Fall weather in Japan changes like a woman's feelings

... according to my physical therapist. Funny man.

It's October now and it's definitely fall, and apparently the weather varies quite a bit. But we get a lot of beautiful clear days (which are referred to in Japanese as akibare 秋晴れ, my principle taught me).

So, last month the season changed to autumn quite suddenly. The summer was hell, absolute humid hell - typical Japan weather that Hokkaido is supposed to be the exception to, but instead we probably got about 2 weeks of perfect, comfortably warm summer weather before fall came in and the temperatures dropped to sweater/jacket weather. Sigh.

Speaking of sudden changes, I leave my base school (once I had gotten used to it and all that :/) and start visiting other schools. So from Monday I'll be at another middle school near home for 2 months, followed by a 2-month visit at another middle school that's like an hour commute to Jouzankei, a little onsen resort town up in the mountains (unlike my other schools, it's insanely small - something to the tune of 20 students and 20 staff). And then after that, it's back to my base school for a few months. Until then, it's going to just be me struggling to remember 500 students names and faces, and then just when I get the hang of some students I'll have to switch schools. Haha.

Last night I went out to Sapporo's nightlife district Susukino with my co-workers to celebrate the end of the school festival, my coming to the school (ironically on my last day there for 4 months), etc. Two-hour nomihodai (all-you-can-drink) and food, followed by a nijikai (second party) resulted in having to pay like 6,000 yen, which is probably almost 70 USD with the current bad exchange rate. Nope, wait, according to google it's 77 USD. Holy crap.

But it was worth it, since it's important that I spend time with my Japanese co-workers (and Japanese people in general) and being forced to speak Japanese for an evening is NEVER a bad idea. But two girl friends got birthday parties tonight which probably involves another nomihodai and karaoke. Partying Japanese style is more fun and extravagant than how Americans do it (and karaoke in Japan is superior to waiting to sing one song in front of a bunch of people in a bar). But PAYDAY COULD SURE COME SOONER.

Oh, and as of the October 1st I've been in Japan for 2 months. And Sapporo is still awesome and amazing!! I still love it here. I'm starting to miss home a little, but living here has been way easier than my first time in Japan. Living in my hometown's sister city must be why? The quality of life here just feels quite comparable to Portland.

All text and no photo or anything. I want to make all my posts have a visual because I think it's a more appealing format to blog in, but alas I failed. Sorry, next time.

Teacher Life. (or a small sample, anyway)

I haven't really talked much about work, but you're probably curious (whoever the hell may be reading this). So I'll indulge you, but just a little bit... because I don't know, the idea of talking about work just seems kinda lame/boring. I mean, just look at these photos of the teachers' office here on the right, along withmy desk. The only thing that doesn't look like monotone barf is my hello kitty bottle - which has gotten compliments from middle school girls (for whatever that's worth to a 23 year old) - THANK YOOUU MOM!

To be honest, the rest of the school doesn't look any more inspiring and um, not dull. But there's paintings and such here and there, which really brighten the halls. And this Ghibli-themed one is my favorite (OF COURSE).

And for English class, a bunch of the kids made Halloween-themed paper skulls (although they're like a month early and these sort of paper-folding crafts are totally a Japanese thing people in other countries probably wouldn't do). But I gotta say the Minnie Mouse skull is my absolute favorite. It's totally creepy and weird, but not all that surprising as Minnie Mouse is adored by Japanese girls age 0 to 35 (well, something like that - it's totally normal for young ladies to love Minnie Mouse and lots of cute things that would be considered by Americans to be kind of childish for adults). Pretty ironic how Disney and Disney characters are hardly a big deal in America like they are in Japan.

And here's some of the kiddies getting ready for the school festival coming up on October 1st, which I'll report on later.