Well, it has been a long winter. The cherry blossoms up here in Aomori are finally starting to blossom. The cherry blossom phenomenon in Japan is amazing. Once spring appears to have hit southern Japan the cherry blossom track is on. The daily news will have maps of blossom sightings and will plot the average dates areas of Japan are supposed to bloom and the time period to best view the blossoms. Hirosaki, in Aomori, is supposed to be the most beautiful place in Japan to see cherry blossoms . Cherry Blossom season means many Hanami Parties. Hanami is cherry blossom viewing parties, where large groups of people gather under the blossoms have have large picnics, eat a lot, drink and view the cherry blossoms!
But, to back up a bit since the l
ast post. February I spent my birthday at the Sapporo Snow Festival. I went with my friend Christy and we spent the weekend looking at huge snow sculptures, ice sculptures and enjoying the snow! The rest of the winter was just spent with some snowboardin
g, curling, and the regular bread making, hip hop dance, and hanging out with friends (foreign as well as Japanese haha).
Much of March and April was spent without school visits. The kids were on spring vacation and then started a new school year (starts in April). So that meant many boring days in the office. But thankfully school visits have started up again. My two new regular schools are Tsutsui JHS and Toyama JHS. I enjoy the kids and almost all of the teachers at Toyama, so I am looking forward to that. And I had never been to Tsutsui. I have been going there this week though. Its one of the largest JHS in the city, with around 700 kids (for three grades). Its the biggest school I have been to. This week I am teaching the first years (7th grade). There are eight cla
sses of about 30. I like the kids a lot, they are not boring yet not out of control (although there are many loud kids but that makes it even more fun), well behaved but get excited about the work and will participate, so I think it will be a good school.
So, now I am looking forward to spring. It is finally starting to warm up. But, more importantly Golden Week is coming up. Golden Week is the first week in May where the entire country of Japan gets three holidays in a row, making it a five day weekend, where everyone travels. Luckily I am able to take off days of work, so me and two of my friends will be spending two weeks in the Philippines!!
I leave this friday for Tokyo and
the Philippines on Saturday. So my next post hopefully will not be so delayed and will have many fun stories from the phils!
