Ski Race Trip - Part 1

I’m the kind of person who likes to plan, make lists, and be on top of all that goes on around me.  All that goes out the window here.  I can never really plan because I never really know what is going on. Not being able to speak or read the language is part of it, but part of it is the culture differences.  I rely on Ted for translations, but he doesn’t always know what’s going on either.  In addition, he doesn’t think like I do, so he doesn’t think to ask the questions that I would if I could.

This weekend we went with the cross country ski class to the Miyasama International Ski Marathon in Biei. Everything I knew about the trip was that we were traveling by bus about three hours, we were staying in a “youth hostel”, and that I was entered in the 10K race and Ted in the 20K race.

Not knowing what kind of bus we would be taking or if we would be stopping at all on the ride to Biei, I decided not to drink any hot tea Saturday morning. We left a little after nine am and we did make a stop about ½ way there.

The scenery on the drive to Biei was beautiful.  We went through Furano where the famous downhill ski area is. We saw one mountain that is an active volcano. We saw some furry Hokkaido deer in the snow.  I don’t know how they survive!

We arrived at the youth hostel about four hours after leaving the university.  I had my own idea what a “youth hostel” was, but didn’t know if that was what a youth hostel would be here. It turned out to be a huge no frills conference center.  The only “youth” were the college students in the group.  Most of the people staying looked to be retirement age.

They had the whole shoe business going on at this place.  We came in at the lower level and left our boots and ski boots in this shoe room, putting on slippers or indoor shoes. 

If you forgot your slippers, you could wear your socks up to the dormitory area, where they had slippers in the rooms.

There were several people to a sleeping room and you had to leave your slippers at the room entrance and only wear your socks in the room. I didn’t know this at first because I couldn’t read the little label, but one of the students pointed it out to me and told me what it said.

 At the entrances to the bathrooms, there were toilet shoes available to use.

There were lots of rules and directions for how to do things at the youth hostel, but I couldn’t read them.

Lunch and supper were buffet style in the cafeteria.  After eating lunch, we went on a nature ski tour. It was a lot of fun, even if I did fall a few times.

This is not me.

After supper we had free time to go to the onsen. The dormitories had toilets and sinks, but no showers. You have to go to the onsen. People here have the idea that foreigners don’t want to take off their clothes and go to the onsen, and the students were no different.  They were surprised that I would be willing to get naked and soak in the onsen with them. I’m surprised that everyone thinks it is such a big deal.

At 8 o’clock everyone met to wax their skis and get ready for the next day’s race.

Come back tomorrow to read about Race Day!

How Much Does It Cost in Hokkaido?

A front page story in the 7 December 2011 Japan Times (I know it is over two months old, but I don’t have much to read in English here), said that Japanese cities are the most expensive in Asia for expats, due to the yen’s recent sharp rise.  The four most expensive cities in Asia for expatriates are Tokyo, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Kobe, all in Japan, followed by Seoul, Singapore, Bejing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Busan, South Korea.

I haven’t found it all that much more expensive here in Hokkaido than Raleigh for most things. We don’t have a car, which lessens our expenses.  I’m pretty sure things are less expensive here in Hokkaido than other parts of Japan. (If you are interested in what this translates to in US dollars, check http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/ )

Train from Iwamizawa to Hokkaido (37 km) 11 tickets for 8100 yen

Toyu (kerosene for stove) – varies but about 6700 yen for 72 liters

Electric bill – varies but around 4000 yen a month

Water/sewage bill – varies but around 3500 yen a month

Wifi – about 2300 yen a month

Japan Times daily newspaper 180 yen

Text book for Japanese class 2800 yen

Aerogramme (to write letter to US) – 90 yen

Items at the Hyaku Yen Store – 100 yen

Music Concert at University – free

Salad Bar lunch at Victoria Restaurant 504 yen

Set Lunch (vegetable or chicken curry) at Bombay Blue Indian Restaurant 690 -790 yen

Rice (2 kg) 980 yen

Milk (1L) 178 yen

Eggs (10 not 12 make a dozen here) – 146 yen

Apple 390 yen

Mikan  10 for 395 yen

Bean sprouts – 39 yen

Ground Coffee – (350 g) 418 yen

Sapporo beer (633 ml bottle) 326 yen

Vending machine beer 350-450 yen

Bread (six fat slices) 109 yen

Panda Cookies 105 yen

Living in a winter wonderland with the man I love – priceless (I know, corny but true)

Is there anything you’d like know the cost of?  Leave a comment and I’ll try to find out.

Analog Girl

There’s a Guy Clark song I like called Analog Girl, and while I’m not quite the girl in the song, I am pretty simple and low tech.  Ted likes all the gadgets and knows how to use them, but the simpler the better for me.  I’ve never been crazy about talking on the phone and really only used the one I had in the US to talk with Ted.  I don’t have a phone here.  I’ve written before that my digital camera is the size of a deck of cards and it is perfect for me.  I don’t need anything bigger or better.

The one gadget I really do like is my iPod touch. When Ted gave it to me, I thought I could listen to music on it, but didn’t give much thought to the other things it could do.  (I still don’t know all the things it can do.) Since deciding to come to Japan, it has been quite handy.

The two months that Ted was here and I was still in the US, we were able to see and talk every day, using FaceTime and it didn’t cost anything! (In addition to being low tech, I’m also very frugal.) I can check my email or look at the internet anywhere there is wifi.  I listen to music from it more here than I did before. It has google maps so I can see where I am and where I want to go. It has a weather feature, but I have to tell you, iPod weather hasn’t been all that accurate.  Sometimes it shows a sun on the iPod and when I look out, we are having “snow showers”. 

The thing I really appreciate having here is iBooks. Not having a television leaves me lots of time to read. There aren’t many English reading choices here.   IBooks on the iPod is convenient and much easier to carry that a book.  And the books are free! I could pay for books, but there are so many free ones that I doubt I will. I just finished Death on a Rocky Little Island by Lenny Everson. I thought it was going to be a murder mystery and it really wasn’t but it was good.

Ted knew it would be a good gift for me when he gave it to me, even if I didn’t at the time.

The Last of the Outdoor Life Winter Activities Classes

The last was actually two activities held in one morning – snowshoeing and hockey. (I should say the last for this school year.)

The morning started with snowshoeing.  After a quick lesson in the equipment and how to use it, the students took off into the woods. The fresh snow made it seem like they were in the wilderness.

Next on the agenda was ice hockey, using strap on plastic “skates”.  The competition took place on a packed smooth area in one of the university parking lots.

These winter activities classes were a good introduction to the activities for the first year students and a great way for the third year students to practice leadership skills and activity planning.

I’m continuing to work on the beaded nutcrackers. I think I’ve figured out the increasing and decreasing odd count peyote. These beads are so shiny and pretty, although the nutcrackers are a little scary looking.