Spring has sprung

***sorry for the delay, life has been busy. I wrote this a week ago but I haven't had time to post it. All time refrences are as of a week ago. I know this is a little long, but trust me this is the shortened version**

It’s an amazing transformation that wakes the world. The blankets of snow have been gone for some time, but lately the temperature has started to be consistently warmer. The energy of spring is radiating through everything here. Change is in the air, at the schools, in the trees and plants, and in the life.

A little over a week ago I had a very strange moment upon entering my house. In the winter my house smells…cold. The kitchen usually smells like food, and the living room like incense. But that night, I walked in my house and smelled something that I hadn’t even noticed had been missing. The smell of tatami. In the warm months it’s the prevalent smell in the house. In summer it is crisp, but in fall it was a musty scent. Spring has the musty tones to it, but it also smells fresh. It was a neat moment to realize that I had been missing that smell. That was one of the fist indications of spring in Nakano.

Unlike most North American schools, Japanese schools begin their school year in April. There is a short break between the end of the previous year and the new one. Once the new year starts there are many changes around the school. Two of the English teachers left, and we have a new one. Kawamura-sensei is a pretty cool guy. He’s 23, this is his first full on teaching gig, and he plays in a band. He’s all about playing guitar and singing in class. The other day I caught the kids singing one of the songs by themselves.

Speaking of the students, there is an entire new group of students. It’s strange though. Each grade has a different coloured track suit, but apparently they keep the same colour as they progress in grades. It’s just quite strange to see what had been the old 3^rd grade colour on the new 1^st year students. We have a lot of really good new and returning kids at Kousha, so it should be a good year.

The school yard at Kousha is changing too. The metres of snow have melted and the school grounds have re-emerged. The grass is getting greener with every rain fall. Perhaps the most beautiful thing is the Cherry Blossom trees.

Cherry Blossoms are called Sakura in Japan, and both their beauty and the fleetingness there of, are celebrated by all. The trees at my school were in full bloom the other day. It was a spectacular sight to behold these giant Sakura trees, a swaying sea of white and pink. Even more spectacular was when they started to fall. The school grounds were blanketed in white once again, but this time with a tint of pink. The air was also full of petals, caught on the breeze and swirling around the schools garden. Perhaps the most beautiful time of all is now, as the petals are being washed away. The Sakura burst into life, the first splotch of colour on the spring canvas. Then they scatter and disappear. The first herald of life awakening.

My yard is changing as well. As my garden emerged from the weight of the snow, I regretfully found that most of my plants didn’t fare very well. I should have copied my neighbours and build wooden tee-pees around them before the snows came. On a brighter note, the growing sea of weeds (that passes for my lawn) was the stage for a beautiful sight. Red and yellow tulips popped out of nowhere and have brought a beautiful look to my yard. Both Brandon and I were shocked to see them. I never knew they were there, and Brandon swears he never saw them last year. I am sure he just never noticed. Either way, their arrival is a welcome bit of new life to my yard.

The air itself is beginning to transform as well. When the skies cleared up in winter, the air was clear and crisp. Lately there has been haze in the air. Not quite a fog, just a haze. I think it’s being caused by moisture from the wet earth starting to evaporate. That combined with all the plants starting to kick into gear. I termed it the “breath of the land.” Then again, it could be more of that damn sand from China.

And then I guess there’s my leg. My cast came off quite quickly. I have been free of it for a month. The crutches went away a little more slowly, as I wasn’t supposed to put much weight on my leg. I still had two for most of the time that my mom and sister were here. I had one for a week. Then it was time to go with out them (which to be honest I was already doing around my house a bit.) Now it has been about two weeks with out them. My leg is surprisingly well. I can walk around without my brace on, and I am even supposed to be running lightly with the brace on. All in all it’s going pretty smoothly.

Another change with my leg is the treatment. One of my English night class students got me an in with this hospital one town over. The building was renovated four months ago, but what the real draw is the joint specialist doctor guy. The lady from my class had her wrist operated on by him and said he did a fabulous job. He is also supposedly quite renowned, and he even has some foreign doctor training under him. On the up and up, they both speak English. They pulled…well sucked, 12cc of ‘joint fluid’ out of my knee the other day. Then they shot in some medicine. It was kinda cool, but it hurt a lot. That being said, the swelling has gone down considerably.

Best thing of all: new joint specialist doctor guy did some tests of my knee stability, and he says I don’t need surgery. He says we’ll take a conservative approach in the rehab and that it should be fine. Sweet.

Walking? What's that?

I felt like asking the doctor that today. My cast is now fully removed, a week ahead of the initial schedule. I was supposed to wear the rear half of the cast until next week, but after another 4 x-rays today (man I think my doctor just loves looking at new ones) it turns out that my Fibula has healed quite quickly.

Apparently the bone has repaired enough for me to start putting some weight on in. I credit the calcium pills I have been taking every morning, and the yougurt that I have been trying to have daily. (Now on the same note, I am sure that not drinking milk contributed to my leg breaking...that and the tree I hit.) The doc looked at my leg and said she was pleased that the bone has done so well. So, yay! Fixed bone, and no more cast (just my leg brace 24/7).

That being said, the hard part is really starting. The doctor measured how much pressure I could put on my leg today, and I was able to get almost all my weight on it before it started hurting. At least my leg is still that strong...it really looks like a piece of spaghetti beside the other one...sad really. So I still have a fair ammount of strength in my leg. However, the range of motion is the killer.

