Skiing and Shoeshoeing with friends

We went to Kokusai on Saturday for a ski trip with Tanioka-san, Bre's JSPS advisor, Jody, and Tanya.  The snow was excellent and for a short while the sky was clear.  The clouds and snow rolled in in the afternoon and it was back to the Kokusai we know and love, where you can't see the snow you are skiing over.  Bre improved by leaps and bounds through some lessons by Jody.  It is hard to believe she has only been skiing 5 times.  She ran her first black diamond run!

Here is a photo of Tanioka-san looking down at me on the black diamond run.

In this photo you can see Jody in her trademarked spiky hat and above her is Tanioka-san skiing.

On Sunday we went on a snoshoeing outing with the Hokkaido International Outing Club at the Art Park.  The snowshoes are free to rent.  The Art Park is really a sculpture park.  We had a good time meeting new friends and hiking around in the snow.

Here Jody is showing off her snowshoes for the camera.

I wondered if the sculptures were designed to be covered in snow.  Some of them were not, but I think this one was. 

Here is an actual photo of us taken by someone else.  I don't think we have had one of these since we came to Japan.  Thanks Leon!  You can see some of the sculptures behind us.

Something went wrong with the panorama feature in this photo.  I think of it as a happy accident.

Here is another photo by Leon of us in the sculptures.

Here is Tanya hanging out by one of the metal sculptures.

And Jody being silly.

I really liked this sculpture.  It is a kinetic sculpture designed to move in the wind.  I was able (just barely) to reach it and start it spinning.  Each of the tall windmill arms could spin around the crossbar and the whole thing was able to rotate on the main pillar giving it several different types of motion.  It looked very cool with it's shiny reflective surface.

I took a short video of the sculpture moving to give you a sense of what it is like.

Here is a distorted group photo reflected through one of the sculptures.

After the long morning of snowshoeing we came back to a cabin the club had rented for the day and had some very tasty cheese fondue.  Here are some of the items we used for the fondue laid out.

Leon was in charge of the fondue pot.  He certainly draws a crowd when making lunch.  I think this was the first time I had fondue, and I don't know why I waited so long.  It was very good.

Of the photos I included in this blog post I would like to ask you, my readers, to write a message about the one that makes the strongest impression with you.   What is it that you find interesting about the sculptures, or the food, or whatever you notice.  I know there are some readers out there who are shy, but I enjoy hearing from all of you, so let me know what you think.  I want you to write something in the comments section so I get over my impression I am just blogging into the ether.

That's all for now,

Kyle (and Bre)

More Google Translate Poetry

I got this email a few days ago from my department.  The Google translation of the Japanese text is the more humorous than any other email I've received to date.


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Contents of the message board contact
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact the board (from the engagement announcement Buildings) has been updated.


Dear Student Teachers

For the title of, and following from Planning Department General Affairs General Affairs Division Safety and Health Office
I had an accident and request the information known, tell us if our
Suggestions.

When using the heater, the weak near flammable materials and heat
Do not place the potatoes, be sure to check if there is a risk of falling
Not.


-------------------------------------------------- ---------


[Overview]
I ignited the gas stove, electric ride on the resin was
M2 students in order to extinguish a fire extinguisher and smoke began to melt kettle. In addition, fire
Disaster alarm system is activated, and the 911.


[Damage]
Electric Kettle (beyond repair) one. One burner stove. Of human sufferingThe.


[Cause]
Articles on the stove for everyday use (electric kettle) is placed
Despite Teita, lighted surroundings without checking, by now
Moved to the room.


[Countermeasures]
Combustible materials and high temperature around the heater. In addition, frequently used
When using the heater is less, and verify its installation conditions and operating conditions
File. In addition, there is a fundamental improvement in the effective daily tidying
File.


