what do you see?

Since I'm thinking Japan time, Happy New Year!!
I hope everyone has a great 2005!

A new student page is up now, this one was made by Kazumi, who loves Kyoto and talks a llittle about a traditional Japanese craft that she tried while she was there. The picture she took is really superb too. Have a look.

Also, here it's warmed up and snow is starting to slop off the trees...the igloo may not be around for much longer, we'll have to see how it holds up...

And with candles in it at night it becomes a really beautiful cavern, or perhaps "grotto". We sat in it for quite a long time, and it was quite cosy! By the way, just so people don't get the wrong idea, the igloo was not in any way designed as a vodka drinking den, but we did enjoy a very cold drink while we were in there:

We built an igloo!!!

Well we finally got some decent snow here, probably almost a foot of pretty heavy stuff - enough to cut the power for most of last night. There are some here who suspect the power was deliberately switched off for the night to avoid problems if the lines came down...but it's all speculation. So it looks like we'll be able to do some serious sledding / sledging today, after we shovel the drive.

Oh, and Nana's written another diary entry, she's getting into this a lot! Please take the time to read it and support her.

Well, Merry Christmas to everyone! It might seem late according to the time and date, but for me it's only halfway through! I hope everyone's having a great day wherever you are.

Nana's page has also been updated - read about her volleyball adventures!

Well, we drove around in an extremely large car yesterday, the kind where looking in the rear-view mirror was like looking through binoculars backwards! Here's a little picture I took at one pont, just a nice tranquil scene:

Miwako's page is updated with a new diary entry. And here, I've just finished watching Texas Justice and it's still cold and sunny.

If Elvis Monopoly means anything to you.....

By the way, the dates and times expressed automatically in these posts are Japan Time, and do not necessarily reflect my current experiences.

It's snowing here now, just lightly though, a dusting so far - I think we've become a little too used to snow measured in feet now, and a little too used to the way things work in Hokkaido. Here, they actually close schools and kindergartens if there's a few inches on the ground. And people can actually take the day off work! Just because it's snowing!
Anyway, we were finally reunited with all our luggage in the early hours of this morning, thanks to a big guy who looked pleasingly like Santa.

These blogs are going to be a bit enigmatic I think, unless you know something about where I am and what I'm doing at the moment. But nevermind, it suits the medium. Now I'm waffling just like a pro, must go.

Hello - just to let everyone know that I'm now safely relaxing in an undisclosed location, where it's currently sunny and chilly (but no snow!)...more updates will happen eventually...

Well, it's finally happened. I'd basically given up all hope and resigned myself, but the vending machine downstairs has finally been converted (well one row of it at least) to dispense luvverly hot cans! At last!

Well the sealed-thing in the microwave story seems to be pretty popular. Unfortunately it paints a sad picture of me as a hopeless incompetent, but to try to dispel that myth I'd like to say that the lid did indeed eventually come unsealed in a controlled fashion, without any spillage but with a satisfying hiss I might add, and that the contents were perfectly edible!

On a different note, for some reason the BBC seems to like to post mostly weird stories of Japan, (and the occasional "Earthquake rocks Japan's northern island" of course). I think it's this kind of thing that gives Japan the image it has (you know: traditions plus technology, strange "gadgets and gizmos" that kind of thing). Maybe it's because the rest of the news here is not particularly interesting! Anyway, here's one example, a new kind of pillow for lonely men to rival the one for women reported a few months ago.
But on the note of technology, a few days ago I saw a report on wearable robotic vehicles which are under development here. These are good. Actually we're thinking about going to Expo 2005 next year (hence the 2005) which is being held near Nagoya or some such place.

Another student page is up! Well done Miwako. Please check out her writing and a cool Hong Kong picture. There should be another couple by the end of the week hopefully.

We went to Shelf tonight (in Parco) for a couple of drinks and snacks (plate of fried chicken and a bowl of fries, with butter(!)) as a pre-birthday thing. I have to work quite a bit tomorrow unfortunately, but we should be able to do something in the evening.

sun and blue sky, then driving snow and zero visibility, followed by hail and back to sun again. fushigi.