The doctor says that if I am to get ACL surgery that I need to have full range of motion first...which for Japanese people is 150 degrees. Now I can sit "seiza" (sitting on your knees with your feet tucked flat, sole up) for a little while, but due to the size of my legs I am not able to really sink into it like most Japanese people can. I don't think my leg has ever been able to go 150 degrees, simply because my calf is kinda meaty. Anyways, there is no way my leg can go anywhere near that right now anyways. We did a range of motion test, and I pushed as hard as I could and I barely got to 70 degrees. Let me tell you, it hurt a lot. I pushed (or rather pulled) as hard as I could until it felt like I was going to tear things in my knee. It is probably just swelling, but still it felt like things were going to pop and tear (funny since my MCL is already torn and that's where the pain was.)

So, my homework for the week is to work on my range of motion. She wants me to try for 90 degrees for next week. I soalked my leg for a long time in a super hot bath tonight and started to work it out a little. I think I pushed a little farther than this afternoon, but I am now starting to realize exactly how laborious this rehab is going to be. I will make slow progress, but I am determined to get through it. This afternoon 20 degrees seemed like...if not a walk in the park, then just an easy little hike. This evening 20 degrees seems like a little more. I wouldn't call it Mt. Everest, maybe more like the Grouse Grind...possible, but not without effort.

All that being said, I can walk again. I still use the crutches, but really just for a little support. I am probably going to have them for a few weeks, but for the first time in a few weeks, I have actually used my leg. I have to keep looking at the path ahead and preparing for the rigours that it will bring, but I have to remember to look back and to be proud of getting to where I am.

The Japanese have a wonderful and horrible word all rolled into one. "Gambare" or sometimes "gambatte." Either way, it means "do you best" or "try as hard as you can." Those are direct translations though. They use it in many situations. I get told "gambare" when they see me struggling to put on my shoe, or when I am hoofing down the hall at work, or sometimes when people just see my crutches. I say it is both wonderful and horrible because of how often it is used. Sometimes I just think "of course I am trying my hardest, aren't you watching" but other times I really feel the support of the words. Gamabre is one of those words that even a description like this can't make clear. Ask someone who has lived in Japan what they think of Gambare, see how they take it.

Another phrase that brings both postitve and negative feelings is "kawaisoo." It translates to "pitty" or "poor." It's kinda like saying "poor you" or "what a shame." Most of the time people use it to show sympathy. I get it a lot when I tell people about my leg, or about difficulties in daily life. I even get it when people just see my leg. I don't know why, but "Kawaisoo" is really irritating at times. I just get sick of people saying "poor you." I know it is something that is lost in translation, both lingual and cultural. I appreciate the gesture that people are making when they say it, but I relly don't want their pitty.

Maybe the previous 2 paragraphs have sounded harsh. They are not designed to be. It's really just a little cultural insight I want to share, and at the sametime vent a little. Bless all the people here that are making things easy for me, and offering their support and sympathy. I really appreciate their comments, even when they irritate me






On another completely unrealated note: everything here is gritty. A fine layer of sand has been dusting most of Japan. I have been told the ski hill is turning a little yellow; I know that the skies in Kyoto are taking on a yellow tint; even my windshield has a little dusting of sand. The sand is being picked up by strong winds that are sweeping over China and then it is carried over the sea and starts to settle on Japan. It very strange. It is making the news daily, but so far it seems to be causing no more than minor difficulties. I don't know if anyone at home had seen this on TV or in the paper, but do a search on the internet for it...it's kinda interesting.

Well that's it for tonight. I feel like a cuppa joe and a good sit with my book. Even though I can walk around a bit, I have come to appreciate a good sit. Hope your all well, and please feel free to comment here or email me at aj22@shaw.ca! I love hearing from everyone, and thanks to those of you who have been keeping in touch, it has really helped keep me positive during this stressful time. And please pardon any spelling or other mistakes in this post, I haven't re-installed Office yet...

What a month...

Well I can finally update my website again. It's been a while, but I left everyone with a good read didn't I? There is a reason for why I haven't been able to update sooner. You see, my luck in the first half of this month has been absolutely awful. Let's recap:

March 1st:
My car won't start. I take it to the mechanic. The starter motor is fired. About $400 for a new starter motor. Mechanic says that the model of my car is a "torabaru oii kuruma" or lotsa trouble car...read lemon. But hey, $400 later it starts and runs, and feels better than ever.

March 4th:
Got up close and personal with a tree. If you want more info on this read my previous post.

March 6th:
Appointment with Orthopedics. They do a bunch more x-rays (read more $$ out of pocket for now, insurance will pay be back, but not for a bit). The doc drains 3 vials of blood off my knee, and says she thinks I tore some ligaments. Schedule an MRI, and get a cast all the way up to my thigh.

March 11th:
Sleeping in since I can't go snowboarding. Get a call from my firend Rich. Since my newly fixed car is manual, I can't drive it with my cast. Rich, Joyce, and I did a 3 way car trade. Rich has my car. He asks what the problem was last week, and if it had something to do with the clutch or gears. I tell him that no it was the starter motor, and that it just wouldn't start. He says "Oh, cause something else is wrong now." The gears are slipping when he takes his foot of the clutch. He take it into a mechaninc, and speaking almsot no Japanese gets the point that whatever it is requires the whole engine taken out to fix. The estimate is about $1200. I say screw it, my mechanic told me the resale value of my car, and with the $400 before and $1200 now, I really should just buy a new car. Rich brings the car to my house and takes Joyce's car. Now I am completely stranded at my house.

March 12th:
Computer starts to go. It's acting like it has either a virus or some software is not agreeing with other system operations. Try as I might, windows is slow and sluggish...if it does what I want it to do at all. Between the second breakdown of my car and this, I don't know what to do...but thankfully I still had a working TV and hockey games on tape (Liz you are a lifesaver...or at least sanity)

March 14th:
MRI. It went really well. I zoned out and relaxed. It only took around 20 to 30 min. The best part, since it was my knee they were scanning I didn't have to put my head into that tiny little tube.

