you must see the snow festival!!!!!!!

so i had an awesome weekend!!!!! it started out with some good curry at akbar's in aomori on friday night. then kevin, ben, and aki and i got on the night train to sapporo. luckily (or unluckily because it was more expensive) i had a bed instead of a regular seat. there were some really cute kids sleeping in the same cart as well so i talked to them.

arrived saturday morning at around 6:15 and headed to brian and aly's room to crash on their floor for a couple of hours. after we woke up and got ready, went down to odori park to see the festivities! was able to meet up with yuka, a friend from sapporo, and kevin, aki, and ben. the weather was absolutely amazing!!!! it's been a long time since i've seen blue skies and it was definately welcomed. we all walked around the park and checked put the awesome sculptures. then we all met up with becky, meredith, and midori to have soup curry (famous in sapporo) for lunch.


after lunch, we headed down to susukino to check out the ice scultpure road and again, it was absolutely amazing! i dont even know how many ice sculptures there were but they were fantastic ~ dragons, turtles, bailey's bottle, birds, fish, buildings, cars, and many more! after the ice sculpture road, we split up.

me, aki and aly met up with one of my friends, yuriko (from sapporo) and we did some shopping. after that, i met up with daichi (another friend from sapporo) and 2 of his friends who later became my friends :) we headed back to odori park to see all the sculptures lit up with the lights and that was really beautiful. then it was time to meet up with everyone again for dinner. at long last, we finally sat down for a an hour and half tabe and nomihodai (all you can eat and drink ~ but not like buffet style) and that was fun!! we all had to wear bibs to prevent meat juices from getting on our clothes and then stuffed ourselves with beer and meat!

after dinner, we headed to a bar and met up with some other people. then it was time for me to catch a train to go spend the night at my host brother and sister-in-law's place. almost didnt make the train though, had just got on as the doors closed behind me! but finally made it and talked with the sister-in-law for a while and then went to bed. the next day saw my host brother, and met up with my host mom (even saw my host father for a bit) and we did a little shopping and had lunch together. then back to aomori! didn't get home late because the train was late (thats 2 out of 3 times that my train has been late coming back from sapporo! what's up man!).

all in all, it was a very short trip but very nice! got to see the festival, hang out with lots of friends, met up with the host family and the weather was perfect!

check my pictures page for all the pictures from the weekend!