It is snowing outside. This should not come as a surprise. :D The thing is, it looks just like a snowglobe. Big flakes, swirling around before settling. The past two days have been above freezing (7 C / 40ish F), so everything was melting like crazy. All of the snow and ice on my roof finally fell off and I shoveled out a bit wider of a path outside of my front door. The warm weather was nice, but somehow, as soon as I saw it snowing today, I smiled. I am a true snowbird - but now I know that I like the American Midwest's version better; the version that involves lots of sunshine afterwards - even if it is butt cold.
I was supposed to be teaching today, but the JHS I was supposed to go to is closed due to the flu. So now I am a sad girl in the office with nothing to do until after lunch. I've done an inordinate amount of netsurfing and now feel a bit guilty. Back in the day, I would have come up with things to keep me occuppied and not just immediately turned to the internet, but here I am inspired by laziness.
Lunch is still 30 minutes away. I have somehow managed to use up another 15 minutes looking at Flickr. I love other people's photos. They're always so much better than mine. Sometimes people will say that they like my pictures, but I just know if they saw half of the stuff I see on flickr, they would not be so impressed. XD Which is ok. I guess I really take pictures for myself anyway. While it is satisfying that some people enjoy looking at my photos, I still feel as if they are pandering to me. :)
I went on a trip to Noboribetsu (
http://www.noboribetsu-spa.jp/nobo/e/home-info.aspx) and Kushiro (
http://www.kushiro.com/index2.html and
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/hokkaido/kusiro.html). I stayed one night at an amazing hot springs resort hotel called Dai-ichi Takimotokan (
http://www.takimotokan.co.jp/english/paradise/index.html). I slept in a Japanese-style room, complete with tatami mats and a lovely and comfortable futon. In the one half-day and night that I was in Noboribetsu, I walked up and down the shopping street (on a hill!) looking for omiyage (i.e. souvenires for co-workers and friends), a place to eat and anything else interesting there might be in the town. I ended up ordering room service, as every restaurant in the town closed by 6pm and none of the restaurants inside the hotel opened until 8pm. After that, I went down to test out the 15 different hot spring baths that were available. I got in and out of 9 different baths - it was amazing. On the way down to the baths, I was tempted into a 10 minute foot massage. After the baths, I was tempted into a 30 minute back massage. All in all , Noboribetsu was all about spoiling myself. The only complaint I have with the hotel is that there is no such thing as a non-smoking room. The room I was in smelled so strongly of smoke that it felt as though I had someone next to me smoking ALL THE TIME. By the time I checked out of the hotel, my eyes felt irritated. So maybe it's not the best place to stay, but it certainly is the best hot springs place I've ever been to!
The sole, original purpose of visiting Kushiro was to see the Japanese Red-Crested Cranes. This species of crane is endangered and there are only a little over 1,000 left in the world. I met my friend Kate there and together we went on a trek to find the cranes. The cranes are very important to the Japanese, as they are a symbol of happiness and longevity. After seeing them, it felt as though I had just seen something really special. They are very large birds, but very beautiful. They also seem to be a fairly playful species of bird and not shy about making noise. They were a joy to find and watch.
While in Kushiro, Kate and I went exploring to see what else the city had to offer and the firm answer is: not much. There is a local food that is special to the area called robatayaki - which is grilled seafood, meat and vegetables over a wood fire. We ate at Renga (
http://www.renga.jp/) to try this local specialty. I'll admit that I didn't think much of squid until I tried it freshly grilled. Yum!
The trip to Noboribetsu and Kushiro really made all the difference in my winter break. Before I went, I was feeling pretty depressed. Everyone was out traveling and no one had told me that the New Year's holiday would be a full week off of work, so next year I'll be a little wiser and get out of town for a bit over New Year's.
Well, guess that is about it for now. Lunch whistle is about to blow and I don't want to get a late start on that! :D