March 15th: -The Ides of March-
Results. What a day to recieve results. I was half laughing and half frightened about the date of my meeting with the doc, but hey that's just bad luck for Ceaser, right? Well not fully. I got the MRI results, and it looks like I have a torn ACL and MCL, and there is a good chance I tore something in my Ankle. The doc isn't willing to say surgery is needed, but it is definately an option. She feels that if I want to do the high strain sports I enjoy that surgery is probably the best route...but she wants to wait and see.

That was the first half of the month...let's take a little peek at what the second half has held so far...

March 18th:
First day of spring break. Formerly known as two weeks of solid snowboarding, now known as two weeks of trying to figure out what to do with myself. That being said, my new Playstation 2 is keeping me entertained for a fair ammount of time.

March 20th:
Finally decide to screw the computer that is still giving me a hard time. Full format and reinstall. Trash it all, and start fresh. Luckily I was able to back up all my important files before this point. Now my computer works beautifully again. Maybe my luck is improving...

March 22nd:
Meeting with the Doc. Getting the front half of my cast cut off. I will be able to remove this half cast and then I can take a shower...yay, sponge baths are very cold. The cast frees my ankle too, and I am supposed to start some rehab on that. I am to have this cast till the 5th of April, but that's the first day of school. I ask the doc if we can re-schedule. She says how about next week. So there we go, I get my cast off fully a week early. I still cant walk on my leg and I have to wear my knee brace all the time, but I can deal with that.

And that brings us to today. I can finally respond to emails on a regular basis, and I can update my website. Thanks to everyone who has commented recently on my site, and to those who have sent me emails. It's really nice to have some contact with home, and it helps pass the time while all my friends are up snowboarding. I will try to respond more regularly now that my computer isn't on the fritz. Drop me a line!

Close Encounters of the Coniferous Kind

That’s what I had last Saturday. Now being a nature lover, I usually savour the chance to get close with various trees…however this was never what I had in mind.

Last weekend at Nozawaonsen was very lovely. There had been a little bit of fresh snow on top of a base that had been soaked with rain for a little over a week. The fresh snow was wonderful and light, unfortunately it was on top of a hard icy base. That gives the fresh snow a tendency to slip off of the ice and leave bare spots. I managed to find one of those spots. I lost my edge and started to bounce off the snow. The smooth icy surface offered no friction to slow me down as I bounced along the ground. My board edge wouldn’t dig in no matter how hard I tired…and trying ended up causing me to bounce, and bounce, and finally do a bit of a 180 in the air. As I came around in the air, I realized I would stop soon. I knew that because I was about 3 feet from two 30cm circumference trees. My left leg went straight into one of them (or maybe both…my memory of that exact moment is fuzzy to say the least) and spun me around to a stop. The stars in my vision and the pain in my leg led me to believe that I had either broken my leg or I was one luck bastard.

Lady luck was not on my side, as an x-ray at the hospital proved that yes indeed I broke my leg: my Fibula to be exact, about 3 cm below the knee. I was in good spirits the whole way to the hospital (mostly on a snowmobile, the worst way to get off a mountain) and while I was there. I was in some serious pain, but I have been hurt before and I was dealing with it. They cast my leg, but they did it below the knee, which made no sense to me. They also made an appointment at the large regional hospital, which just happens to be a few blocks from my house. I couldn’t get crutches at the hospital I was at, but they assured me I could get some when I went for my appointment at Hokushin Hospital.

Well Monday rolled around, and after hobbling around my house with a walking stick and a rolling chair I was glad to sit down in a real wheel chair and make my way around the hospital. Now I would have thought that the Nozawaonsen Hospital would have forwarded the 4 x-rays they took, but apparently not. So wheel over to the x-ray room, take 2 more. Go back to the desk and hurry up and wait. But apparently the low cast confused the x-ray technician and he took the shots too low down my leg. Back to the x-ray room and 2 more of the right place. Hurry up and wait again.

Finally they call my number and I get to see and orthopaedic doctor. She says yup its broken, and that the cast needs to be redone since it didn’t even cover the break (what gives eh?). She also feels around my knee a little while it is accessible. She had some concerns about my ligaments. She figures I tore my MCL, but says that that shouldn’t require surgery. She is also concerned about my PCL and my ankle, so she has scheduled an MRI to take place next week. Also, it seems that I had a lot of blood pooling in my knee, so she drained off 3 vials. It was kinda gross, but I watched the whole thing. After that it was off to the casting room. The nurse cutting off the old cast was funny, but she nicked my ankle bone with the bloody saw…it didn’t break skin, but left me with a little burn. Then it was casting time. I was glad because the bigger hospital also had more selection. Nozawa had a whole selection of white and white casts. Hokushin had white, pink, and blue. So needless to say, I now have a big blue stiff leg. My cast goes from the ball of my foot to mid thigh.

This being my first broken bone, it is also my first cast. They are cumbersome, but it isn’t bad. Its way better for my knee than the first low cast they put on. The itch is there, and I am sure I will sing a different tune at the end of the month, but for now I can deal with the itch. And heck, I have a buncha metal clothes hangers that are just waiting to be straightened out into leg scratchers.

Well I now have crutches so I can get around. I traded cars with a friend so I have an automatic and I can drive. I have been at work since Tuesday. I am trying hard to say in good spirits, and to figure out how to do the daily things that have become so difficult. From putting on underwear, to going to the bathroom in my closet of a toilet, to staying clean with out taking a shower or a bath, it’s all new. But I love to create new and easy ways of doing things, so at least my mind is stimulated while my body is gimped.

