Heart and Seoul

Golden Week is a special time in Japan when we get 5 national holidays within the span of 7 days. It is a dream come true for a young travellor. Last year I stayed in Japan and visited Hiroshima, but this year I headed for Seoul, South Korea. Seoul is only an hour flight away from my area of Japan so it was an easy choice to get the maximum time for money.
I have been wanting to go to Seoul for a long time, and my interest was piqued last year when my students took a trip there and seemed to really love it. So I hopped on a plane and met D in Seoul! We stayed in a little hostel near Hongdik University. A nice, quiet area, and the cost was really affordable. We had a private room for only around 90$ each, total.
Seoul took my breathe away. It was fantastically diverse and not once did I feel like the odd one out. I was just a tourist enjoying the sights. The Korean folk were in bright colours and fashions, and with little to no bowing there was a general sense of chill. I really love how kind and polite Japanese can be, but being in Seoul reminded me a lot of how my heart is in diverse places.
We had three full days to explore together and we got to see all the major sights and stuff ourselves with Korean BBQ.
 We started our first day at Coffee Bee, a cute coffee house. After our lattes and a decision about itinerary we headed for the National Museum of Korea.

It was so beautiful there, and free to enter!! The architecture and nature surrounding the actual Museum was incredible. I personally loved learning more about Hangul, the Korean orthography.  It is definitely worth a stop on any Seoul trip.
For lunch we just ate sandwiches at a cafe and shopped a little bit. Seoul is famous for cheap shopping and bartering. I bought a beautiful pink bag for only 15$, cheap price, cheaply made, but I am happy!! This was also the place where the employee at a shoe store felt my foot, told me about his foot fetish and asked to kiss my feet. It was so random and weird and I am forever scared of shoe store employees and their personal motives!! Afterwards we went up from underground and checked out Gangham (YES that Gangham!! PSY is Korean!) and drank bubble tea!! D got salted cheese flavour, no for real. I played it safe with chocolate cookie!!

Following bubble tea we headed back to our hostel and changed for a date night D planned. We started off with a delicious all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. You get a time limit of 90 minutes and then you go to town, filling up plates with meat and vegetables, dumplings, etc. It was a cheaper place so the meat was ま‐ま、but the dumplings were amazing and we had a fun time! The people next to us were grilling up all sorts of creepy octopus and tentacly fish, which was both gross and interesting!!

 

 Following dinner we decided to walk it off around the Hongdik University area which at night transforms into a crazy night market, with thousands of young people performing, lining up for clubs and weaving in and out among the hundreds of food and shopping stalls. D and I stopped for a pina colada at a drink truck!! It was so fun :) We finished our night at a coffee shop sharing some cake, and we ran into a friend from my apartment building here in Japan, which was a cool treat!                                       
The second day we started our morning off with coffee again, at the coolest bookstore/coffeeshop heaven. The prices were expensive but my latte was randomly half price, so all in all a great choice to start our day of Korean adventure.
Following coffee we headed off for Gyeonbokgung, the national palace in Seoul. We saw the changing of the guard, explored the grounds and had fun seeing a beautiful palace.  

 After the palace we went exploring the local area, and stumbled upon some great street food for D, and some beautiful hanging lanterns. Then we found exactly what I was looking for, shaved ice!! Shaved ice is a huge dessert across Asia, but much less so in Japan. Anyways in Korea it is everywhere and we couldn't resist so we got the chocolate flavour. Oh, my, goodness. For real it was the most chocolately thing to enter my life in the longest time and it was so bloody good.

 After all the food (yes, we eat a lot!! #noregrets) we headed for the river and went for a lovely walk together. So wonderful!!

D eating one of many street food treats! 

Chocolate dreams!

Along the river, nature amid bustle 

Before the show!!

That evening we headed out to watch a Korean non verbal performance. Nanta is world famous, with similar productions in London and New York. It is a group of performance artists who perform a comedy, dance and martial art show using little language, except that which is needed to get the story line across. It was hilarious and really entertaining, and we got 50% of tickets because of our hostel discount!! Woot :) After the show we went out for Korean food again, this time trying a Korean spicy hot pot. So good! Of course we had cake after, who do you think we are?!

Enjoying the walk 

We had one last day in Seoul and it was another fantastic one. First we headed for Namsam, a mountain that is in the middle of the city, where you can hike up and catch a breathtaking view of the city below, plus take a look at the North Seoul Tower. We headed up and the best part was at the top sharing a beer, overlooking the city. It was so relaxing and fun!

View from the top!

Celebratory Beer! カンパイ

Cute guy, eh?

