I'm going on a snowy misadventure!

I thought last weekend was a lot of snow, but I was wrong.  This weekend the snow came down harder and higher than the week before!  When I stepped outside of my apartment Saturday morning, this is what I saw.  And it didn't stop there.  It continued to snow throughout the weekend.  I woke up each morning to the sound of neighbors shoveling snow, their poor cars trapped and buried alive.

Snowed in!

One minor plus of all this snow, is that none of my students have been able to come to my Saturday night class.  That means for the past two Saturdays, I've had the day off.  It's like a real weekend!  Aaron and I had made plans for this Saturday night, but the snow was so bad and the roads were so dangerous.  Despite whatever proper judgment we might've had, Aaron decided to make the drive anyway!  He left his apartment at around 5:30pm, but his car was stuck in the snow.  Nearly an hour later, he finally called me to let me know he was on his way.  Then 30 minutes later another phone call.  The roads are nothing but ice.  Traffic is at gridlock.  Several cars are stuck in the snow ahead of him.  He saw a car do a 180.  He has to somehow drive up a hill covered in ice in a really crappy rental car.  He doesn't think he can do it.  Inside, I'm accepting the fact that our Saturday plans are going to be canceled.  I'm also praying that my fiancee doesn't die out there.  Somehow, and probably very stupidly, he pushes on anyway and finds his way to Ayashi.  When I see him it's about 9:00pm.

After a really stressful drive and, you know, risking his life just to see me, Aaron wanted some burgers and fries.  We drove over to McDonalds, which was another nightmare due to the horrible conditions of the roads.  We drove in circles until we could make our turn in the ice.  When we got there, the place was CLOSED!!  WHAT?!  What McDonald's closes down due to snow?!  Normally, this McD's has a 24 hour drive-thru, which we were counting on.  Aaron drove all way to Ayashi for a cheap, $1 burger and this is what happens!  We were pretty disgusted at how this night was going and I was going to faint from starving all day.  We settled for a restaurant not too far away and gorged ourselves on a $50 feast of tonkatsu, agedashi tofu, sashimi, fried shrimp, pickled cucumbers, miso soup, and chawan mushi.  I was supposed to be on a diet, but I starved myself waiting for a high calorie fast food meal.  I was willing to binge for one disastrously snowy night.  The meal was expensive and it was the most I'd eaten in weeks, but it was worth it.

The next day was church.  Originally, Aaron had planned to drive back to Takamori and then drive back again in the morning.  Well, no way was that gonna happen!  When we got back to my place, there was nowhere to park due to the parking lot being snowed in.  Aaron had to park at the church, but once he made the turn in, he was stuck.  Again.  Not only that, there was a huge mountain of snow blocking the driveway and we couldn't get through.  It was pretty late at night, so we didn't wanna bug anyone.  I got out and went around the other way to see if there was another way out.  When I got back, Aaron had resorted to kicking the mountain of snow out of the way.  (Not very effective.)  Luckily, there were shovels that the church had left out, so I grabbed a pair and we spent the late evening shoveling snow away.  It was my first time shoveling snow in about 4 years.  Aaron was exhausted because he had spent the entire day shoveling snow at his work and now here he was again, shoveling even more snow!  Finally, we cleared enough snow away to get the car unstuck and in the parking lot.  We were both tired.  But I actually thought it was exciting.  It was an adventure!



I've come to realize that snow, a LOT of snow, is exhausting.  Last year this time, I blamed my exhaustion on traveling and adjusting to Japan.  Now, I know the weather is also a big part too.  After all the excitement from the night before and just snow period, I was so exhausted.  I spent the entire morning sleeping.  The entire morning.  I missed church!  When I woke up, I was just in time to make it for lunch.  We had sandwiches.  It was nice and light.

Afterwards, I wanted redemption.  I wanted my McD's, darn it!  So we made our way back to McD's, which was open.  Thank the Lord!  We got there, I ordered my meal, and Aaron says he's not hungry.  WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT HUNGRY?!  But I got him to eat.  Mwahaha.  I gave him the last bite of my burger and he got in line to get his own.  Hehehhee.

After McDonald's I was still exhausted.  I spent the entire afternoon sleeping again.  When I woke up, it was time for Night Service.  It was my turn to share my "treasure."  Each month, a member of church has a show-n-tell of their most prized possession.  Up until now, I had nothing to share.  I didn't bring anything of value to Japan.  But thanks to last week, I now had the perfect thing.  My engagement ring.  Of course, everybody knew what it was and we probably didn't even need to have them guess.  But I also shared a story with them.

When I got the ring, I was in the middle of a depression.  That night, I asked God, "Who am I?"  He then gave me the song "Treasure" by Bruno Mars.  The lyrics go like this:  Pretty girl, pretty girl, you should be smiling.  A girl like you should never look so blue...  Treasure!  That is what you are.  Honey, you are my golden star.  You can make my wish come true, if you let me treasure you.  If you let me treasure you...  You are my treasure.  You are my treasure.  You are my treasure.  You.  You.  You.  You are.

