Winter has finally arrived in Hokkaido. We had our first snow at the beginning of December and it has stuck around ever since. Definitely way less snow than us Coloradans and Wyomingites are used to but at least we'll have a white Christmas. On the 8th and 9th of December, the Hokkaido section of JET hosted a Mid Year Skill Development Conference in Sapporo. Corin and I headed out on the 7th, catching the earliest afternoon train we could. I prepared for the often motion-sick inducing ride by drinking catnip infused herbal tea. Yeah, I know, catnip...what?! Contrary to what you might think, it definitely didn't make me run around the train meowing like I was in heat, and actually helped a lot with the motion sickness thing. So it's a little weird, but it worked! I now have a hunch cats that have been pulling the wool over our eyes for centuries on the effects of that stuff...
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| Let's see what all the hype is about... |
We arrived at the JR Inn, a nice little hotel recommended by our friend Corey (a different one) which was close to the main Sapporo Station, shopping and a great little British pub, shortly before 5. Besides the handy location, the biggest plus to the JR was that it was half the price of the hotel where the conference was being held. We started Sapporo off right with dinner at an American style hamburger joint (I had a few fries, grilled veggies and mixed nuts) that the guys raved over. Then we were off to karaoke where I imbibed a little too much in peach sours...hey, it was nomihodai*, I was determined to get my money's worth! The next morning was a little rough but we powered through. Unfortunately, the speaker didn't help much. He was...interesting. We'll leave it at that.
After soba with the crew for lunch (I had a gigantic bowl of white rice, the first time anyone had ordered just rice at this particular place), we sat through another few hours of a much better quality speaker and the afternoon flew. By 4:00, we were ready for freedom and headed out to find the German Christmas Market and dinner. Apparently there is a prominent German community in Sapporo and each year they open a beautiful German style Christmas market in Odori Park, the biggest in the city. There were brats, kraut mashed potatoes, milled wine, and lots of adorable Christmas bobbles. I had some kraut mashed potatoes to satisfy my plummeting blood sugar, but if we didn't have our minds on some hot curry, and if it had not been below freezing, we may have explored longer. We headed off with our friend Jason to find an Indian food restaurant so that I could have my first full meal of the trip. Jason lead us nearly right to Taj Majal and we basked in the elaborate decor and English speaking maitre d, as well as the extensive menu. When our food arrived, I tucked into the tandoori mix grill. It had tandoori chicken curry, tandoori chicken, tandoori sikh kabob, curry rice and a nice little side salad. Delicious! Although I will stay loyal to our local B&T and declare that it is the best Nepalese food in Japan, I was starving for a real meal and the Indian food at Taj Majal hit the spot. We parted ways with Jason after dinner and did a little shopping, then called it a night. We found ourselves watching Japanese game shows by 9 p.m., whilst in the bustling metropolis of Sapporo...what an exciting couple of early 20-somethings we are!
The next morning broke us out into different sessions concerning Student Motivation (both Corin and I), the Hokkaido English Challenge (me) and teaching at Multiple Schools (Corin). The conference ended with a long presentation on making the tough decision to re-contract. Corin and I are still up in the air so I paid special attention, hoping to gain some insight. Unfortunately, we're still up in the air. The official decision has to be made by February 10, so we've still a little more time, thank goodness.
We had the 6 o'clock train back to Kushiro so we quickly said our good-byes, grabbed a bite to eat at the pub (delicious salad for me, fish and chips plus a side of nachos for Corin), gathered our luggage from the station lockers and hopped on the train for our 4 hour trip home. In sum, the conference was beneficial but getting together with friends and getting out of our little town for a while were the definite highlights. Christmas in Hokkaido is coming up next!
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| Christmas 2011 |
*nomihodai: all you can drink for one set price.
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