Well I will update this after I get the results from my MRI. I go for the test on Tuesday and the results on Wednesday. If you have any to spare, please send me some positive energy. I am staying positive, but a little help will never hurt.

With that I am off to hobble and roll to the kitchen to make some dinner. I hope everyone is having a good time, and staying safe…watch out for those rascally trees.

Adam the Tripod…or is that triped???

What a trip...

About two weeks ago the guys from town and I took a bit of a vacation. We planned a trip up to Hokkaido. It was a multi purpose trip. Hokkaido has some of the most famous snowboarding in Japan, and in Sapporo there is also the famous “Yuki Matsuri” or Snow Festival. Let me start the tale with the trip there…

Saturday morning. Rise and shine bright and early. Our flight out is around 1pm, but we have to trek it down to the airport. The airport in Nagano Prefecture is in Matsumoto City. It’s 2 trains and a bus ride away from my house. All said and done, it takes about 2.5 to 3 hours to get there. The cost of the trains one way is close to $40 as well.

So there we were riding along the rails down to Matsumoto on the second of two trains, and Brandon get a phone call on his cell phone. It’s the airport. Apparently there is a blizzard sweeping across Hokkaido. Good for snowboarding, bad for airplanes. Our flight has been cancelled and there is only one flight a day from Matsumoto to Hokkaido. After sitting in disbelief for a little bit, we get a call back with some decent news. There is space for the three of us on the flight out the next day. So getting to Hokkaido is taken care of, but we are on a train that costs the better part of $30 that doesn’t stop until Matsumoto. We get some advice on hotels, but after some frantic calling we get no where. We are now totally screwed for the night, as we either have to take the train all the way home and then back out the next day, or we have to find somewhere to stay.

We end up calling a friend of Brandon’s who lives in a suburb of Matsumoto. He not only offers to put us up in his little apartment for the night, but he says he will pick us up from the train station. So we cram 4 dudes, and 3 large snowboard bags into his car (well half in his car) and make our way to his house. We ended up having a good time, as we went to a good restaurant and also to an arcade. The next day we are off to the airport again, and thankfully we didn’t get any unexpected calls. However this started the real day from hell.

We show up at the airport, flight is on, but not on schedule. It’s and hour late. Ok we can deal with that as long is it gets us there. Now Brandon had planned out all the transfers and trains to get us to the hotel we are staying at. We take a look at it all, and even with an hour delay we should make them all. So a little bit later we are boarding the plane. Now there are 2 airports that service Sapporo…but none of us knew that until we got on the plane. Our flight is going to New Chitose Airport…however Brandon’s schedules are planned from Sapporo Airport. Ok, we do some math, 1 hr flight delay plus about 1 hr from the new airport to Sapporo station. We should still be able to make it, just barely, but we should make it. Touch down and bust off the plane. Get the bags and run to the train platform, we should just make the train out to Sapporo. We made it there in time, however the train didn’t. Apparently the snow is causing trouble with trains too. The train finally shows up over 20 min. late. These delays are starting to get serious now, we are right on the borderline of making it to our final train transfer. We pack ourselves onto the train and find a corner by a vending machine to cram into, as all the seats are full. The train ride goes smoothly…until we get between North Sapporo and Sapporo station (our terminus). The conductor comes over the speakers and announces a brief delay for snow clearing on the track ahead of us. Brief means 15 min. and that’s enough to screw things up big time.

We finally arrive in Sapporo, almost 3 hours (and a day) behind schedule. We are all tired and worn out, and I am the only one keeping my humour at this point. Most of you know me, and know that sometimes when stuff is so horrible wrong you just have to laugh at it. Apparently some people don't like that when stuff is going wrong, cause I was getting the rough side of some attitude issues that evening. Brandon went in to find out if we could still get a train to where we were planning on going. The people in the railway office said that there wasn’t a train like that one until the morning. So we thought about a hotel or a bus. In our search we go to the station office (as opposed to the railway office). They tell us that the train we missed is really late and it is at the platform right now. We run through the gate and burn up the stairs, and just as Rich reaches the platform the train leaves. Would you really have expected anything else?

So there we are no direct train (now let me include this here, there was a train, but we would have had to transferred, but since everyone was pissy, no one really wanted to hear that logic, so we followed this route…) and we are stuck in Sapporo. We think about a hotel, but after discussion we decide to see how much a cab will be. Now cabs in Japan are much more expensive than Canada, and this is gonna be a few hour cab ride. Well we ask a cabbie how much, he calls it in and gives us a ball park of $250. We decide that that is a better deal than a hotel, since we would still have to pay for the train in the morning. The problem is this: we all have snowboards and board bags, and he only had ski racks. Well we pull the boards out of the bags; throw the bags in the trunk. We then proceed to put all the snowboards into the cab of the car, and the three of us, plus the cabbie pile in. Brandon was sitting in the front eating his knees, and rich and I were getting cozy in the back seat. The cabbie was a super cool dude, and he stopped so we could get some food at a 7-11. The roads were snowy, and the whole trek took about 2.5 hours. He only almost slid out once…he came with in inches of the snow bank. In the end it was about a $250 cab ride, but since he was a cool cabbie, and we were just happy to be at the hotel, we gave him a $50 tip.

Well that is the adventure of getting there. The rest is pretty much snowboarding and seeing the snow festival. I will put some pictures of the snow festival at the end of this post, so I won’t talk about that too much. As far as the snowboarding: Hokkaido is everything it is cracked up to be. We were at Niseko resort. It doesn’t have the vertical drop that Whistler has, but the terrain is comparable, and the powder is so light and fluffy. The tree runs there are simply to die for. Wonderfully spaced out white birch trees with tonnes of powder between them, it really is a world class resort. Two days the winds were high and the visibility low. It made for less than desirable conditions, but still the snow was so soft and light, that I found it hard to complain.

