RSR, Learning the Language and Embarassing Gaijin Moments

Wow...it feels liks such a long time since I last updated my blog. First off, I'm so excited because I'm hopefully gonna have my internet delivered tonight or tomorrow at the latest. The next fun step is to attempt to set up an internet package that is all in Japanese. (An aside: that's been one of the most interesting parts of living in Japan, trying things on a gamble. More often than not, I feel as though I'm blindly choosing something to eat of picking a direction to walk. It's an interesting mixture of excitement and fear. However, I must say that I'm starting to become more fearless as I start exploring places on my own. Yesterday, I rode the subway by myself. At first, I was a bit nervous, because it's hard not to stand out. Then, I finally stopped thinking about it and gave myself a mental pat-on-the-back for actually knowing where I was going.)

I'm feeling a little more tired today because I had to get up earlier than usual to go across town to deliver a snow board. At first, I was a little confused about who to give it to, but thankfully, I managed to find the hotel where I had to drop it off AND I got into work early. I even managed to squeeze in some time to stop by Starbucks for breakfast.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's get onto more interesting topics out of the way, let's get onto more interesting topics...

So this past weekend I went to Ezo ( about 40 minutes North of Sapporo) to attend the Rising Sun Rock Festival. All I can say is that it was simply amazing. I came back exhausted, dirty, and my entire body was killing me, but do I regret it? Not at all. There were about 6 stages around this huge patch of land and each area had a different style of music to enjoy. And in each section, there were many stands offering different types of food from around Japan and other parts of the world. There were also camp sites that we could venture off to for a rest. Of course, I didn't bother going there very often because it was really far from everything else. I was really excited because there were only Japanese bands playing, so it was really cool to experience some of the Japanese music culture. And also I got to see one of my all-time favorites bands, Asian Kung-Fu Generation (otherwise known as, Ajikan), and they were amazing live! Another just little interesting observation is that Japanese fans ''rock out'' differently from westerners. They are a lot more orderly. That may sound odd, but I have trouble explaining it any other way. They go crazy when a band hits the stage, but between songs there is a dead silence. It's kinda funny. Anyway, there were so many different styles of music from mainstream rock to techno to jazz to ainu music. For those interested in trying out new music, I highly recommend the Dub Ainu Band. The band was dressed in traditional Ainu clothing and played beautiful music that everyone really enjoyed. On a slightly sad not, I missed out on the Maruyama Zoo trip because I got back too late. I'll just have to make the trip on my own some day.

(For those who are interested in seeing some pictures, feel free to check out my facebook because my friend Alice took numerous pictures. And for those without facebook, I promise to post them as soon as I get my internet set up and steal the pics from Alice, hehe.)

I have reached a few conclusions concerning myself since I entered this wonderful country. Let me explain in further detail. First off, Japan is the country where I stain everything! I can't count how many shirts and skirts I have already ruined by spilling soup or other foods onto myself. It's pretty incredible when I can go an entire day with spotless clothing. I already stick out as it is, so clothing. I already stick out as it is, so it's nice to have another reason for people to stare. Secondly, I am incapable of not stumbling into something or alarming fellow patrons at a restaurant by clanging into the dishware. Last night, I attended my first language exchange with a Japanese person. We went to a restaurant in this really nice hotel. It was kind of quiet so I already nervous about having some of the people there listen to my horrible Japanese pronunciation. I ordered some food, and then CLANG!!! I hit my plate with my college ring. The sound echoed all throughout the restaurant and people stopped eating to look at me. Way to go, foreigner! Thankfully my language exchange partner, Tsukasa, helped me laugh it off.

