Staying Warm and Saving Money

The winter is upon us, and many of us will soon be huddled in our apartments away from the cold. Once the snow kicks in, an escape to the mountains is possible for boarding fun. Unfortunately, it's just pouring rain outside and the wind is howling. This will likely continue till sometime near New Years.

We have several ways of fighting the cold in Japan. My apartment is decked out with a kotatsu (small table with a heated bottom, it's all sealed in with blankets, and you sit under it and absorb the warmth), which is perfect for that pre-JLPT study push. We also have J's electric carpet. Put it under the futon and allow the heat to radiate through to you! Yum. I don't like using the standing heater very much, because it sucks mercilessly at the electricity. Instead, I double the use by baking breads and casseroles in the kitchen, thus heating up the coldest area of the apartment. Bonus: added layer of winter insulation provided by pie and soda bread.

I think the best thing we have going, though, is the gym literally across the street. We can go over anytime for a workout, sauna, and sento. I intend on saving my own electricity this year by spending as much time as possible leeching off of Holiday Sports center. Mwaa ha ha.

Changes



It's the middle of winter now, in sort of melty/snowy Takaoka. I realize that I haven't updated in a very long time. The usual list of excuses are known "I was busy" "I had to study" "I couldn't be bothered to upload new photos and therefore had nothing interesting to share in this format." "I was sucked into the election news" etc

The truth is, life took priority over the virtual. That, I feel, is the most valid of excuses, so I am sticking with it.

Quick re-cap of what has happened during and since August:

• Had an art adventure on Naoshima.
  

Kusama Yayoi's red and black "pumpkin" on Naoshima

• My sister and brother-in-law came to visit Japan. It was a 2-week whirlwind. Kyoto, Nara, Toyama, takayama, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Osaka, Tokyo, Nikko, and they managed to squeeze in a quick swing by Himeji.

Beth and Brenndan in Nikko

• Climbed Hakusan finally. It really is a beautiful mountain, especially in the early fall. Please note my ever-stylish soccer socks.
  

stripey!

• Had a crazy camping trip to Noto. There were marshmallows, native art, and more Thai-jin than we ever expected. J also discovered a scary trilobite critter, if anyone knows what it is, please enlighten us!
  

This cultural park had a great rolly-slide. Too bad it was covered in rotten cherries.

The mysterious trilobite creature...

I am a chicken on slippery rocks when drunk on wine in the dark.

• Went to Hida and Takayama in search of a wooden Godzilla sculpture I once saw.

aforementioned Godzilla

Hida warehouse and fall leaves

just some koi

J and his new friend tanuki-chan

• Studied my ass off for JLPT's 2kyu test only to be turned away from the testing site because I didn't open my envelope beforehand to realize I had been bumped to Kanazawa. Complete failure on my part.

• Cracked my laptops LCD screen, so now I have a thrillingly annoying "black bubble" effect going on. I am too cheap to just buy a new computer.

• Took the Shin Nihonkai Ferry to Hokkaido, was great fun (we think we saw a seal off the coast, too)! Spent Christmas in Sapporo and New Year's in Niseko on the slopes.

outside of the Sapporo beer garden

inside

J drawing kanji in the sand along the shore east of Otaru

• Had a PA seminar in Tokyo, so brought J along for the weekend and visited old friends and a professor who was very giving of his time.

• Spent the night in a tiny little minshuku in Toga. Had an amazing ungroomed first day of powder, followed by a mediocre yet fun 2nd day of groomed slopes.

• Practiced my cooking A LOT in the past 6 months. Homemade muffins, cupcakes, breads, pita, tortillas, pies, various lasagnas, mousakkas, hummus, soups, and curries. It's been a fattening time!

• Watched all the snow melt in 20C weather last week, and am now crossing my fingers that the temp will continue to drop.

I am going to fiddle with posting some recipes on here, and see if that lures me to the computer more often.

Till next time...

The Year of the Rat



is kicking ass so far. (Laurac was correct) Despite the whole being sick for the past two days, I have been in a pretty damn good mood. Why, you ask? (I am gonna tell you, so you might as well ask)

1. J is coming to Toyama! I was holding my breath and trying not to get my hopes up, in case he was placed in the mountainous wilds of Niigata. It seems, however, that Interac saw it fit to place him where he actually requested to be. Hurrah!

