First snow and new Visa

Well we've finally got some snow here.  Not much,  maybe a couple inches but that's usually all we get here in Karuizawa anyway.  I am finding that I enjoy shoveling snow lately.  I think it is because it reminds me of being back in Canada. All this snow and Christmas hooplah is kind out making me homesick lately.  Luckily I have beer and my games to make me feel like I'm home so that's good. 

The other week my wife and I made a trip to Nagano City to renew my spousal visa.  It's hard to believe that in two weeks I will have been in Japan for a whole year. Time never went by this fast in Canada that is for sure.  Along the way we stopped at one of my favourite stores; Book-off.  It's a discount store for used manga,  books,  cds,  dvds and games.  I always seem to find some old gems that I couldn't in Canada.  
We also stopped by a temple where we went into a very dark hallway under ground and had to search for a door knob on the wall.  If you touch it means good luck for you.  It wasn't that hard to find what with the line up of tourists ahead of us,  but it was still fun to wander in the pitch blackness. 
On our walk back to the train station we also passed by the 1998 Nagano Olympic torch and a little podium they set up.  I couldn't resist posing. 

Curling tournament

Well,  the big news this week is that I decided to join the IAK  curling team this season. It's strange for me because the only previous experience I have had with curling is switching the channel and saying,  "where is the hockey game?".
But now I'm on a team of players with at least some experience,  although there are other beginners.  Thankfully I am not the only one bringing the team down.
We also missed the beginners league by a few months so we are in a competitive league this time around. Our first match was a 9-0 loss.  I feel better about it after finding out one of their players was a former junior curling champion for all of Japan in 2012.
So once I figured that out,  I decided that we needed to do some practicing.  So far we (Asuka and I) have had two practice sessions and I am getting slightly better,  though I have yet to understand how to correctly estimate how much power to use and I still haven't gotten my balance together for sliding across the ice.  I'm so wobbly still! 
Our next game is Tuesday night and I'm not sure but I think it might be against last year's Nagano championship team. 
Never enough practice.

After work yesterday the wife and I met up with her friend Emi and her boyfriend for a trip to Komoro.  We enjoyed dinner at a Chinese restaurant where I tried my very first lemon sour and some liquor from China.  It was a weird taste,  almost like a combination of tea and whisky but I found it enjoyable. 
Later that night at the train station I found my kanji reading skills have slightly improved. At the ticket purchasing computer I was able to read the two selections for Karuizawa!  Yay me!
Also, I was supposed to be practicing a few songs on guitar to play rhythm guitar with the IAK band at our upcoming Christmas party, but with work and the pension I really haven't had time,  so I think I won't be playing with them this year. 

Winter is coming

Last week I went to one of the shougakkos (elementary schools) in town to talk to the English Club about Canada.  Armed with Asuka's Canadian landscape picture book and an mp3 of our national anthem I arrived ready to talk. Needless to say I was woefully unprepared.  After participating in a brief exercise to help them practice asking directions in English,  I began to bombard them with as much unorganized information as I could throw at them.
I'm not sure which was more scary; the surprising accuracy of what I said, or how the children seemed to listen so enthusiastically,  although they maybe only understood every third or fourth word I said.

Other than that,  winter is beginning to show up here in Karuizawa. Each night after work the temperature had been hovering around zero degrees and we have even gotten some snow on top of Asamayama.  (Asama Mountain,  an active volcano.) No snow as of yet has stuck to the ground but I am sure it will soon.

It's a small world.

This past weekend,  we had ourselves some Canadian guests.  Not just from Canada but from Whistler British Columbia.  Only 30 minutes from my home town. 
       They had come to Japan as supervisors for a student exchange program with about ten students spending a week with host families and I apse just soaking up the culture of rich  resort town of x Karuizawa.
       The real surprise came when I found out that one of our guests' husband is a semi frequent customer at the store my mother works at. So they know each other somewhat well.
         Other than the Canadian connection,  Hoshinoko has just finished hosting some competitors for a rained out tennis tournament, and our lunch service has become quite popular lately.  Often we find ourselves with around ten guests a day. Though lately we have been slow due to the typhoons (hurricanes) passing close to Japan.  We don't get much effect here other than lots of rain, but it is enough to stop people from going out. 
     That's about it for me.  Until next time,  stay classy Internet.

September Doings and Goings On

September had a little bit of everything for me this year. Hoshinoko wasn't as busy as August, but to say that it was slow would not be right. We had guests from all over Japan. A few from Osaka, the usual contingent from Tokyo and even a curling team from Hokkaido. While they were here,  it meant early morning breakfasts  (see 6am) each day.  But I like to think that our breakfasts helped contribute to the fact that they went undefeated all the way to the finals. (As I type they are on the ice playing for first place.)
Come the middle of October we actual have some guests coming from Whistler! (30 minutes up the road from my home town in Canada.) Definitely looking forward to that,  as I don't often get to converse with the guests beyond; "please sit.",  "please help yourself to coffee and tea."  or "be careful the bread is hot."  Needless to say my Japanese studies have taken a back seat to work.
Though sometimes,  our guests can speak varying degrees of English,  which makes me very happy. It also makes my in-laws happy because then I can better serve our guests. 
September also marked my first experience with a typhoon. (or hurricane in North America). Though it didn't actually pass over my town,  we did get quite a lot of rain and some heavy wind gusts.  All in all,  it wasn't that bad of an experience.  Just a really wet one.

Today is also some sort of festival or bazaar just down the street from us.  People were collecting various items from other countries to sell.  I was made aware of this event by the rather loud fireworks being set off.  It sounded like mortars going off they were so close!

On a closing note,  I'd like to announce that we are now open for lunch!  Almost every day! If you're in the area,  so in for lunch between 11:30am till 2:00pm. Last order at  1:30. No reservations necessary,  but if you call ahead,  we will make sure we're ready for you.  Cheapest lunch in town at 500¥ plus tax for hamburg steak with salads,  rice and soup. Check our Facebook page to see when we're open or closed.  #shamelessplug

Until next time,  thanks for reading!  Love to hear your comments.

Picture of our wonderful guests from a week or so ago.  At first I thought they wanted me to take their picture.

Summer busy season

Wow what a busy month July was, and August is even more so. Almost the entirety of July was spent working mornings at the pension and the rest of the day at the restaurant. Now that we are officially in to summer vacation it has become impossible for me to work at the restaurant now.
Everyday brings me new guests and new interesting people to talk to. Well,  to try to talk to anyway. I have been so busy that any down time had been reserved for being too exhausted to so anything.
It is not all hard work though.  The other day I was told that guests had said I have a refreshing smile.  And once again a guest wanted to take a picture with me. This time though, I thought to ask him to send it to me.
Just today even,  two things happened that I really enjoyed.  One of our guests knew who I was because he told me that he reads my blog.  (if you're seeing this please feel free to drop me a line)  and then something completely random happened.  I noticed the license plates of two of our guests and neighbour.  I won't spill it for you so you will have to look but I will say that the one on the bottom is actually or neighbour and not a guest.  But still! What are the odds that this happens?