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!