Last Friday, I made my first ''covert'' visit to my base junior high school. It's called Hassamu and it looks kind of big from the outside. I waws excited about walking up to it, but in true Celeste-fashion I decided to make a grand entrance. As I was on the sidewalk I didn't pay attention to where I was walking and slipped and fell on some mud. Now keep in mind, I didn't just get a small spot of mud on me. No, no. I got mud on me from the top of my skirt to the very bottom it. Luckily, my friend Sarah was with me and she helped me get up. And of course who would come running around the corner, but my future students. They were jogging back to the school and so I quickly ran to hide behind a house nearby. Sarah and I proceeded to pour water on my skirt and scrape off all the mud. And to make matters more interesting we had to hurry because we still had to visit Sarah's school and then head back into town to attend a big language exchange meeting. So as we rushing to clean myself off, I suddenly noticed a little kid standing there with his bike just in awe of one person pouring bottles of water on another person. After I was somewhat decent looking, we hurried to catch the train to Sarah's school. Yet again, we got lost and then quickly got back onto the train to head to the language exchange meeting. We were making good time and might have even arrived early...if we hadn't gotten lost again! Hehe. At this point we just had to laugh. We jumped in an elevator, rushed upstairs and managed to catch ort breath just in time to jump into conversations with some very friendly Japanese people. After an hour that quickly flew by, we all realized that we didn't wanna stop talking with our new friends and decided to get a drink together. Me and one of the other Japanese attendees, Tsukasa, discovered that we would both be attending the same rock festival and exchanged numbers so that we could meet up there.

About my schools:
As I said previously, my base school is a junior high school called Hassamu. I will go to Hassmu for one week and once September begins, I will start going to a couple of different elementary schools a week. I'm looking forward to it because all we really do is play games while using English with the kids. The only downside is that it's a bit tiring. The nice thing is that I only have to go 4 times a week. And I believe that I get out of work a little earlier. My supervisor, Ito-san, is really great because he understands that it can very hard on the ALTs to go to new schools each week and spend all day running around with the kids. So, to help out, he gives us a 'rest day' where all we have to do is go into the main office with the Board of Education and prepare future lesson materials. I anticipate getting lost a few times while searching for my elementary schools, but at least going from place to place every week will help me become more familiar with Sapporo and make me feel more confident about using the different forms of transportation here. Gotta find the positive spin to things. So far, that's one of the most important things I' ve learned.

Once again, please excuse my horrible grammar, misspellings and awkwards sentences. I don't really have time to edit this blog because I need to go study some Japanese. (^-^)

Ja, matta ne!

Hmmmm....

I guess I'm starting to get a little more settled. However, I can't say entirely so because I don't have a real routine yet. Tomorrow I'm supposed to make a school visit tomorrow just to see where I will be teaching. The only problem is that I'm not sure where I will be teaching, especially because I won't even be going to my base school until November. For the next month I will be teaching elementary school students, which supposedly means that I'll be playing a bunch of games with them. I'm excited.

Weird observation time:
Japan is an amazing country. There are so many interesting things to see and do, and I know I haven't even seen anything yet. However, I must say that there are some rather strange things that I don't quite understand. For instance, there are random sounds dinging outside doorways that don't seem to serve any logical purpose. The education center that I'm currently working at has speakers at the entrances of the buildings and they just continuously go on and on. I've asked some of the other senior ALTs what they are doing, but they have no idea either.

Anyway, I'm excited about tomorrow afternoon because me and some fellow ALTs will attending an event called "Let's Talk! Workshop." It'll be at the international plaza, which is supposed to be a really cool area that offers a lot of information to foreigners. We will be spending time with high school students to help them practice speaking in English. I'm looking forward to it because high school students have quite a large English vocabulary.

This weekend I'm going to The Rising Sun Rock Festival. I'm going with a few other ALTs to a beach and camp out for the festival. I've never been camping before, so I'm not exactly sure how to prepare for it, but I just view it as another adventure. Initially, I just wanted to go see some live Japanese music, but I'm even more excited because some of my favorite bands will be playing.

On Sunday, all of the ALTs have been invited to go to Maruyama Zoo with Higarashi (I think) Junior High School. I kept seeing posters for the zoo, so now I'm really looking forward to it!


