2008 November 6 Thursday thru November 10 Monday.

 

During the weekend, I spent all of my time making 250 brand new laminated Question and Answer cards based on the 6W1H interrogatives 疑問詞. 

Namely; What, When, When, Who, Why, Which and How. 

This is the second edition of these such cards and they are based upon the 12 page textbook that I wrote about 2 years ago, that was designed for pair work in large classroom settings of between 20 and 40 students.

The first edition of these cards was made 12 years ago when we first opened our new classroom in June of 1996.  

At that time, I didn't even have a personal computer, so I used Ikuko's word processor to create and print out the A4 sized sheets of paper with 10 questions each on them.

Not only did I have to cut the A4 sized paper into 10 business card sized pieces, but I also had to cut the cardboard craft sheets into the same size as well.  

I even bought a big table top guillotine type paper cutter to help me get the job done.

After cutting the paper and the cardboard into their proper sizes, I used very wide transparent cellophane packing tape, to attach the printed question paper onto the cardboard, one at a time. 

They weren't pretty, but they worked rather well for that moment in time.

Nowadays, things are much different. 

Not only do I not need the thick cardboard to make these Q and A cards, but I can print out both the Q and A side of the card, as well as a  colorful backside to each card, that shows the level of difficultly, and my classroom's logo mark.  SBK

Because I spent the entire weekend making these brand new full color Q and A cards, some people might come to the conclusion that I worked overtime to get the job done.

That's only one way to look at the situation.

I look at it from a different perspective.

My classroom is the LOVE OF MY LIFE along with my wife.  

We are both TOTALLY COMMITTED to making this small business a big success.  

All of the time I spend teaching classes and making teaching materials for those classes, is the time of my life and the objective is to make our classroom, the best in this city.

In reality, it already IS.     The only competition I have, is with myself to make it even better tomorrow, than it is today.

What most people would look upon as overtime work, I look upon as PAYING IT FORWARD.

I am always prepared to do the best job I can do, on any given day.

That day was today, Monday November 10.  

For my last class of this day, from 19:00 to 20:00, I had a full house of 5 students, all of them of very different ages and all of them,  from very different backgrounds. 

Sitting around the same table with me, and using the Q and A part two cards, as the textbook for our lesson together, we engaged in very interesting discussions, of many different types. 

It was awesome.   The LOVE was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

To say it went smoothly is an understatement.  

It was a most enjoyable and interesting lesson for all in attendance, because everyone became totally spontaneous in their conversations with me and all of the other students, by using the Q and A cards as a launching point.

What a blast it was.  The promised 50 minutes lesson became 65 minutes, and I finally had to call a halt to the lesson time.

Phuck Yeah!    話せる　使える　楽しい　スノーマン　米会話.  

What you get is more than what was promised to you.   Who could complain?

Nobody.   Least of all me.

**************************************

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タグ：旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道 家庭教室のスノーマン米会話

2008 November 1 Saturday thru November 5 Wednesday.

Super Quantum Synchronicity

Ikuko and I had a bet about the USA Presidential Election Results.  

She thought McCain would win, and I knew different. 

So I challenged her to a bet, that if Obama was elected, she would buy us dinner and drinks at a restaurant of my choice.

When the morning edition of the Hokkaido Newspaper came to my door this morning, the front page headline said "Obama in the lead." 

I didn't even bother to look at the rest of the newspaper at that point in time.

Finally at about 17:00 when the evening edition of the 道新 Newspaper arrived at my door, the headline read "Obama is the next President of the United States of America".    

No big surprise there. 

Our last class of the day was canceled by the student so we were able to go out to dinner an hour earlier than usual.  

Ikuko needed about 15 minutes to get ready to leave, so I sat down to take another look at the morning newspaper.

I slowly looked through every page, and when I got close to the last pages of the newspaper, I GOT A BIG SURPRISE.

My good friend Mr. Akira Baba had passed away on November 3 at his home, in his bed, with a look of peacefulness on his face.

