So Many Excellent Adventures Part 3

Part 3: How Lucky We Are

Well if you haven’t heard by now, Mark and I are the proud new owners of a Springer Spaniel named Lucky. She was rescued from the Fukushima area after the earthquake and tsunami, so after a year of shelters and foster homes she has found her way permanently into our home and hearts. Ruby and Lucky are getting along great! Lucky is learning English and how to duck under Ruby’s tail. She is really sweet, lays around all day and begs just like Ruby. Lucky is slowly coming out of her shell, she has been through a lot but just the other morning she started a game of chase with Ruby right before breakfast.

She may even be a better beggar than Ruby!

They are so cute!

We had every intention of adopting a younger dog, one that would outlive Ruby. We were originally told Lucky was 3-5 years old… it turns out Lucky is 6-8 years old. So we have settled on her turning 7 on St. Patrick's Day. 

Lucky with her birthday bone.

Also in this post I thought I would throw a few photos and mini stories that are worth posting.

So in January I was able to go to a Daruama doll festical. The Daruma doll, also known as a Dharma doll, is a hollow, round, Japanese traditional doll. These dolls, though typically red and depicting a bearded man (Dharma), vary greatly in color and design depending on region and artist. The dolls are purchased to make a wish/prayer on in the begininning of the year from a temple. As I understand it you color in one eye when you make your wish for the year and then the other eye when your wish comes true. Then at the end of the year, all the Daruma are brought back to the temple they were purchased from for a traditional burning ceremony. The dolls come in different sizes based on if it is for an individual, family or coorperation.

The Big Daruma!

The Burn Pile. All those wishes came true! YAY!

If you haven’t heard one of my dear friends, Sheena, has been in Japan for the past couple months. We have gone to Tokyo Disney and Kamakura together. I hope to spend some more time with her and her now visiting husband this weekend.

Main Street is covered in Tokyo Disney!

You can try on Cinderella's glass slipper.

and play with army men!

Oh and the snow snow snow! Who knew it snowed in Japan so much. Mark and I have been taking snowboarding trips whenever we can.

My cute little family!

She burrows!

We got over 5 inches in one night!

Now that it is slightly warming up we have the blooming of the Plum Blossom Trees, which is before the blooming of the Cherry Blossom Trees.  I was invited by one of my students to take a hike with a local Japanese hiking group to a Plum Blossom Forest, but it was still too early and hardly anything was in bloom. Now, I have to tell you that this hiking group’s members were all 60 to 83 year old Japanese Ladies and one elderly man. They kicked my butt on this hike. I thought we were going on a nature walk….. no way. We hiked 5 miles up a mountain! They have hiked all of the world: Alaska, California, Africa…. They are hardcore. The group has also asked me to come back, so I am now a member of a hiking group. The only Gaijin member. I guess someone has to be the token blonde in this country. lol.

Double Waterfall

A Shrine in the Mountains

Some of the Plum Blossoms

My Hiking Club!

And lastly a few fun photos....

Mark wants a new bike.

My Valentine's Day present :)

A sign by some construction, this country is so cute!!!!

In case you missed this one.

Lost in translation.... this happens all the time.

Thank you all for reading. We do love and miss you all.

So Many Excellent Adventures: Part 2

Part 2: Hokkaido

In February, after Mark came back from the Philippines we headed to the Northern Island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido is famous for its snowboarding, chocolate, ramen, seafood and beer. We snowboarded for 2 days at the Niseko resort near Hirafu. They refer to this area as “little Australia” because the Australians have taken over.  The positive side to that is everything is in ENGLISH!!! This makes directions, ordering food and every day conversation SO EASY! It was like a vacation from Japan. The snow was also amazing, the best powder I have ever seen, touched, or boarded on. It was like snowboarding on clouds…. I still dream about it. 

We also heard that Hokkaido had a lot of ninjas hidden out on the slopes, so I was teaching Mark some moves, this is the round house kick set up.

He is a much better-dressed Ninja

out in the Pow Pow

it was so wonderful!

We stayed at the Niseko Hilton - this was the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in. There was a Japanese and English style breakfast, it was ski in - ski out, and it had the best onsen (public bath) I have ever been to. This particular onsen was two stories. The upper story was inside, but then you could go downstairs to a covered outside pool connected to a koi pond with a view of the local mountain. It was breathtaking. You could sit near the edge and let the snow fall on you, or towards the back and be engulfed in the steam. On the second afternoon I had the entire onsen to myself… it was one of the most relaxing moments I have ever had.

Our Hotel

The Onsen.  No, that isn't me!!!

After two days of snowboarding on clouds, we headed to Sapporo City on Hokkaido for the Sapporo Snow Festival. This is where Sapporo beer is from. It is also where Royce Chocolate is from. We definitely enjoyed the chocolate, maybe a little too much… we spent over an hour searching for the Royce chocolate factory…. without any luck.

A pamphlet given to us on how to dress, I wore all this and more!

Sapporo is really famous for miso ramen.  MMMMMMMmmmmmmmm!

