In Hokkaido (and not for holidaying)

 Not long after moving in to the new apartment, my ass got hauled away for another business trip:

In case the image doesn't give it away, I ain't exactly happy about it, especially with what I had been hearing going behind the scenes. That, and I had only just moved before getting my marching orders.

As usual, I won't say where exactly I've been sent, but it is in the Hokkaido region. This is actually first time having been to Hokkaido. Just wish it wasn't for work purposes. 
For those that aren't aware, the Hokkaido region is one of the colder parts of the country. It means, it's very cold in winter, and the summers are said to be pretty comfortable compared to other parts of Japan, especially compared to places like Saitama and Kyoto that are ridiculously hot and humid.
Also, because of the cooler weather, the sakura bloom much later compared to other areas in Japan. Just last weekend, the sakura finally bloomed, and I was able to go to the nearby park and take a nice look around. As I have been getting up really early lately for work, I ended up checking out the nearby park very early. Clearly, other people had the same idea, as there were already people at the park by the time I got there just before 8:00 am. While people had already started turning up there, luckily it wasn't crowded, which would have made walking around and taking pictures of the sakura a real pain to do. 

Aside from that, I haven't done many touristy thing during my off time. The main reason is that we're saving up for the wedding (yeah, we're finally focusing our attention on that), and even a simple wedding is not cheap these days. I cut back on most things - including snacking, going to the arcade and even eating out - and was surprised by just how much I saved this month alone. But that's a story for another time. 

While I will be going back home briefly for Golden Week, nobody is able to give me an answer on just much longer this business trip is supposed to last

Spring Break/New school year 2018

Well, it's been a while since my last post, so I guess I should start with a very belated Happy new year （笑）.

With the new school year coming up soon, I should probably talk about my situation for this year. Fortunately, I am still staying in Chikusei. However, while I will be working at the same junior high school as last year, I will be working at a different elementary school this year... to my (and my previous elementary school's) disappointment. Some of my teachers at my previous elementary school expressed that they wanted me to stay on for the next school year, and I also wanted to stay on, as I enjoyed working at there: the teachers and the principal were friendly, the students were pretty good for the most part, and I had my own classroom with plenty of resources to use, including a computer and LCD TV, which were very useful for 5th and 6th graders.
The weird thing, was that I was only told about the change in my last week of the semester (while recovering from the flu, but I'll save that for another time), yet I had heard from other ALTs that they had found out about their school changes much earlier than I did. While I'm not mad at my employer for the change of school, I'm a little bit annoyed that they left it to the last second to let me  know, and as a result, I wasn't able to give a proper goodbye to the students. I was able to give a goodbye to the teachers during morning recess. In any case, I will be going to visit my new school on Thursday. I was told by teachers from my previous elementary school that this school I will be working at is also a good school, so hopefully there won't be too much to worry about there.

Also, my girlfriend recently moved to Tokyo to start her post-grad. It also means it will be a lot easier for us to see each other now, where it's now just a 2 hour train trip away, rather than a 2 hour train trip, plus 2 hours on the shinkansen. We had a chance to spend the day in Tokyo recently, where we went to Asakusa to have some monjyayaki, before we walked along Sumida Park to see the Sakura. Afterwards, we headed to Ueno to look at the National Museum of Nature and Science. There was quite a bit to see, including dinosaur exhibits, space technology, and how animals and the environment evolved over time. We eventually went to the rooftop, where the happened to be a small garden for people to sit around and relax, along with a small vendor for coffee and snacks. We had a bit of a rest and had the chance to take in the view of Ueno from high up, something I've never had the chance to do. After a brief break, we left the museum, and went to a cafe nearby for some cake, before heading to Ameyoko to look around. After about an hour, we decided to call it a day, and I headed back to Chikusei.

So yeah, not much has been happening lately, though I did have the chance to see my girlfriend. I am curious to see how things will turn out at my new elementary school, though I will probably get some idea on Thursday when I go to visit.