Friday, December 30, 2005

This is too important to not post on blog...

To those people who had left Kanoya, but then had not quite left my blog... (that means you guys, Mike and Heather!!) It snowed in Kanoya... yes, it friggin' snowed whole night and I have the photos to prove it! On the morning of December 22nd, Kanoya people woke up to a world that they had never ever seen (well, except for those really old people, because the last time it was so white on the ground, was like 88 years ago)


The photo above was taken from my apartment window... everything was covered with snow... white powdery snow...


And in this keitai pic you can see the Takakuma, completely snowed up...

And on the right, is a pic of the Kanoya city hall... amazing sight.. but then before it reaches noon, the sun came out and melted it all away.. no fun... :p However, I think lots of kids made snowman (and they were terrible at it, none of them could pack the ice well like us Canucks do.) heh. Oh and Minocchi and I had to return the equipment for Film Night event, we couldn't get the car to climb uphill... since it was too slippery and the car's tires were just too shitty. While we were in the car, Nanette voiced her opinion that we should shut the city down since nobody knows how to drive anymore... not in this weather condition anyway.. well... good thing it melted so quickly, eh?

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

A fun day in Kagoshima Aquarium

Went to the Kagoshima city Aquarium for the day with Yuka and O-tomi (from here, Tomi). It was quite fun, considering how I never quite appreciate Aquariums, well, until today anyways. Because Tomi volunteers at the Aquarium and he knows alot, and I do mean ALOT, about fish and stuff... He gave us a tour and we could basically ask any stupid questions we want.

Here's a pic of the Inuzame (Dog Shark, in Japanese)'s baby. They actually look kinda cute like this when they're babies, but then when they grow up they just turn grey. Since next year will be the Inu toshi (Dog year), the Kag Aquarium people decided to showcase these babies. But then they were all like this, not moving at all. Apparently they were just saving energy... since they only get fed so few times, if possible they would not move unless there's food involved. heh




And we also found Nemo.. hee hee, well clownfish anyways. They're so cute.. I showed the movie "Finding Nemo" at my eikaiwa class just last week and used the film to test their listening. Instead of Japanese subtitles, I put up the English caption, so they could understand it better.









And here's the dolphin show... oh sorry, "Dolphin's Time" The Kag Aquarium people never call it dolphin show, since the reason for the dolphins performing is to teach kids about the dolphins, not exclusively for entertainment. Basically to make people more aware of the aquatic life of dolphins and whales. I guess because the place is kinda small, I felt like it's alot closer than other times when I saw dolphins... well, I saw dolphins numerous times when I worked at West Ed, but only passing by and not once had I ever paid to get in and sit in the audience. In the photo, one of the dolphins did a jump to show how high she can jump to reach the ball by using her tail. Very cute.


Then we went to Yoshino Park to see the supposedly best view of Sakurajima since the day was just gorgeous! The sun was shining and very clear... as you can see there was absolutely no cloud, just beautiful blue sky. That's Otomi sensei, and he has dubbed himself as "Tomi" since it would be easier for everybody to call him.

Over all the day was just awesome and Yuka and Tomi were fun to hang out with. It was a great day. and we all got souvenirs, courtesy of Tomi, the Aquarium's desktop calendar.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas to everyone!

(<= My Christmas present my family sent all the way from Canada ;p)

Exactly a year ago, there was the true Christmas miracle for my whole family... On our way to Whistler, our van slipped on the highway and went circling around the roads in two full circles and then landed on the other side of the road... thankfully we were only just shocked, no injuries or anything... That was the best present I had ever got for Christmas, my family and I were all safe and sound.

Well.. anyways, this Christmas I'm just relaxing in the good ol' Kanoya, can't really go anywhere because of the stupid city merge (gotta work tomorrow.. arrrrgh...) I went to help moving office stuff on last Friday too (and it was the Emperor's birthday!!! I started whining why I had to go when it's the Emperor's birthday, we should all celebrate in his honour! :p) oooh... gotta stop complaining... on a lighter note, I'm enjoying the silly variety shows they have on TV, some Christmas specials. And I played a full afternoon of PS2 game "Kingdom Hearts" hee hee~ People think it's sad that I spent Christmas at home and alone.. but nah, this is EXACTLY what I would do at home in Canada... watching TV and pigging out at home. hee hee

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all who just enjoy the holiday spirit!

'Tis the season to send Nengajo

Just like what I said in my presenation at the midyear conference in Chiba last month, I send out nengajos every year when I'm in Japan. And this year, man oh man, I have twice as many people to send out... After 1 year and a half in Kanoya, I've gotten to know quite alot of people, and then... yes, gotta send them nengajos too.

And I went a bit overboard.. so here is what they look like :p
I love those glittering gels... and the cute stickers... man, maybe next year I'll just get the conbini people to print out nengajos for me... making these takes a looooong time. I just hope that I get as many as I sent out on new years day :p