Hokkaido Kudasai: Fleas and Snow White

What a great day we had yesterday! We headed out of the house at 9 am so that we could get the 9:25 am bus to Sapporo. Once in Sapporo, we went to the subway and bought the Donichika tickets for 500 yen each. It’s available on weekends and holidays and good for as many subway rides as you can make in a day. We more than got our money’s worth. Our first destination was the Hokkaido International School’s Spring Bazaar and flea market. I went to this event last year by myself. Ted must have been on a field trip that day because he loves to go to flea markets. We had a little walk from the subway station, but it wasn’t too far.

It was held in the school gymnasium and there was also a food area with the senior class selling Thai curry and Indian curry meals for 400 yen. Both had meat so I passed them up, but Ted enjoyed the Thai curry. Proceeds from the curry sales were for the benefit of an orphanage in Thailand.

Ted found quite a few fleas – some books, a Japanese print, a hammock, some brass bell things, a tool set, and maybe some other things. I bought a mola for 500 yen, two beautiful saris for 500 yen for both, and some Japanese looking cotton print fabric – three for 300 yen. We were both happy with our purchases.

Then we went back to Odori Park to see flowers – the snow is gone in Sapporo.

Our next destination was Hokusei Girls’ High School to see the play, Snow White in English! I have attended Tea Ceremony and Kanji workshops at this school in the past. Some of the tea ceremony girls recognized me and waved from across the auditorium.

It was fantastic! The girls were adorable and their English excellent. They sang and danced – it was amazing! The costumes were perfect. I thought there would be many English speaking foreigners in the audience, but I was wrong. The audience was mostly other students in their sailor uniforms.