A friend just outsourced a design job to me and I have to get it done by Monday. Very rushed indeed.
I need a break! So here’s an update to the latest and LAST snowboarding trip for this year. We went to Niseko.
I want to learn skiing next winter. We’ll see how that goes.
Once the snow clears, I’m going cross-island cycling! But maybe not so soon, probably in summer when the weather is much warmer. People here say spring time here in Hokkaido is cold! Guess its really hard to shrug off the bitter winter cold.


In the bus at Kutchan. On the way to Niseko.

And we’re here.

I must say I prefer Kiroro to Niseko. Kiroro looks more spiffy and upmarket.


The view from up the mountain. Not really that high, but the view here is amazing.

Here’s a closer look!
We went carving the snow covered slope for about an hour and a half. It was a “warm up” at the low beginner’s slope. Was really hungry after that.


We’re not allowed to bring food from outside the food court to eat here. But we did it anyway.
After lunch we decided to head up to the top of the mountain! Well almost.

It was snowing heavily.


We took several other ski lifts to get to the top of the mountain. Here’s us inside the covered ski lift. Its covered with a movable canopy because we’re almost near the top of the mountain. It was very, very windy. At one point the ride stopped and was hanging on the line because of the strong winds.
Once we got off the lift, the “adventure” began!
We strapped our feet to the board. Oh I have to mention the snow was really powdery. We slid down about 5 meters when a huge gust came at us. All that snow blowing into my face made it impossible to see anything. Everything was white.
I kept falling backwards, blown by the wind!
The group went ahead with much difficulty. All I could see in front of me was plain white. It was white everywhere. And it was extremely cold. I could not even fish out my camera from my zip pocket near my chest to capture the moment.
Icicles form on my eyelashes. The wind kept on blowing, delivering blasts of snow on us. We could not move. All of us could only sit and curl ourselves up, waiting for the snow to pass.
Then the wind stopped. Briefly. Then it started again!  More powder on our faces. The gust of wind kept on its intermittent act the whole time.
I unstrapped my board. I could not slide anymore. I ran towards the group. They were waiting. It was really difficult to walk in that much soft powdery snow.
I think most of us were thinking we should hurry on down the mountain where it is not as tormentingly frigid and windy. Once the wind stopped I strapped back on and we quickly carved the snowy slopes downwards.
It was unbelievable, we were lucky to get down alive! Hah!

Taking a break.
This was somewhere near the halfway mark down the mountain. Most of the time my legs got  frozen stiff due to muscle cramps. I was constantly in half-squat position while negotiating the terrain. Tumbling down most of the time because my legs couldn’t take it. It feels like I’m in a constant state of muscular tetanus!
Maybe it was because I didn’t do much stretching beforehand. Maybe it was the bitter cold. Maybe it was just because It has been a long time since I have done much exercise!
But it was one heck of a ride.
Falling and tumbling down felt really good. It was really fun too because the soft powdery snow helped cushion my fall. Glad I didn’t hit my head hard like I did before in Kiroro. Up here there are less people sifting through the snow. In Kiroro, the snow becomes compacted. It makes falling a real pain.
Strangely, Japanese people don’t wear helmets. Its available for rent but almost no one wears one.

Photo Courtesy of Adeline.
As you can see from the photo above the windy was really crazy. It was worse when we first started up near the top.
Well, that ends my snowboarding adventure for this year.
On retrospect, it was really crazy for us to be in Niseko at that time. The weather forecasted for that week was a snowstorm! To top it off, the day after I was back from Niseko, Ice told me over the phone that there was Japan issued a nation-wide avalanche alert about a week ago.
Wow. We were lucky indeed.
That reminded me. There was a photo pasted around in Niseko about an Australian who went missing. Hope he’s found. Else they’ll have to wait till summer time.
Next year, Ski!

After snow shoeing, we went to the Kiroro Mountain Center for lunch.

This raw tuna in a bowl of rice with wasabi and some sticky bean liquid on top.
1150 yen.

After headed for the slopes. My snowboard is almost the same height as me! 






Not too bad. Getting the hang of it. Haven’t tried skiing though. But I’ll try it some other time. Its not an inexpensive sport mind you!

Went snow shoeing at the Kiroro Nature center. We were basically on a hiking trail. Our guide was well versed in the nature spots around the top of the mountain.
We took the snow cat up the mountain.

The snow cat can take 6 passengers.
 
 

 

The snow cat can be a pretty nimble snow beast if it wants to. But it went up gingerly to let us take in the view as travel up the mountain.
 

And we’re here!
 

My snow shoe all strapped up ready to hit the snowy nature trail.

Its a long 45 minute trekking downhill, but we got to see many things peculiar to Hokkaido.
 

That’s the ski slopes on another mountain nearby. That’s where we’ll be heading to after lunch.

The snow that we’re standing on is actually about 2 metres deep! We got to roll down snowballs and see it get bigger and bigger!

Our guide showing us the holes made by woodpeckers. These holes  are like way up in the tree. Only in winter can you get to see it up close this easily thanks to the pile of 2 metre thick snow!

Our guide gave all of us a cup of hot oolong tea.

The original olden day snow shoe. This is the kind that I read about when I was much younger. Only today did I know the advances of technology had made the snow shoe so much more robust and strong.

One of my many photo collection of manhole covers in Japan. Manhole covers in Japan have so many different and unique designs! They’re unique to different parts of Japan.

I’m getting better at this!

After snow shoeing, we went to the Kiroro Mountain Center for lunch.

This raw tuna in a bowl of rice with wasabi and some sticky bean liquid on top.
1150 yen.

After headed for the slopes. My snowboard is almost the same height as me! 






Not too bad. Getting the hang of it. Haven’t tried skiing though. But I’ll try it some other time. Its not an inexpensive sport mind you!

Went snow shoeing at the Kiroro Nature center. We were basically on a hiking trail. Our guide was well versed in the nature spots around the top of the mountain.
We took the snow cat up the mountain.

