Dear flat, yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

Being in a hotel for two and half weeks is great in theory, but when there's two of you, one room, no kitchen and you're trying to settle into a new city, it can be a bit difficult.

So hurrah! Last night was our first night in our flat, we're officially residents of Sapporo! (We even got asked for directions yesterday... oooooh yeeeeah!)

Here are pictures of the flat just before we moved our stuff in. I'll take some more once we're fully settled. But it's lovely and big!!!

The view of the kitchen from the living area

Jamie's practice room (looks a quite small in this picture, but it is bigger, trust me!)

Living/dining area

View out the left window

And the view when you lean out to the right

Seems they missed the bath when installing the shower head! (You're meant to shower before taking a bath here)

A few quirky things about the flat...

There is no central heating (this will prove interesting when it gets to the middle of winter!), just an air heater in the middle of the living room which has already become my favourite little reading spot.

Instead of an oven, we have a microwave and a rice cooker. Hmmm.

This is the only surface space we have in the kitchen, it is currently taken up with really nice dishes given to me by my awesome new private student! She said I will come to know her as my Japanese mother... I think she might be right!!

The windows in the two bedrooms are tiny. I suppose you just leave the sliding doors open most of the time.

The quirkiest of all is that we can't understand any of the appliances/manuals/instructions and definitely not the complicated rubbish collecting schedule and regulations.

But please don't mistake this for moaning, I'm quite enjoying all these quirks, it's what makes the place special!

Jamie's definitely making himself at home quickly

And so am I.

(I got the teacup and saucer in a 100 yen shop, which is under a pound. More on the brilliance of 100 yen shops another time!!)

It wont be long before the next post as there is much more to show and tell.

So until next time...

Hotel... day 14

Long time no post... Mainly because we've been just wandering around trying to get our bearings, looking for a flat and generally holed up in the hotel room studying Japanese and grammar (in my case)

We did manage to venture out a bit, like last night we were invited to a house party through a private teaching work friend. It was really nice to meet someone from England finally! But lovely to meet people from all over the world.

Blizzards are becoming a regular thing of late. I've been told we haven't quite seen it at it's worse yet and we have metres of snow on the ground to look forward to in deep winter! But last night was special in the fact that the roads turned into ice rinks. For some reason the snow impacted on the roads and formed a thick layer of white ice! The cars were slip sliding around, which was a bit scary in the taxi home, but not too much as the Japanese are such careful drivers and everyone was driving very slowly just to be safe.

Well, I haven't taken many pictures, but I'll get into the habit again soon.

One minute I look out the window = blue skies. 5/10 minutes later, THIS! ^

As you can see the roads are completely white, be not fooled. This is not snow but ICE!

This one got it bad

This one too 0_0

Cute independent cafe. They're everywhere!! And they're all so stylish!

Outside the same cafe

For those who don't know you always take off your shoes before entering a house. There's a little section before the wood starts. This was taken at the party.

Bed time for me! I think we've found a flat, I'll do a post about it if we move in along with pictures! Night and miss you all! x

Oh world, you look beautiful today!

After experiencing our first snow storm, we experienced the aftermath... lovely pretty glittery snoooow! Cold and wind makes you tired, therefore I will go straight onto the photos...

The ice and snow consumes another victim, except this time it's two at a time and quite a bit larger than an umbrella.

Close-up of the carnage

Maruyama park in the distance.

The park!!

It can be difficult to tell the difference between two feet and 5 inches of snow. Hilarity ensues.

This used to be a bench, now a mere skeleton for it incurred the wrath of the snow! Bicycles, benches and umbrellas beware.

The mini snow storm starts

Ta-da!

Tomorrow is a day of recovery for me (I've had a sore throat for a while now and need to kick it once and for all) and we shall then be flat hunting. So it might be a while before the next post, unless you want me to just add a load of Engrish/random weird pictures in the meantime. Let me know.

Goodnight!

Slow news day

Last couple days I've been having a really bad throat so haven't been venturing out too much into the cold. Plus every time I do I forget to take my blimmin camera!! Particularly annoyed as while having my regular morning coffee at 08:30 downtown, it was raining small squares of coloured paper! Must be a Japanese thing. :s

So it's been exactly a week and I'm missing friends and family a lot. Also missing my English students, especially the two Naoko's! Those lessons were always such fun.

Also tonight is my first encounter with a snow storm, though our friend says it's only the wind that is strong and that there are three days in the year where you can't see past an outstretched arm! Definately looking forward to that! (as long as I don't have to work that day)

Anyway, on with the photo's!

Just took these four outside the window. The buildings keep disappearing! Expected to last until the morning. Snowmen tomorrow I hope!!

Going...

going...

gone!

The ice likes to consume broken umbrellas. I have found other victims but forgot my camera.

This one is for my dad = I finally tried a doutor sandwich, and yes! They ARE yummy! And the coffee is friendly :)

Some more awesome Engrish

My brilliant new diary notebook. Writing at the bottom reads... 'Quality time nurtures grace and beauty. I depart with my full bag of time. Experiencing deliciousness made me a slave to taste. We provide a first-class taste brought directly from the earth.'... riiiight

Sapporo graffiti is a bit more sleek than London graffiti

Seems Japan has solved the paper bag + rain problem; a little bag mac! Maybe not the most planet friendly of solutions but much better than shops using plastic bags 100% of the time.

Ok, I'll leave you with a little video I took after dinner yesterday. Hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather back home!...

First day in our new home

We arrived in Sapporo safe and well yesterday. But not before having some of Tokyo's favorite ramen!! (voted the most popular ramen in Tokyo) 'Kyushu jangara ramen' (four chains, this one was in Akihabara). TASTY!

If you ever try it we recommend the miso ramen with an egg and marinated pork. The best thing about this ramen is that you get quite a lot more (very delicious) pork than normal.

The place is really small though and you're likely to get a long wait if you go at peak times. Our table was miniscule and it's hard not to bump into your neighbours.

^ Jamie struggling with reaching the pickled ginger

Since we're on the topic of food... Starbucks does a tasty drink exclusive for the run up and duration of Sakura (they tend to do exclusive drinks a lot for any excuse). This one is called... Sakura!

A strawberry milkshake (which you can also get hot) with lovely strawberry chocolate shavings on top!

I also discovered this monstrosity today....

Yes that's right, your eyes do not deceive you. The bun has been replaced with rice. Hmmm.

So I should post a few pictures of our area...

the view from our room

A typical Sapporo street

Ice piled high on the side of the road

The pavements are generally very clear of ice, though for some reason there's a big ice patch right outside our hotel all the way to the combini.

Luckily I have yet to fall on my arse. Something I was worried about in my work shoes as yes... that's right, I got a job!!! Well today was the interview. I spent a good half hour obsessing over what to wear and what would be appropriate since the Japanese can be rather picky on dress codes. Here were my two options...

For the ladies who are interested (mainly my mum) I picked the second one. Much more appropriate for an interview I would say.

Anyway, I'll leave you with a picture of a little sachet (that was handed out to Jamie after a night in a bar) which contains a couple chemicals that when broken and mixed heat up. Nice hand warmer in this cold weather!

I have another interview tomorrow for a school teaching English to children aged 2 to 12. Part time again. I'll let you know how it goes!

Konbanwa from a snowing Sapporo!