December 31 - January 3

Well, much to the surprise of JETs everywhere, I finally made it out of my house and past Sapporo and made a trip down south. I decided to spend New Year's with Jason and Anita, who live in the volcanic area between Sapporo and Hakodate, around Mt. Usu and Lake Toya.
John and Anita live near active volcanoes in the Lake Toya area. One of the places we visited was a series of craters near Jason's apartment. There was an eruption there about three years ago that totally destroyed a road and caused a lot of damage due to rocks and debris that were spewed during the eruption. This was an old school that was rocked (literally) by the eruption.
Part of the old guard rail, hanging in midair	Jason in front of part of the original road that is jutting out from the snow.
This building just completely collapsed	A view from higher up the slope
The steam coming out from the craters	Anita, Jason, Me, and steam
Another crater
After our excursion with natural disasters, we went to the Windsor Hotel. The Windsor Hotel is located near the top of one of the mountains and is basically a ridiculousy fancy (and expensive) hotel, onsen, and skiing area. They have a great bakery there and it was fun to just walk around and check things out.
Lake Toya, as viewed from the hotel	I think this is the ocean, as viewed from the hotel
There were New Year's Day activities in the lobby	People would feed this lion/dragon/dancer thing money. I guess it's supposed to bring good luck?
Visiting a shrine for the New Year	We played Monopoly, I won of course

January 12

Jason came up to visit this weekend. We made a trip out to Asahikawa's Zoo (the Asahiyama Zoo). It was pretty nice, as I hadn't been to a zoo in years. This is taken from inside the tunnel under the penguin tank. I'm not feeling well, so excuse the unimaginative captions.
penguins	sleeping (it's head is craned back behind itself)
The tiger on the prowl	brown bear
lion	snow leopard
leaopard from underneath	sea lions
polar bear	polar bears playing
probably the cutest animals there - the Red Panda (or Lesser Panda)

January 29

I went to Shibetsu Commercial High School today. In Japan, the school year ends in March. Graduating students are given some time off before their final exams (about 2 weeks!) for self-study. Therefore, even though it's still only January, today ended up being my last day to teach the graduating 3rd year students. I had to take some pictures to capture the moment. :)
This is the 3AB (3rd Year - Sections A and B) Elective English class	The one in the front in the blue has a few screws loose...
3C Elective English	I love this picture
OK, so I'm a big man	Ms. Suzuki (left) is one of the teachers I work with
hallway	1B class having lunch
peace	a common position for students...
hey	1A students
some graduating 3rd years	ow?