuff ourselves stupid... and drink some really delicious cocktail conconctions (and beer for the non-adventurous lads.. yes Rogi that's you, haha!).
Yay! Tourists!!!!!
First - what it means to be drafted into the Sapporo military... snow sculpting! Of course, that's exactly what comes to mind when I think of the army... grand artistic endeavours! I wonder if they make some huge stencil for chiselling out this baby? I doubt art classes are a part of military training... though in Japan, you never know!
Us crazy kids who went skiing/snowboarding... that's the before shot, and there's a reason there isn't an after shot. Let's just say I was in no condition to be photographed. I could tell from the looks I was getting as I walked back into the building after I got down the slope... icicles coming off your hair is not a good look!
On our last day, I took the opportunity to do a bit of spontaneous dancing in the snow. It was unusual, and unbeknownst to me, caught on camera...
A snowy evening in Sapporo.. preeetty!!!!
Aaaw. Me and Miffy - childhood friends reunited.
Our first night. Priority: finding a nice izakaya where we can stuff ourselves stupid... and drink some really delicious cocktail conconctions (and beer for the non-adventurous lads.. yes Rogi that's you, haha!).
Yay! Tourists!!!!!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Before I get distracted again...
I will be putting up some pictures and commentary of my recent Hokkaido vacation, but first I want to bring your attention to a very very important website... well actually it's a blog of a couple of awesome people, Steve and Sandy. I met them on my volunteer trip in Thailand where Sandy was teaching English at the local school, and Steve was managing the Baan Unrak home for orphaned kids... their blog is amazing, giving insights into the daily life and also the projects that Steve is always getting off the ground to improve the way of live for many people in the area. Please check it out. For your reference here, it is http://www.steveandsandy.blogspot.com/ but I have also put it into my links.. please check it out, it'll blow your mind.
By the way I had an absolutely fabulous holiday in Hokkaido - with 7 other Kobe JETs - Farah, Caroline, Steph, Adrian, Dustin, Leigh and Rogi... we named ourselves the infamous Gak 8 (after our place of residence, Gakuentoshi...). We managed not to get arrested, which is always nice, and we enjoyed some beautiful snow... and thanks to Leigh and his super cautious driving, we survived on the roads.
I tried really hard to pick up a Scottish accent (under the tutelage of Glaswegian Rogi, who had me and Farah repeating some typical Scottish conversations.. how's it going? Not bad.. fancy a pint? Alright...) possibly failed miserably, but had lots of fun in the process. Also tried snowboarding and fell over so many times I cried like a baby with frustration. Dustin, my mountain angel on skis, stayed by my side through the worst of it, until Rogi and Leigh found me and finally taught me how to actually steer the frickin' thing (didn't stop me falling over, but helped me avoid the trees and dangerous precipices). It was an experience, I am glad it's over, and strangely enough, really want to give it another go! Must be a sucker for torture.
We had all you can eat lamb at the Genghis Khan restaurant at the Sapporo Beer Museum... that was an interesting eating experience... we set up 4 against four.. Me, Rogi, Leigh and Caroline against Farah, Dustin, Steph and Adrian. I think that eat-off was rigged from the start. We lost by a plate, but did well considering the odds weren't in our favour - no one can out eat Farah... not even Adrian... so what chance did we have? He he, I love you guys!
I had a bad cold on the last day, and my camera died, so I don't have great photo's of the last day with all the snow sculptures etc, but will be rading my friends SD-cards for theirs. So stay tuned!
By the way I had an absolutely fabulous holiday in Hokkaido - with 7 other Kobe JETs - Farah, Caroline, Steph, Adrian, Dustin, Leigh and Rogi... we named ourselves the infamous Gak 8 (after our place of residence, Gakuentoshi...). We managed not to get arrested, which is always nice, and we enjoyed some beautiful snow... and thanks to Leigh and his super cautious driving, we survived on the roads.
I tried really hard to pick up a Scottish accent (under the tutelage of Glaswegian Rogi, who had me and Farah repeating some typical Scottish conversations.. how's it going? Not bad.. fancy a pint? Alright...) possibly failed miserably, but had lots of fun in the process. Also tried snowboarding and fell over so many times I cried like a baby with frustration. Dustin, my mountain angel on skis, stayed by my side through the worst of it, until Rogi and Leigh found me and finally taught me how to actually steer the frickin' thing (didn't stop me falling over, but helped me avoid the trees and dangerous precipices). It was an experience, I am glad it's over, and strangely enough, really want to give it another go! Must be a sucker for torture.
We had all you can eat lamb at the Genghis Khan restaurant at the Sapporo Beer Museum... that was an interesting eating experience... we set up 4 against four.. Me, Rogi, Leigh and Caroline against Farah, Dustin, Steph and Adrian. I think that eat-off was rigged from the start. We lost by a plate, but did well considering the odds weren't in our favour - no one can out eat Farah... not even Adrian... so what chance did we have? He he, I love you guys!
I had a bad cold on the last day, and my camera died, so I don't have great photo's of the last day with all the snow sculptures etc, but will be rading my friends SD-cards for theirs. So stay tuned!
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