Anyway, some of our neighbors (Ryo-sensei, Principal Mori, and Tanaka-sensei) had invited Anne and me to go skiing with them sometime in February. Mori and Ryo (whose wife, Natsu, couldn't make it that day) apparently go skiing pretty often (they have their own equipment and everything). Tanaka-sensei, who teaches at one of my elementary schools, had only been skiing a couple of times before and somehow got roped into going along with Anne (who had gone skiing a few times) and me. Though I've gone skiing several times before (maybe 10 times all together) I never really loved it so I hadn't been on skis for about eight or nine years.
But we weren't going solely for the sake of skiing, it was also just to take a trip, eat some good food together, and possibly stop by a hot spring on the way back. Since there were five of us (plus two sets of ski equipment) and cars in Japan aren't nearly as large as they are in the US, we decided to take two cars. Anne and I rode with Ryo, who enjoys practicing his English with us. Ryo had us sit in the back seat (which in Japan is considered to be a better/more honorable place to sit than next to the driver) - though it made me feel like I was a little kid again. It took about three hours to get from Minamisanriku to the skiing location; though we made a pit stop along the way to use the restrooms and buy some snacks. The rest-stop had several restaurants and shops including a Royce' Chocolate shop- apparently these gourmet chocolate shops are found only in Tokyo, Sapporo, and this random rest-stop in the middle of nowhere. According to Principal Mori and Ryo-sensei, the family who started the company had originated from the Iwadeyama area in Miyagi but had been forced to go to Hokkaido several hundred years ago (I believe after allying themselves with a group that ended up losing a war). But after the business became successful they decided to open up a shop in their old hometown. Royce' stores can be found in many countries in Asia, and I believe they now have a shop in New York City as well. Anyway, their best-selling chocolate-covered potato chips are amazing (as are most sweets that combine sweet and salty flavors).
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| As we drove away from the coast there was suddenly a lot more snow piled up along the side of the road. Notice the layers of snow on the left side of the road. |
The mountain that we went skiing on was called 鬼首 (Onikoube which means "ogre neck") - an interesting name to be sure. When we asked Ryo-sensei about the name he said he thought it had something to do with a story about some ogres getting their heads chopped off there but he didn't know for sure. We rented skis and snow-pants, and bought our lift tickets. The total cost was around ¥5900 or $61.45 with the current exchange rate (wow, that's changed a lot in the past few months).
The skiing itself was more enjoyable than I imagined it would be, though it was very windy (I actually ended up getting a bit wind-burned). The scenery was very beautiful, so I often stopped skiing to take out my cell phone and take pictures (not the best idea but the bunny-slope we were on wasn't very crowded luckily). It was very cold and sometimes bursts of snow would blow by like clouds so that I could barely see what was in front of me.
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| You can kind of see other mountains in the background through the snow. |
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| I know I keep saying this but... mountains in Japan are so steep! |
The conversation (which was mostly in English) went something like this:
Mori: Here, try this local meat, it's very good.
(At this point I was thinking that the dish sounded kind of suspicious but also smelled great)
me: OK, thank you.
[I eat some]
Mori: So I guess you'd call this "deer meat" right?
me: ....
We also had some appetizers and a big bowl of vegetable and meat ramen each (for only ¥550!).
And, my conclusion after eating venison for the first time is as follows:
People should eat deer more often.
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| As we started driving back towards the coast we saw a legendary machine... a Snowplow! This was only the second time that I've seen one in Miyagi. |
On the way back we stopped by a hotel to use their hot spring The hotel owner knew the principal too and so he let us in without a problem (he also spoke very good English). The hotel's hot spring water was actually piped in from its source to some indoor bath areas.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get all the way into the hot tub since my feet are too sensitive to heat. So, I must have been quite a sight as I hung over the side of the tub and dipped my arms in... It was annoying since I had hoped that I'd be able to warm up my feet sufficiently in the shower before getting in the tub (in Japan baths are for warming up, not for getting clean - you take a shower in a separate area before entering the tub and thus prevent the tub from getting dirty.) But unfortunately my plan failed - after attempting to enter the tub my feet went numb after about five seconds so I decided that I should probably not keep them in.
Anyway, if you ever get the chance to go to Japan in the winter then I'd recommend skiing and a dip in a hot spring for a nice day trip.
Finally, here is a picture of a Chocolate-banana waffle:
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| Notice the diagram of the sweet on the bottom left of the package. The banana, chocolate cream, whipped cream, and chocolate chips are wrapped in a waffle. |
"Sweets+ Quality for senses. Happiness for hearts."
... if they just remembered some articles or pronouns it would be a lot better! Something like, "Quality for the senses. Happiness for our hearts." ... could at least be considered 'poetic,' right?
Anyway, once school's out I won't have any excuses, so look forward to it!