Also written in the newspaper was that November 5 was to be the funeral wake starting at 18:00 at the Ohtani Temple not far from our home.  

After I got over the initial shock upon reading the news, I showed the newspaper article to Ikuko.  

We immediately changed our dinner plans, got all dressed up in black, and walked on over to the temple to participate in the funeral wake that had already started about one hour ago.  

We stayed there for about 2 hours and then walked back home.   

I even cried a little bit.

Mr. Akira Baba was born on March 12, 1936.  

I first stepped out of an airplane and laid my feet on ground at the arrival lobby of the Asahikawa International Airport on March 12, 1990.  

My wife Ikuko was born on March 11, 1963.   

Mr. Akira Baba was 72 years old when he passed away.  

That is exactly 6 times around the 12 year animal zodiac, in the year of the rat. 

Mr. Akira Baba was very knowledgeable about world culture and local Hokkaido history and culture in particular.  

Mr. Akira Baba passed away on November 3, 2008.  

November 3 is a National Holiday every year in Japan.  

It is called 文化の日, meaning CULTURE DAY.   

Mr. Akira Baba was childhood friends with my wife's uncle.  

In other words, her father's younger brother.  

Ikuko and I opened our classroom in 1996, which was the same year of Mr. Akira Baba's 60th birthday.  

A 60th birthday is a big deal in Japan known as KanReki 還暦.

Need I say it again?  Everything is connected to everything else, even if you aren't aware of it.  

Super heavy synchronicity showed itself to me again today, and weighed heavy upon my heart.  

Mr. Akira Baba and I  have taken many trips together around Hokkaido in connection with our activities as members of  the Hokkaido Cultural Property Protection Association.      

I have also spent many enjoyable hours at his wonderful Pub Restaurant Ohfune.     

Click here to see a short photo slideshow of his place.   

Click here to read my translation of a Hokkaido Newspaper article about him and his very successful business.

See you again in the big cosmos my friend!   Where shall we travel to again next time?

馬場昭様のご冥福をお祈り申し上げます。

マスター、ありがとうございました。

**************************************

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タグ：さんろく街 居酒屋大舟 旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道

2008 October 27 Monday thru October 31 Friday.

 

The final countdown into the month of November. 

As such, the rain is getting colder, the wind is getting stronger, and the snow is beginning to fall onto the streets of this city.

November is a season between seasons.  

Not enough snow at the ski grounds yet to have any fun, but just enough snow on the streets to make driving dangerous.

The key word for winter driving is GO SLOW.  

It is easy to drive fast in the snow, but it is not possible to stop in time, to avoid a fender bender.

I got my tires changed from summer to winter on Thursday. 

I let my friendly TOYOTA dealer in SueHiro 末広 take care of that for me.

I have neither the tools nor the time to do it myself.  

I leave it up to the experts, to get the job done right.

Not only did they change the tires, and store them at their location, they did a full chassis and engine inspection including oil change, plus a car wash both inside and out.

The only thing they don't do, is windows, from the inside.

I can't complain.  I'll do it myself someday, when I finally get around to doing it.

As you already may well know, October 31 of every year, is known as HALLOWEEN among urban dwellers. 

The origins of Halloween are pretty much an open secret, but if you haven't thought  about it for a long time, you might enjoy reading my essay while listening to a PODCAST of me, reading out loud the very same essay.

When I was a kid, I loved Halloween more than Christmas.

Why was that?  Because there is FREE CANDY!!!

If you are an adult and reading this BLOG, your candy may be different from the sugar laden crap that most young kids like.

Your favorite CANDY might BEER or Japanese Rice Wine.  

Or, whatever.If it tastes good, eat it.  

If it smells good, drink it.  

If it feels RIGHT, do it.  

Are all slogans from the not too distant past, but it is ALWAYS TRUE, because that's just the way IT IS.

See ya again soon, on the POWDER SNOW side of the HILL.   

The Crystal Hill.

