Daily bread

At a church service a few weeks ago, the speaker spoke on Matthew 6:9-15, The Lords Prayer, with particular focus on the line 'Give us today our daily bread' (v11).

My mind wandered off for a few moments (as it always does, especially 'cause its quite tiring when trying to understand the Japanese as well as listen to Anniken sensei's English translation at the same time...).. it wandered over to Africa, picturing starving children who hardly even get a weekly bread, no clean water, minimalist living...

..my mind pondered over the reality of such a great gap in wealth and need between us (who have the privilege of even being able to read) and those who have literally, nothing. my mind got stuck on why I have so much, and I'm storing up so much, whereas so many others have nothing. 1 in 2 children live in poverty...! 1 in 7 have no access to health services. 1 in 5 have no clean water. 1 in 3 are without adequate shelter...(reference)

..my mind wandered across a spectrum of names of organisations, such as Christian Aid, Tearfund, Peace Corps...

..my mind then wandered over to a possibility of serving people with organisations like the above mentioned...it pondered over options of whether to simply support financially, or to actually go places and serve personally...

...my mind wandered back to the sermon, but was still thinking about what I was thinking about during that short wandering. And it has stuck with me since. I still haven't decided on anything. But I know something has to be done. Hmm.

Risk

I want to attempt snowboarding for the second time this weekend.

I'm very tempted.

The season's almost over. I've only ever been once. Lots of friends will be there. It will be fun. My friend is lending me a board so I don't have to rent one.

But I'm also slightly hesitant...

- Last time I went, I came back with masssssive pain all around my body. Especially the knees.

- I've been having slightly dodgy knees for the past 2 years now...?! Althought I don't know why.....just sometimes hurts a bit from time to time

- I got an email from someone emailing the JCF (Jet Christian Fellowship) listserve putting out a prayer request for a friend of hers who had a really bad snowboarding accident and is in hospital and will probably never walk again :S

- It costs money

What to do!??!?!

I'm still very tempted.

Ahh...Kerosene...

In a country where there is
- one of the world's fastest trains
- world's most advanced robots and cellphones
- built-in sat-nav system in most cars

...there is also
- no central heating
- no double glaze windows
- no insulation
in schools and homes.

In the approximately 1600-sq ft school staff room, there is a grant total of two kerosene heaters. In the approximately 4'C + wind-chill winter, the whiff of kerosene as you step into the staff room means relief. I usually stand right by the heater for a few minutes until I start getting looks from teachers nearby.

Today I had to endure two classes with NO HEATING in the classroom because the heater in both classrooms had run out of kerosene!! Sticks and stones won't break my bones but lack of kerosene might!!

The other side of the wardrobe

(Post title courtesy of M Tang)

If C.S. Lewis had a chance to visit Sapporo Japan in Winter then Narnia would've probably been about Japanese kids dropping out of the other side of their sliding-door-wardrobe.

I have fallen in love.

Fallen in love with snow. With Sapporo. With making snow angels. With making snowmen. Throwing snowballs. Diving into waist-deep walls of soft powder snow that the skies of Hokkaido produce.

I was still unsure about the whole trip the night before our expedition (last Thursday night) to the famed 札幌　雪祭り Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (Sapporo Snow Festival) - a 15-hour FERRY ride to Hokkaido, then another bus and subway ride to the hotel...!? So much hassle, with the notoriously loud and (usually) drunken bunch of ALTs, cold weather...

But now I think about it, it was all worth it. I think.

Indeed it was a long and treacherous and sleepless CRUISE ride (turned out to be 19 hours due to some incident on the ship); and indeed another 1-2 hour bus ride into Sapporo; followed by a 1-stop subway ride to Susukino (the Sapporo red-light district) where our hotel was.

Day 1 in Sapporo:
With only a late afternoon and evening left, we wasted no time in faffing or resting. Winners don't rest. We were on a military schedule. We explored the Susukino section of the Snow Festival - ice sculptures, and ate takoyaki. The main street was sealed off from vehicles and was lined with impressive ice carvings commissioned by companies advertising with ice.



The sculptures themselves weren't all awfully exciting. Some were. But I was still excited, just by being there and being part of it.


We also decided to make our own Yuki Matsuri by making little snowmen on a planter next to a busy bus stop outside our hotel. It was so good that a Japanese woman asked if she could take a photo of them with her cellphone. We became instant local celebrities. Or maybe she was just doing a portfolio or stupid foreigners in Japan and we fell right into her 'Foreigners and their fascination with snow' category.



That night we gorged on the infamous ジンギスカン焼肉　'Jingisukan' yakiniku (roast meat) all-you-can-eat at the Sapporo Beer Factory (but turns out its not really a factory its just a restaurant) til we couldn't stuff anymore lamb, beer and fat in our bellies.