By the way, to everyone that has been trying to contact me through facebook:
I'm so sorry, but I can't access facebook from my computer at work. This is the only internet that I have access to, so I apologize for not getting back to you guys. I hope to have internet within the week, so I promise to get back to each and everyone of you ASAP.

Must go to another workshop right now! Bye!

Craziness, Food and a Japanese Cover Band

The title says it all. That's exactly what the last couple of weeks have felt like. I am so tired and I feel really bad because I haven't been able to talk with a lot of my family and friends. But hopefully I will be able to get my internet up and running within the next few days. My flat is starting to feel like home as I fill it up with more essential "home" stuff. However, it doesn't have much personality right now. My predecessor left a few things up on the walls, and while I think it looks really cool, it still makes me feel like it's not my own place. I feel like I'm merely visiting someone else's flat. I love a lot of random Austin and Texas things around my place. One of of the first things I did after I plopped all of my stuff down was to immediately take out a small Texas flag I brought with me and place it in a flower pot. Hehe. It makes me feel good to open my window and see it flapping in the breeze.





Another thing I've been doing to make it feel more like home is to start cooking more. There was a sale on chicken at the local grocery/department store, so I decided to try making something "Italianish." Earlier in the week, I had visited an international food store and picked up some bowtie pasta, so my menu was pasta with herbed chicken and a salad. It was pretty tasty, but I made way too much for one person. My friend Sarah ( the girl from South Africa) had phoned my earlier to invite me over to her place so we could eat dinner together. I quickly packed up my stuff and ran up to her place. (Sarah lives in the same building, so we hang out quite a bit.) Another friend, Tarnjeet (from the UK) was already hanging out there when I arrived. I quickly sat down to start eating and I must say I'm a decent cook. I need some practice, but at least the food was edible and Sarah seemed to like it.





Last night me and a senior ALT decided to cook Mexican food for some of the other new ALTs. It was a some of the other new ALTs. It was a bit interesting adapting to local goods, but I think it turned out okay. We had tacos, chicken fajitas, guacamole and salsa. And then Sarah and another friend, Olivia (from New Zealand), made dessert. (And apparently pudding means the same thing as dessert. I still don't get it. But Sarah swears the words are interchangeable.) The tortillas were a bit funky, but the food as a whole was very tasty. Oishii! However, Xelan, the fellow ALT who helped maked the food, did steal my thunder because I was planning on making Mexican food. But the other ALTs did say that they' d eat Mexican food whenever. I'll just try to spice it up when I host the next dinner party.





Friday was a pretty cool day, too. Well, the daytime was VERY hot, but still cool all the same. VERY hot, but still cool all the same. All of the ALTs ventured to a Japanese senior high school for a "Foreign Food & Fun Festival." It was a lot fun, but really hot in the school because they don't have central air. We played games with the students and doing Japanese calligraphy together. I wrote horribly and it was slightly embarassing. Hehe. One of the students told me that one of the kanji (Chinese character) I was attempting to write was a character he had written back in elementary school. We all had a great time talking about movies and music. And then it was my turn to write in kanji on a fan. I wrote star and it seemed to come out okay.