The snow cat can take 6 passengers.
 
 

 

The snow cat can be a pretty nimble snow beast if it wants to. But it went up gingerly to let us take in the view as travel up the mountain.
 

And we’re here!
 

My snow shoe all strapped up ready to hit the snowy nature trail.

Its a long 45 minute trekking downhill, but we got to see many things peculiar to Hokkaido.
 

That’s the ski slopes on another mountain nearby. That’s where we’ll be heading to after lunch.

The snow that we’re standing on is actually about 2 metres deep! We got to roll down snowballs and see it get bigger and bigger!

Our guide showing us the holes made by woodpeckers. These holes  are like way up in the tree. Only in winter can you get to see it up close this easily thanks to the pile of 2 metre thick snow!

Our guide gave all of us a cup of hot oolong tea.

The original olden day snow shoe. This is the kind that I read about when I was much younger. Only today did I know the advances of technology had made the snow shoe so much more robust and strong.

One of my many photo collection of manhole covers in Japan. Manhole covers in Japan have so many different and unique designs! They’re unique to different parts of Japan.

Right after the trip to Mount Moiwa, we decided to meet up with another 2 Singaporean JETs from Honshu. So we dropped by Susukino and chanced upon the 29th Susukino Ice Festival.
 

 


 

 

 

Men giving out free kairo

 

 

 

 

 

 


More photos here

Met up with fellow singaporean JETs from other parts of Japan!
They are from the same batch as me and their here to enjoy Sapporo’s Snow Festival. We met up for dinner at Susukino for an all-you-can-eat crab and prawn feast!

Its like every tourist’s ritual before they start eating. Everyone of us got out their cameras out to snap a picture before we gorge ourselves with crab meat!
 

Cutting up the snowcrab legs to get to the meat.
 

Scraping the meat off the shell.

 

Stroking the hairy crab good…
 

The hairy crabs have “hairs” and also sharp little spikes on their body. Its like handling durian when I was busy cutting the shell up.

The snow crabs were delicious!

Soft, creamy goodness….
 

The Honshu people and me 

Was at Susukino to get a haircut but I got sidetracked and got drawn into Odori Park. I just remembered the snow festival is going on this week from 5th Feb to 11 Feb 2009. 11 Feb is a national holiday called the Foundation Day. This is the day Japan was supposedly founded by the first Japanese Emperor Jimmu.
Anyways I was wondering how the Festival is holding up. Sapporo has been having “warm” winter year after year and it actually rains instead of snowing on some days. But looking at the way its been snowing these past few days in February, I think the Snow Festival is all set to receive and impress the expected 2 million visitors to Sapporo. 
February indeed is the coldest month of the year in Sapporo.
Sapporo people don’t make snowmen. They make snow statues! Impressive I tell you!
Anyway photos will be up soon!
Here are the photos!

 

Japan’s bid for the Olympics. This is getting some debate in the Diet right now whether Japan should go for it. 
 

In Celebration of Tokyo Disneyland’s 25th anniversary.I miss Disneyland Tokyo. Mostly because I didn’t go to Disney Sea but to the kiddish Disneyland instead.

 Look at the details on this one. Tinkerbell is amazingly able to stay perched up there. Wonder if the sculptors put in any wireframes to prop it up first to make sure it stays in place.

Love the cone held by Goofy
 

 

 

 

 

 

Totoro! I didn’t find any Neko Bus sculptures though.

Lots of food stalls here at the park

A symbolic tribute to the cooperation between South Korea and Japan

 

 

Shiroikoibito Park promoting their snow sports park at Miyanosawa. Looks like they brought part of their park to Odori!

Professional Snowboarders. Subarashii!



 

They don’t make no snow man, they make snow samurai!

Disney’s Stitch! A hot favorite among youngsters here

Do the locomotion!

 

This is really impressive. Measuring about 2.5 metres in height, the details in this snow temple are really something to be in awe of.

 
 
 

The irony!

Mister Donut making a presence in the snow festival with their cute lion!

 

Odori Park is really a beautiful place.

Wow. I’m finally beginning to experience the full Hokkaido winter. Not the full brunt yet. But close.
This is how it looked like on the way to school.
Every thing everywhere is white in color!
 

White snow everywhere!

 

Fortunately I was able to walk comfortably though the snow is really piling up.
 

Evening time view

And this is how it looked like 8 hours later.
 
 

Waiting for the bus

Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long for the bus.
Unlike yesterday when I missed the bus, and had to wait 15 to 20 minutes for another bus. It was windy and raining and snowing at the same time! ARGH.
Luckily today I left school a little bit early and got the bus just on time.

Went to Kiroro to snowboard last saturday. Here are some pictures!

On the bus

We have reached Kiroro resort

Kim from Korea. Student in Hokudai.

Off we go!

Our snowboarding sensei!

Tiny tots learning to ski!

 

Burton Snowboard

Strapping on to the snowboard

Lunch time!

 

Super hungry after snowboarding

scrubbing off snow

I visited Johor Bahru. This place used to be my favorite destination every weekend.
Mainly for the petrol of course!
But the place has got good food with low price. Singapore can’t beat that!
So I went to Jusco Tebrau City. Lo and behold, up sprang TESCO right next to it.
Its only been about 5 months I was away and already TESCO is vying for JUSCO’s customers.
Interesting.
Here are some photos!
Again, some photos have been omitted due to protection of privacy.
Went to eat at Kenny Roger’s. Then headed down to Plaza Pelangi to check out the latest movies available to buy there.

Did many things while I was back in Singapore.. and one of the best thing I looked forward to was driving the car.
Let’s go through all activities in one post. With lots of pictures!
X’mas dinner at CP’s.

 
It was a potluck gathering. I brought caramel candy from Hokkaido. It was good.
Then it was my Cousins birthday.
 

His wife made this herself

Lamb chops

 
The little kids are all his sons!
 