The History of Sapporo is really interesting; Hokkaido wasn't considered livable until about 100 years ago. Then the US was asked to help design the city, so there is a lot of western/europeon type architecture throughout the city. 

St Patrick's Church

The Ice Festival was amazing - there were snow and ice sculptures bigger than houses, carved with exquisite detail. It is hard to imagine how these sculptures are planned, carved and carried without actually seeing it in action. Mark and I were lucky enough to arrive the day before the festival so we got to view the finishing touches on some of the sculptures.

Finishing up a Shrine Snow Sculpture

Dare me?

This snow sculpture is bigger than a house

Ice sculptures lined street

Watch out a snow shark!

This sculpture was near life sized and made out of ice.

It was a really fun time, but the weather was FREEZING! I was wearing multiple layers with heated hand and toe warmers, and I was still cold. But the sights, snow and food was worth being a little cold.

On our way home after eating too much good food, snowboarding on mind blowing slopes and seeing some of the most beautiful snow and ice art in the world we ran into a little bit of a problem. We were sitting on the train in Sapporo headed to the airport each with our luggage and snowboarding bags, all happy and warm. Then an announcement came on in Japanese, some people got up and exited the train. Then another announcement, and more people left the train, then everyone started to leave the train. We had no idea what was going on. Finally I approached a security guard and we spoke some japenglish, he communicated that the train was broken, there will be NO other trains to the airport.  Now if you don’t live in Japan you don’t know that trains are the way to get around. We don’t generally drive far, cabs are VERY expensive and the buses can be very confusing. 

So what are we to do? I ask the security guard what to do, he tells me to go out the east exit, then do something that I don’t really understand…. So we head out the exit and see people running. I try to use my Japanese to ask what is going on, and I get some very nice English about a bus. A bus!?!?! To the airport?!?!?! YAY!!!! 

So we run, we run fast…. with our 2 bags and 2 snowboard bags trying not to take out old ladies in the process…. and we arrive at a … line. A LONG line. Then it started snowing, what some would consider a snowstorm. So then we stood in line, outside, for about an hour, to head to the airport.

The line.....

It went on and on ....

Apparently snowboard bags also make great snow shields!

All in all, it was a great trip, except for the old ladies I had to take out with my snowboard in the airports and on the train. If you ever get the chance to go to Hokkaido, please go. It is amazing. But possibly think about renting your board/skis up there.

So Many Excellent Adventures Part I

The past few months I have been a horrible blogger, Mark and I have been having such excellent adventures and I have not shared them with you! Here is the first of many attempts to catch up!

So Many Adventures Part 1: Manila

Back in December I was able to join Mark in Manila, Philippines for two weeks. We spent Christmas and New Years in the city. Mark was there for work and I spent most of my time laying by the pool, wandering the malls connected to our hotel and going on day trips with Mark.

We took a canoeing trip to Pagsanjan Falls, which was absolutely breathtaking.  It was like something out of Jurassic Park. Unfortunately when I say canoeing trip I mean that two men canoed us up the river while we idly sat by taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of nature. On that day we could not make it up to the actual falls, though, as the river was really high and rough.

In full protective gear .  The people behind us are going under the falls.

Some of the nicer housing along the river...

We also were able to visit an island in a lake on top of a mountain, on a island in a lake, on an island in the ocean.  Yeah, say that 5 times fast! The name of the mountain is Mt. Taal. It's one of the 1,000 Places to see before you die. We took an outrigger canoe to the middle island and then hiked up to the lake. We didn't actually get to go onto the inner most island - during that time of year the inner most lake is closed because of the temperature of the water.

an aerial  view of the mountain, courtesy of Mark

The island in a lake on top of a mountain, on a island in a lake, on an island in the ocean!

Family housing on the island

All geared up for our outrigger ride

The outriggers

I also dragged Mark to a historical city tour of Intramuous, the inner city of Manila built during the Spanish reign. I found the tour to be really interesting and informative, our tour guide really educated us on the Philippines current state of brokeness. If you even make it to Manila and need a good tour guide please look up Carlos at http://celdrantours.blogspot.com/. He was really amazing, plus he gave us chocolate during the tour and a dessert at the end.

Original wall of Intramuros

View from Intramuros

Ruins from WWII

There are many Spanish style churches in Manila - most of these churches have a decorated Filipino flair.

Lastly, I could not leave you without letting you know about the Filipino National dessert, the Halo-halo. I know it sounds a bit complicated, but in a hot muggy country it is the perfect dessert.! At the end of our Intramuros tour our guide gave one to every person, stating that the dessert is very much like the Philippines at the moment: a little of everything all mixed in one, very colorful and good.

I have to say that the Philippines was a heart wrenching place to visit. They are a people who have had their country and their culture ripped away from them time and time again. This has resulted in the country being left broken and poverish. The islands themselves have a lot to offer, they are very beautiful, most of the people are hard working English speakers, but corruption within their own ranks holds them down. I truly hope that this country can find its footing and culture to rise again as a strong nation.