what do you see?

We managed to score free tickets for the "25th Regular Concert of the Sapporo Kita High School Chorus Club" in the main hall at Kitara tonight, as a student of Christine's was taking part. It was interesting actually, and a good chance to see the pretty impressive main hall for the first time.

This was the snow still left outside our building this morning. The stuff on the street has all melted, but our steps seem to have a mysterious ability to preserve snow. It's still there even now.

I really should know better by know. Sunday afternoon: walking on clear asphalt at last, basking in the 7 degree warmth, feeling a finally significant sun on my face, seeing hope in the form of fresh green shoots pushing heroically out of newly thawed earth, like tiny versions of one of their more gutsy counterparts, I make a casual observation to my companion. "So, do you think the snow will come back again this year?"

Monday lunchtime, the view from the train slogging through the anomalous Sapporo suburbs:


...and it got a lot worse after that.

Well, yesterday was a very early start for Christine, who had to attend a kindergarten "graduation" (this to me, being from England, seems very incongruous - graduation from kindergarten is surely just automatic, right? I mean you don't really have to do much, just turn up (or rather get dumped off there), do some blowing-bubbles-in-paint and sticking pasta on paper and then you're out!).
So after she got back we got a few things from Jupiter (the international food place under Sapporo station - we coincidentally got most of these sale items) and then had a late lunch at the "dessert and light meal buffet" in the Grand Hotel. As you could guess from the name, this was mostly desserts, and the "light meal" component consisted of chicken nuggets, chips (some of the best I've had in Japan) and spaghetti. Coffee, tea and juice too. The centrepiece was a chocolate fountain - which is apparently a "current worldwide craze" (Wikipedia), and this might be true - try searching Google if you don't believe it - with marshmallows, pineapple, kiwi and lady-finger biscuits provided to thrust into the eternally-flowing warm cascade. The buffet sub-culture, lovingly called "Viking" here, is something that I need to investigate more I think. I'd rate the Grand Hotel as good value, although the surrounding are not really as "grand" as they should be, tending instead to veer towards a 70s interpretation of art-deco. But it does come complete with smoothly obsequious waiters wearing bow ties and sporting almost unbelievably greased down hair.

Yesterday was the doll festival / girl's day here. This is a picture of a small display made for us by one of Christine's students (from cotton-buds (=Q-tips) and real kimono material). There's also a shell containing two tiny dolls at the front.

No leeks for us yesterday unfortunately.
Anyway, another shameless plug...there are lots of exciting things happening with the E-Square website at the moment. We've just launched a new "One-point English" section which will be updated every day with a new English sentence, translation and explanation. A nice way to study a little every day. And there're more cool things coming up soon. Don't ask me how I know..!