Next, I went to Night Safari. The first time I went was back in 2000. I didn’t really like the experience. It was dark and there was nothing to photograph using my point-and-shoot 1-megapixel camera.
This was my second visit. Lots of things have changed since I last been there. I enjoyed it!

Trust me, half the time you won’t know what you’re looking at. So here’s a picture of an owl. There. Now let’s move on to brighter things..
Vintage eh?

 
So much for night safari. After that, I met up with old mates when I was in the army. Those were the days…
We had dinner at the Fishermen’s Wharf.

Next it was to this stall where they’re selling ice cream. You could choose different kinds of ingredients to be crushed and mixed with ice cream.

Went to Kent Ridge Park. Beautiful place.

After that, went to eat at Jimmy Yummy’s. Delicious.

 
Went to Orchard Road. Meh…nothing spectacular.

 
Next I went to Garuda Padang Restaurant. Also at Orchard area.

Met up with some of my great students from my previous school. They are wonderful people to work with.

After meeting them, I rushed down to Woodlands to visit my friend’s newly opened shop.

Then while I was at Suntec City, I bumped into these people! They were also students from the school I was teaching in.

Well if you noticed, some pictures are only of food. Well that’s because I left out lots of pictures which I feel should not be put up here to protect the privacy of certain individuals. Hahahha Sorry guys!

I bought a lot of cookies as a gift for the teachers here. Merlion shaped cookies.
They come in different flavours, and I got 4 boxes of them.
I got mangosteen, strawberry, pineapple and lychee.

I made it a point NOT to pick the DURIAN flavoured kind after the initial “puking” reaction of the durian candy I gave out when I first came to this school. Hahaha.

After the grand opening of the school term and when the students were leaving the gymnasium carrying back their chairs up to their classroom, I talked to one of the teachers.
He showed me his new watch. It was a Paul Smith’s watch. He asked me to guess who gave it to him. I asked if it was a girl. He smiled. Hah!
I ventured further and asked if the girl was in this school. He gave a hearty laugh. He said maybe, but definitely not from a student!
Hah! I wondered who. I tried to distract him by asking other questions not pertaining to our current topic. Then I asked for her name.
He’ a quick one. Hahahaha he didn’t fall for that. He told me not to ask any teachers. I was the first person he had disclosed this happy occasion. I pinched my thumb and forefinger together at the side of my mouth and made a zip-up action.
He understood my lips are sealed.
 
But heck. I just can’t keep wondering who the lady teacher in the school is.

Again, I have to document the differences between Japanese junior High schools and Singapore’s Secondary schools.
At the start of every school term, all students and teachers will go to the gymnasium (multipurpose hall) for the speech by the school Principal. All students will carry their chairs from their classroom and bring it down there. There’s even a banner hung up at the stage area that says “3rd school term etc etc”.
After the “vocal warm-up” is done, the school song will be rehearsed, usually twice or thrice; led by the music teacher.
Everything is done in prim and proper fashion. Very formal.
Once the Principal’s speech is over, students will go up to the stage to present some good news like their recent win in the basketball or handball tournament, or other accolades. The principal will be there to congratulate them formally.
Oh, and there’re no lessons on the first day. Whoopedeedoo!
 
In Singapore, the start of a new school term sees students and teachers going back to classrooms, recapping on what has been taught before the term vacation and life just goes on without much of a fanfare.
Oh and lessons starts on the first day. Bummer.
An interesting note: Singapore students in the schools will not carry their chairs from their classrooms to the multipurpose hall. They will all sit on the floor in the hall.

I took 9 days leave which spreads out to 3 weeks thanks to Japanese National holidays in December. It was a good getaway from the bitter cold. But yet here I am back in my apartment, the weather feeling colder than I remembered when I left for Chitose Airport.
But its good to be back in Sapporo.
Settled a lot of things back in Singapore. Learned a lot about human dynamics, relationships, friendship, and “long-time-no-see” acquaintances. It was great.
Its only been 5 months since I’ve been away so I don’t really feel that I’m missing Singapore that much. But she has always been on my mind. And now that I’m back in Sapporo, I’m missing her even more now. Sigh.
That re-contracting form is right beside me. Either I say yes to it and stay for another year or reject the offer and come back to Singapore where I get to see her almost everyday.
But I have to stick to my aim and purpose of why I am here.
There is no way I will go back to Singapore and be sucked down there. Once I get into the pitfalls of settling down there and by buying the outrageously overpriced HDB flat, there’s no way out. I refuse to fall into that mistake. The mistake that most Singaporeans born into the country refuse to see.
You can just brush it aside and say those issues don’t affect you, and tell me everyone should go on with their little lives, or even go all the way out to defend something that is so damning wrong, but the fact of the matter is those issues affect everyone. Something is terribly wrong with the governance of the country and trouble is brewing.
I’m happy here in Sapporo. But that doesn’t mean I want to live permanently in Japan. The working style in schools are much like Singapore’s. But of course the running of the schools here as I have observed are very much democratic. The student body run by students are truly democratic.
Now, I’ll wait patiently for Spring. I can’t wait to get back to running. Planning to get a good mountain bike and cycle across Hokkaido. Wonder if that’s possible within a week. Maybe I’ll do it during the Golden Week.
Golden indeed.

Wow… what 3 weeks of vacation will do to you. I was very happy to arrive at Narita Airport. It was cold but it was great to see clear roads with no snow. Just wet and rainy.
And then I arrived at Chitose Airport. Boarded the train and was rather taken aback by the freezing cold!
Oh well. I reached Sapporo Station, took the subway to Higashi Sapporo and dragged my 25kg luggage through the snow covered walkway. Unbelievable. The snow had piled up till about waist to shoulder high. Thankfully the walkways are cleared daily.

Ice tractors

Carrying away the ice to the snow dump.

I wonder where the truck load of snow are being brought to.
Went to Daiei for grocery shopping the next day. Its just about 80o metres from my apartment. But with all that snow and ice, the walk took a little bit more time.
The sides of the walkways looked like its been walled like an igloo.