**************************************

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タグ：Halloween 旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道

2008 October 20 Monday thru October 26 Sunday.

 

It is steadily getting colder but the sun was out for much of the week.  

During the weekend there were some very sudden and violent rainstorms, with thunder and lightning.  

For those of you who were caught out in the rain without an umbrella, I hope you didn't catch a nasty cold out of the deal.

I didn't go anyway this weekend, even though I am running very low on Korean Dried Red Chili Pepper Flakes.  

An essential ingredient for me at almost every meal.  Especially with soups and curry.

One of my favorite snacks between classes, is to eat pre-cooked curry packets with brown rice.  

There are many varieties of curry packets for sale at any super market in Japan.  

They range in price from 70 yen up to 400 yen for just one 200 gram foil package. 

Some of these brands taste better than others, but none of them are any where near spicy enough, for me.

That is why dried red chili pepper flakes are so important to me.  

I usually add about one heaping レンゲ soup spoon full of red pepper for every packet of curry that I heat up in the microwave oven.

First, I heat up the curry sauce in a domburi bowl.  

Then, I add the hot and spicy red stuff, stirring it around well so as to mix the flavors together.  

Then the bowl goes back into the microwave again for a second heating.  

When the chime rings, I take the bowl out of the oven, mix it around again, and then add two or three scoops of freshly cooked brown rice on top of it all. 

Yum yum.

The brown rice provides a lot of bulk, fiber and minerals, and the wicked hot curry sauce provides the zesty flavor that I need to make it all worthwhile.

Considering the large amount of red chili flakes that I use almost every day, I need to go to Western Supermarket and buy huge bags of imported Korean red chili.   

The tiny little bags of it that they sell at the next door Seikyo Supermarket aren't even enough for one meal, for me.  

Am I hooked on this stuff???    I guess so.   

I wonder if most Koreans eat as much of this stuff as I do?  

I guess I'll have to ask one some time.

**************************************

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タグ：旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道

2008 October 14 Tuesday thru October 19 Sunday.

 

Lots of nice weather this week, along with some sudden thunder storms and heavy rainfall, especially early Saturday morning.

On Wednesday after my last lesson was finished at 21:00, the two students in that private lesson and I, went to a Live House and Karaoke Bar called Good Luck　（Good楽）that is located right across the pedestrian mall from SanBanKan 三番館.

I have never been here before but my private lesson students have, so they introduced me to the owner and his wife, who have been operating this very nice place for about 3 years now.

Not only do they have the latest Karaoke equipment, but they also have a band set with drums, bass guitar, many other guitars, and maybe even keyboards.

I like these kind of hangouts, because I get to hear a lot of local musicians play lots of good music, and I myself even stand in as a singer or bass guitar player from time to time.

The prices here are reasonable, the place is new and clean and the owners are very friendly.  

It is located at 旭川市３条通１４丁目 in the 越知ビル２F.  

Their web site is located at http://fhp.from.jp/goodluckisa/

They are open from 11:00 - 16:00 for coffee and lunch time, and then again from 18:00 - 25:00 for a cafe and bar with live music by whomever wants to play some music.  

I know for sure that I will be going back again and again.  

If you love live music as much as I do and have never been to this place, please give it a try.  

I think you will like it too.

On another topic of conversation, Thursday October 16 was Me and Ikuko's 14th wedding anniversary.  

Fourteen years sounds like a long time, but really it's just the blink of an eye when you have a happy life together.

I let Ikuko choose the restaurant for our dinner and drinks celebration, so she choose KinKaRo 金花郎 located on 1 Jodori and within easy walking distance from our home.

This restaurant is very very popular and is usually packed with people, but on Thursday night is had a lot of open tables so we didn't have to wait at all.

The food of course is very good and that is why it is so popular. 

The price is a little bit on the high side, but it is well worth the experience. 

If you like Korean Style BBQ and have never been to KinKaRo before, I think you will like it too.

They have two locations that I know of.  

