Yotei One Lap and lots of projects

A few weekends ago we explored the quaint Niseko area with a bike ride around Mt. Yotei to raise money for PEPY. Mt. Yotei is a beautiful Fuji-esque volcano and PEPY is a nonprofit organisation with education and community development programs in Cambodia. Check it out at pepyride.org. Alastair did an amazing job setting everything up, hosting us, and throwing a delicious bar-b-que afterwards. You should try his grilled banana recipe - Cut a slit in a banana (with the peel still on), stuff it with chocolate, wrap the whole thing in tin foil, and throw it in the coals til it`s ooey gooey good.

Two weekends ago we hiked Sorenuma Dake and Sapporo Dake. I don`t recommend it. Do one and then the other, the connecting trail is horrendous. But the leaves were gorgeous and we had an amazing time in the hut at Sorenuma with a 70 year-old volunteer and his dog and his mandolin and his sake. The hut is open year around too (though not manned in winter) and you can cross-country ski up to it. That`s on the wish list once the snow comes. The snow wish list is getting quite long.
One weekend ago was Brian`s birthday and we had a great cookout by the river with lots of friends. The plan was to play tennis and whiffle ball, but we never got around to it. I never got around to taking photos either. But it was so good to hang out by the river with great people. The Sunday after the cookout we played a teachers vs. students softball game at my base school. It was so fun, but I`m so bad at softball and the girls team is really good and intimidating. I was scared to go in the outfield. Everyone was really excited to meet Brian though.

This past weekend we spent exploring Sapporo and hosting couch surfers and JETs. We`re getting hibernation ready cozying up our place and storing up food for the winter. The weather keeps promising snow, but it may be a week or so off still. I can`t wait for it to pile up deep enough for all the winter sports to begin. Especially now that we`ve figured out how to work our heater.

So weekends have been busy and fun, but the weekdays are starting to liven up too. School is really busy and I`ve started lots of projects. I`ve been going to cooking club and photography club at school, and the home ec teachers let me use the kitchen class room to make Brian`s birthday cake.

MMmmmm. We made omuyakisoba! That`s omelet topped stir-fried noodles. Yes that`s mayo on top. No really, it`s good.

Mmmmm, caramel apple spice cake. Did you know that butter cream icing is really almost entirely butter? I didn`t know. Now I know. And now I know how good it is. And now I know how bad marshmallow fondant is. But it`s so cute!

I`ve taken up felting, trying to get skilled enough to teach others how to do it in our BIG project. Brian and I are going to start hosting casual workshops at our house on Sundays on how to do various DIY projects, but we`ll also be having lots of other people teach workshops as well. We`re hoping we`ll build a nice little group of friends around these activities, both Japanese and foreign, and that we can all share the techniques we`ve learned along the way. We made a web page and we`re getting help having it translated. Next step is funding and fliers and materials. http://www.sapporodiyexchange.weebly.com/

Here are the rest of the photos from the past month. I still haven`t done a good job taking many. One day I`ll do a home and Sapporo round of photos. One day...

And here`s a freaky little Japanese something to finish off the post. Halloween`s just around the corner!