Picture taken the next day when I had to go grocery shopping

 
Check out this car which has been buried in snow. The owner is probably on holiday. Well its a long weekend because Monday (today) is a national holiday.

Check out the car on the top most side of this picture

Well anyway, was pleasantly surprised when I reached the lift lobby of my apartment that night. I check my mailbox and found this:

New Years Greeting Card

Given by Uncle Ben from Spiderman Movie!

The Principal of an elementary school sent me a New Years greeting! That made my day! Thanks Uncle Ben!

In a last minute effort to get some presents for folks back in Singapore, I asked my Japanese Teacher colleagues what would be great to buy from Hokkaido.
I got many recommendations. But I feel the most convenient one to get would be chocolates!
Ishiya chocolates are somewhat famous in Hokkaido!
I had to meet my supervisor for an interview at the education center. Fortunately the chocolate factory is like 2 blocks away from there! So before heading for the interview, I dropped by and bought lots of chocolates!

So I invited some friends over to my place. Its a potluck thing, so everybody got to bring their own cooking or buy some treats to share with everyone present. It was great!
I wanted to get everyone over to celebrate Hari Raya Haji (as what we’d call it in Singapore) and also just to hang out at my place before I leave for Singapore tomorrow!
I’ll be in Singapore for 3 weeks. Hoping to get away from the bitter cold!
As always here are some pictures!












I loved the cheese bread pudding and chocolate cake! All these are made by Roslynn and Nina respectively.

Well, it snowed again today. I sure don’t feel like going outside right now.
Anyway, I thought I’d make a little snowman on my balcony.
 

Built myself a mini snowman

 
Early this morning…
 
 

Sunrise at 6.30am

 
 
Having prata for breakfast…
 

Prata for breakfast in winter...nice.

Beautiful place. Cold too!
View more photos here
       
Winter is coming very soon! We're just waiting for the first snow fall

I'll let the photos do the talking!
     
More photos here:

Was a fun day! Bought "souvenirs" to stock up for winter
        
October 25th 2008
View all photos here

Beautiful place.



To really appreciate the beauty, see more of my photos here.
Enjoying Autumn, I am!

Yesterday friends from the Malaysian Community here in Sapporo came over to celebrate Eid with me!
They are post graduate students and some are also working here in Sapporo.
Very nice people. Glad to meet them!


3 big families!




CUTE!!



Squeeze!!

So I was invited to write the Chinese/Kanji Character for “moon”. It was my first time!
I think I’ve never held a brush to do calligraphy before. I have written arabic letters before, but not with a brush!
It was interesting! I have to thank the teachers there for the warm welcome.



Is this ok?


Great Japanese Teachers


Teacher on the left looks likeHK actor Anthony Wong Chau Sang!


The P and VP

Had fun today! The school’s a bit far from where I’m staying.


 

Smelling durian for the first time.

So last Sunday evening was a great day for me. I got to have Malay cuisine!!!
Feels great to have rendang, ketupat, lontong, satay gravy. Heavenly.
I have to thank Mr Halim for inviting me. The celebration was held at Hokkaido University Hall. It was organized by the good Malaysian community there.
Here are some photos, most of them courtesy of Mr Ice and group photos are nicely taken by Mr Mahzan.

Hokkaido University Hall

Hari Raya Celebration hosted by the Malaysian community at the Hokkaido University’s Hall (enyugakusha) Photo courtesy of Ice

Quite a large spread!



Buffet style

The buffet style feast is prepared by the ladies from Malaysia. Ice man contributed cakes from his mom in Brunei. Photo courtesy of Ice

Lontong

Damn I love the lontong and especially satay gravy!!! Photo courtesy of Ice




Look at that rendang! I think I had 3 rounds of serving

Nusantara

Malaysian, Bruneian and Singaporean delegates Photo courtesy of Ice


Everyone that attended


The Malaysian community here in Hokudai is pretty large.

This month of October sees me going to several different elementary schools in Sapporo.
Some are small, some are huge!
But almost all that I’ve been to have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of children enrolled in schools.
I can see this without even the teachers telling me. I saw lots of empty shoe racks for school children right outside of schools.
I spoke to teachers there and they said the number of young people in Japan is decreasing. However the baby boomers of the post world war II era are getting really old. Puts a lot of financial strain on the economy because of the lesser workforce. The Japanese government are also strained because they ust support the many unemployed and retirees. Not to mention their policies of subsidies for healthcare. This is a real problem.
Things will not look so bad if the younger populations are more than the elderly.
You know a good thing about Japan is that, I don’t see any old people working in McDonald’s. Compare that to Singapore. Where the government encourages old people to continue working till they die. In Singapore, its not an uncommon sight to see old people; men and women, so old their bodies are bent and they can no longer stand straight. We see these people pushing carts collecting papers, cardboards, tin cans just to make ends meet.
Unbelievable.
Well, anyway I digress.
Here are pictures of my visits!

INTERNATIONAL REALIZATION CLASSROOM
Students love this room. They got to see pictures, flags, music of other countries.




JAPAN AND SINGAPORE
Kimono and Baju Kurung. I didn't bring kain samping or songkok.



SCHOOL LUNCH
Students pay a fee every month for school lunch. They all have the same food to eat.

I was told by a teacher that the system of “school lunch” goes way back during the post-world war II era when Japan was in dire need for help in rebuilding their country. The UN came up with this system and it has helped the nation tremendously. The school lunch was a success that it continued till this day. I didn’t eat the school because of my religious restrictions. So I brought my own lunch!



EXCHANGING GIFTS
Exchanging gifts; ketupat with Japanese paintings

I weaved the ketupat, since its currently Eidul Fitri this month. Also ketupat weaving is part of the Malay culture. By the way these are the staffs from the huge Elementary school here in Sapporo. Standing next to me i the Principal. He looks like uncle Ben in Spiderman movie.



YAMA
The sky was very cloudy. But you can see the trees on the mountain have turned orange and yellow.



