Week 17: Lab BBQ!

I FINALLY got my hands on something I have been coveting since I arrived:

It was even made in Canada!

I have always loved hockey, but I've really never played it outside of gym class and the occasional bit of pond hockey. But somehow, being in Japan made me really miss hockey, even though it's not even hockey season! Maybe it's because the Guelph Storm had such an amazing season last year. Anyway, I bought what I believe may be the only hockey stick in Sapporo. I found it in a used sports store, and it was the only one they had and it had been there for several months. The other second hand store nearby is closed for renovations, but I'm hoping they might have a second stick when they reopen.

I ran out and got it on Saturday morning, because on Saturday afternoon we had a lab BBQ in the backyard of the apartment where I live! The barbeque was AMAZING!! We had two grills - one for veggies and one for meat - and there was a huge variety of different veggies to grill, including corn and eggplant and asparagus and a bunch of different kinds of mushrooms! There were also HUGE hamburgers and steaks and chicken wings for the meat eaters. 

A small selection of the veggies ready for the grill!

My prof and his family manning the meat grill

My labmate's son couldn't make it (because he was doing a ROBOT BUILDING enrichment activity!), but his daughter came, and she brought some crazy bubble blowing toy! I have never even heard of these, but apparently they used to be common in the 70s? The toy comes with a narrow straw and some tubes of goo. You squeeze a blob of goo onto the end of the straw, then blow into it. If you do it right, you end up with a giant bubble with about the consistency of a bubble gum bubble! My labmate's baby, who had spent the first hour of the picnic getting frustrated at normal soap bubbles, loved these plasticy ones :p

The star of the BBQ

When we were too full to eat any more, we played some badminton and my new favourite sport, indoor sock hockey (aka sockey)! To play, just give a hockey stick to a person who has never held one before, make them play goalie on a  floor mat, and kick a rolled up pair of socks at them. Instant fun!

I made peanut butter blondies and a yeasted plum cake for dessert, so we had a coffee party at the end of the evening to cap off the party. 

It's beginning to feel a little bit like the end of summer now. The leaves are all still green, but there is a definite bite in the air most mornings. I actually had to wear a coat a few times last week. I did some investigating and it looks like, thankfully, soy hot chocolates from Starbucks are indeed vegan in Japan, so I might have to make a pilgrimage in the next couple of weeks. I do like summer, but winter is my favourite time of year (and fall is a close second!) so I am ready for a change. I am hoping that there will be fewer bugs in the winter because I am getting pretty tired of chasing weird blond daddy longlegs spiders out of my room. It's gotten so bad that I can't keep any books beside my bed, because within a day or two there will be spiders living in them!

I heard that the legendary bear of the research station was spotted (by someone more reliable than me!) in the park that is directly attached to the woods where I live. So maybe the bear really is real! I always make sure to close my window at night, because the only thing that MIGHT be worse than finding a giant spider in my room would be finding a giant brown bear. I saw one of the feral cats on Sunday and I tried to lure him to come home with me, but he was having none if it.  I could have really used his help because there are several flies in my room (I guess we left the doors open too long during the BBQ). Maybe I can convince my parents to mail me my cats....