November 15
Asahikawa Commercial High School Arts Performance

Asahikawa Commercial High School's Band has one numerous national championships. Therefore, I try not to miss an opportunity to hear them play. On this day, they had their Arts Festival, in which every class section (6 sections per grade for three grades) sang the school song and one other song of their own choosing. I was blown away by the students' singing ability. They were simply amazing. They had been practicing non-stop, even during the breaks between classes.
The band performed in the afternoon. They put on an awesome show, including a long medly of songs that featured PTA members and teaching singing all kinds of songs along with the band, ranging from John Lennon to Japanese Pop music.
PTA and teachers gettin' jiggy wit' it	The last piece ended with all the lights being turned and everyone in the auidence waving around their glow sticks

November 22-24
Tanno-cho Thanksgiving

Travis, the ALT who lives in the town of Tanno in Northeastern Hokkaido, decided to have a big American Thanksgiving dinner for his office and various people in his town. He asked some ALTs to help him in the preparation, cooking, etc. How could I refuse an opportunity to play with gas ovens and frozen turkeys?
Saturday just consisted of traveling out to Travis's (courtesy of Tami and her lovely vehicle). We just hung out at his apartment that night. On Sunday, we got up reasonably early and starting getting things together. Travis had use of his town hall's kitchen which had ample counter space, utensils, and four ovens.
Two of the turkeys were smoked, the other two were frozen.	John, playing with....something
Other events were happening in the town hall while we cooked during the day.	Cuuuuuuute!
Um...thanks for the help, guys	Basting the turkey
The finished products (fresh turkey on the left, smoked on the right)	Yo
John Nicewinter just couldn't wait	This is about half the spread
We're hungry!	John's enjoying his dessert way too much.
You use these cups to scoop out the water
After the dinner was over and we had cleaned everything up, Travis had a party at his house to thank those who had helped and came out to support it.
It's like a scene from a bad horror film, "The Killer Cell Phone from Hell!"	Dancing
Me, Tami, Travis, and John