winter wonderland

so last week i did a couple of christmas lessons, well kind of. my teacher wanted me to play some christmas carols and make worksheets that had words missing in the lyrics and the kids had to write it in. then they got to make christmas cards for the rest of the lesson. it was actually really fun and listening to carols got me feeling all christmasy and missing home :P

this last weekend was a lot of fun. started it out friday night with some sushi and teenage mutant ninja turtles with brian. this is when the snow started to fall. on my way home it was pretty white out, but not a whole lot on the ground yet.

saturday morning, i headed down to hirosaki to meet up with a couple of teachers for lunch and conversation. that was fun. and it was still snowing. met up with the hirosaki cew afterwards to listen to some shamisen and then karaoke. the shamisen place was cool. although ended up paying 2,000 yen ($20) for one beer, but thats just how it goes here. when we went outside, there was even more snow and it wasn't stopping. we went to karaoke, but one place treated us like shit so we went to another place that was cheaper and better. ended up doing karaoke for 4 hours and the highlight song was some queen!

after karaoke (by now it's 1 am) we headed back. when we went outside, there was a little more than ankle deep powder all over the place. it was beautiful! it would have been a lot of fun to walk in too if it weren't for the fact that i was wearing converse sneakers that got soaking wet! anyways, headed back to kevin's place for tea and sleep. the next day, kev, ben, and i walked around hirosaki. went to the park and some samurai houses and had fun in the snow! and it was all blue skies!

on my way home, i got a little worried because i knew if it had snowed that much in hirosaki then it only means it snowed that much more in kanagi so i wasnt sure what my driveway would be like. but it turns out that i have terrific neighbors who actually shoveled it for me! ahhhhhh!!! thank you!!! they are such a nice old couple. did i tell u that they gave me a daikon a couple of weeks ago too?

anyways, they are all saying that from now on it will be a white land here. joyful!! now i really have to try and wake up early from now on! oye :P but one thing, is for sure ... it is very pretty!!! check out the pics below ...














thats hirosaki castle















in the park















can u see mt. iwaki through the gate? it's all white
















kev, me, and ben in a winter wondeland

















that was after karaoke