As promised, I’m back.
There was a whole spatula-full of fun to be had on the HAJET 2012 Snow Tour. So let’s get right to it.
First, I was late. I’m always late. I’m never late. Winter has not been too kind, but continues to live up to its reputation of harsh, harsh snow. My bus to Sapporo last Thursday was piled in deep with the white stuff. Another bus ride, another hour late to our destination. I think I am slowly coming to see that riding the bus is nice, but it can be a real, delaying pain -and in the winter nonetheless!
But when I arrived at a most busy Sapporo Station there was bustle and hustle everywhere. Bustle not just because Valentine’s was being advertised and shopped for with wild ambition, but because it was the 2012 Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival) in Sapporo. I quickly lockered my goods and snowboard and then broke out on foot to find the thirty other people that came from Honshu and even Okinawa to enjoy Sapporo and Niseko with the rest of our tour.
I found the group in Susukino -Ramen Alley. I sucked in a bowl of ramen myself only to find that the group was done and had made their way back to Odori Park where the Snow Festival was in full swing.
Let’s hit the fast-forward.
A few of the group visited the Sapporo Brewery and Museum, got lost and chatted along the way and then reconnected with the rest of the tour in an underground shopping district (literally one to two stories below ground) and made our way to our restaurant for dinner. Dinner was grilled lamb and golden mead. All in reasonable amounts, all very good for the soul. Lamb, grilled, served with cabbage and onion -grilled alongside the mutton. Lamb, lamb, lamb. We were full, we were fed.
Back to Sapporo Station for a bus ride all the way out to Niseko. The weekend was filled with a lot of riding. Riding the bus, riding a snowboard, riding the bus, and riding a train and then bus.
Highlights? Well, there was good food and good friends. Staying up late to chat in front of a fireplace, and dining on.. yup, lasagna provided for by our hotel chef.
It was a real treat to see places that I had not seen before. But somehow after the weekend was over and I came back to Sapporo -and watched a really strange movie which I’m not sure I can recommend to other people yet- I was tired. I was ready to get home back to my house-spot in Embetsu. But the trip home was not without winter delays and our bus having to pull over and wait highway-side for another bus to come and take us up the rest of the way home. That experience was a first. But home nonetheless and I took in a lot of sleep.
This week it is back to work. I have just been asked to start up a volunteer English conversation class after work on Tuesdays. Living in such a foreign setting I am not sure that ‘sudden’ changes and requests really come up as such a ‘surprise’ anymore. It has been a factual blessing to be learning Japanese and to see a little more of what goes on in the workplaces, shopping places around me. But I must say that at the end of the day, halfway through my appointment on JET my head begins to ache just a little.
Maybe it has been the knowing that my position abroad will come to an end. And so, maybe it is that any frusterations, wonders, worries finally have an outlet given that my position will terminate in August. All those things that I swept up under the rug of joyful experience and new sights have finally spilled out the other end. Maybe what I am trying to say is that reality has finally hit and with that hit comes a few changes and new shapes to my present experiences.
A time has come where I am glad that I have a foundation of the things that I like in Japan -food, music, people, culture. But on the other hand there has come a time where I can now, having experienced so many months (almost seven) living abroad here day in and day out, I can come to be honest with myself about tough little spots and calloused bits in my days. Just because I came to love Japan before I came here doesn’t mean that I have to call every last thing and experience (both good and sour) ‘great’ under the guise of foreign experience. I owe it to myself and to my understanding to be honest with myself. Honest about things that work, and honest about things that are so different. The saying or not saying of hello to other people in very friendly or very public settings being just one example of those differences. People can be closed off towards others -and I see/know that culture and sociability is a very different beast in Japan compared to Canada.
I am glad that I have come to see more sides and truths of a place that does very much interest me. It for for realizing and seeing these ‘differences’ that I will continue to grow and shape my understanding of Japan -and of myself.
So until such a time when I board a velvety plane seat and roll and ride my way back home I will have a mission to continue to make the most of what I am exposed to and lucky to do and see. And I will have to continue to be honest about what I am seeing and feeling.
Japan and home. Both places -anywhere we go, in fact, has both good and wild sides. I have come to see that now more and more. And as for today I am looking to going home in a few minutes, cooking up some curry and tidying up my house. I will do some laundry, watch a film, chat with friends and family back home and then prepare to do it all again tomorrow. Because after all that is what life is, a series of opportunities, actions, and experiences. Whether these things happen here or there (wherever) it is up to us and us alone to make the most of it. Gosh, I’m ready for some curry. And goodness does my coffee taste great with my new cup-top coffee filter-maker thing. The way coffee was made before the machine. And with Miyakoshiya coffee. A wonder to me coffee-loving soul.
I will make one last note, these thoughts are mine and I take full responsibility for them. Many people that know me know that I have quite a fascination with many things Japanese. It is in no way my intent to give misleading impressions about my work nor my observations otherwise. Please read this knowing that you are reading my opinion -not stated fact. And with that, enjoy!
I’ll catch you again soon. I revel thinking about how many morning cups of coffee I get to have before we chat again! And trust me, there will be more -photos, too!
Do take care and let’s share again soon, for these are just the ramblings of some wonder-filled, adventure and experience hungry youth working and travelling abroad.
And with that,
Ciao!