At the moment I'm letting my students create English pages on my site, there will be links from my teaching page.
And we have the first one up - thanks Nana! It looks great. Please take a look everyone.

In other news, the roads remain treacherous. Although a lot of the snow and ice has gone from the main roads but in the back streets there are rounded patches of highly polished ice, buffed incredibly smooth by the studless winter tyres, amazing.

OK, here's what just happened. I got back from work/shopping and innocently decided to reheat some leftovers from last night, in a plastic tub type-thing in the microwave. But perhaps I let it go on for too long, while I was occupied with something else and consequently it got too hot and the lid somehow became sealed on and sucked in, extremely, extremely tight. I mean hermetically sealed round the edges, with not even a visible join. Cooling it under the cold tap for a while didn't improve matters, nor did turning it upside down and shaking it, so I ended up sitting on the floor with newspaper (see, I do think ahead!) repeatedly smacking it with a hammer to release the vacuum.
Now, is this normal? Is this the kind of thing that usually happens to people?

After getting up ridiculously early this morning (=7.30am), it feels like the day is very very long! It's not even 3 yet, and I've done so much already. Now I understand. The thing is, I'm flagging now, as always. Time for a nap maybe?

it's chilly, cold is coming up from the floor - that's how we know the neighbour below us is out. the sun is just about to set behind the hills, its pale light is streaming horizontally across the city, and a few flakes of snow are drifting randomly past the window. that's the scene.

Yesterday was rainy and then sunny, melting a lot of the snow. Unfortunately, there's often nowhere for the water to go because the drains are covered in more snow, hence the sock drenching puddles...more snow is forecast for today I think. We'll see how it goes!

There was another largish earthquake just over an hour ago, in exactly the same place as before, and about the same strength - a magnitude of 7.1. Here in Sapporo it was again about a 3 on the Japanese scale, so just a mildly sea-sick-inducing swaying feeling, but for quite a long time. There were warnings of up to 50cm tsunamis on the East coast of Hokkaido, but I don't think there's been anything more than some ripples coming up rivers.

I've created a new page on which I'll publish sets of new pictures of Sapporo - it might be slow to load as I've put uncompressed files straight from the camera on there. There's a set that we just took in the snow on there now.

Illuminated trees in Odori, with snow. 

Well, I woke up to snow pouring down like rain and already lying a few inches deep, sticking to trees, wires, sides of buildings. In other words heavier, wetter snow than normal.

I left at 8:45am and got to Hokkaido University with no problems. The test was hosted at the Faculty of Engineering, which reminded me a bit too much of my old Nottingham department building back in 1996 - dark corridors and dusty doors marked with signs which look like they were intended to be temporary when they were put up in the 60s. Time went quicker than I expected, and I suppose the breaks were welcome, although still a little on the long side. I sat and had lunch on some sofas in a partically screened off corner near a stairway, which had an old looking pendulum clock on the wall, permanently stopped at about twenty past 8. Anyway, the main purpose of this expedition, the test, went well enough I think. I just have to wait until February now!

Afterwards, the snow having continued to pour down unabated, the city was a mess! It's even worse now though. There must have been over a foot of damp snow so far today judging by the parts of the park where it hasn't been cleared. In the city centre, life appaears to go on pretty much as normal with people continuing to drive maniacally fast and girls continuing to stride on in high heeled boots. But although the pavements are not bad, the sides of the roads are lined with deep slush and icey water. Every time you need to cross the road, which is quite often in a city with a grid system, this stuff tends to fill and soak one's shoes in an instant.

It's very dull and drizzly here now, and all the snow has been melted away. And so, it's test day tomorrow! The main thing I'm dreading is how long it lasts...the test for my level starts at 9:45 and doesn't finish until 2:35pm - that's almost 5 hours, including one break of 40 minutes and one of 1 hour!! I just don't understand why?! Never mind eh. I don't doubt I'll put a report on here some time tomorrow.

Well, December! The first two doors of the advent calendar are open now, the snow is still on the ground outside, and little flurries keep coming down. But it's quite sunny today, and apparently going to warm up a little in the next couple of days.