soon days,

There is blowing snow outside today. If I had to take a ruffled guess, the blowing snow would be due to the onset of warmer snow-melting weather we’ve had lately. The warmth coming against the still presence of winter made for some sunny breaks and sudden snows today.

With this wild weather, and due to change, comes more change -graduation. It is graduation season in our town -and in Japan. April will see transition in full. There will be a brief Spring Break, and then many workplaces will see employees change positions, and students change grades and schools accordingly.

Tomorrow I will plan to attend the elementary school’s graduation ceremony. I have a suit for just that. Donned in proper attire I look forward to congratulating students and seeing others off to middle school.

With such a pleasant graduation festivity, hopefully Spring will continue to creep pleasantly closer, too. 春、春はどこにあるんでしょか？

Monday comes again,

It has been another fine weekend in Embetsu. A few days of cold winds, and a few more days of warm enough temperatures to continue melting snow.

Spring brings along with it a mess of school events. April　brings a turn-over of workers at various workplaces. March-April is also the time when many school graduations occur. I recall sitting at a cafe back in Canada with a Japanese friend who over coffee kindly explained and diagramed the course of the school year in Japan. Now I can see the course of the school year firsthand.

Last week I was invited to participate in several afterschool practices for a dance performance at elementary school. This dance performance was for the sending-off ceremony for the sixth graders departing for middle school next month in Embetsu.

A handful of dance practices, and  popular costumes saw a few of the other elementary school teachers and myself dancing to a popular AKB48 track in front of a gymnasium of students and parents. Was the experience worth it? Well, either we teachers have given the students something to remember their graduation by, or we managed to embarrass ourselves all over. But the experience was fun and I know that I will forever remember the dance, the costumes, and the times we had. I may have also learned a thing or two about what is humour in Japan. Congratualtions graduates! 卒業した生徒たちに、おめでとうございます！

drip-drop to you,

The days are becoming longer. And this post is coming to you from me, having spent the whole weekend in Embetsu.

Even now as I let my eyes wander again towards the windows and sunlight at my right shoulder, the weather is warming. And maybe this is a lot to say for northern Hokkaido. Just yesterday and the day before we had encountered winds that blew, and blew, and blew all weekend. Howling as it moved past windowsills, and passed pipe-ends.

But today, again, there is dripping and the snow is slowly melting. But this favour brings hazard, too. Ice. With so many ‘genki’ (元気) or spriteful older folk in town that go out for winter walks one would hope that said walkers will keep safe from the ice. I hope to keep safe from slipping, too.

The days are becoming longer, and the snow is melting slowly. A few more months, maybe two, maybe less and we may have the right to really see and feel the Spring that was exclaimed back on February 3-4 with our Setsubun-e (節分) celebrations.

Drip-drop, drip-drop goes the dripping, melting snow. せっかく、雪はそろそろなくなりますね。あとも少し春の顔見えます・・・

and then a winter,

Last weekend many of us from our office had the opportunity to work on Sunday. The work was for an annual/seasonal ski event at our local Embetsu ski hill.

We were picked up from designated locations and shuttled to the ski hill to assume preparation for the event. The early morning, a little after sunrise, was not too forgiving. There was a lot of cold, and a lot of snow. Many chilly limbs and fingers, too!

But it was indeed a bright and clear day -probably explaining the cold.  According to plan a mess of people soon were heading up the t-bar-like lift and checking the runs, assembling gates, and tables, checkpoints, etc.

Soon families arrived, buses loaded with ski-ready students and in a matter of minutes the once empty nature-y ski hill was now buzzing with life under the clear Hokkaido skies.

Mostly according to schedule, and a little better, too, everything finished on time and I am sure that everyone was happy to be out of the cold with the event complete. Clean-up, geared up, and done-up, as quickly as the whole event started the whole buzz was disassembled and cleaned up in a matter of minutes. The busy ski hill was again sound as a the still-quiet forests on either side of the skiing space. What a Sunday come and gone just like that. 日曜日のスキー大会は寒かったですけど、良かったです。

having waited for,

Just the other day we celebrated our Yuki Matsuri, or snow festival here in Embetsu. I must say that I was not present for our local festivities. Whether for good reason I was not present, I heard there was quite the series of strong winds and snowstorms in Embetsu over the last few days. I suppose that with our town holding those winter celebrations, winter itself decided to celebrate with galing winds and wild snows. So strong were the winds that the gates to and from town were shut so as to keep highways closed and safe (or so  I heard).

During the last few days I was in Sapporo. Each year in February the annual Sapporo Yuki Matsuri takes place. Magnificent snow and ice sculptures are hashed with many teams coming from other countries to participate in their share of cutting, shaping, and chiselling snow and ice into fantastic formations.

You could say that the created ice-blocks are so worth a look that you don’t have to worry about never having seen ice sculpture at a wedding or other social event back home. If need be you can come to Sapporo to see hundreds of sculptures all in one day! Cafes made of ice, towers of frozen Hokkaido seafood in a frozen wall, dragon formations, birds, fish, all made of ice!