After lunch, we went to different workshops. Students had the option of attending 2 of 3 workshops. There was a cookｉｎｇ，　ｂｅｌｌｙｄａｎｃｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　ｓｐｏｒｔｓ．　　Ｉ　ａｔｔｅｎｄｅｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｏｏｋｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　ｂｅｌｌｙｄａｎｃｉｎｇ　ｗｏｒｋｓｈｏｐｓ．　　Ａｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｏｏｋｉｎｇ　ｗｏｒｋｓｈｏｐ，　ｗｅ　ｍａｄｅ　ｒｉｃｅ　ｋｒｉｓｐｙ　ｔｒｅａｔｓ　ａｎｄ　ｒａｓｐｂｅｒｒｙ　ｌｅｍｏｎａｄｅ．　　Ｔｈｅ　ｒｅｃｉｐｅｓ　ｗｅｒｅ　ａ　ｌｉｔｔｌｅ　ｏｆｆ，　ｓｏ　ｉｔ　ｔａｓｔｅｄ　ａ　ｂｉｔ．．．ｉｎｔｅｒｅｓｔｉｎｇ．　　Ｉ　ｗａｓ　ｋｉｎｄ　ｏｆ　ｅｍｂａｒａｓｓｅｄ　ｗｈｅｎ　ｏｎｅ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｔａｆｆ　ｐｅｏｐｌｅ　ａｓｋｅｄ　ｉｆ　ｈｅ　ｃｏｕｌｄ　ｔｒｙ　ｏｕｒ　ｎｅｗ　ｃｏｎｃｏｃｔｉｏｎｓ．　　Ｉ　ｃｏｕｌｄ　ｔｅｌｌ　ｔｈａｔ　ｈｅ　ｗａｓ　ｔｒｙｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ｌｏｏｋ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｈｅ　ｗａｓ　ｅｎｊｏｙｉｎｇ　ｉｔ．　　Ｏｈ　ｗｅｌｌ．　　Ｈｅ　ｗａｓ　ｒｅａｌｌｙ　ｃｏｏｌ　ａｂｏｕｔ　ｉｔ　ａｌｌ. After that I went to the bellydancing class, but I was feeling very restless, so I was jumping around a lot.　　Ｔｈｅ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ｇｉｒｌｓ　ｉｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｌａｓｓ　ｗｅｒｅ　ｌａｕｇｈｉｎｇ　ａ　ｌｏｔ，　ｆｅｅｌｉｎｇ　ｓｌｉｇｈｔｌｙ　ｅｍｂａｒａｓｓｅｅｄ．　　



Ｌａｔｅｒ　ｔｈａｔ　ｅｖｅｎｉｎｇ　ｗｅ　ｗｅｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ　ｃａｌｌｅｄ　ａｎ　ｅｎｋａｉ，　ｗｈｉｃｈ　ｉｓ　ｂａｓｉｃａｌｌｙ　ａ　ｗｅｌｃｏｍｅ　ｄｉｎｎｅｒ．　　Ｗｅ　ａｔｅ　Ｇｅｎｇｉｓ　Ｋｈａｎ，　ｗｈｉｃｈ　ｉｓ　ｌａｍｂ　ａｎｄ　ａ　ｂｕｎｃｈ　ｏｆ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ｖｅｇｅｔａｂｌｅｓ. Groups of people are given a plate of food and we all cook our own food on a stove-like top. Me and my friend Tarnjeet sat down in front of a principal and a teacher. Out of nowhere, the teacher asked if we could start editing some essays. He literally pulled 2 red pens for us to begin correcting some junior high schools students' papers. I wasn't really sure what to do. I figured it would be rude to say no, so while everyone else was preparing for the big toast, I was reading about a child's experience with having her car break down in the middle of nowhere. It was actually pretty interesting to read about another student's account of bullying in Japan and how to deal with it.

