English Club Valentine's Day Party

Thanks to some FABULOUS packages from my mom and from Jacob's Aunt Ann and Uncle Terry in Texas, I was able to put on a super fun Valentine's party for our English Club at school yesterday!

My grandma's popcorn ball recipe...usually reserved for autumn treats, but perfect for V-day with some heart sprinkles:

The other ALT, Dawn, and myself made some homemade brownies as well (and by "homemade" I mean Costco extra-chocolate-chunk brownie mix) topped with Ann and Terry's tres fab hearts:

And because of all the treats we received in the mail, I was able to put together some coolio goodie-bags complete with stickets, Hershey kisses, Sweethearts candies, Valentine cards, and Valentine pencils.  I thought they were great:

And what's a party without games!?  Here's we're playing the "traditional" Valentine race to see who can stack the highest tower of Sweethearts in a minute!  Make anything a competition and it's always fun:

In Japan, only women give chocolate to all of the men on Valentine's Day, including their male co-workers and relatives.  The men, in response, give chocolates to the women on White Day, which is a month later on March 14th (and which, I discovered, was established by Japan's National Confectionary Council in 1978...hmmmmm).  The students were impressed by the American customs of schoolchildren giving Valentine's cards to all of their classmates, as well as by the fact that friends also give gifts to each other (not just lovers)!  

One thing that both of our countries definitely have in common is the dark, sweet, and oh so thick layer of consumerism that makes this holiday a candy/card maker's dream!  Mmmmmm, delicious!  Despite all of that, though, it's also an excuse to do something different with the students and give them a chance to have a little fun with their English!  Happy V-Day, everyone!

雪祭り The Sapporo Snow Festival!

Despite battling unusually warm weather and partial melting (followed by sculpture-covering blizzards), Sapporo persevered with their magical snowy wonderland for the 60th year now!

The showpieces of the festival are, of course, the amazing snow sculptures which take days and many bodies to construct.  Probably the most popular of these behemoths this year was the Disney Dreams sculpture, built to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Tokyo Disneyland:

In addition to the giant sculptures, there are also hundreds of smaller sculptures designed and carved by school groups, individuals, families, and the community.  Would something like this even be possible back home without succumbing to the "artistic" hands of vandals?

One of my favorites...the Build-A-Snowman site in what appeared to be a reproduction of Siberia (note both diagonal and vertical snow)!  Snow storm at a snow festival...BLAGH!!!!!

In my opinion, the night time is really when the entire festival is at its most photogenic:

In the Susukino (すすきの) district, the Ice Festival is on display as well, with about 100 intricately carved frozen wonders:

I LOOOVE the cow in the bowl of ramen noodles...yes, those are REAL ramen noodles frozen in there:

And I have to end with the shot of an amazing nikuman (meat-stuffed bread dumpling) shop I found tucked underneath a parking garage thanks to a snowy stroll through Susukino.  Doesn't the steam and burnt-out lights just BECKON you over for some hot meat lovin'?  Always good after a tromp through the snow, and a grand 'ol time at the Snow Festival.

Japanese-Cuban Birthday Bash

For my 28th life-celebration this year, I had a fabulous gathering at Habana, my favorite Cuban bar and salsa dancing place!  Although the actual salsa dancing went by the wayside, there was an amazing turnout of "old" and new friends, along with mojitos galore!  I can't think of a better way to grow older:

The cake...oh, the cake!!!  Everyone chipped in for one of the most amazing birthday cakes ever!  It was actually modeled off of the cake for the mascot of the Sapporo Snow Festival, and it tasted as good as it looked (in addition to the sweet little chocolate cupcakes that my friend, Steph made):

I love birthdays and I'm always sad when they end!  They just always remind me how lucky I am to be surrounded by such incredible, inspirational, zany, crazy, and caring souls!  With friends like these, growing older doesn't seem quite as daunting!