[Related Information]
Open-combustion appliances such as oil and gas (no combustion appliances exhaust ducts)
The adequate ventilation is required. In addition, deterioration of the hose to the gas stove
With caution. High power consumption equipment such as electric stove wall outlet directly
Result is desirable, 15A unavoidable even when using an extension cord (1500W) for
Ensuring sufficient electrical capacity, such as those used in the corresponding single.

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What is your opinion of this poem?




I don't have the full story of what actually happened that caused the email to be sent to the message board.  But I'm guessing someone tried to somehow cook a potato in one of the little kitchen areas in our building.  And the result was damage to 1- an electric teakettle, 2- the stove, and 3- a human.  Luckily only the electric teakettle was damaged beyond repair.




That's all for now.


-Bre (and Kyle)


_____________________________________


I just got another mysterious one this afternoon:

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Contents of the message board contact
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Contact the board (from the engagement announcement Buildings) has been updated.

Parties concerned
(Excluding official North Campus)


How to operate high-pressure gas you will be contacted in the last year, ready
So ready, I would like will be implemented in earnest.
(The contents of the last contact, the contact attachment to the board
Please check)

As for the blue tag, tag and send it to those responsible for today's flight campus
We have. Tags for black, already high pressure Gasubon
Base is already installed in the storage yard.

Future through the implementation of the operation, the total pressure in the gas cylinder storage yard
I have become over the gas cylinder container with a blue tag, where
You can check for the presence of the owner or filling.

Operational start date "February 01 (Wednesday)," and all that day Gasubo
As you state you wish to have a blue tag hanging containers ンベ
The stomach. Later, around the yard in charge of upkeep of each tank, takes a tag
Containers are not, check your owner's tag was missing
I sure will be asked, thank you.

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Takino cross country ski and tube

Hello,

We tried out Takino Snow World.  It is a short hop, skip, and a jump south of Sapporo.  We took the subway and bus to get there.  Takino is a great park with lots of snow, family activities, and inexpensive entertainment.  This first photo is taken from the observation tower near the entrance.  Behind me is the parking lot (not scenic), and in front you can see the many skiers getting ready.  They have both downhill and cross country skiing.  The downhill course is on the right side of the photo.  It is a single beginner run with one chairlift.  The large lodge on the left of the photo houses the rental shop, locker rooms, a gift shop, restaurant, and a giant stuffed flying squirrel that may be one of the park's mascots.

On the left hand side of the photo you can see a covered walkway and a smaller building.  This houses the cafeteria that we went to for lunch.  In the distance there are mountains, though I don't know which ones.

We went with Adit, his wife Nina and daughter Raya, Olga and her son Valdis, Tanya and Jody.  Tanya spent most of the day cross country skiing.  Bre, Jody and I tried both tubing and cross country skiing.

Here is a photo of the staircase up to the viewing area.  It was quite a long spiral staircase.  When I went down it I went so fast that I started to get dizzy from the spinning motion.

Here is a view of the giant stuffed flying squirrel with Olga and Valdis.  According to the English brochure about the park the squirrels name is Kinotan.

Here is a photo of Adit and Prya with the same squirrel.

The tubing is free!  Here we are waiting in line to go down the S-shape course.  There were many other people waiting in line as well. The walls of the course have been built up very high so that you can do big banking turns around each corner.

I put together a 2 minute video of the tubing.  The clip includes a brief appearance by Jody and a final run down the straight tubing course.  I call it the chuckle run because most of the video is just me chuckling on my way down the hill, so be warned.

Prya discovered this awesome indoor playground.  She didn't want to leave it, even for lunch.  The netting is attached to the ceiling with large ropes and there is netting to keep the kids from getting anywhere they could fall.  I really liked this playground and wished I could play on it too.

There was light snow throughout the day.  Bre and I noticed that many of the snowflakes seemed to be perfectly symmetrical.  This one was photographed on my hat with the macro setting on the camera.

That's all for now.

