Thank you all for attending our Christmas Party. The venue, Resort Bar Salud, was the perfect match for our colorful DLS students & team! While it was snowing outside, we enjoyed tropical temperatures & upbeat tunes. Not to mention the food and three hours all-you-can-drink!!! Take care and see you next year. Happy New Year!!!
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
Merry Christmas Everybody!! I hope you have a fabulous celebration and I look forward to seeing you at our DLS Xmas Party ..!
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
December is bonenkai season (year-end-parties) and if you walk through Susukino late at night on any given day you will come across extremely drunk businessmen and even the occasional foreigner, stumbling and mumbling and some of them lying on a street corner apparently passed out. If you do that in a Western country you’d get robbed or worse. In Japan I never worry about these men being mugged or otherwise attacked, but I always think gosh, sooner or later they’ll freeze to death. Culture shock!
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
What’s your favorite Christmas carol or song? My favorite carol is Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, and my favorite song is Christmas is the time to say I love you. Check it out!
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
Popular Xmas scents: Ginger and Vanilla in the US, Rose in Japan
What I love most about the Christmas season are the unique scents that accompany it. In the US the odor of gingerbread, vanilla or candy cane penetrates every nook and corner throughout the month of December. Here in Japan, there are plenty of Christmas decorations but there aren’t really any seasonal smells. So, in order to get the real homely Christmas mood I burn vanilla incense and aroma oil and indulge my skin with rich lotions. This year I ordered Victoria’s Secret gilded ginger creme online and it makes me feel like I bathed in a gingerbread latte! By the way, I sampled similar seasonal body creams from The Body Shop and L’Occitane and I was really surprised to realize how different the three products SMELL. I’d say that each scent is typical for the country they represent. L’Occitane’s fragrances are elegant and refined like the typical French woman and, come to think of it, the typical Japanese woman too. The Body Shop’s Christmas themed body lotions on the other hand smell low key yet sophisticated like a cozy winter night in a Scottish cottage. Victoria’s Secret is all about glamour and indulging yourself, and that kind of fragrance is so typically American it can’t possibly be made anywhere else. Strolling around Sapporo Station, sampling different products and checking out what’s popular and what’s not, I realized one big difference between Japanese and Western/American women. Japanese women like to smell like flowers and ROSE is the most popular fragrance here, whereas American women like to smell like spices ie vanilla, especially in the cold season. Vanilla is something, my Japanese friends told me, that they would put in their coffee but never ever on their skin! Oh, speaking of coffee, I had the weirdest experience yesterday. I ordered a gingerbread latte to go at Starbucks Sapporo Station West Exit and was told it was sold out. It was morning and I thought that was odd so upon further inquiring the store clerk said that actually they had run out of syrup and that therefore gingerbread latte wouldn’t be available for the remaining month … Hello? On another note, I got a Japanese pearl rose bath essence as a Christmas gift today. Thanks, Naoko!
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
Christmas time is a time to give and animals are among the neediest beings because they cannot help themselves. Christmas time, in many parts of the world, is also an extremely cold season with snow and chilly winds. However, many dog owners do not provide sufficient shelter from the elements. Why don’t you be a Christmas Angel for a cold and lonely dog and provide an urgently needed doghouse? Like the song says, the greatest gift is the one you give.
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
I did my Christmas shopping today and I became once again aware that Japan is shopper’s paradise. The store clerks are so polite and attentive, never preppy or arrogant, and unlike in Western countries, we can touch the goods, check out the material and try on clothes without feeling pressured to buy them. In the US, if we spend too much time inspecting goods or try them on without buying we usually earn disapproving looks from the store clerks. Also, the popular Xmas Chance raffle has started and I used the tickets “hisashiburi ni” after many years of ignoring the raffle. I know from experience that I am unlucky in the game and therefore I usually pass. I had 35 tickets today and I said, what the heck, let’s try. Guess what - I won two tickets for the JR Tower Observatory on the 38th floor. I’ve been to the restaurant up there but never to the observatory itself so that’s perfect! Just one thing - who am I gonna go with? Hmm, I think I might have an idea, lol!
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
This is the Christmas Tree at the Factory, the biggest in Sapporo. And this year’s tree is a lot nicer than last year’s, no doubt about that!
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
I ordered a pizza from Strawberry Cones (my favorite delivery pizza) last weekend and guess who delivered it: Santa Claus! That was funny when I opened the door and the pizza guy was standing there dressed in a Santa outfit!
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。
People come and go and that’s life. Well Kenji came back and Yuki is leaving us, and we had a party last Saturday to honor both of them. As expected Kenji had loads of exciting stories to share after his 3-month-stint in the US. Among the most interesting changes Kenji noticed is that more Americans now order water in a restaurant instead of coke. I’d say that’s a very positive development with hopefully dramatic effects on the American bodyline. Also, Americans don’t get that drunk in public places like bars or nightclubs due to the dangers of purse/wallet theft, or worse. I always say Japan is paradise for people who like alcohol, and many foreigners drink way more here than they ever would back home, lol. Anyway, we had a blast at the party and each of us got a bag of the extremely popular Ghirardelli chocolate squares - thanks Kenji, that was very thoughtful! Afterwards Yui, Ari and I went to a karaoke box, lost complete track of time, singing as loud and as well as we could and when we couldn’t sing anymore and checked out we realized it was close to dawn … the check was 5,300 yen per person!!! OMG.
PS: Good luck Yuki! I know you’re an outdoor girl and you’ll love your new job.
私は英語とスペイン語の先生です。