By the way, we had our first snow about four weeks ago, in October! It was much earlier than in the previous year. A japanese friend of mine assures me that an early first snow will mean that the ‘real’ snow will not begin until even later. The temperature has been yo-yoing up and down over the past few weeks, but can generally just be described as cold. The highest mountains are all capped with snow. (The photo below is from October)
These days have been treating me well, perhaps to make up for the Nine Week Silence. I went with friends to a beautiful organic Japanese restaurant in Koide a few days ago. It was located in a gorgeous old fashioned Japanese building, complete with a pond and traditional garden. Inside, the ambiance was amazing in every detail, and they offered things like sakura scones and imported pastas and soya. The menu sounded so delicious cover to cover that deciding was an extremely painful experience. I ended up with a Tempeh Burger, and was not a mite disappointed.
Today, my cycling buddy messaged me shortly after class and we met with our bikes to face the ‘chance of rain’ forecast. It was perfect cycling weather, except for the unusually strong winds which actually pushed us around a lot! We went to the park and explored every corner. I bought some veggies at my favorite veggie vendor, after which the two of us sat out by the pond taking in the view. Luckily, she was up for fuwa-fuwa dome after a while, and we spent half an hour or so enjoying the bizarre trampoline and laughing like children. It was very refreshing. Check out the quality of this cell phone shot from the park!
After riding around the park for a bit, we caught a bite to eat for lunch at Budou no Hana and then headed back to campus. We took a totally new route neither of us had explored before, and found an enormous and beautiful old sakura tree, as well as a whole huge line of younger trees planted not 15 minutes from campus. They were all in bloom, and looked amazing against the still snow-capped mountains.
I think after today we have a pact to go to the park at least once a week. I’m looking forward to next time already.
There are some very overdue photos I hadn’t gotten around to sharing yet! When Chris was here last December we had loads of fun! Here is some evidence of our shenanigans:
(Oh, and I dog-sat Yoyo too!)
Many photos taken in Urasa and on campus over the past two weeks. Rumor has it that the snow is going to end early this year, sometime in February instead of March. I’m not entirely convinced, but only time will tell.
(a view from my dorm)
(the sidewalk, nearly transformed into a tunnel)
(Urasa with blue skies as seen from the soba stall in the station. This is basically the entire town.)
(someone’s bike)
(the view from Urasa)
(those rare blue skies allowed these trees to shed their frosting)
(a view from the bridge, down to the river)
おしまい