Well the real adventure was getting there, so now I will leave you with the pictures I took on my cell phone at the snow festival.

The Benz display

Malaysia's sculpture in the country competition.

Canada's sculpture. They won last year.

A 4 foot temple.

A huge temple.

A famous Australian train station.

Mmm, beer.

A close up of the huge temple.

A Narnia display by Honda. This is massive...about 10m high by 35m wide.

A cool display.

Some deer made from ice.

JAL's display featuring famous Japanese golfer Ai-chan. Zoom in on her eyes to see the amazing detail that was put into this one.

Some funky octopus thing.

on the rolling waves

Friday January 13th to Friday January 20th

Well it has been one hell of a week. Read it as positive, read it as negative. Either way you are right. The Wheel of Fortune (and no I am not talking about Pat Sajak and Vanna White here people) has been spinning and stopping constantly, it has doled out its fair share of ups and downs. Strange that it seems to have come out that way, but that is how it worked.

Weather:

Upside: The street in front of my house has finally been ploughed. It is quite narrow (really only 1 car wide, and it has those open gutters on either side, gaijin traps for the enlightened, that are about a foot wide and a good 18 inches deep. The only part with out the gaijin traps is the part where the road drops off a good 10 feet and then you’re on the railway tracks. This treacherous road has not been ploughed, let a lone being clear of snow, for a good month. I’m talking the better part of a foot here people.
The weather warmed up last weekend, and they sent the ploughs out in full force, and on Monday night our road was finally done. Yay! I was also able to clear a lot of over hanging snow of the roof. So I in actual fact sleep better now know that there isn’t at least a hundred kilograms of ice and snow hanging over my front door and walk way.

Downside: Remember the warm weather that enabled them to finally clear the road on Monday. That weather started Friday? It wasn’t warm and sunny though, and there’s the rub. It was what I would describe as a torrential rain fall. This was as awful as some of the worst rainy days in Vancouver. Well that pretty much started Friday. Thankfully I cleared my roof off about two hours before it started coming down. So there was a silver lining in those damn dark clouds.
So much for a powder day, eh? We hit the hill anyways and started to get a ride in. Apparently one of the gondolas, and all the charis that service the top of the mountain were closed to high wind…although most of the windsocks were no where near unfurled. Ok then, ride the groomers with the masses. It was interesting to do two things I like at the same time: snowboard and shower. But it was more like a cold shower in heavy clothes…which didn’t equal a whole lotta fun. So we call it a day early and head for home. Once I got to the little back roads that access my neighbourhood and off of the major routes I was driving on some pretty thick, pretty slushy snow. It was still snow at that point. I can’t say the same for when Brandon and I went to meet some snowboarding friends I know in Chiba prefecture.
The guys were crashing at my house for a night and I had to go meet them at the Gusto (a cheep restaurant chain). I pull my car out of my drive way and started to navigate my way around the corner. I am now pulling up to the part of the road that still has a barrier before the drop off to the train tracks, and my car starts becoming really unresponsive in the slush that has developed. I manage to control it before I bump the barrier. I straighten out and start to go again. I clear where the barrier is, and my car starts to move pretty much sideways. Now I’ve got a 4 wheel drive car with new snow tires on it, but it just starts sliding to the right (which is the side I sit on) and its getting close to the gaijin trap. I get it stopped, and under control, then I start to work the gas again. Really to no avail, since the road is about ten inch deep slush and there are still icy chunks and old frozen tire tracks in it. Even with the greatest care my tires are spinning, each revolution pulling the back end of the car closer to the gaijin trap.
B and I get out and start to dig out a little. We dig a lot. We push and rock and try to get it unstuck. We actually do get it out a few times…a few feet. Each stop another spot to dig out. Each time a little closer to the gutter. Finally we enlist the help of our buddy Devin. We joke around and call him “Devin from Heaven,” because of his dreamy blue eyes (he, he, he), but he was a god sent. All three of us dug and dug, then they rocked the car and I gave it gas. With a big push from them I was finally sliding and slipping my way through the brutal slush towards the bare pavement…a few hundred metres down the road. Sweet, sweet freedom.
We finally made it to Gusto. We meet the dudes, ate, and headed back here for a few cold ones. The roads were pretty good most of the way home…that is until we reach my neighbourhood. We pull around this corner about to do the last home stretch. Not the same rout as the way out. This is a straight shot 200m of deep as slush with gaijin traps lining either side. That was the plan at least. But what do we see? An old Japanese man (oh come on were you really expecting big foot or aliens). It’s one of the neighbourhood regulars, and he’s got his snow scoop out. Old man just doing trips from the middle of the road to the gutter. Side the snow, dump the snow, pick more up and repeat. There are three of them all doing this right in the middle of the home stretch.
Good they have some bare spots made; my car should be able to make it through no problem. We will never know. The jerk had the audacity to ignore us for about a full minute, and when he finally looked up he waved us around the block (to the route where I got stuck before), and just went back to work. Brandon explained in Japanese that our house was that way and the dude just completely ignored him. We waited and waited, and finally his stubborn old bones won over my impatience. I took the other route, and low and behold I get stuck in pretty much the same spot I did before.
This time there are six of us and two cars. We start trying to tackle the issue with the full arsenal of shovels that Brandon and I have. That gave us 5 men working and one on a rotating break. We worked for a good 15 min and got about 15 centimetres down the road. This was chunky riveted ice under slushy crap. Our irritated voices attracted our neighbour (one who had been out shovelling, but not the rude guy). He brings some kind of a garden hoe and starts hacking off huge pieces of ice, and we all start to clear. We finagled the hoe from him and he leaves us alone for a bit. When he came back he had a pick axe as well. So we tear through the ice, clear it all and get the cars parked. Time for beer…
…and some cross cultural banter. Four dudes in all came up from Chiba. Including Brandon and I, the official score sheet was 1 Canuck, 2 Yanks, 2 Brits, and a Kiwi. It was a nice change, as I am very often the lone Canadian in a group of Americans. This time there was even more cross cultural banter than before. While I was still the lone man defending the leaf, there were pot shots getting tossed at everyone as opposed to me being the sole target. The best part was that there was a big Common Wealth posse, and we could stick it to the Yanks a little more than I can on my own. All in all a good time was had.

