After spending the previous week in the English speaking comforts of the Santana B&B, we have just finished up a week immersed in the culture by living in a Japanese-style minshuku in Otari. The minshuku is maintained by an old Japanese couple, Izowa and Hisako, who did not know a word of English. Our rooms had tatami mat floors and cushions we had to lay on the floor in order to sleep at night.
Our meals were served in the traditional Japanese style of sitting on the floor in tatami mat rooms with traditional Japanese meals like cured, salty fish for breakfast and a type of crab dish, served right in the shell, as part of dinner. Even though I was usually craving pizza with a side of fries, I embraced the experience whole-heartedly and tried all of the items that were served at every meal.
Our week in Otari was highlighted by new snow and skiing almost every day. Each morning we would wake up to anywhere from a few inches to nearly two feet of snow, and a few times we even managed to make first tracks through the fresh powder. On most days we would have one class right after breakfast and then hit the slopes for almost four hours of skiing. Around 1pm we would head back to the minshuku to conclude our classes, have dinner, and spend the night relaxing and getting work done for the next day. The ski lift was just a one minute walk from the minshuku, so it was easy for us to maximize skiing and class time.
One day we took a field trip to visit some students at an extracurricular program that teaches English and U.S. culture. The Japanese students were very excited to meet our students and exchange some words and knowledge from each of our cultures. To thank us for coming, they wrote each of our names in Japanese calligraphy. 
The funniest thing about the field trip was a miscommunication we had with the teacher, Fumiko, when she came to pick us up. She didn’t realize that seven of us were planning on visiting the students and Fumika showed up in her 5 passenger Subaru Impreza with her daughter and dog already occupying a couple of spots. Since the class was about to start and we all still wanted to go, we decided that we could squeeze into the Subaru for the short trip. We had two (Greg and Nina) in the front seat, four (myself, two students, and Fumiko’s daughter, Karyn) and a dog (Sophie) in the backseat, and two more students in the hatchback. It was like a clown car. If you look closely, you can see everyone but Greg.
As the week progressed, the whole group became enamored by our gracious hosts who not only started serving us slightly more American-style meals, but even started to learn English to better communicate with us! It’s embarrassing to admit that by the time the week ended Izowa and Hisako might have learned more English than we had learned Japanese, and they even took the time to teach us about their culture and language. Our cultural experience with them has been the highlight of my trip so far, and I left their minshuku yesterday hoping that they understood how completely grateful we were for their hospitality.
While there are many things about Japan that are quite different, we haven’t had much of a culture shock since most of the other people at the lodge are from Australia or New Zealand and speak English.
The town of Hakuba is in a prefecture called “Nagano.” Nagano is where the Winter Olympics were held in 1998, and Hakuba Goryu held several events. Here I am trying to navigate us around Hakuba. 
At the restuarant, we sat on tatami mats and tried to guess which meal would taste the best based on the Japanese symbols on the menu. Tom, on the right, ordered a squid pancake with a side of mutton that he had to cook himself. 
I think I got some kind of chicken fried pork. The meal also came with a bunch of little sides. At one point I ate something that I thought was a piece of pear, but ended up being some kind of raw seafood chunk that tasted like foot fungus.
The kids are going to write letters to us while we are abroad so that we can write back to them about our experiences. It has been a number of years since I really interacted with students of this age, and I forgot how curious and excited second graders can be. 
After we introduced ourselves, we answered questions from the students. Actually, we really listened to them make statements while we asked them questions to try to dull the awkwardness. Here's one exchange:
In truth, we probably only hiked about a mile or two while taking turns getting pulled by the snowmobile. Still, a mile or two uphill in ski boots and deep snow can be a pretty tough trek, and much of the group was tired by the time we got to the cabin. It took us 3.5 hours. Once we got there, the students made a jump and took turns going off it.
The cabin is just four plywood walls with a wood stove in the middle of the room. It has a picnic table and bunkbed-like platforms for visitors to sleep on. There was an outhouse with no door about 200 feet from the cabin.
After the sun set, we huddled around the stove, had dinner, went over the student handbook, and then went to bed. 
During the night the cabin got a little below freezing. The next morning we woke up to a snow storm. This didn't change the fact that we were leaving, so we had oatmeal, packed up, and headed out. After a short climb/snow mobile tow, we were rewarded with 5.5 miles of gentle downhill skiing as the snow quietly fell on the landscape. I can still hear its light rustling sound. For the most part we were each skiing separately, alone with the mountains. As I skied and took breaks to enjoy my surroundings, I could hear James Taylor's Secret O' Life playing in my head. Those 5.5 miles were among the most peaceful moments of my life. 
Lise and Callie, two red geometry students from last year, decided to mock the way I dressed by wearing khaki pants, coral necklaces, and golf shirts with fish on them. Since they always called me "GKO," I made the caption for the picture on my website "The three GKO's." It looks like the nickname will live on because it's definitely sticking with the staff.
That's all for now. I hope everything is going well and I hope you're having a great summer!