The one in the photo above/left is the one we always go to which is on 1 Jodori at about 4 Chome, and the other one is just off of 1 Jodori at about 18 or 19 Chome.

Both places have exactly the same menu and the same good flavors. 

They don't take reservations so if you want to go on a weekend or holiday, you better get there before 17:00, and be the first in line.

Good products and good service at a reasonable price is all an MBA needs to know about having a successful business.  

Let the bean counters argue over the nickels and dimes.

**************************************

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タグ：焼肉　金花郎 Good楽　三番館 旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道

2008 October 6 Monday thru October 13 Monday.

Another cold and rainy week, until Saturday when the sun came out again and it started to warm up.  

Monday October 13 was a National Holiday known as 体育の日.  

Literally, Physical Education Day.  

I'm not much into exercise or sports anymore like I used to be, so I made plans to drive down to Otaru instead.

I took my usual route to the Sea of Japan on Route 94, also known as the Inada Mashike Line  稲田　増毛　線.

This is a beautiful drive in any season, but now with the autumn leaves becoming more and more colorful, there were some unbelievably bright reds, yellows and orange colored leaves to be enjoyed along the way.

I took my sweet time and drove very slowly so I could fully enjoy the multi-colored tapestry laid out before my eyes.

When I got to the beach at Mashike, I was surprised to see how windy it was.  

When I opened the door of my van, the wind almost ripped it off!

Also, the waves were extremely rough and very high, at about 4 to 5 meters.

I have never seen the sea this rough at this location before.  
But then again, I have never been to this location in the middle of October before either.

I sat in my van and watched the beautiful but deadly ocean roll and growl with the fury of a woman scorned.

The next day, early on Sunday morning, I heard on the radio news that 5 young people from Asahikawa had been walking around on the rocks at Golden Cape 黄金岬 in Rumoi, when they got hit by a big wave.

Three of them got out alive, but two of them are still missing.  

Most likely their bodies will never be found.  Nature is beautiful, but if you don't fully understand and respect her, your going to get whacked.

 
 I finally arrived in Otaru City at about 18:00, parked my van at the MaxValue open 24 hours supermarket, and walked along the Canal Plaza until I arrived at Otaru Micro Beer in Warehouse Number 1.

The main reason that I came all the way from Asahikawa on this day, was to see the PALOSIKS perform the new songs from their new CD, which I also bought on the same day.

The first time I had the good fortune to meet PALOSIKS was on 2006 MAY 3.  

I just happened to be in Otaru During Golden Week, because I had cabin fever real bad, and I love the beer they make in Otaru City Hokkaido Japan.

A couple of good reasons to make the 470 kilometer round trip, and stay overnight in the HOTEL NOAH.

This time I went  in October and was able to drink the German Style Oktober Fest Beer that Otaru makes every year, at this time.

It was the first time that I have been to Otaru Beer in October and the first time I was able to drink this special limited quantity beer.

How was it?

In a word, Deeeeeeeeeeeeelishih!!!!

Take a look at the photo on the left to see what I am bragging about.   

Hokkaido makes WORLD CLASS ALL MALT BEER, and in abundance.

By the way, the PALOSIKS new album is called ゆる　ふわ　Relax.

You can some songs from the album at the Palosiks MySpace web site by clicking here.

I will be writing an album review about it and putting it on this web page of my new web site at the Every Thing Japan Network in the near future.

You can also buy their new album from Amazon Co Jp as well as at the Otaru Beer Hall itself.

Enjoy!

**************************************

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ゆるふわRelax

• アーティスト: パロシクス
• 出版社/メーカー: PIRKA MUSIC
• 発売日: 2008/07/11
• メディア: CD

ワルツ・フォー・ティボー

• アーティスト: パロシクス,M.プレトリウス/W.バード/飯田雅春/古畑亜紀/J.モデーナ/A.カベソン,飯田雅春
• 出版社/メーカー: PIRKA MUSIC
• 発売日: 2002/04/22
• メディア: CD

タグ：旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道 小樽倉庫No.1 PALOSIKS

2008 October 1 Wednesday thru October 5 Sunday.

As expected the winds get colder and the rain falls suddenly and more often. 