Nozawaonsen Fire Festival:

Upside: I am privileged to say that I have not only attended, but also participated in one of the coolest festivals in Japan. Nozawaonsen is the Ski hill we attend. It is named after the village at its base, that up until recently was owned buy this small few thousand person village. Annually on January 15th the town hosts its traditional festival. Around this time in Northern Nagano many areas have some sort of festival that incorporates fire. In most there is a burning of lucky charms, many in the form of these red heads called DARUMA. From what I gather most deal with luck both good and bad. The Nozawaonsen Fire Festival isn’t a stack of hay with Daruma on it, no; it is a freaking shrine made of big ass trees and branches. Oh yeah, and it has real live people on it.
You see apparently age 42 and 25 are unlucky and Nozawaonsen has a special way of helping expel the bad luck. The 42 year olds sit on top of this giant beautiful wooden structure, the 25 year old are at the bottom holding these ropes tied to the structure. Now I know you are hoping I don't say that they pull the ropes and the shrine starts to fall. Of course not. You see those 25 year olds are actually defending the shrine and the 42 year olds. They are holding big boughs from fir trees. What on earth are they protecting the shrine from? Well the rest of the village of course! Everyone else in the village has sparked up a huge bonfire built earlier that day. Using wood that the 42 year olds toss down to them, they start to rush the 25 year olds. At first it starts nice and easy. Guys rushing to burn the shrine, 25 year olds batting away their burning staves using the boughs. A good little flow gets going, but soon people are getting whacked with branches and others whacked with burning bundles. It all sounds kinda crazy right? Well would it make more sense if everyone was drunk?
Well either way, that is the case. See the other kick ass upside to this festival is that everyone is completely liquored up on free sake. Everyone including the 42 year olds, the 25 year olds, the villagers with fire, and the audience. That’s right, there is so much free sake there that they even have guys walking around with bottles and cups tied to them…you know, just to make sure nobody needs go longer than 10 minutes with out another. This is no cheep sake either. This stuff is quality.
Free sake, fire, being a guy. It was a pretty good combo, that is until the drunk, English speaking Japanese lady (that incidentally been calling the ‘Sake-man’ back in our direction) told us that we could participate. My friend Kris convinced me to go…it didn’t really take a lot. We set off. Head for the wood being tossed off from the top and before we had even made it that far some random Japanese handed us bundles of wood. I ended up with two. We ducked into the area where the bonfire was, and loaded up for our attack wave. There were lost of other gaijin we knew in there. It was a riot. We make it a short way in and my sticks get snuffed. I was on my way back to the bonfire when I was pulled to the side. It was a reporter with a mic and a dude with a camera. Japanese guys, but asking me in English where I am from and what I think of the festival. I got out a few answers before one of the gaijin came over pulled my arm and said we have to go make another offensive. I explained that to the reporter and then ran off. Pretty cool.

Downside: I had no idea that I would be participating in the fray, and I wasn’t really dressed appropriately. I was smart enough to take off my fleece (that would have been really dumb) and I though the rest of what I was wearing was ok. I guess I should have thought again in this day and age of cotton synthetic mixes.
During our second wave I managed to tuck in behind some of those 25 years olds getting nasty with the boughs. I was in a beautiful position. I held my blazing torch high and started to get some of the prayer papers and rope going a bit. It was at about that point that I was discovered. A few quick whacks with the branches and my fire was turned to ashes. Unfortunately a lot of those ashes ended up on me, in the hood of my hoodie, and even down it. I walked away at that point. I figured I had some fun, better go before I get burnt.
I have only one tiny little burn on my hand, and I am now the owner of a beautiful hoodie with some nice burn holes and scorch marks on it. I also have a sweet t-shirt and a long underwear shirt that have holes in them as well. Still I don't regret going in and getting dirty. Next year I’m getting fire retardant clothes and I’m bringing that sucker down.
In the end no one succeeded in burning down the shrine before the wood torches ran out. That signalled the time for the 42 year olds to evacuate. The bonfire had been slowly shifted towards the shrine. Now it was right below it. Apparently no one ever succeeds in burning it with the little sticks, so they put the big bonfire under the thing. In about 10 minutes it was smoking. In 15 it was engulfed in flame. After about 25 minutes the top of the sucker just fell in. This wave of heat rolled over the crowd. After that it was just a matter of tossing on some giant good luck charms for the babies born last year.
Man do the people in Nozawaonsen know how to do it. What a killer time. I will take my losses and still call this one a win. If anyone is considering visiting Japan in the winter, may I recommend you try to make it coincide with the fire festival?


Back to the weather:

Upside: I’m at a loss here people.

Downside: It got cold again after the roads were rained on and ploughed. Cold wet roads = all out black ice. My “Ice Guard” tires lived up to their name in the ice…they just apparently suck in slush. The rest of the week brought a few small snow flurries, but mostly sunshine.