ITS AUTUMN!
Nice cool weather. The whole place looks nice too the surrounding area are seemingly bathed in assorted colors!
I like Autumn. But I still have got to get used to the cold and chilly winds!

For those who are curious about how apartment looks like in Sapporo, I have added a little bit more photos.
The following photos are of the living room and the kitchen area. Please don’t mind the mess in the room!
I live in Shiroishi-ku, Higashi Sapporo.
 

My Living Room


The kitchen and dining area

Had 2 periods today. It’s great to have time to myself. 
Today was the San nensei’s examination day. So Friday’s schedule is used for today.
Was bored after school. I didn’t want to spend the whole 3 hours in the staffroom all by myself so I toured to every class. The students were all busy preparing for the school festival this October the 3rd. Every class are putting up something for the event. Planetarium, big flower float, a play, dance, a big scale model of the school and lots more!
Well too bad I won’t be in the school then. I’ll be visiting various elementary schools in October.

Woke up at 3 plus. Drank a glass of water for sahur.
Prepared another postcard, tested out the genius playlist creator on iTunes then went back to sleep at 5am.
 
I seriously think having the Internet is stealing lots of time from me. I kind of miss the few weeks prior when I had no Internet. I did physical excercises like pushups and crunches then. Now I rarely do it! Crap!
 
Well anyway iTunes “genius” feature is brilliant! I’m a lazy person. I gave up on creating my favorite playlists a long time ago. I usually turn on the shuffle mode and when a song that plays next doesn’t suit the mood that i am in after listening to the first, I’ll just press next. But it does get a little bothersome but it’s something that I have to live with. 
 
With the genius I no longer have to!
Apple sure knows how to set make our lives so much easier. That’s what technology should be about. Making lives easier and better. Not more difficult or cumbersome.
 
You know I feel that once people get used to better services they wouldn’t settle for anything less. This will only set the standards higher and forces developers to be more innovative. Most developers I know especially those who just graduate and most of them from the “microsoft camp” tend to create software that screams “I’m so cool because I can make this bloated application with so many features, if you don’t know how to use this application you are stupid. Stop living in this world”. 
 
I can spot an arrogant and dumb developer just from their application they produce. 
 
Anyway I’m in the bus and I’m almost approaching my stop..
 
Later then.

I was so tired and sleepy today. I think it’s because I didn’t sleep properly yesterday night. But everything went well.
After the last period of lesson, Mr Izumi and Mr Wajima helped me out in the computer lab as I set up the mac and video camera for the video conferencing session. 
There was a big tv screen I could connect the PowerBook to but alas couldn’t get the Internet working properly due to the ip address settings. Argh. Good thing was I managed to get the wireless connection working so Mr Wajima suggested to use the teachers room. But I thought it might be noisy. So we moved to a room just across the corridor. No good. The wifi strength can’t reach so far. So the last resort was the teachers room. 
There was a slight problem connecting the canon video camera to my mac but luckily it was able to be detected and properly connected ready to go!
We’ve got 3 boys from class 3-3; mr Hashimoto’s home room students. They are very excited to speak face to face with students from Singapore.
I introduced the Japanese teachers of English Mr Izumi and Mr Wajima to Miss Pamela Seet from Singapore. 
After that both Japanese and Singapore students introduced themselves to each other. 
They asked questions and laughter was all around. Especially when the Singapore students asked “have you eaten durian before?” to which the boys answered they haven’t. So I gave them a durian candy to try. 
They did “scissor paper stone” to decide who’ll get to eat the ’smelly’ candy. Both singapore and Japanese students laughed when they saw his reactions! He can’t even swallow!
The girl from Singapore asked if he liked it. The candy still I his mouth and with much difficult he managed to give a thumbs up and utter “it’s nice..” after which he gestured for the tissue paper to spit out the candy on. 
The 3 Japanese students asked their Singapore counterparts whether they liked it. They gave a resounding “YES!” the 3 students were shocked and uterred “ehhh!” loudly. Then they said “how could you eat this??” It is stinky!”
HAHAHA
It was really fun. The students as well as the teachers enjoyed themselves.
I’m glad the session went well. No, I think it went great! I believe this experience will give students both in Japan and Singapore the opportunity to interact, share ideas, and basically have a cultural exchange using the English language as a medium of communication. The accessibility of the Internet as well as the ease of use of software like skype which I used is totally indispensable. It  enables schools to provide the opportunity for students to meet people around their age from another country when they otherwise would not be able to in their whole lifetime maybe.    
Well this session of cultural exchange will be on every Wednesday in this school as long as I’m there and the students in Singapore are not on holiday

I woke up at 3am. But snoozed till 430am. That means no sahur and 18 hours without food and drink for me. Nice. 
Anyway, I got to record a video of the sunrise. As I was observing the sun as it slowly peeks above the many low buildings, I noticed that I can see the mountains outlining the horizon!
All these while I didn’t even see it! Maybe it’s because of the rainy and dark cloudy weather that masked the view. 
On the train now. Still thinking of the new iPod touch with Nike+ built in, and speakers. Hmmm contemplating of selling my current 16gb iPod touch recently upgraded to version 2.0, with 1 year++ of AppleCare. Hmm…

Wow. Dreamt of my dad asking me what time sahur ends and suddenly was woken up by a grunting voice. It was 310am. I had about 20 minutes to eat before sahur is over. 
Made scrambled eggs, slap it on a slice of bread, tore some lettuce, put a slice of cheese, mayonnaise and salmon sprinkles. Egg sandwich. 
That's all until 6 pm today. 
Didn't go back to sleep. Prayed, watched the sun rise at 510am, took my time to pack my stuff and managed to write a postcard to my sister. 
I didn't get to jog to the station today
And I reached the bus station at 710am. The next bus doesnt leave the station until 725am.
School was good. The video went ok. It became a karaoke singing session in class! The teacher said music and songs are good ways for students to learn English. 
Managed to test out video conferencing with pamela in her school in Singapore. So the first trial will be tomorow. 
3 students from my school in japan will interact with 3 students from Singapore real-time.
I wonder how this will pan out. 
I was asked to help mark some worksheets. It's about time. I feel so sleepy from nothing much to do for 2 weeks running already. This is seriously a welcome change. 
There's a welcome party this Friday at shin Sapporo area. The good news is the school will be paying for my share. Wow I feel so grateful. They said because I am one of the special guests, the others being the new principal and the trainee teachers.  
Well I'm in the train now and about to reach my stop. I'll probably reach home at 6 pm just right to break fast. I'm famished!