After much eating, we all filed out of the restaurant and some of us made our way out on the town. It was Friday night, so we couldn't possibly go home right away. We decided to head out into Odori and go watch some live music and have a few drinks. Two senior ALTs took 7 of us to a place called "Brit's Beat." It's essentially a bar with live music. It's kind of a tiny place, but is very cool and laid back. There is a $21 cover charge，ｓｏ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｒｉｃｅ　ｉｓ　ａ　ｂｉｔ　ｓｔｅｅｐ，　ｂｕｔ　ｔｈａｔ　ａｌｓｏ　ｍｅａｎｓ　ｕｎｌｉｍｉｔｅｄ　ｂｅｖｅｒａｇｅｓ！　　Ｉ　ｄｅｃｉｄｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ａｄｖｅｎｔｕｒｏｕｓ，　ａｎｄ　ｏｒｄｅｒｅｄ　ａ　ｄｒｉｎｋ　Ｉ　ｈａｄ　ｎｅｖｅｒ　ｈｅａｒｄ．　　Ｓｏｏｎ　ａｆｔｅｒ，　Ｉ　ｄｅｃｉｄｅｄ　ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ｂｅｓｔ　ｔｏ　ｓｔｉｃｋ　ｔｏ　ｄｒｉｎｋｓ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｉ　ｗａｓ　ｆａｍｉｌｉａｒ　ｗｉｔｈ．　　Ｔｈｅｎ，　ｔｈｅ　ｂａｎｄ　ｗｅｎｔ　ｏｎ　ｓｔａｇｅ．　　Ｔｈｅｙ　ｂｒｏｋｅ　ｉｎｔｏ　Ｊｉｍｉ　Ｈｅｎｄｒｉｘ，　Ｔｈｅ　Ｗｈｏ，　ｅｔｃ．　　Ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ａｍａｚｉｎｇ！　　Ｔｈｅ　ｌｅａｄ　ｓｉｎｇｅｒ　ｈａｄ　ａ　ｓｏｒｅ　ｔｈｒｏａｔ，　ｓｏ　ｈｅ　ｗｏｕｌｄｎ’ｔ　ｂｅ　ｓｉｎｇｉｎｇ　ｕｎｔｉｌ　ｔｈｅ　ｎｅｘｔ　ｓｅｔ．　　Ｔｈｅｒｅｆｏｒｅ，　ｔｈｅ　ｌｅａｄ　ｇｕｉｔａｒｉｓｔ　ｔｏｏｋ　ｏｖｅｒ．　　Ａｎｄ　ｈｅ　ｗａｓ　ａｂｓｏｌｕｔｅｌｙ　ａｍａｚｉｎｇ！　　Ｈｉｓ　ｓｉｎｇｉｎｇ　ｗａｓ　ｐｒｅｔｔｙ　ｇｏｏｄ，　ｂｕｔ　ｈｅ　ｗａｓ　ａ　ｔｏｔａｌ　ｒｏｃｋ　ｓｔａｒ　ｏｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｇｕｉｔａｒ．　　Ｉ　ｐｒｏｍｉｓｅ　ｔｏ　ｐｏｓｔ　ｐｉｃｓ　ａｎｄ　ｖｉｄｅｏｓ　ａｓ　ｓｏｏｎ　ａｓ　Ｉ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｈｏｗ　ｔｏ　ｇｅｔ　ｔｈｅｍ　ｏｆｆ　ｍｙ　ｐｈｏｎｅ．　　Ｌａｔｅｒ，　ｔｈｅ　ｌｅａｄ　ｓｉｎｇｅｒ　ｊｏｉｎｅｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｂａｎｄ　ａｎｄ　ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ　ｓｔａｒｔｉｎｇ　ｒｏｃｋｉｎｇ　ｏｕｔ．　　Ｍｅ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｆｅｌｌｏｗ　ＡＬＴｓ　ｇｏｔ　ｔｈｅ　Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　ｐａｔｒｏｎｓ　ｔｏ　ｇｅｔ　ｕｐ　ａｎｄ　ｓｔａｒｔ　ｄａｎｃｉｎｇ　ａｓ　ｗｅｌｌ．　　Ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ｓｏ　ｍｕｃｈ　ｆｕｎ！　　Ｔｈｅｒｅ　ｗｅ　ｗｅｒｅ，　ｊｕｓｔ　ａ　ｇｒｏｕｐ　ｏｆ　’ｇａｉｊｉｎ’　（ｗｈｉｃｈ　ｍｅａｎｓ　ｆｏｒｅｉｇｎｅｒ　ｉｎ　Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ）　ｗｈｏ　ｇｏｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｅｎｔｉｒｅ　ｂａｒ　ｔｏ　ｇｅｔ　ｕｐ　ａｎｄ　ｒｏｃｋ　ｏｕｔ．　　Ｔｈｅ　ｌｅａｄ　ｓｉｎｇｅｒ，　ｗｈｏ　ａｌｓｏ　ｈａｐｐｅｎｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｂａｒ　ｏｗｎｅｒ，　ｔｏｌｄ　ｕｓ　ｔｈａｔ　ｈｅ　ｈａｄ　ｎｅｖｅｒ　ｓｅｅｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｂａｒ　ｇｏ　ｃｒａｚｙ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｔｈａｔ．　　Ｔｈｅ　ｂａｎｄ，　ｗｈｏ　ａｌｓｏ　ｗｏｒｋｅｄ　ａｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｂａｒｔｅｎｄｅｒｓ，　ｋｅｐｔ　ａｓｋｉｎｇ　ｕｓ　ｔｏ　ｃｏｍｅ　ｂａｃｋ．　　Ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ａ　ｇｒｅａｔ　ｎｉｇｈｔ．　　Ａｎｙｏｎｅ　ｗｈｏ　ｃｏｍｅｓ　ｔｏ　ｖｉｓｉｔ　ｍｅ，　Ｉ　ｍｕｓｔ　ｔａｋｅ　ｙｏｕ　ｔｈｅｒｅ！　　Ｗｅ　ｃａｎ　ｓｈｏｗ　ｔｈｅ　Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　ｈｏｗ　ｔｏ　”ｒｏｃｋ　ａｎｄ　ｒｏｌｌ　ａｌｌ　ｎｉｇｈｔ，　ａｎｄ　ｐａｒｔｙ　ｅｖｅｒｙ　ｄａｙ！”　　Ｅｘｃｕｓｅ，　ｍｙ　ｃｈｅｅｓｉｎｅｓｓ．