As this was our last day we spent the rest of the day just hanging out, getting our fill of weird and wonderful Seoul food, and talking. At night we ran all over the Hongdae area spending the last of our Korean won, eating tons of desserts and drinking lots of coffees and beers, oh and a little Taco Bell too!!

Weird pink tube filled with softcream, ya we bought it!!

Seoul was an amazing trip. I would go again anytime, and I would recommend it to anyone. It is a diverse and exciting city, and totally affordable!!

Thanks for everything Korea!! 

Hokkaido, again

I have been to Hokkaido a few times now and it is always worth it. It is the kind of place that all JETs should visit, kind of like Tokyo or Okinawa. It is probably not like any other prefecture you can think of. This time around I had three full days and we wanted to knock off some of the things I hadn't tried on previous trips. I came the weekend after the snow festival, which meant Sapporo was less crowded, but Odori park was filled with giant piles of snow rather than gorgeous ice carvings. We spent one day and night in Sapporo so we didn't need to worry about transport. We stayed at the Nest Hotel, right in the downtown area. Was only about $30 a night for each of us, including parking. So it was a good price and great location.


Our only Sapporo goal was to enjoy wandering and to go to the Sapporo Beer Hall. It is a giant Hall that features ghengis khan, which is grilled lamb. For about $40 you get a nomihoudai and tabehoudai. We arrived without a reservation and only waited about 30 minutes, so totally reasonable. The atmosphere inside is really warm and inviting and the service is crazy fast. The waitress never took longer than 90 seconds to fill our order and everytime she dropped off our beverages she prefaced it with, 'thank you for your waiting'. Too cute!!  Connected to the beer hall is the Sapporo Beer Museum, which was actually our first stop before dinner. The museum is three floors, with the top two as walk throughs, and the bottom floor being a tasting hall. For 500 Yen you get three glasses of beer to sample, so D and I split one set. It was delicious and a fun way to finish a museum tour.
The next morning we dropped in on an organic cafe for breaky. It was overpriced, but all organic if that is your thing. We heard rumors of breakfast sets but it was just your average cafe offerings, like fruit sandwiches and pancakes.  The coffee was good tho!
D lives in a small village that is famous for...probably not much. However recently the town onsen and community center has been plugging tourism, specifically to groups of Thai tourists.  They offer ice fishing, skidooing, banana boating and a delicious curry restaurant. We opted for the ice fishing! For around 1000 yen each we rented our own ice fishing tent, and were given poles and worms to (hopefully) catch some smelt. If you do catch something the restaurant will tempura it up for you!

This visit to Hokkaido may end up being my last, but it was a really fun experience. I feel lucky in some ways that D lives so far away, because it has given me the chance to experience a whole different side to Japan.

Enjoying the illuminated village of Shinshinotsu

The beginning of the end

The new school year has begun and I am really busy. Normally life at work ebbs and flows, but this new school year has brought new responsibilities and a much busier work schedule. We also have a completely new building to navigate and that meant a seating change for me. I sit near the 1st grade teaching section, but I am seated with assistant or part time teachers. I have some space to myself and really love my new seat!! I have also been assigned a few work projects that fill my time. I don't study Japanese at all any more, if I am not lesson planning or working on English club I am busy. It is a really awesome feeling. I finally also feel like I am an important member of staff. I am friendly with many teachers apart from the English department and I am included in school events in a way I wasn't before.

My weekends have become even more important as a chance to relax after busy weeks at work. Friday I finished work off with English Club. A few of us enjoyed hanami and then coffee. I have been blessed with some really special students. On Saturday I hiked up Ochidani with Hannah and on Sunday after church I enjoyed the last of hanami season. The cherry blossoms here have been so magical this year. I think in part because I am finally starting to realize just how quickly this Japan experience is coming to an end. It is so hard to believe that it will soon become pictures on my walls and stories I tell, a distant memory.

This past week we had our school excursion to the sand dunes. I was invited to walk with 1-2 class and found myself walking next to the sweet Saki-san, a new student who is also an E.S.S member. We had a great chat and I enjoyed the walk immensely. Once at the dunes the students are free to go off and the staff basically chat for 3 hours. This part can be a challenge as I don't have near enough Japanese to keep up with that long of a conversation. However I was pleasantly surprised by how included I felt. After sharing a staff bento lunch I headed out to take some pictures on the dunes and part way met up with the new music teacher who surprised me with her fluency. We chatted for over an hour and by the time I got back to the meeting area the day was almost finished.

Endless Sand

Dodgeball!

