November 1

Today was International Understanding Day at Asahikawa Higashi High School. It was a chance for students from the Asahikawa area schools with a good level of English interest and ability to get together and practice their English. It was hosted by Higashi High School, the highest academic level high school in this district. Helping with the day's events were myself, Mike, Julianna, and the two American Exchange students from Illinois - Maggie and CJ. The three ALTs did a presentation on generalizations made by Japanese and non-Japanese people. Afterwards, we played games, ate lunch, then had a one hour free conversation time period where each foreigner had one table of Japanese students to talk with. My table talked about everything - differences in high schools, American High School rules, our favorite TV shows, my view of Japan, September 11th, etc., etc. It was a great time.
Some Ryoun High School students...	...goofing off
Outside Higashi High School
That night, Julianna and some of her friends were going to a Halloween party in Takikawa. Be sure to check out the picture on the right. (Yes, that's Patrick in the schoolgirl outfit).

November 2

Snow, snow, snow! I love the snow, and this city comes through in bunches. It was a crazy blustery snow today, so I took a bunch of pictures. Enjoy!

November 7

I love teaching at Shibetsu Shogyo High School, but these 6AM train rides are killers. Anyway, I think this picture of downtown at 6AM pretty much sums up how I feel being downtown at 6AM.
Here's a picture of the teacher's room at Shibetsu Shogyo High School, as seen from my desk. The reason why there are no teachers is because the school was having an eartquake drill. I asked what I should do during the drill, and they told me just to stay in the teacher's room. They can't fool me, though, I know their plan. They figure that if an earthquake hits, all the students and teachers will be safe in the basement while the hefty foreigner supports the toppling building with his own body. :-p

November 21

The honor was bestowed upon myself and Mike to be judges of the area wide speech contest. It was a nice change of pace to still be working, but not teaching or being in the office. It turned out to be a lot of fun and I really enjoyed listening to the students' speeches. Especially cool was that I got to see some of my own students, especially Udaka-kun from Asahikawa Shogyo High School. Udaka-kun almost won 5th place, but in the end another student just squeaked past him. However, it was all good because we gave a special prize for putting forth a lot of effort and having a very animated speech, even though he didn't place.
Udaka-kun, I'm so proud of him	A snowy station when we got out of the contest
The statues do look kinda artistic when covered in snow

November 22

There was a beautiful harp performance today at the office. She played a bunch of music, including Canon in D, Amazing Grace, and some Christmas music.

November 24

Today I saw my first ever motion picure in Japan. The lucky winner - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets!!! I loved it.

November 28

Today started out with a trip to Bifuka Koto Yogo, a high school for the mentally handicapped. I was a little apprehensive about going, because I wasn't quite sure what I was to do with the students as far as a lesson. However, I should have never worried. After taking an hour to get there from the train station (I was a little lost), I found my way to the school. I was greeted by the two teachers I was working with that day, who turned out to have perfect English ability. My first class went beautifully. The students were super excted to see me and were full of questions. Afterwards, I had lunch with the students, followed by a cooking class. After cooking came the computer club. I apologize for not having pictures of the school and such, but I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures!
That evening, Julianna, Lavonda, Ikuyo and some other friends and I decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner (of sorts). We all made part of the meal, and I made stuffing and gravy. It turned out great. We had WAY too much food by the end. We also played a rousing game of Jenga and Scrabble. Fun was had by all (um, did any of this post make sense?)
Just some of our dinner	Ikuyo in the kitchen
Ikuyo, Lavonda, and me enjoying the food	Jenga! Jenga! Jenga!
This guy was a riot!

November 29 - December 1

This weekend I headed out to Tanno to visit Travis again. On Friday night, a bunch of the Eastern JETs (and me) went out to a Jamaican restaurant in Kitami, followed by 3 hours of karaoke and then another place (I can't remember what it was called). It was a great time. However, we spent the next day just kinda chillin and recovering for most of the day. Saturday night we saw The Ring at the movie theater in Kitami. If you haven't seen the Ring yet, GO SEE IT!! Definitely one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. It was really an edge of your seat kinda-movie, never knowing what will happen next. Sunday was uneventful, just lunch then the long train ride home.