Yaki Niku

November 06

Had a great weekend. Some of our students took us out to a Yaki Niku place for dinner. Yaki Niku is a Korean version of BBQ and is really popular here. They bring small charcoal fires to your table and you cook your own meat. The meat is served in small cuts and is easy to pick up and retrieve with chopsticks. The only downfall is that it gets really smoky and your clothes smell for a while. There are a few different cuts that we probably wouldn’t eat in New Zealand, like pig intestines, cows tongue (I was apprehensive but it was really good) and of course liver. It is an all you can eat and drink in 2 hours deal…fantastic. A great concept that I can’t help thinking of as a challenge! After having a huge feed of meat and beer we headed to another bar before going to our local, Shu Sen.

Kushiro Climbing Competition

November 2006

On Sunday Sarah and I were invited to attend the Kushiro Climbing Competition. It was held at our local wall at Seiundai. In total about 30 climbers attended from Kushiro and the surrounding areas. Sarah and I did really well. Sarah placed fist in the Women’s Middle Grade, and I managed to get into the open finals and gained 5^th place overall. Lots of fun and laughter. With the short climbing season here and the fact that there is only 1 climbing wall in all of Eastern Hokkaido the level was not as high as in New Zealand. Which was good for us as we could do well in the competition. We were both happy to receive prizes.

Me-Akan Dake

November 2006
We had a long weekend and on Friday went to Akan National Park to climb Me-Akan Dake 1499m. It is an active volcano that had been closed to hikers since our arrival but opened again in September. However it still seemed very active, approaching the summit there is a constant noise that sounds like a jet flying overhead. It was a nice hike, through forest and then into the moonscapes higher on the mountain. Very smelly though.

November 2006

November 2006
Well for those that don't think we do any work over here, these are some photos of teaching in Kushiro Public Schools. We do this about once a week and teach 4 lessons to between 20 and 60 children per class. It is often fun, but exhausting and frustrating. All the kids want to touch you and laugh at you when you try to speak Japanese. I've had First Graders hanging of my arms and legs while I tried to leave a classroom, and the teacher just stood back and watched!