The sun is shining but the whole apartment feels cold. Woke up early at 550 but got up at 615.
 
End up jogging to the subway station again. 
School was good because I have one period only. 
Today I was invited by mrs Akiyama to sit in a microscope lesson on cells for the first graders. She knew I was a science teacher back in singapore. We talked in a mish mash of Japanese and English when we were at the tea ceremony club on the first week of school. 
 
The lab is smaller than the one at my previous school in Singapore. It’s somewhat cozier hahaha. We were looking at plant cells, chloroplasts and guard cells. I asked her what chloroplasts are in Japanese. She said midori, or so I thought if she understood what indicated to her by my rough sketch hahaha. 
 
So the rest of the time I used to plan a listening activity for ms hara’s class this whole week. Credit goes to the BBC. 
I’ll use my iPod to hook up to the tv set in the classrooms tomorrow. 
Which means I’ve got to buy the cable later after work. Bic camera here I come.
 
P.S. I did go to Otaru yesterday! Picture will be up soon!

My first time cooking!
Take a look

I bought lots of spices, fish vegetables for the week.
Need to cut down on eating out so on Sunday, 2 days after I arrived in Sapporo I started cooking. I guess I have to thank my mom because I’ve seen her cook and I actually asked why she did whatever she does in the kitchen. I also had a hand in helping out but htat was when I was very very young. She showed me how to cook fried rice. That lesson came in really handy now!




lots of ingredients and spices not photographed. But you get the idea.


The following photos are in chronological order.
My first dish!
17 August





For dinner. Not too bad actually. I could eat it. The carrot are a bit tough. I’ll learn from this.



18 August: Fried rice for breakfast. A bit band though. Next time will be better.


18 August: Dinner. Wanted to cook prata...but decided not to because I don't have the recipe for it. Ended up frying prawn fritters...looking more like tiny pancakes to me. But I was hungry so..



19 August: Dinner. i like this dinner. Fried egg, prawns and crab stick, anchovies, carrots and potato and green leafy vegetables. I like it.



21 August: Breakfast
Chocolate and blueberry jam spread on 2 thick slices of bread respectively. Loaf of bread here are cut in thick slices. Unlike those from Singapore.


22 August: Breakfast.
Egg and salad sandwich for breakfast. Its good.



23 August: lunch
Rice with unagi (eel), slices of salmon, prawns, anchovies, spring onions an seaweed crumbs. nice even though the unagi is a bit burnt at the top. Will take note of that the next time I cook unagi. There’s also strips of salmon meat. Very nice!



23 August: Dinner.
Dinner. Unagi slice. The unagi looks better now! Fried breaded prawns, Egg sunny side up, slice of salmon. I like the salmon. Sprinkles of fried anchovies, tomatoes, onions and negi (spring onions). My verdict. Best dinner so far.


24 August: Lunch.
I wanted to cook something else besides rice with dishes. I remembered how the cook did the okonomiyaki in front of me at a restaurant. So I decided to try. So here is the process!



Okonomiyaki and rice with salmon sprinkles wrapped in seaweed. The rice (gohan) was ok. I need to improve my skill on making sushi or onigiri.
I actually failed this day. So the rice cake ended up looking like that in the picture. But the okonomiyaki is good! Even though I didn’t put the okonomiyaki sauce. I didn’t buy it because I couldn’t remember if there was any to be put on.



24 August: Dinner
Tofu dish with tomato and egg white scrambled in it. Nice. Not complete without rice below.



My complete dinner. With potato wedges. I like this dinner.


25 August. Lunch and dinner.
Okay. Right about this day, 1 week after I started cooking, I felt that time would be better spent if I were to cook a larger portion so that I don’t have to cook twice in a day.
So, I decided to cook half a pot of vegetable soup with tofu. Big Mistake. I just remembered back in high school that I can’t really gauge how nice things would taste if it is to be cooked for a serving for 2 or more people. So this soup you see in this photo above tasted too peppery and garlicky. It lacks something that would make soup taste nice. Maybe chicken stock or anchovies. But I did put some anchovies inside. Maybe its not that same with anchovie stock powder.



But the dinner is not all that bad. I had salmon and crab meat. So those saved the dish.


26 August: Dinner
Rice, unagi (very nice) fried breaded prawn (nice) and fried mish mash of vegetables, egg, prawn, crab meat and anchovies


27 August: Dinner
okonomiyaki 3rd edition! I found out that okonomiyaki sauce contains sake (rice wine) So I don't use. It taste nice without it so its all good.



30 August: Dinner
Tofu dish with vegetables, egg, prawn, and anchovies and chopped chicken franks (hot dog).



31 August: Dinner.
The fried chicken tastes so good. I can't remember how I marinated it. Bought the chicken meat at a halal store/restaurant run by a javanese family. The store is 4 blocks awaay from the Hokkaido University and 1 block away from the newy inaugurated mosque in sapporo.



1 September: Dinner.
Fried egg, crab stick and vegetables. By this time I don't know what else to cook so I cook to eat for survival hahaha



3 September: Dinner
Chopped chicken franks and anchovies, wrapped in omelette, tuna (really good with the seasoning) and vegetables.


Yeah. I can cook.

Life's good. Really. Right now its so much different from work back home.
Anyway Friday I have 3 periods of team teaching.
First 2 periods are free because the main teacher has to go for a course in Moral Ed. in another school.
So now I will take this time to upload photos of my cooking!

