It's been a while...

I feel like there's so much to update on! However for this post, I'm going to keep it short.

First of all, we want to say "ありがとう ございました!!" to Professor Mary Diaz who sent us some goodies from America!

Yum!!! I think we finished most of them that night. I'm just saving the M&Ms for cookies.
(I hope this gives you other readers some ideas...our address is Kita 24 Jo Nishi 6 Chome, 2-15-401, Kita-ku Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0024 Japan)

And this is where we get all our mail:

Our trusty mailbox!! Things aren't so different in Japan, eh?
I don't know if you can read it clearly on the box but I wrote my first name wrong in katakana.
A prize to whoever can comment with the correct spelling!

Also:

It's been snowing in Sapporo!!
I know that doesn't seem exciting but it is because previously it was just cold rain.
Here's some snow falling outside our apartment:

Snow means じょせつ (josetsu)!! (And josetsu is snow shoveling)
This is a picture of the snow shoveling supply room in the apartment building.

Each apartment takes turns shoveling snow-
every two days, the responsibility moves on to the next apartment.
We actually haven't had much snow accumulation. Sometimes in the morning and the evenings there's a thin layer of snow on the ground but during the day it melts.

Snow also means SKIING!!! Well, not much to report on this front- we haven't been out skiing yet. I did get my bindings placed on my skis and got a "chune up" at the shop too. Hopefully we'll be skiing this weekend.

And that's it for now- more updates soon!

I'll leave you with an image of our favorite fruit:
かき (kaki)

Our Apartment

I know that this blog is keeping you on the edge of your seats waiting for an update...so here it is!

After a whirlwind two days in Tokyo, which I spent recovering from international travel, enjoying our luxury hotel and lamenting the distance to the Gundam and the complicated Tokyo subway, we finally arrived in Sapporo and were brought to our apartment- number 401 in building 2-15 on North 24 West 6 street. (now you know our street address- presents are welcome and expected; especially monetary donations and anything with chocolate and PB; also pizza)

We had our bags brought up to the apartment (yikes, I had a 50 pound box AND bag...), gas range and heater delivered, utilities turned on, and then our Japanese mother took us to the supermarket (aptly named SuperArcs) for rice, eggs, juice, tofu, miso soup base and nori. Then everyone left and we dragged our futon into a random room and passed out.

Now for some pictures:

Behold!
Our first breakfast in Sapporo
...eggs, oatmeal with cinnamon and honey and juice! Please note the mess.

Fast forward weeks later and here's our apartment:

View from the kitchen of the dining room:

This is the angle from the entry way:

The living room:

The bedroom (or futon room)

Coming out of our room;
Looking towards the kitchen:

That thing covered in plastic is our heater;
which I hope by the time I get back is hooked up and ready to heat.

This is our spare room.
I am determined to turn it into a study/office.

You all only get to see a dark picture of it because it's actually where we throw all our crap.
It's probably the coldest room in the apartment so I don't think it'll house any guests.

Here's our plants that we inherited from Ryan's predecessor:

And that's it! More on the way soon...I am currently in NYC and it's almost 1AM. Oh no, I'm not jet-lagged. Heh.

-Jane