-Kyle (and Bre)

Japanese class means homework

We haven't been doing many photogenic activities recently, so it's been a while since we posted a blog.  Here are two photos Kyle took yesterday as we walked across the field on the way to the university.

Kyle and I have finally gotten around to starting Japanese lessons, thanks to a friend (Anna) of a friend (Olga) who said we should just come with her.  Kyle and I attended two classes on Thursday.  The first class was more advanced than we were.  We frantically took notes as fast as we could.  This is a picture of my notebook.

We don't yet know if we will take both classes, or just 1.  They meet twice a week.  Here are the textbooks.

We have homework before the next class-- we have to learn Hiragana! We have study hall together at night now, just like we're in high school again.  It's hard to learn a new alphabet.  In this picture you can see my fingers going white from gripping the pencil too hard.  As the letters get more familiar, my fingers will relax.

That's all for now!

-Bre (and Kyle)

Bre's favorite foods

I thought I would write a blog post about some of my favorite things that I've found at the grocery store so far.  

One of my favorite foods is mushrooms and you can find a TON of different types of mushrooms at the store... and all of them are affordable!  In Seattle, usually only crimini or white mushrooms are affordable; wild mushrooms cost an arm and a leg and we only buy portabella or shitake mushrooms for special occasions.  But here I buy fancy mushrooms every time I go to the store!!!

Kyle took a bunch of pictures of different types of mushrooms we can buy... and these aren't even all of them!

 The following is an addition from Molly M. regarding the mushroom photo above.  I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it with everyone else. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've gotten all but one of  these from the Korean market and other Asian markets, where they also aren't very expensive (compared to a Whole Food Market wild-caught Chanterelle, for instance). Fresh Shiitake are sold about everywhere (around here and in the Bay Area anyway) nowadays. Enoki are pretty common too.

Here's what I concluded about mine, and yours, from the pictures.

From bottom left in the group picture (of mushrooms), and working counterclockwise:

Fresh Shiitake at 6:00
Two kinds of Shimeji ( Wikipedia says Hypsizygus tesselatus) -- the white one is a newish cultivar. I didn't like the ones I got all that much. It's amazing how much more there is about these mushrooms on the web now -- lots of descriptions about how they're used.  I have something like it that pops up on dying wood at the bases of trees once in a while --  at, call it 9:00 for both. The vacuum packed ones might be pickled or salted Shimeji?

More Shiitake (different cultivar?), I suspect, at top left.

Next, the Eryngi, a relative of the oyster mushroom (genus Pleurotus). King Trumpet in American.   Hokio is an American company (also? exclusively?) so were your Eryngi imported I wonder? I've only seen them in Asian stores here.

The skinny little guys are Enoke, of course. Pretty good in a salad.

The wide thin one at bottom right looks like Pleurotus, one of the many oyster mushrooms.  They grow in big colonies on tree trunks, and come back year after year. They seem to like a little life in the tree but can be cultivated on logs, and are. Pleurotus is the a gilled mushroom. The other choice would be Maitake, which is a polypore (think Artists' Conk, the big plate-like woody mushroom with the nice white drawing surface underneath) and a relative of Chicken of the Woods -- the bright yellow or orange Polyporus sulphureus , which has very thick edges that you cut off. Maitake is the one I haven't seen, but Hokio grows it. I hardly ever look for particular mushrooms -- just grab anything I haven't ever had before!

m

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Here's a rice dish I made with a bunch of them.  It was tasty.

Some other favorite foods we've found at the store are fresh noodles (pictured below), fresh gyoza, many different kinds of tofu, daikon radishes and interesting green leafy vegetables that we can't identify.

And some people have been asking about sweets.

This is the best chocolate bar company that I've found so far (in my milk-chocolate opinion).

This is our favorite hard candy-- Mitsuya Cider is a type of soda, and the candy is like soda-- fizzy.

And this is my favorite cookie.

So there you have it-- some things at the grocery store that make me excited.

-Bre (and Kyle)