2. I passed! Hurrr? Yeah, guess I was neglectful in saying much about it, but the JLPT or Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I took it in December, 3kyuu (3rd level) for the second year in a row. Last year, I was definitely ill-prepared for it, and was anticipating that big "FAIL". This year, was quite a bit harder than I remembered, and they threw in a bunch of random vocabulary. But, it helped me to see where I need more practice, and it's vocabulary vocabulary vocabulary. I did get the little postcard that says "PASS" this year, though, and a good kick in the ass to study more for my first attempt at 2kyuu this December. Once again, I am not really positive of passing the first time around, but you never know. If they decide to up the kanji section, I might just stand a chance. Seems kanji is the only damn part of Japanese I find easy. I am now the proud owner of a piece of paper that says I don't suck at Japanese as much as I used to. Wooo hooo! Grad school qualifications are getting better!

3. Today, I have no classes, and am facing a 3 day weekend ahead. Tomorrow I am hitting up beautiful Toga with Laurac and "gotta want it" Macaskill. Sunday, Kazuto and I are waking up at the butt-crack of dawn and heading to Hakuba. His friend works out there, most likely at an onsen/ski resort, and we are gonna meet up and get some boarding lessons, I think. Weee! I hope I learn how to jump or do something else relatively fancy. Then, Monday, I am taking Bunny out to Toga (again, yes, but I LOVE Toga) to teach her how to board. Should be low impact for me, but I have a feeling she is gonna get it pretty quick. Will we make it up to the mildly terrifying (for your first time) intermediate course? You will have to wait to find out. Also, since my camera has become a piece of poop, I will be bringing it along for photo fun!

4. Did I mention it's snowing? A lot? And sticking, which is the most important part of the process. It's supposed to keep up for 2 days straight, and I am very much looking forward to snowball fight and (soy) cocoa party on my roof.

I do love snow, but I wish I were back in the warm for a few days... (above photo blatently stolen from Bunny) I will explain the picture soon... I just wanted some snow contrast! Pics of snow later this afternoon, btw. For now, please enjoy this adorable map of Toyama I just found.

Hokkaido!

I am leaving tomorrow morning for the snowy white land to the north. Timmy, Francois, Danielle, BC, and I will be descending upon the northern island in approximately 19 hours! Excited about boarding on the powdery goodness that everyone keeps talking about up there. First, however, will be the revelry and pancakes in Inami.

Also, I just spent the afternoon rebooking my transport for my US trip next month. The folks flipped about me driving 18 hours on my own, and upon realizing that, yes, I am admitting it... they were right. I have instead bought a plane ticket from Indiana to Florida, and set up two separate car rentals. Whew. I am finished.

More when I return from the Yuki Matsuri! (snow festival)

The Return of Toga


A bunch of the Nanto/Tonami region and I, a lone Takaokan rep braved the slopes of Toga Snow Valley last weekend. Here are the resulting images, provided by the kindness of Danielle! Here are the all us ladies working on our hill-free skills. Damn, we make this shit look easy.



After a successful day of bruising our asses, we went to a local restaurant for a great meal. I consumed two bowls of these adorable guys (hotaruika - firefly squid). Last year, I could barely stomach them, but for some reason, these were really good! The owners said that they were fresh caught that morning. Perhaps they are best straight out of the sea. Plus the vegetables they were served with were really complimentary. ? Maybe I have officially been in Japan for too long?

Toga

Tomorrow, I go boarding in Toga!

In other awesome news... I just purchased my ticket home for March! I am very excited. Already starting my lists of things I need to bring home from Japan, and vice-versa. I have had a major craving for fig newtons lately. Steveo and I bought some in Australia, when we were road-tripping up north. They weren't the same, though.


Mmmmm... so delicious! Great, now I am hungry.

Yesterday was the last class ever with my favorite homeroom 3-6. I almost cried. It was sad. Doubley so, because I was told last week that we had two classes left together. I arranged a kickass, party lesson thingie for next week, and it was all for naught. Instead, we played games and guitar for the whole period. I told them that no one is supposed to learn on the last day of class. They were more than happy to oblige!

I fought Iwatake, and Iwatake won



So this is what happens when you try a heel to toe turn on your second run on your third day of snowbarding... but you miss the toe dig, and you backflip landing on your arm.