It was a fitting song.  I asked God, "How can I remember this? How can I know this is true?"  Then He said, "Look at your finger."  That's where my ring was.  Aaron had said that the diamond was nearly flawless, a really good quality diamond.  It's not the biggest, but it's nearly perfect.  God was saying that the ring is not just a symbol of Aaron's love to me, but also who I AM in Christ!  Who I am to God!

Anyways, I shared this with the church and it really fit in well with the message that Pastor Hisashi shared.  I think it all came together well, even if it wasn't surprising.  When God speaks, it's wonderful and it's always a great story.

Bruno Mars is a Hawaii boy.  Represent!

To top it all off, I got a surprise Valentine!  Ryu-kun!

The Friday before this crazy weekend was Valentine's Day.  Normally, in Japan, the girls give chocolates to the boys on Valentine's Day.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  Ryu-kun came to class with a bouquet of pink roses and heart chocolates for me!  It was so cute and sweet.  I had to take a picture of him.  I'm really thankful (mainly to his mom because I know this was her doing!) and it was a nice Valentine's Day gift.

A Snow Weekend

The last two weeks at church have been a nice change of pace.  Two weeks ago, two girls from Taiwan came to visit and they had lunch with us.  It was during the Chinese New Year weekend, so we got to talk about food.  While eating food.  They were very nice and it was a shame that that was their last day in Sendai.  It would've been nice to get to know them a little more.

Aaron, me, and Sandy from Taiwan

We also had a nice talk with Maitta afterwards.  Aaron and I really appreciate him.  Even though he has a lot of trouble getting his words out and social interaction makes him very uncomfortable and tired (due to having Asperger's syndrome), he still opens up to us in a very honest and sincere way.  It's very refreshing and it gives us the opportunity to pray for him, which we are always happy to do.  When we do pray for him, we always see immediate results.  His speech becomes clearer, he's able to sit at the lunch table with others, or he just seems less anxious.  It's a real testimony to see God's power flowing in him, and it's a blessing.  He also shared about how he's started a new goal for himself.  Blogging.  In English.  He writes every day and it's his desire to share his story with others.  His English isn't perfect and his entries are brief.  But him expressing his story is something that I respect about him and I hope that others can check out his blog too some day.

Can you see the fourth car?

Last weekend, we had a lot of snowfall.  According to the report, it was the most snow Sendai has seen in 78 years or so.  It sure was a lot!  As soon as I stepped outside my apartment, I was knee deep in snow.  The poor cars were trapped.  We saw so many people shoveling away and it took them hours just to clean out their driveway.

While we were in church, the boys and Joshua were having the time of their lives playing in the snow and building some really awesome igloos.  I'd seen snowmen before, but I'd never seen an igloo before.   I had to hop in!  And the boys climbed to the top.  It's amazing how it was able to support their weight without crashing down on me.  It was too good of a photo op to pass.  The pic below is probably my favorite since coming to Japan.  They boys' faces are cute.

The igloos were the fun part of the snow.  The bad part was the roads!  Sendai doesn't clean the roads when it snows.  Walking to and from my apartment is always scary.  I live at the bottom of a slope and it's pretty scary to walk down ice while going downhill.  Luckily I haven't fallen yet (this year).  Aaron and I also spent the 11th together.  It was a holiday (don't ask me which one), so we decided to make it our Valentine's Day.  Aaron drove to downtown Sendai and I was shocked.  I thought they would've at least cleaned the roads in the busy city, but it was even worse.  The roads were covered in ice and we had some close calls!  We slid a couple times in the middle of the city, going really slow, with pedestrians crossing all over the place.  I've been told that all of Japan is not like this, that only Sendai doesn't clean their roads because there isn't much snow in Sendai.  Maybe that's true in downtown Sendai, but every year that I've lived in Kuriu or Ayashi or worked in Osawa, I've seen a lot of snow.  I think the city would definitely benefit from some snow plows!  It's just too scary without proper road cleanage.

We spent the day going bowling.  It was pretty fun.  I actually won.  And I actually sort of bowled how I used to back in the day.  Like above average.  The bowling alley we went to was pretty small and they had a lot of business that day.  There was a young Japanese couple bowling in the lane next to us. The girl kept stealing my ball (the only one with the holes that fit my fingers), so I blame any bad frames I had on her.  We bowled three games and I was already tired after the second.  I'm paying the price today because I'm a little sore of doing those lunges!

After bowling, we headed to a Thai restaurant for dinner.  We ordered a spicy seafood soup and pad thai.  Two pad thais.  We really should've only ordered one.  After our meals, the owner gave us tapioca on the house.  It was really delicious and I ate Aaron's too.  After our long day in town, we finally drove back.  That's when Aaron finally gave me this:

Finally!

It's been an exciting weekend.  Next weekend is also expected to snow.  Hopefully, not as much as this weekend.  Even though the snow was fun, I really would like spring to come soon.  Sunshine and flowers I like much better!