Backpack apocalypse

I am really spoiled in this job. Although there have been ups and downs, as my first full time ESL job I really can't complain. I have been given responsibility, am trusted in many areas and have helped a lot of students enjoy English. I am nervous about going home and being without the safety net of a good salary and subsidized housing, however I know that these two years have been the most valuable experience I could have ever hoped for. I learned to live alone in a foreign environment. I created a spot for myself in a school where I am the only foreigner, and I massively improved my ability to teach. I am more confident in myself and although I have been surprised at how much I have changed, I am also confident that when I go home I will be ready for the next step.

Discovering Tottori

This spring break I had the pleasure of hosting my parents for round two of their Japan travels. This time around we planned on just relaxing in Tottori, and then heading to Tokyo for a few days. Since they were coming during hanami season I wanted to make sure they could experience the sakura watching, but other than that I had no big plans. One thing I wanted to do was take them for delicious meals. Tottori is a quiet city, but we have some fantastic dining options, from quaint cafes to sprawling ones that overlook the sea. Although jetlagged I first took them to Cafe Source. It was a Sunday which meant Cake Viking. At Cafe Source this means an option to order 'all you can eat cake'. Yup, it's like a nomihoudai but with cake. It is a dessert lovers dream. We opted for regular pasta sets and then shared a moffle at the end. A moffle is a waffle made with mochi. It is as delicious as it sounds, and it was a fun start to their culinary experience. We also ran into four of my friends, two Japanese and two ALTs. The perks of a small town!!

                                 

Over the first week we stayed in Tottori and when we were not munching on treats we managed to see some sights. This time around I took my parentals to the prefectural museum. It's a stones throw away from the high school I work at, and the local 100￥bus runs directly by it. We hopped off and were transported into all things Tottori. We learned about the natural and enviornmental history of the city, as well as a historical tour of an ancient home. Even without being able to read the exhibit descriptions we could enjoy the history of my city 

On another day we decided to visit the sand dunes again, and to make a stop at the sunset cafe. We used the 1000￥taxi which is a tourist taxi service that runs from Tottori station. You get a taxi for up to 3 hours and for the flat rate of sen-en. It is a brilliant deal and although they offer tourist packages (which take you to three locations) you can also create your own route. After the sand dunes our driver (who was fantastic!) took us down a back road to show us where the camels come from (a cute camel farm!) and to see some shallot fields and a pear farm. Totally unexpected and a really unique experience. He then dropped us off at the Sunset cafe. Overlooking the sea of Japan this washed out cafe features giant windows that give beautiful views of the crashing sea. My Dad commented that it felt like Malibu, and it definitely does feel like you are on a beach vacation there! We ordered some pita sandwhiches that were surprisingly spicy with added wasabi, and it was a restful afternoon.

Sunset Cafe

We also wanted to see some sights that required longer distances (the tourist taxi only travels within Tottori city) so we rented a car for one of our last days in Tottori. Our first stop was Amadeki waterfalls. Although the snow was still packed we made our way down the steps and came to the enchanting falls. It was gorgeous, and I think I will definitely have to go back in the summer when the snow has melted.

                              

After that we drove to Yonago to check out the Tottori Flower Park. Touted as the largest flower park in Japan we were still surprised at the vast expanse of flowery fields and exhibits. A stand out is at one edge of the park which has a gorgeous view point of Daisen, a mountain that rivals Fuji in beauty. There is also a really great restaurant inside the park, which had a great katsu curry set that we all enjoyed. If you decide to head out to the park the rates are reduced if you show a passport or foreigner card. As well, after about 5pm the park is lit up for a nighttime viewing experience, and the price drops again as it becomes a 'twilight' entrance fee. After the park we drove into Daisen town to check out Daisen as close up as possible. We were hoping to snag some good Daisen soft cream but unfortunately the ice cream shops, and everything else for that matter, were closed. We got some beautiful pictures of the mountains though that were stunning.

On another day my family and I decided to go shoot a bucket of balls. We made our way up to Tottori Golf Center, which has a stunning view of the countryside, and bought our 2000￥ticket which gives you 160 balls and club rentals. It was a little intimidating at first, because I think we were literally the only gaijin to have ever golfed there, but it ended up being a blast and we even bought a second ticket.

Some of the other meals my family enjoyed included 100￥sushi, Enya, Doma Doma and Cafe Green Park. We also tried specialty mochi from Shamine mall, and I discovered just how good the raspberry cream mochi is!!

Tottori was an awesome time. It may be the smallest prefecture and the least populated, but it makes up for it in natural beauty and the kindness of it's residents. If you live in any of the nearby prefectures it is definitely worth at least a day trip!

Oh my heart.