Wow... I survived 5 periods straight with 1 hour lunch break in between.
Feel like puking now because got no food in tummy. Oh well, I have to endure.

So I had an early Sahur.
Had it at 1130pm yesterday night. So I had no food and drink from maybe midnight till 6:04pm today.
How long is that..I'm too lazy to calculate. Just do the fast. Period.

Anyway right now I feel really sick like throwing up. Maybe because of no food in me. It doesn't help when this morning I had to run to the subway station. I think I too about 8 minutes from apartment to subway station.

I woke up late again! Woke up at 620am. Damn.

Left the apartment at 645, carrying the 3 bags of recyclable trash down to the "Gomi" (trash area).

And I managed to reach the station at 658 am. 2 minutes to cool down before the train comes.

Well I just finished 4 period of lessons. Now is lunch time. I have 1 more period of lesson to go.

I can survive!

Wow, its been weeks since I arrived in Sapporo. Maybe I will write the entries based on the actual days. This takes a lot of recalling power, so some details may not be complete. But nonetheless let the pictures do the talking, if there're any in the post!

So I finally decided to go.
Went out and took the subway to Otemachi Station via Hanzomon Line from Hanzomon station.
Here's an Indian restaurant near my place.

Indian restaurant called The Ganges

I just noticed this warning sign in the subway. Funny!

Please! This is not the beach!

After a 7 minute ride on the train, I got out and walked a bit. Found the entrance. The Otemon Gate.

Entrance to the palace gardens

Had to get a ticket to get in. This ticket must be returned when you get out. Entrance is free.

Free ticket. Must be returned when you exit

Posed in front of the Samurai Guard house.

damn I look fat here

Next walked further and saw the moat around the palace.

The moat leading up to the Shiomi-Zaka Slope

After I climbed the Shiomi-Zaka Slope, I saw this.

Park. Great for families to have a picnic at.

I think my camera lens need cleaning. The center of all the photos looks blurry.
Next to the park is the Tenshudai Donjon Base.

The time is almost up. The garden closes at 5pm.
So I made my way down the Shiomi-zaka slope.

The gates are now half closed.

gates closing

Ok.....verdict... you can give this place a miss. Nothing to see here folks. Or maybe you can come here when the weather is kinder. It was sweltering hot and uncomfortable for me.
Ok I'm just waiting for tomorrow. See what the doctor says. I should be fine to travel to Sapporo tomorrow. I have to settle at my new place soon as possible. I can't stay in this hotel room forever!

Yeah...right.
Weather should be fine right about 3 to 4pm. Should be OK to walk there. Man, how wrong I was.
The weather was still warm, the roads going uphill and downhill... just when I finished grocery shopping, I was already sweating.
Uncomfortable!!! Especially when I still have red spots on my body even though their healing.
Forget it. Another day perhaps.

Bored out of my mind, I decided to head down to Akihabara.

Needed to buy usb cable to connect PSP to my Mac. The PSP also acts like the main memory stick reader for my sony digital camera.
Went out of hotel, headed to the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon station.
Had to switch train to the one heading to Iwamotocho.
Once I got out of the subway, had to walk a bit. Didn't take long to realize where Akihabara is looking at the crowd ahead.

Shosen book tower greets me once I got out of the subway.

So I walked on and came across Yodabashi Akihabara. Big supermall of electronic goods.

Great selection of electronic products and gadgets

My only aim was to get those 2 wires: Firewire to dvcam and USB to psp cable. I found these and bought them.

USB to PSP cable cost 830 yen

Firewire to iLink (dvcam) cable 2070 yen!

The floor space is huge! And they've got more than 6 floors I think. Each floor categorized into different products or gadgets.
Anyway, I didn't want to fight with office workers for space on the train. So I made my way out.
The sky looks dark.

Akihabara JR station nearby

Bought some pastries at Vie de France for (tomorrow's breakfast) and salad for late lunch later when I get back.
Also bought Burger KIng's BK Fish for lunch. Very nice on an empty stomach.

Burger King BK Fish

Also bought some sushi from a convenience store for dinner later.
Well, I've finally fixed my video camera to work as a webcam for skype. Looking forward later to video conferencing!
Tomorrow, I'll visit the Imperial Palace Gardens.

Yeah that's right. Grounded here in Tokyo till I go for the next medical appointment this Friday.
Sigh.
I'm bored. Think I'm going for a walk in the park later. Maybe.
Anyway went to McDonald's for lunch and bought the Ebi Filet-O (Filet-O-Shrimp?).
Not bad tasting. Only in Japan can you get this.

Bought some more food stuffs and big bottled mineral water from AMPM.

Bought some pastries.
Weather is so hot outside I'm thinking twice about walking to the park.

Was coughing badly on the plane.
Felt sick on the plane. Tried sleeping. Couldn't.
The night before was frantically trying to pack. Took me 6 hours. with an hour break to sleep.
Managed to pack everything into 2 suitcases and 1 carry on bag.
Driven to airport by Bro-in-law. Sisters and little niece came along.