Today in Embetsu, however, there was a steady drip, drip, drip. Temperatures climbed above zero -but just. Snow was melting. Could this mean that Spring is really on the way? From heresay, it could be months until our heavy snows finally disappear. Maybe Spring is ‘just’ around the corner…  but just a little further away. 遠別町の雪祭り見なかったんだすけど、札幌の雪祭りもすごかった！

a division of seasons,

Here we are. Spring has come at last. Or has it? Now not to trouble any understanding of Spring but last Friday was Setsubun. The day was a celebration of a division of the seasons. Practically speaking, winter has now been set apart and soon, very soon Spring will come -after this very snowy month of February passes on..

Setsubun (節分) as it was explained to us at the kindergarten on Friday, is a special day. Practiced yearly, someone dresses up as an Oni, or demon. We then cast seeds (dry soybeans) or perhaps un-husked peanuts at that character and chant, ‘Devils out! Good luck come in!’

The purpose of this practice is to cleanse oneself of any ailments -minor, mental, bodily or otherwise, and to thus welcome a new season and a new life upon oneself. How fun!

As you can see per the picture (below, soon to follow), I had a turn of being ‘chased out’ by the students. Many students also took turns casting peanuts at each other practising last Friday’s Setsubun tradition. I found this tradition to be very educational and fun. After all was said and done, and a few games were played everyone was apportioned candy and some peanuts. We then ate, according to our age/grade that amount of peanuts -letting the ‘good luck’ in.

And tonight we are screening a very fun film at our recreation hall (a detective-sleuth film set in Hokkaido).  I am looking forward to the movie! As an avid movie-goer the movies have finally come to Embetsu if just for one night.

rolling,

I have been told continuously about how February is the coldest month. And we are close now to February. The icy, dry cold is as prevalent in the mornings as it is at night. Today’s snow gave way sternly under my boot-steps providing a dry and powdery crunch as I tread over it on the way to work. Cold. We also have a very serious snow-removal in action again today. Machines all over town. People with shovels.

Cold talk aside, with a few precautions, warm wear, or a trip to the onsen just outside town one can enjoy even the frostiest days. This month we continue the ever constant bounding of events here in town. For example, just next week we are screening a popular movie at our recreation hall and event centre. I’ve bought my ticket and am very looking forward to it.

Here and there we have a school holiday, but there are other preparations to look forward to. Tomorrow is actually the last scheduled day of class for third year highshcool students. Third years will be preparing for examinations, end of the [school]year events , and graduation -soon.

Just when things may feel bleak and whited-out in the swells of winter, there are many warming events to look forward to here and there in town, too. これからも遠別で色々なエベントがありますね！

 

(Elementary school, first grade students preparing for ski recreation hour!)

trundling

I have not failed to appreciate where I live. Embetsu is a peaceful and still place -especially on winter evenings.

I have come to appreciate the opportunity I have to be here, in Embetsu. I want to enjoy every day. And so I do. Part of my practice of taking in the sights and feel of the town is to enjoy a little trundle or walk on most evenings.

As the short arm of the clock draws toward late evening hours I suit up in coat and shawl, slip into thick boots, and so very warmly bundled stroll about the neighborhood. I walk slowly, the snow falls. I stop, I look at street lamps lighting up little tufts of snow that sail gently through the air. I watch buildings and street corners -the make of the structures and the age of the buildings so foreign, so Japanese to me. This is a nice place, Embetsu.

And so, taking some time out of each allowable day, I will continue to walk and watch, and enjoy the time I have been given here in Embetsu. 夜、静かの時間で散歩するのが好きです。

just watching,

Just yesterday I had a spur of the moment chance -I found out about the event during lunch hour- to watch a school kanji/Japanese written character (漢字) expose or writing event.

Just after noon several students from the elementary school gathered at our local community hall and event center to partake. Students, divided by their grade level, were given simple sentences, utilizing kanji according to their grade level, to write. For example, ‘A beautiful sky’, or, ‘Let us protect nature’.

But when I say write, I do not just mean, write. The art of Sho-do (書道) means that according to tradition, students kneel before sized paper, hold brushes  accordingly, and then brush using beautiful, black Sumi or ink across delicate paper. Each stroke is pulled, pressed, and lifted according to technique and emphasizes the character of the artist.

Standing by watching students brush, wait, stop to evaluate their gliding strokes, and then continue was -mesmerizing. Maybe because it’s foreign to me, but I was captivated.

Regular classes will resume following winter break next week. I am sure I will have many more fantastic events to follow -soon.

The post-New Years

Here we are, arrived in 2012! Welcome. I have just returned from a fine holiday and am ready to soak up a lot more of what this new year has to offer.

Now assuredly much as transpired/happened since the last post but I will inform you of Enbetsu happenings instead. That being said, the great fun of our year end Christmas party, or bou-nenkai (忘年会) as it might be called was rather memorable.

The lot of town hall workers and employees -we all made our way aboard bus and then shipped off to Tongarikan (とんがりかん), a locally regaled highway rest space and fine restaurant located  just over our very nearby Enbetsu river.

The evening consisted of a set menu, merry-made drinks, party games such as pictionary, and mini-golf, etc. It was an evening to remember. And as always I look forward to posting up a photo -soon to follow! 去年の忘年会とても楽しかったです！