Ｏｋａｙ，　ｗｅｌｌ　ｉｔ’ｓ　ａｌｍｏｓｔ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｍｅ　ｔｏ　ｌｅａｖｅ　ｗｏｒｋ，　ｗｈｉｃｈ　ａｌｓｏ　ｍｅａｎｓ　ｉｔ’ｓ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｏ　ｗｒａｐ　ｕｐ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｅｘｔｒｅｍｅｌｙ　ｌｏｎｇ　ｅｎｔｒｙ．　　Ｉ　ｈａｖｅｎ’ｔ　ｅｖｅｎ　ｒｅａｄ　ｏｖｅｒ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｂｌｏｇ，　ｓｏ　ｐｌｅａｓｅ　ｆｏｒｇｉｖｅ　ａｌｌ　ｏｆ　ｍｙ　ｍｉｓｔａｋｅｓ．　　Ｊｕｓｔ　ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ　ｍｙ　ｇｒａｍｍａｒ　ａｎｄ　ｓｐｅｌｌｉｎｇ　ｍａｙ　ｂｅ　ｓｃｒｅｗｙ，　Ｉ　ａｍ　ｃａｐａｂｌｅ　ｏｆ　ｔｅａｃｈｉｎｇ　Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ　ｔｏ　Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ．　　（＾－＾）

Ｐｒｅｖｉｅｗ　ｏｆ　ｎｅｘｔ　ｅｎｔｒｙ：
Ｍａｒｕｙａｍａ　Ｚｏｏ　ｗｉｔｈ　Ｊｕｎｉｏｒ　Ｈｉｇｈ　Ｓｃｈｏｏｌ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　＆　ｔｈｅ　Ｒｉｓｉｎｇ　Ｓｕｎ　Ｒｏｃｋ　Ｆｅｓｔｉｖａｌ

Getting Settled

Wow, well life has been non-stop since I arrived here in Japan. Everyday I seem to be going out to spend more money. My new flat is very nice, but I still have many things to buy! Right now I'm at work really working hard for the money. Me and my fellow ALTs are gonna spend a hard day of messing around on the computer. We don't actually start teaching until September.