One of the best parts of working here is the impact a foreign teacher has. Lots of students ignore me or are not interested, and lots of students enjoy having me teach me. There are also a handful who seem truly excited and grateful to share their culture with me, and to learn English from me. I have had lots of sweet moments over the years, but one of the sweetest occured last week.
I was standing outside the school waiting for my English Club to come and meet me and another student walked past. He was from my 2-6 class. Now 2-6 is the rarest of rare classes. The students speak English well, love to participate and try their best. They are a teachers dream, and believe me this is not the case for most of the classes I teach. Anyways this particular boy was from 2-6, but is a quieter student with sweet brown eyes who I couldn't even place right away. As I teach almost 500 students it is difficult to remember what class or grade they all fall into. He asked what I was waiting for, then walked by.
About 15 seconds later he turned around and walked towards me.
"Thanks to you... Thanks to you....Thanks to you I could enjoy English this year"

He had worked up all his courage and stumbling over his words managed to execute a sentence that truly meant a lot. My eyes filled with tears (for real!) and I told him to keep speaking English and that I would see him next year.

In my career I expect I will teach hundreds, maybe thousands, of English language students. Some will stand out, some I won't remember a week after their last class, and some will have a powerful effect on me. I have to confess I still don't know the student's name, but his kind words will stay with me forever. I hope that he will continue to pursue English in his life, and that he never forgets that with language he has the power to communicate with millions more people.

花見

Hanami is a word that is taken very seriously by Japanese people. It involves blue tarps, bentos, selfie sticks and flowing beer. The word is difficult to translate to english because we just don't do the same thing. Hanami refers to the pastime of watching sakura flowers in bloom. Kind of like bird watching, with a little less action. Just kidding, mostly.
Anyways this pastime is well covered by the local news stations, helping people figure out the prime days to watch the gorgeous sakura in bloom. I had the chance to enjoy hanami with my family and friends, in Tokyo and Tottori. It was relaxing and beautiful. One thing I will miss the most when I leave is the way Japanese people celebrate everything with festivals and excitement. In Canada the cherry blossoms are beautiful too, but we don't stop to notice them.

Sumo Saturday

Sumo is something on most peoples bucket list if they come to Japan. It is a classic image that pops into your head when you think of Japanese culture. However actually finding a tournament, or even a local practice, is harder to come by. So this year I decided to use a ticket buying website to secure some great seats for the March tournament in Osaka. Held at the Osaka prefectural gymnasium many sumo stars from around Japan, and other parts of the world, compete for the grand championship. Sarah and I took the bus down on Friday night and stayed at Toyo Hostel which boasts some of the cheapest rates you’ll find in Osaka, around ￥1600 a night for a private room. The downside is that there is no heating unit at all, so even with four blankets I was cold. It’s also a hostel so it’s crazy loud from around midnight to 2am. Saving money trumps noise for me though, so I was happy.

We had bought tickets for one of the first weekends of the tournament, and for ￥8,000 we secured stadium seats for the battle. The gymnasium has special box seats as well that feature four pillows in a small square, so you have to sit seiza the entire time. We tried to get those tickets but they sell out instantly. Honestly any seat in the arena is OK as it probably only holds 3-4 thousand people, and having a seat was more comfortable in the long run. If you can get a coveted seat near the wring good luck to you, at least three times the sumo stars fell into the laps of fans, crushing their programs and fingers!! The tournament starts early in the morning, but the bigger matches don’t start until around 4pm, so on Saturday we showed up around 2pm. There were fans lined up outside hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite wrestlers and as we made our way inside we saw many women in traditional kimono. Surprisingly sumo is a quiet event, with the crowd only politely cheering. I was anticipating the antics of a Canadian hockey game, but of course the Japanese even do sports politely!! Anyways towards the last few matches of the day the crowd was really hyped up and every seat was full. It was really easy to follow along with and is definitely something I would recommend for anyone in Japan.

Another weekend in Osaka meant shopping at Amemura and of course indulging in the Osaka specialty of okonomiyaki. We stumbled upon a small place right underneath Glico Man. It looked a bit shady but had no line up and when we went inside we were surprised at the upscale atmosphere. If you are in the Glico Man area check out the restaurants along on the river, they tend to be less crowded.

On Saturday night I was lucky enough to run into an old friend who is working in Tokushima now. We met in England at a Bible school and lived in Poland together for a few months. She is a fellow Canadian and it was really awesome to meet up again in a new place! She brought her boyfriend and we headed to DomaDoma for dinner and drinks. I really love Doma Doma as it has a huge menu and their nomihoudai course is only ￥1050 for two hours. It is ridiculous that one beer in a Canadian restaurant costs almost as much. It was a really fun night and great cap to a wonderful sumo filled weekend.