sister and and little niece

I have no idea I had the chicken pox virus until I was waiting to get my passport stamped at Narita airport. I suddenly noticed 2 really tiny bumbs on my forearm. At that time I was already feeling very tired and unwell. Coughing as well. It doesn't help the ambient temperature at that waiting hall was about 30 degrees celsius. Or maybe it felt that way. Anyway I was unconfortable.
Was greeted by JET Tokyo Orientation Assistant. Got 1 of my luggage sent direct to Sapporo. The rest will be with me throughout the orientation. Boarded the bus. Was told that Singaporean JETs are the final batch to arrive. whoopee. I was too tired to think already. it was 6pm. I was damn hungry and thirsty. Felt so sick. I needed that transfer factor.
About an hour and a half later, reached Keio Plaza Hotel. So glad. We were all whisked away to a hall to get our passes and our goodie bags and hotel room keys. I wasted no time. Made plans with Melissa and Ned (Hong Ee) to have dinner together at 9pm. Got into the room, popped open the luggage and took a few transfer factor capsules. Felt so glad.
Got free internet. Made calls to Singapore.
Went down, saw Ned, waited for Melissa. We weren't so picky because we're too hungry. I had "ten don" 580 yen. Damn that's expensive but I didn't think too much of it. My head was already close to spinning. Felt better after food. Ned and Melissa was kind enough to cut short any plans to venture out that night knowing I was sick. So they accompanied me back to the hotel. But not before we dropped by a 100 yen shop to buy big bottles of water.
Next morning, I felt a bit better. The coughing fit starts again. Put on the business suit and off I went.
Apologised to Jessie I couldn't join the Hokkaido prefecture dinner outing later. Was feeling really sick. Really. Throughout the whole day was looking at my hands to see if any new spots came out. None. Body temperature increased. I don't know how I managed to survive through the end of the day. The welcome reception had nice pastries. Too bad I couldn't eat much. All I wanted to do is run upstairs and sleep.
Took more capsules and dranks lots more water. More tiny spots appearing on neck and shoulders. Worried. it was 9pm. Went down to the CLAIR hospitality room where there's people from CLAIR stationed there 24 hours to help you out. Told them I think I have chicken pox. One of them, Sacha walked me to the Tokyo medical university hospital.
Only the emergency dept was open. Waited slightly below an hour. Told doc and showed him the symtoms. He wasn't too sure because the bumps are smaller than regular ones. (Grateful to transfer factors!) Anyway he gave me medicine and cream. Fee was expensive. 47000 yen total. I was told I can get back the money through insurance. That's a relief.
Tuesday morning. Got up. Temperature lowered to normal. washed my face. Now has tiny red dots at the sides and neck. Not too big. Attended the morning part of the orientation.

With Wei Yuet, wandering around after breakfast

At about 11am, I went up to my room and slept. 12pm went down have lunch and then went back up again to sleep the whole day.
Got a call from Sacha about 5pm. He said he'd thought he'd find me here because Jessie asked where I was because I'd missed the Sapporo City workshop. I was too sick to be downstairs. He told me to rest. I slept. Room mate came back. Told him to get me something to eat.
CLAIR staff including Sacha came up to my room in the evening to check on me. I was too sick to do anything else. They were very kind to buy my sandwich and salad. I had no appetite then (one of the symptoms) but I felt I had to eat something. They explained I needed to go to the doctor again the morning after to get the doctors letter so that they can fax over to sapporo's board of education explaining that I can't go to work and no able to fly the next morning also. They will also help to arrange my accomodation for the next few days till I get better.
I am very thankful and grateful to CLAIR staff members who have helped me out during those difficult times.
I slept. Temperature 39.2 degrees celsius. 
The next morning, the day when everyone left the hotel to their respective prefectures, I left the hotel for the hospital. The doctor confirmed I was having chicken pox. Gave me more med and whitish paste to rub on the bumps.
Moved to Diamond Hotel at Chiyoda-ku. 3 minutes away from CLAIR's office. That sounds comforting. Bought food to stock up and I was good to go. Can't do much. Body too heaty. Bathed. Slept. Tried lots of ways to cool down. Drank lots of water.
No appetite. High fever again. Slept uncomfortably.
Next morning put on the surgical mask, wore long sleeve and I head out to buy more food. Damn the weather was so hot I came back and realised more red bumps appearing. damn it!!. This cannot continue. I need to stay indoors where the temperature is much cooler.

lots of red boils. not too big thankfully. Its all covered with white paste now

Transfer factor running out. I need to ration. Damn. It finally ran out later that night. I've had enough of the high fever that I've been having night after night. I'd better warn my family back home to get vaccinated. Older folks who have not gotten chicken pox will have it worse. And then there's my niece. I touched her nose just before I left the airport!
Was advised by an old lady who made up my room to drink green tea and soak myself in the bathtub. I did all that she asked me to do. And I was glad. Temperature hovering around 38 degree celsius. Drank more green tea. Felt better. I think I drank close to about 10 cups. Oh the caffeine! Argh... tea has 1/3 the caffeince of coffee. Had salad for dinner.

Tasty actually, with the cooked prawns and dressings.

I couldn't sleep. Watched BBC. the only english channel available. Managed to sleep at 3am. By this time I was very relieved. Temperature maintained at 37.6 degree celsius.
Peaceful slumber.
Friday till Saturday same procedure. Morning grocery shopping. Rest of the day rest in my room.
Saturday morning was interesting. I was inside DOUTOR waiting for my sandwich. I Heard loud serious voice announcing something over loud speaker outside on the roadside. I think I know who those were. The Uyoku dantai. Got my sandwich and I left. I saw convoys of vans and buses. All of them generating so much noise and carry Japanese flags and another flag I can't remember what is on it. They all came from the direction of the Yasukuni shrine. The place where I'm staying is near there.
Sunday. Thought of walking to the Yasukuni temple. But I'm not up to it. I'd rather rest.
Well that wraps up week one! Tomorrow I've got a medical appointment to see if I'm OK to fly on Tuesday.

I'm down with chicken pox. Went to tokyo medical university hospital yesterday night. Charges were 47500 yen. Wow, luckily i'm covered with insurance.
I just hope I'll be fine by tomorrow morning because I'm scheduled to fly to Sapporo. Just going to take it easy today at the Hotel. Current temperature: 38.4 degrees celsius

Touched down Tokyo. Was coughing and coughing on the plane. Felt like I was going to have a fever. I was so tired.At the custom checkpoint where we're supposed to wait in line to get our passport stamped, I saw 2 tiny bumps on my forearm.

damn.

I suspect this might be chicken pox.

Anyway had dinner with fellow JETs from Singapore then headed straight back to the room. Coughing and coughing.
My transfer factor is running low. Popped a few pills.
Saw a few boils on my body.

damn.

Flying off to Tokyo for the 2 days orientation!


Thanks to my family and friends for being there at the airport to send me off.


My sister and her baby girl.