It is harvest season and the rice farmers are working as fast as they can to rake in this year's crop before the snow level reaches the low lands.

Early on Saturday afternoon, I drove out to the Kamiubun 上雨分 section of Asahikawa, to retrace the roads that I and my friend Brian Smith would often go cycling along, on our mountain bikes.

Everything was pretty much the way I remember it from many years ago, except that there was some new road construction going on.

I saw many farmers out in their drained off rice fields with harvesting machines, cutting down the rice, spitting out the leaves and stalks, and then unloading the golden grain into a waiting truck.

It's the same thing every year at this time.

A job that has to be done.

Many people are depending on the farmers to bring in the staple food of Japan.

Rice.

Some like it polished and white, I like it brown.

Either way, it's fresh out of the fields.

Yum yum.

Another thing that is always the same each year at this time, is the changing color of the leaves.

The best way to describe Hokkaido during the summer is GREEN.

This is the greenest place I have ever lived, and in more ways than one.

Higher up in the mountains, there is more color right now, than there is here in the lowlands.

That will change very quickly.

The best way to describe Hokkaido in autumn, is RED GOLD and YELLOW.

An amazing patchwork interwoven colors that can keep a professional photographer busy for hours.

Coming soon, the all white blanket of winter snow.

Don't  say I didn't warn you.

It says so right at the top of the ASAHIKAWA page of this website.  

Warning!!!   Asahikawa is covered in snow for about 5 months of the year, every year.   If you don't like snow, don't move here.

Yeah, it's been there since the birth of this FrontPage web site.

Speaking of giving birth to new web sites, I have started a new one using the DreamWeaver MX software package, and it looks and feels completely different than this old rusty web site.

The new web site is at  www.everythingjapan.net    and is being designed as a customized google search engine, and also as an affiliate web site for the promotion of all products and services that are MADE IN JAPAN.

If you are looking for a quick and accurate search for something about Japan, you might enjoy using the search engine portal on this NEW WEB SITE.

You will be able to find what you are looking for more quickly, because I have designed it to filter out unrelated content.

Try it!    I think you'll like it!

**************************************

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タグ：旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道

2008 September 30 Tuesday.

 

Thirty (30) days has September, April, June and November. 

All the rest have Thirty-one (31), except for February which has Twenty-eight (28) days.   

Unless it is LEAP YEAR,  that is the time, when the days of February are Twenty-nine (29).

This is how children in the USA are taught to remember how many days are in each month, throughout the year.

It works well, if you understand the English Language.

Here in Japan, they have another method.

It involves starting with a closed fist, and counting from the the knuckle of the index finger which is up high (January), to the valley between the index finger and the middle finger, which is low (February).  

Up to the next high point of the knuckle of the middle finger (March), down into the valley between the middle finger and the ring finger (April) then up to the knuckle of the ring finger (May) then down into the valley between the ring finger and the little finger (June) then up to the knuckle of the little finger (July).

At this point, you start at the knuckle of the little finger where you already are and count that as August. 

Then you go back down into the valley between the little finger and ring finger (September) up to the knuckle of the ring finger (October) back down into the valley between the ring finger and middle finger (November), and finally back up to the knuckle of the middle finger (December).

The meaning of this exercise is that the high points on the knuckles, represents the months with 31 days. 

The valleys between the knuckles represents the months with 30 days. 

The only exception being February which has either 28 days or 29 days, depending on the year.

Which method works best for you?   I use both of them.

By the way, the photo in today's blog was taken just today in the Nagayama District of Asahikawa, not to far from the campus of Asahikawa University.   

You can clearly see that there is a lot of new snow since September 24, when it all started again for the foreseeable future.

From this day forward, you will be able to see the snow line get lower and lower on the mountains, and then onto the flatlands were most of the humans live.    

There is no escape.      Unless,.....    