For the first full month I'll be working at an elementary school. And the next month，I'll be at a junior high school．And then in November I'll begin working at my base school, which is also a junior high. I'm excited about working at an elementary school, but from what I hear, it's extremely crazy because I go to a new school every 2 days! Oh well. It should be fun to play with the little kids.

I'm still pretty frustrated with my phone. It won't dial out and it's a little upsetting because I'd like to hear my family's voices. I need to talk with my supervisor about it, who in turn, must talk with the Board of Education here. I hope it gets set up Board of Education here. I hope it gets set up quickly, because my internet is also supposed to be set up in about a week. And at the end of this month, I'll finally be able to get a cell phone. I hate sounding so whiney. It's still a bit of an adjustment period for me. Perhaps that is the problem. I need to follow what my Mom would say, "Try to adapt, not adjust."

In my last blog I mentioned the Beer Garden Festival. That is a special event hosted here in Sapporo. In Odori (a more city-like part of Sapporo), there are a few parks right in the heart of the city. And at nighttime, all the major Japanese beer companies serve mugs upon mugs of beer. What's even cooler is that they also serve huge tubes of beer that a whole group of friends can share. The tubes are easily 5 feet tall! It's amazing because people will all take blankets, food and games and just gather round to sit and be merry. It's quite an amazing site. Like my previous posts, I'll try to post pictures once they've been developed.

Two nights ago, me and some of the other new ALTs, decided to venture out into the town for some late night karaoke. We went into Susukino, (another more city-like part of Sapporo) and found a lot of Japanese people about our age. We eventually stumbled upon a pretty karaoke place and we were all shoved into a really small room. The rest of night was spent belting out U2 songs and disco songs and drinking Lemon-Chu. And who knows what was in that, but it was good.

Last night, one of the second-year ALTs invited us all over for a bar-b-que. It was a lot of fun and I must say that me and one of my Kiwi friends enjoyed the Japanese beer. There so much food and I almost got teary-eyed when I saw a bowl of guacamole sitting on the ｔａｂｌｅ. I used some of the bar-b-que seasoning that my family gave me before I left the states. I put it on the some corn that we were roasting. It was very tasty and very hot! Oh, Texas.

Well, I guess I need to wrap for right now. I need to start working on my self-introduction for my students. Hope to be back soon!

こんにちは from 札幌市

Wow...I'm not even sure where to begin. So sorry I've been away for a few days. Since I arrived in Sapporo, everything has been EXTREMELY hectic. I'm so sorry to everyone who has tried to contact me. I've been without internet and I probably wont have internet for another month, so I'll have to steal free moments while at work. And to my facebook friends, I'm sorry, but the only computer I have access to has blocked the network computer from the site.

I moved into my new apartment, which is actually pretty cool. I'm one of the luckier ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) who got a fairly nice apartment. A lot of the other places are filled with the previous owners' belongings. And when I say filled, I mean filled with trash from the past three years．Luckily, my predecessor was very organized and left me and lot of instructions to help me out. Unfortunately, along with my internet, I won't have a cell phone for about with my internet, I won't have a cell phone for about another month. I won't have a cell phone for about another month.　I have a phone at my apartment, but it's not working! Oh well!　Anyway, I hope to be in touch with you all through email and on here. I have yet to get a camera, but I hope to get one soon and then start posting some pictures.

Quick background：
I'm one of two Americans, so it's been kinda cool listening to different accents and teaching each other our own slang．We are all a pretty tight-knit group, especially since we are a bunch of foreigners in a foreign land. There is a girl from the UK, a girl from South Africa and a couple girls from New Zealand. All of them are really funny and laid back. We're all about to go shopping at the ￥100 (the equivalent of a $1 store) to buy some things for our new homes because they all could use a bit of personality.

Well, I gotta go for now.

Preview: Odori Beer Garden Madness!