Its been a while...

Sorry about that, its my fault. I've been so busy with the weeks events that I haven't had much time to reply back to some emails, nor actually catch up on blogging. This is gonna be one long post if I manage to finish it tonight, if not I'll try to finish it tomorrow night. I kinda have an early day tomorrow (I have to be at the Elementary by 8) but I'll do what I can.

Let's start with the beginning. Last week Saturday, the 18th (Friday was uneventful because I was just packing for Sapporo) . Since I had Sapporo orientation with the JETs on Monday the 20th, till Wednesday the 23rd, my supervisor decided it would be a good idea for me to head to Sapporo on Saturday to party it up with his morning baseball team. And after hearing party I accepted right away. So in the morning of the 18th we headed down to Sapporo, the largest city Hokkaido, 2 hours away.

When we got there we checked into our hotel at Susukino called Swanky Hotel (The name is actually quite descriptive based on the location). Susukino is the Kabuki-cho of Hokkadio (Kabuki-cho is the red light district of Tokyo). Being the red light district, it has a lot of....clubs and stuff.

But anyway, after checking in to the hotel we headed to the nearest subway station and took it all the way to the Sapporo Dome, to watch the Nippon-Ham Fighters, the local team in the Japanese baseball league. Although I don't normally like baseball, I kinda found it fun to watch because being part of the Cheering squad is so much fun. The opposing team (Chiba Marines) had a really strong cheering squad despite having 10 times less the fans as the Fighters. The Fighters lost in the end, due to a bad 7th inning, but it was still fun anyway.

After that we headed back to an Izakaya at Susukino and I got the chance to eat freshly killed octopus. The tentacles still moved in the plate which it was served in. It was a pretty interesting experience and I'm glad I tried it. I'm sure it grosses most of you out though, but when in foreign place, I find it hard not to try new things. Also had crab brains and sake, that was a really interesting way to eat it.

Afterwards we went to a few bars and clubs....yah.

Everybody had their own room, which was totally nice, because after Tokyo orientation and staying with other people, it was a nice change.

The next morning, I went into the Hokkaido Keio Plaza Hotel, which is not as luxurious as its Tokyo counterpart. I couldn't check in right away, check in time was at 13:00. So I had Keio keep my luggage for me and then me and my supervisor walked around the area (which is basically known as Sapporo station). I discovered where the ATMs where, the JA train station was, where I needed to board the train back to Kamikawa on Wednesday and tons of other stuff including a Starbucks. We ate ramen at a Ramen village, which was a floor on the Department Store totally devoted to ramen. In other words, heaven. Anyways, we went back to the Keio and my supervisor left. I then met up with a couple JETs downstairs in the lobby of Keio.

We then went around the area doing some electronics shopping (where everyone bought DS), clothes shopping before finally eating at Yakiniku at Susukino (we took the subway to get there). Ike-chan suggested it when I asked him over the phone. I had a bit of a difficult time trying to find it, but it all ended up ok and I think everybody enjoyed it for the most part. We went drinking at a couple of bars and ended up getting quite wasted. My friend Jenna and I almost got stuck in Susukino, we caught the second last train back to Sapporo station at 12:01 midnight. It was kinda scary. Although Sapporo is within walking distance to Susukino (30 minutes) and I guess we would of made it back one way or another (even if I was lost I had cell phone GPS). But it was quite an experience.

The next morning was the start of orientation. I got up early and headed to the Combini to buy myself some Riceballs and a coffee for Breakfast. Nothing much happened at Orientation other than being bored out of my mind. There was a recruiting for HAJET, which is like a brotherhood of JETs. When you join you can use their english library and other services. I myself didn't join because I don't read english books, and for 4000 JPY it was a bit pricey. There was also a enkai hosted by HAJET but that costed 4000 JPY too. A lot of JETs were going, but I decided to have some alone time and wander around the city of Sapporo.

I first went to Oodori Station, which is the stop between Susukino and Sapporo station. (It's kinda wierd how they name one station Sapporo station but anyway...) Theres a shopping place called Kanuki Koji, which is like an outdoor bizarre. I guess you could compare it with something like Whyte Avenue or 17th Avenue if you're a Calgarian. Afterwards I walked to Susukino, 15 minutes away. I visited some of the department stores there and ended up buying a couple of dress pants. All the stores there close at 8. So I went back to Sapporo station at that time and did a bit of shopping at the department store there, which closes at 9.

After that I dropped off all my bags at Keio plaza (only 5 minutes walk from the station by the way, sorry that came out so late) and then ate at an Izakaya my supervisor suggested to me. It was right behind Keio so it was pretty convenient. The Husband and Wife pair that run that store know my supervisor personally and are actually really close with the Kamikawa people because they go there all the time. It was nice talking to her and I told her to basically let her decide what I would eat at their restaurant.

She picked Gouya (which is some sort of Vegetable, with bitter melon, in a yellow soup, it's hard to explain), Sanma (Mackeral) sashimi, Cooked Sanma and Crab, which is very different then the ones in Canada (the ones here are pointy and the meat is pretty tender). The dinner came out to be about 4000 JPY but it was delicious and fulfilling. It was really nice to try new things.

I met up with some JETs at Susukino after on their 2nd party after the Enkai, we talked for a bit and then headed down to the 3rd party in a karaoke bar near Keio. It was fun and all, but I did have some people shouting in my face, which I didn't enjoy. I realized they were drunk but still... I didn't know JETs could be soo loud but it was all in good fun, even though I was so dead tired I was incorrherent of things going on. I left earlier then everybody, 1:30 in the morning in preparations for next days orientation.

Next day's orientation was about the same. Except atleast I got to do Advanced Japanese class, which was fairly decent. It ws basically us talking in Japanese the whole time. After orientation everybody just had an easy day. I went shopping with a Chris, a JET I had just met in Sapporo. We went electonics shopping and guitar shopping, although I didn't buy one, I learned a lot about the process. I might consider getting one later on in the year. Everybody, including me went to bed early and to get ready for the next day's orienation and departure back to our respective cities. I did go buy some Yukimi Daifuku (Ice cream rice balls) and a beer for snack before sleep.

The next day was half a day of orientation and then a tour of the museum and historical village. The latter was the most interesting, since it was basically old transported buildings gathered in one place. I got to see live silk worms which was kinda cool. After that I departed JA station at 17:30 to arrive back in Kamikawa at 19:50. A couple of co-workers came to the station to see if I made it home ok and to give me a ride back to my apartment. Very nice people, but I probably caused them a lot of pain :(. Anyway, I was sooo tired that I went back out and into one of our many Ramen stores to eat dinner. After words I went home and slept.

The next days were really eventful as they were my first days teaching and the Furusato Matsuri, which I'll explain next time. It's getting late and I don't wanna rush the rest of the blog, so I'll leave it at that till tomorrow.