January 23, 2006

More weather:

Upside: It snowed a lot again. Last night and this morning brought probably around 15 cm of snow. Yeah, after 2 weeks of now real powder boarding it looks as if we will finally get to shred it up again.

Downside: Did someone say shovelling?

Happy New Year

I hope you all had fun on New Years, and that this year brings peace and harmony to you and your family.

As Christmas is not a holiday in Japan, the winter break does not start until closer to New Years Eve. The first day of the break was the 29^th. Students went back to school on the 10^th of January. The teachers went back on like the 4^th or 5^th. Luckily for me, my Board of Education says there is no point in us AET’s being in school if there are no classes. I say no classes as opposed to no students at school, since it seems that the majority of kids went to school over winter break to practice with their clubs. I swear sometimes I really don't understand this place.

That all being said I still had my break, and I intended to use it. While some of the dudes here in town went home for the holidays, others had people coming to visit. Since I had neither, I accepted the gracious invitation from the Yamaguchi family to come and spend some time at their house. For those of you who don't know them, they are one of the families that I tutored in Vancouver. They lived in Van for about 4 years, and I tutored them for the better part of three and a half.

They live in Tokyo Prefecture, about 40 min out of downtown. So on Dec 30^th I boarded a Bullet Train and I was levitated to Tokyo. After doing a little train hopping, I finally made it out to their station. They came to get me at the station, and I was met by two of the three kids running up to me. I cannot believe how much they have grown. Anyway, we hopped in to their minivan and sailed off to their house.

Now I am from the countryside of Japan. Well it’s still developed, but people in the city treat it like the countryside, and really in comparison it is. With that in mind, I kinda made the assumption that space would be a definite premium in The City. Needless to say, I was more than a little surprised when I saw their house. I was expecting something pretty tight for space, but it turned out to be a fairly nicely sized house.

Everyone had rooms upstairs with the two little girls sharing a room. I had a futon (not like the couch kind in North America, this is the real deal) on the floor in the only room that had tatami floor. It’s amazing how comfortable it is sleeping on a futon on tatami. I am glad I have a bed at home here in the cold cold interior of Japan…especially since I have flooring in my bed room, but it wasn’t too bad in Tokyo. As far as the weather goes, there was no snow in Tokyo, and it was quite a nice temperature, but I now understand what people from Eastern Canada say about Vancouver winters. The temp was warm compared to what I was used to, but the air was damp like it is in Vancouver. That moisture just sucks the heat right out of you. It was actually kinda nice since it reminded me of being back in Vancouver.

During my stay we did many traditional Japanese New Year things. On New Years Eve (my first full day there) we went to a city called Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture. Kamakura was the base of power for the Samurai when they ruled Japan. It has considerable history, and a very large temple. Now tradition in Japan dictates that you must go to a temple/shrine on New Years Day. Apparently the shrine in Kamakura is the third most popular in Japan. Whit that in mind we went on New Years Eve, just to sight see. I got the full low down on the history of the place, and we did some traditional Japanese prayers, etc.

The Yamaguchis and I at a shrine (I think) in Kamakura

Writing on a prayer tablet

Hanging up my lucky fortune

Aiki and I.

After the temple, we went to Daibutsu. Daibutsu is a giant Buddha. It is really neat, because you can actually go inside of it. When we where in there checking it out, the kids and I noticed people had stuck coins into the joins in the brass that makes up the statue. The funniest thing is that I noticed one didn’t look Japanese…in fact it had the picture of Queen Elizabeth on the back. Since I couldn’t see the whole thing I am a little unsure, but I am willing to bet it was a Canadian Nickel of all things!
We ended up doing a little more sightseeing and then we played on the beach. There are some beautiful beaches in Kanagawa. They have a nice southern exposure on the pacific ocean, and the sand is fine and soft.

A beautiful photo taken by Aiki (almost age 7)

That night we started the real traditional elements of New Years. Just before the change of the year we had Toshi-koshi-soba (or is it koshi-toshi-soba…) Either way, it translates as the changing of the year soba. If you have never had soba, I highly recommend it. It is delicious buckwheat noodles, and Nagano is actually a little famous for it (almost everywhere in Japan claims to be famous for it’s soba, but Nagano actually is). After the soba we waited for midnight. As the clock struck 12, large temple bells all over Japan started to toll 108 times. We watched the telecast of it. After that we were all getting ready for bed when we heard Hanabi (literally flower-fire…or fire works). We headed out to see if we could catch them. We saw some of them but we retired when it seemed as if they had stopped. Murphy apparently doesn’t take a night off, because as soon as we were back in the house, they started up again.

The next morning brought the full onslaught of Japanese New Years. For the first few mornings of the New Year, Japanese families eat Osechi-ryori…or New Years Food. It is all food that lasts a few days so it can be eaten over the next few days to give the mom a break from making everyone breakfast. It includes many different things and many of them have significance to starting off a new year. For example there are white and black beans, I don't remember exactly what they represent, but it is something to do with having the seeds of a good year. We also had a whole side of fish eggs. Now, since I have been in Japan, I have had my share of fish eggs…some I like, others I don't. I have to admit that these fit into the latter, but to credit myself I ate almost all of them.

Osechi-ryori

Later that day we took a train to a temple in Tokyo Prefecture. The temple was completely packed. There was a line up about 8 people wide, and at least 700 metres long, just to get through the temple gate. It is funny how some things are the same around the world. One either side of the line up were vendor tents, most selling what the Japanese version of ‘festival food’ is. Once we got through the gate, there was a little more of a line to get to the shrine thingy. We tossed in our coins and clapped twice, then made a new year prayer. It was really cool.