You get aboard an airplane and fly off of the island of Hokkaido.

I'm staying here.   In the hot tube.  

Catching big fluffy snow flakes on my tongue, as they fall from the sky.

It's just another way to fly.

**************************************

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ロワジールホテル旭川

• 場所: 北海道旭川市7条通6丁目
• 特色: 市内中心部緑道公園沿いに建つシティホテルです。レストランなどの館内施設も豊富にあり観光、ビジネスの滞在拠点に最適です。

 

旭川グランドホテル

• 場所: 北海道旭川市6条通9丁目右1
• 特色: 地上17階道北エリア最高層ホテル。重厚で格調高い建築と気品漂う空間で最高クラスのサ－ビスと繁華街までの好立地が魅力です。

タグ：旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道 家庭教室のスノーマン米会話

2008 September 25 Thursday thru September 29 Monday.

 

It was cold, dark and rainy all week, until Saturday morning. 

Then the sun came out and it warmed up a bit, making for a pleasant Indian Summer 小春日和 kind of feeling.  

I spent most of my time developing a new web site at the URL of www.everythingjapan.net .  

It looks and feels much different than this web site, and has a completely different purpose.

The web site you are looking at now, started out about 6 years ago, and looked very different then, than it does today.  

The only reason I started this web site way back then, was to give people more information about my classroom, than the Town Pages (Yellow Pages) in the telephone book could provide.  

In fact, the web site was finished just in time, before the new telephone directories were shipped to everyone in Asahikawa.  

I had put my URL www.snowmanjapan.net in my new advertisement, and didn't want people to try and access it, only to come up with a "FILE NOT FOUND" message, when they did so.  

That would be very embarrassing, to say the least.

I used FrontPage 2000 to make my first web site, and even that simple to use  software was a big challenge for me, at that time.  My first web site had only about 5 web pages in it, and was very confusing for the user to navigate through.

A year or two later, I upgraded my software to FrontPage 2002 and bought a big thick book from Amazon dot COM, called the Developer's Guide.  

This book helped a lot, and I learned how to make frames for the web site, making it easier to set up a navigation menu for the users.  

After that, I was able to organize this web site much better and added many new items to the navigation menu, and several hundreds of pages of original content, to this web site.    

It was a big improvement.

In the year 2004, I discovered Marcomedia (now Adobe) software.  

They had a software package called Studio MX, which contained Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Freehand and Flash.  

When I first bought, installed and tried to use this software, I was overwhelmed by the number of menus and functions that this excellent software package has.  

Again, I went to Amazon dot COM and bought a set of about 5 books, to help me learn how to use this new and amazing web development tool.  

It wasn't easy, and I am still an amateur, but finally, I produced a small (for now) web site that you can see at www.everythingjapan.net  

One of the things I discovered is, that DreamWeaver is so much more powerful than FrontPage, I began to wonder why I ever used FrontPage at all.   The reason is, FrontPage is so much easier to learn for people like me, who are not very Techno Smart.  

But, the good news is, I am becoming more knowledgeable about the internet and the IT industry in general, thanks in large part to my good friend Charles Hamel.

He has been working with computers and the internet for a lot longer than I have, and he has shown me so many things about IT, that he has removed the fish scales from my eyes, about the World Wide Web.  

Thank you so much, my dear friend Charlie.

 You truly are; ON THE PATH in Hokkaido Japan.

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旭岳万世閣ホテルベアモンテ

• 場所: 北海道上川郡東川町旭岳温泉
• 特色: 大雪山国立公園旭岳の標高１１００ｍ地点に位置する、ヨーロピアンテイスト漂う山岳リゾートホテルです。

タグ：旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道 EveryThingJapan Snowmanjapan.net Dreamweaver　Fireworks FrontPage

2008 September 24 Wednesday.

According to the evening addition of the Hokkaido Newspaper, Mt. Asahidake got it's first snow on the mountain peak 初雪冠雪 just today.

Wait a minute!   It is only September 24!   

