Sianora Japan

I have been delinquent in updating my blog. Since arriving in Ashore with Hannah and Mitch the past week has been a whirlwind. I have been to several schools to see first hand the awesome jobs that Hannah and Mitch are doing. They are literally rock stars when they show up at the schools, the kids all wave and are excited to be with them. I cannot say how proud I am of theses two, watching them lead a song about hello hello and the enthusiasm they have at the schools is amazing.
The community has been a gracious host while I was in Ashoro , they included a dinner with the school superintendent (the boss) at his house with again amazing food, another dinner with the school board staff (12 people) at a local restaurant and then off to a local bar for drinks and conversation. Friday night was a night out with Mitch’s neighbour “Goki” a former professional baseball player who now is my second son...Haha.. at a local restaurant with the best food yet with lots of laughs and a great evening.
Hannah and Mitch’s supervisor and there adopted parent is Yoshi who is their interpreter and the person they rely on to help them, he’s an incredibly nice person with very good English. He treats both as if they were his own children.
H and M were great hosts, they have really adapted to the Japanese lifestyle and I think they are really glad to be in a small community of 8,500 people. It’s very much like Wetaskiwin a farm community and a real blue collar community. But all good things must end and as I head home today I have had an excellent trip and look forward to returning with Karen in the spring of 2021.
My impression of Japan is that it is a most civil society, with manners, respect, and attention to detail, I think that we could use more of that in Canada. I know for sure that H and M will have a broader view of the world by this experience.

Yo-Yo-Yo I’m in Sapporo

I arrived in Sapporo Friday evening and met up with Hannah and Mitch, it was great to see them and give them a big hug each. We spent the evening walking around downtown Sapporo as they where having a Christmas light festival. It had snowed the day previous and it was about -5 and nobody shovels the sidewalks and you could litteraly  strap on the blades and skate almost any where and with a hard blowing wind it was pretty miserable outside. We went up the Sapporo tower and saw the lights and then decided to head back to the hotel, with plans for an early morning and head to Otaaru which is about a 30 minute train ride to this fishing, and port town. We spent Saturday in Ottaru and hiked around and took in the local history it would of been an amazing place to see back when the fishing industry and the freighters would come into the port.
Saturday evening we spent at the Sapporo beer museum and a large banquet facility where we ate copious amounts of lamb, pork and beef you get with vegetables Gengis Kahn style which is a hot plate that you heap the food onto and cook at your table along with unlimited beer.  We had made a 2 hour reservation and made full use of our time and eating and drinking abilities. It was a fun day and night as we slided our way home and didn’t have a crash along the way. Tomorrow we head to Ashoro after a stop at Costco.