sapporo snow festival.

This was us waiting to ride the boat pulled by the snow mobile!

This is the famous ramen street in Sapporo. There were like 30 ramen restaurants!

This is the slide at the snowman building event. I went really fast!

Here is the saumrai castle and on stage were the snowboarders that were contestants in the next day's event.

These were all the little kids on our bus. I don't think they are used to seeing gaijin because they kept staring at us the whole ride there! ha ha

bamboo ski making!!

Here are some snowman designers! They were really getting into this event. Hundreds of kids participated!


Here are the little kids that practiced their english with us, they were so cute as they were all telling us their names ;)

seriously! You have got to be crazy not to fall in love with that little face!

this is the first picture that we took with a snow sculpture!

Some more photos.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2583227&l=b44b6&id=5219826
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2583172&l=dc375&id=5219826

Trent, Lindsey and I just got back from the snow festival in Sapporo, which is the northern island of Japan- Hokkaido. This annual 60th event was so unique and really like nothing I've ever seen before! I enjoyed all of it of course, but I especially loved the snow babies. My heart could hardly contain all of the happiness that those little bundled up Japanese kids gave me. :)
There were so many fun things to do, great food to eat, and beautiful snow sculptures to see. The city was full of beautiful Japanese people and culture that made me fall in love with Japan even more, I didn't think that was possible. ;)

*******
Those who know me, know that I have the most ridiculous embarrassing things happen to me here in Japan. Well, this may be one of the top three for sure!
As were just about to watch the snow boarding event, Lindsey and I decided we need to go use the restroom really quick. There were a few workers that were on the side of the ramp telling everyone to scoot in more so there can be room for the people walking by. I decided to walk up to one of the workers and ask him where the restroom was(in Japan, we say toilet)-with out being too loud so that I would be heard on his loud megaphone.
"Sumimasen, toire wa doko desu ka" (Excuse me where is the restroom?)
"EHHHH?.... toire!? Achi desu" (Huuuh?... Toilet??! It's over there.)
All 50 people standing around him heard him shout toilet into his megaphone and were cracking up as lindsey and I ran away to avoid any more embarrassment.
classic.
*******






I helped light these candles that were lined up along snow paths in a park area. as I I was walking through the park, a guy working at the booth kinda just handed me a box and a lighter and asked me to help out, so I did. After I was lighting a few I realized that there were other people that were pulled into this as well. But as I was focusing on my candle lighting skills I couldn't help but think that this is exactly what I'm doing in Japan. I'm lighting one little candle at a time in order that the Japanese can also know the light of the world. When we step back and look at everything going on around us, it turns out to be a lovely park full of snow surrounded candles lighting the paths.