Say what?!?

Welcome to Hokkaido.

It is time to start wearing warmer clothes again, especially at night.

Summer in Hokkaido is extraordinarily beautiful.  

It is also very short.   I hope you enjoyed it again this year, as much as I did.

With colder weather approaching rapidly, day by day, I and most other people who live here, will be spending more and more time indoors.  

It's a good time to do all of the things you have been planning to do, but didn't do, because you have been spending so much time in the great outdoors.

In my case, I will be spending more time developing web sites and reading books about how to do that, and reading more books about various other things.  

For other people, it will be a time to get back to THE classroom and study English or music or flower arrangement or the tea ceremony or whatever.  

The long winter in Hokkaido makes it easier to stay indoors and really concentrate on the STUDY at hand.

Recently, I have been getting a lot of new adult students coming to take a look at my classroom, and then starting regular lessons on a weekly basis.

Last week a man and a woman began private lessons every week on Wednesday, starting at 20:00. 

The man is about the same age as me, and is also a guitar player with a band called LIBERTY and the woman works at a law office.  

I am also a guitar player so we have a lot in common and we both love many of the same songs.  

Mostly stuff from the USA rock and roll style of the 1960s and forward from that time.  

I don't play the 6 string guitar as much as I used to, because I like to play the bass guitar more nowadays.

Also, just today, I had two adults come to take a look at my classroom for a free trial lesson. 

The man is also a guitar player who likes HEAVY METAL, and the woman can play the trumpet and violin.   

Another interesting thing about these two people, is that they both work at Asahiyama Zoo!!!   

What a cool job!    I love animals too, so I could enjoy a job like that, if  ever I had the opportunity to do it.  

They both found out about my classroom after seeing this web site on the internet.  

In fact, the man who came today is one of the people who has designed and currently maintains the Asahiyama Zoo Web Site.    

A very good web site indeed.  

I have a permanent link to it on the LINKS page of this web site.

The main reason they both came to take a look at my classroom today, is because many foreign tourists come to the Asahiyama Zoo every year, and being able to speak English is very usefu, for their jobs.  

I hope they both decide to come back again and start taking lessons on a weekly basis.   

I really enjoyed meeting and talking with them today.

By the way, the photo in today's blog is of a brand of Japanese Rice Wine made by KuniMare 国稀 which is located in Mashike Town 増毛町.  

I have been to this rice wine brewery several times, and you can see a photo slide show of Mashike Town by clicking here.

This particular product is called Hokkai Nigori Zake 北海にごり酒 and was made during July of this year.  

It usually hits the shelves of the supermarkets around September and that is why I am enjoying it right now, as I write this blog.

It is not 100% Rice Malt Wine 純米酒ではない but it is raw and needs to be keep cold or it will spoil.   

It has a sweet smooth flavor and is about 20% alcohol, so it's easy to drink a little bit too much, and get tipsy.

As you can see from the photo, it is not clear, but cloudy.  

The meaning of Nigori is something like "cloudy", and that is why the brew looks something like watered down milk.   

The perfect drink for this season.  

If you love Japanese Rice Wine the way I do, please try this product.  

You won't be disappointed.  

CHEERS!

**************************************

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層雲峡　朝陽亭

• 場所: 北海道上川郡上川町層雲峡温泉
• 特色: 層雲峡の大自然に囲まれた温泉宿。最上階空中大湯殿からは大雪山系を一望。日本の風情溢れる温泉宿でゆったりとおくつろぎを。

層雲峡温泉　朝陽リゾートホテル

• 場所: 北海道上川郡上川町層雲峡温泉
• 特色: ５タイプの浴槽、２種類の湯でゆったりのんびりステイ。岩盤浴、貸切風呂、アロマエステコーナーあり。

タグ：旭川市　旭川英会話　英会話スクール　英会話教室　北海道 旭山動物園　Asahiyama Zoo ヘビメタ　HEAVY METAL KuniMare 国稀　増毛町 純米酒