Day 2:
We were out of the hotel at 8:30am - probably before many other JETs even turned in their sleep. First we did the main attraction of the festival - the 大通り　Odori Park, a massive long park where all the snow sculptures stood in their glory, in all different shapes and sizes and characters.



It was quite early, so it wasn't crowded. By lunchtime, we had finished the Odori, and left the crowds for some higher ground. A subway ride and a bumpy bus ride later, we arrived at the Okurayama Ski Jump - the one they used for the Nagano Winter Olympics back in the day. I was a little skeptical as to what our purpose of this visit was....but it turned out to be the highlight of our day!

The geniuses at this winter sports centre got some rubber inner tubes, tied 2 pieces of string on each side, and then make you walk up these slippery, icey stairs up along the landing slope of the ski jump, and when you reach about 145 metres (which is not even half way up the landing slope) there are 2 guys on a narrow ledge to help you get your behind in the doughnut-shaped inner tube, and push you down!

That was probably the most terrifying, exhilirating and awesome thing since Alton Towers in 2007. No - since I was plucked out of my mother's womb. Probably.

After getting our backs and bottoms wet (and subsequently frozen), we proceeded to the kiddies' winter wonderland Tsudomu (the big dome) where there were ice-slides, more sculptures, other fun stuff, more food, and a great big snow storm (which was not part of the plan).


Dusk decended, which meant off to 小樽　Otaru for more pretty snow-related things! Otaru was beeeeauuutiful. They had their own little special snow festival, where streets were littered with little sculptures, ice lanterns and candles. There were igloos, an ice bar, snow bears, and the famous ice-lanterns floating on the river.















By this point we had been out in the -3.6'C cold for about 12 hours. Cold feet, cold face, cold backs and empty stomachs warranted a well-deserved piping hot bowl of Sapporo Ramen. At the famous (but unexpectedly narrow) ラーメン横丁 Ramen Alley.

Day 3
1. Clock tower - apparently its really famous but it was a bit disappointing 'cause it was actually really small. So not really worth talking about.

2. Sapporo Beer Museum! The walk to the beer museum was fun enough - the pavements lined with walls and piles of snow to throw, to push people into, to be pushed into, to be squashed on... I must admit the Sapporo Beer Museum was a bit of a tourist trap really. It was totally free, but a bit small, just a bit about the history of Sapporo Beer, few exhibits, Sapporo Beer's ad campaign through the years...you know, that kinda stuff....

...and then an ice-cream shop, 2 bars, a big souvenirs shop.

Tis a shame we didn't have much time in the morning - had to meet up at 2:30pm at the Sapporo Station Bus stop to get the bus back to the pier for the cruise back to Sendai.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Made triply wonderful by good company and our troops' extensive research and impeccable planning skills.

Returning to Sapporo is definitely on the agenda for next year's snow festival!! But most likely by air next time.

Conclusion:

I ♥ Sapporo

17 degree drop

At the moment, I'm packing for my 4-day trip to Sapporo, Hokkaido for the Sapporo Snow Festival. I know Sapporo is going to be cold, so I thought I'd checked weather.com to see exactly what "cold" means. And apparently it's -3'C now, but FEELS LIKE -9'C...!!! Here in Iwaki its been about 6-8'C everyday. Which means a 17 degree difference.

:O :O :O

I'm bringing my ski-gloves. (And lots more)

I just hope my camera and cellphone doesn't freeze too much.

*updated*

Praise the Lord for internet and the Japanese's super attention to detail, you can get advice on what to wear in Feb in Sapporo (<-- click)!! :D

Quake me up...before 7a.m....grrrr

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/2/250/01070200391.html

Got woken up this morning by a cheeky earthquake at 6:52am. Not impressed. Especially when I only went to bed at 2 something last night (or this morning rather).

I dreamt that I was in a car going down a bumpy road. Then I woke up to realise the shakes weren't a dream.

Then I thought I was having some kind of mild epileptic seizure (I blame watching too much House for this one).

Then the sound of the building structure creeking around me made me realise I wasn't the one having a seizure.

Then I thought I might be dreaming this earthquake.

But it went on for like 10 seconds (which I thought was rather long) and by then I had already looked at the clock twice and scratched my face once.

Slighty bewildered but fascinated, face + pillow for another 3 and a half hours, woke up, checked out the Japan Meteorological Agency website, confirmed it was a magnitude 5.8, seismic intensity 3 (in Iwaki) earthquake, breakfast, blogged.

A Wii Issue

I want a Wii.

But where should I get one?

Japan? Given the high yen its a little expensive. And the console and games would be in Japanese. And I would only be able to play Japanese games.

Online? Where? And what region? How many regions are there??? Why does it have to be region coded!??!?!?!! Grrr. But are games cheaper to buy online?

Hong Kong? I'll have to wait til the summer to get it. I doubt if my mum would want to carry a Wii all the way here when she visits me in late March.

UK? The pound is so low a British Wii would be cheap! But aren't games expensive?!