Snow... Snow... 雪

Monday January 10th 2011 (Japan time)

So today I went to the Hokkaido Shrine again. It was the coming of years day today so yea, 20 year old boys in suits and 20 year old girls in kimono's visit the shrine. =) I saw a few and yea, there was one kimono that I saw on the subway which tops all other kimono's. Nothing about it was cliche.. It was overdone in a nice way and everything was well displayed. But yes, back on track... I took a few pictures of the shrine this time round because it was not infested by people. =) Nice place, right? =) The vendors were still there for some reason... I guess they're sticking around until people dwindle. I bought a charm from the shrine and a little plaque to write my little wishes for the year. =) I left the shrine then went browsing at the mall and the sales were even better today, lol. I bought a few things and yea, I am glad I waited. =) Nothing in particular happened today. No classes. =)

Look at the ice o_o!

The gates

The entrance from the inside.

I think the Blood Donation trucks on the left ruins the aesthetics of a shrine but meh... This is what you see when when you walk out of the gates of the shrine.

Tuesday January 11th 2011 (Japan time)

So, Ainosato 「あいの里」 is the name of the ward my University is in... Ainosato is often considered the "outcast" of Sapporo because well, it's too far away from the center, lol. According to my host sister, people in the past thought that Ainosato was outside of Sapporo, lol. But yes, it's also interesting to note that Ainosato is the only sector in the city that gets snowed in... What use to be a two-way street turned into one. Some sidewalks vanished, and Ainosato has the most ice covering the streets. Honestly, there's probably something equivalent to "permafrost" under the thick layers of snow, lol. In conclusion, Ainosato is neglected. I took a lot of pictures of the snow, lol. I find it hard to believe but yea, it's cool at the same time. =)

There were tons of these trucks transporting snow away from Ainosato. There was just too much snow.

The wall of snow

There use to be a sidewalk there, lol...

This is the stop I always get off at...

That's the bus shelter I go to when I go back into the City.

But anyhow, today I had class. =) I took a picture of the bus stop, lol. Nothing spectacular happened today but yea, the snow was interesting... It is also interesting to note that our 9:30AM bus did not come because of the snow. There was a huge lineup at the bus stop and yea, everyone rode the 10:05 bus, lol. Mind you we were late for class, lol. Angela didn't even come because the JR train's stopped moving.

Wednesday January 12th 2011 (Japan time)

I went to the University because there was a Kendo practice thing today, lol. Again, I took more pictures. =) It's getting worse every day~ Some of the bus routes were canceled because they could not clear the streets, lol.

Well hello there University Logo.

The tunnel system =)

Abdy and the snow.

Me and the snow...

It's like looking at Geology... But not really. Look at the bedding planes!

 So yes, let's do a little comparision...

This....

Turned into this...

Kendo~

Walkway to the bus shelter

Kendo is a very loud sport.. The loudest of them all~ I took a few pictures after Abdy and I finally rested, lol. I felt like I was in the way. Did not do anything spectacular today. =)

Thursday January 13th 2011 (Japan time)

So yes, the teacher today was almost 1hr late, lol. She got stuck in traffic and yea, the visibility was pretty much 0. There's too much snow, lol. The city cannot keep up with the snow scooping business so they had to cancel parts of the bus route because it's not accessible... Or the road thinned down to one lane and it's nearly impossible to drive. But anyhow, I took a lot of pictures of the streets... Lol.

Second floor, the door leading out into a viewing area of our classroom.

Picture taken while on the bus of a sign that's covered. There use to be a walkway there too.

The poor kid.

Walkway leading to a bigger road in the neighborhood my host parents live in.

A picture of a small park on my way back to the bus stop.

The walkway to the bus stop. This walkway only somewhat exists because there's a functional bus stop, lol.

Friday January 14th 2011 (Japan time)

I met up with Christine today and we wandered the streets of Sapporo~ It took a little while to meet up at first because we were at different locations, lol. First we went to a little craft store because Lisa wanted to buy something. Lisa then left afterward because she was  catching a cold of some sort and she had other things to do at home. Christine and I wandered to the Beef Don shop and ate. We were chatting on and on, lol. I had a lot to talk about apparently. =) Thankfully it's all off my chest, lol. For the time being~

We walked back to Sapporo station where I showed her the new pair of shoes I wanted to buy for winter in Sapporo. (Yes, shoes specifically for the snow in Sapporo, lol.) I tried them on, she approved... We left to look for another pair but could not, lol. We ended up going to Starbucks and yea, we ordered drinks, sat in Starbucks and chatted away again. This time, it was her turn to vent. LOL~ Everything went well. =) We sat in Starbucks for a good hour or two? Afterward, she went to the washroom and I went to withdraw money. We went back to the shoe store and I bought the pair of boots for 100CAD equivalent. They didn't have a shoe box for it so they just put it in a bag, LOL... It was weird.

At that point, we did not really know what to do... We went to the Loft and shopped around for random goods. Christine bought a scrap book and a golden jell pen. I bought a notebook with a baby seal on it, lol. She wanted to look at other stationary so we went to the No Name store　「無印良品」　Where she bought two more pens, lol. We went back to the JR gates at 8PM and waited around for 15 minutes because her train does not come until 8:20.  AGAIN we chatted some more. She caught the train; I left and bought some buns for sale at the nearby bakery! Lol (yay) I went home, warmed up the buns, ate then went to the study hall to do fun stuff. =)