On the way home we bought a kite. Apparently it is a traditional Japanese New Year activity to fly kites. When we were back in their neighbourhood we took the kite and some traditional badminton-like game. We had fun I the school yard until it got too cold to be outside.

Taiki and I playing traditional badminton game

Traditional writing is another New Years activity we tried. The kids wrote mottos for the new year...I wrote my name.

The second of January brought a really interesting experience. It is a treat that I know not every gaijin who visits Japan gets to do. We went to the Imperial Palace. We didn’t just go to it though; we went into the court yard. On January 2^nd the Imperial Family greets the nation. We went and saw the second of about 5 public greetings. They are called public, but really it is just the Emperor, Empress, and some of the family, up on a balcony. It was a only a few minuets long, but it was really neat. The Emperor just looked like an older Japanese man in a nice suit, but the Empress was in a beautiful dress that had a gradation from copper to silver. Later that day we went to the Edo-Tokyo-museum. It was a really cool place that documented the growth of what was initially a small farming village, in to the worlds most booming metropolis.

The next day brought a less traditional side of Tokyo. We went to Odaiba. For those of you who watch the Discovery Channel often, there is a documentary about this part of Tokyo. They refer to it as “Tokyo Teleport Town” or “T3.” I guess that is the English name for it, but damned if the Japanese people know it. This part of town has some large displays from some of the largest companies in Japan. We went to a big display centre for Toyota. It was pretty cool. There were tonnes of cars and all sorts of multimedia and interactive displays. We also went to a Fuji Television centre. Apparently that is where they film some of the very popular shows in Japan. Usually you can look down into the studios, but since it was around New Years, everything was on break. There was a tonne of fun things to see and do in and around Odaiba. It is known as a local hot spot for younger Tokyoites, and it did not fail to impress.

The next day entailed a lazy morning, and then my train ride home in the afternoon. I arrived home to my car a few feet in snow. It took the better part of 2 hours to clear it all away, but that was a small price to pay for the hospitality I received in Tokyo. The Yamaguchis really are like family to me. Their kids are full of energy and are pretty much monkeys. They were some of the best students I have ever had, and at 11 years old, Taiki the oldest, has already passed the 2^nd highest level of English Proficiency tests. That is the level that one of my English Teachers at school just passed last spring.

If I had to pick the best of the best of my trip, I would still have to make a list. Some of the top things include: seeing those wonderful kids again, and seeing how much they have grown, getting to experience a traditional Japanese New Year, and most definitely more than a few wonderful home cooked Japanese meals (I try to cook Japanese, but really what do I know compared to a Japanese mother of 3?).

They May have grown, but Aiki and Mizuki are still little monkeys!

My most heartfelt thanks go out to the Yamajuchis for having me as a guest. I had a wonderful time, and I really enjoyed everything we did. It is good to know that even though I am not Japanese, that I still have a Japanese family.

To the Yamaguchis:
Ojamma shimashita

& to everyone else
akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!

Here’s to a happy (insert whatever winter holiday you celebrate) to you!

For me that’s Christmas. This Christmas is definitely a first for me. As it is for many of you, Christmas has always been a family time for me. Getting together with friends and family at my Mom’s house is pretty much the definition of Christmas for me. That being said, this is the first Christmas that I have not been at home. Moreover, a few of the dudes here in Nakano went home to see their families, so our crew here is even smaller. Even though this sounds like a recipe for a blue Christmas, it most definitely has not been that bad.

First of all, it was a white Christmas…well kinda. There is plenty of snow on the ground here. It didn’t snow over night down here in Nakano, but it sure did up at the ski hill. Brandon and I went up to Nozawa-onsen (where we have seasons passes http://www.snowjapan.com/e/resorts/resortdetail.php?resid=40) to shred some powder today. It snowed there last night, and today was a beautiful blue sky day with tonnes of powder. Check out that website, they seriously have 12 feet of snow! Not only was it a beautiful day to be on the hill, but Brandon and I decided to have some fun for Christmas. I wore a Santa jacket and beard, and Brandon wore a Santa hat (my Santa hat wouldn’t fit over my helmet.) We rode around all day with people gawking or gasping and saying “Santa-san!” It was really great. Every time someone would say something or have a funny expression, I would yell “Merry Christmas!” It was often met back with at “Meri Kurisumasu!” The best was when we went in for lunch. There was a little girl no older than three, she saw my suit and dragged her mom over to us. She stared up at me with wide eyes. I gave her my Santa bit and she was all smiles. Then, she noticed Brandon’s hat. She pointed and said “Santa-san no boshi (Santa’s Hat)!” In Japanese, Brandon told her that Santa’s head was too big, so he had to wear the hat. The girl laughed and kept staring and smiling at us until her mom had to drag her away. That moment right there made the whole day for both of us.

Now for the second reason that this Christmas is not as blue as it could be. I got a surprise package in the mail. Now she may say different, and she may even write it here, but I distinctly remember my mom saying that she wasn’t going to send anything for Christmas. She has already sent me many things, at a pretty penny each. I totally understood, and wasn’t expecting anything. Never the less, a box arrived for me, and it was full of Christmas stuff. A few of the unwrapped items included a mini tree, a garland, and some strands of lights. It even had my stocking in it!

I set up the items a few days ago when I opened the box. They definitely gave my house a festive feel. I even put the gifts under the mini tree…well, the tree is on a small table, and I put the gifts under that. Having that all set up was a bit of a double edged sword; it made my house feel more Christmassy, but it also reminded me of what the holidays are really supposed to be like.

Brandon also received a box of gifts from home. He and I decided to open our gifts together. He wanted to open them a few days ago, but I made him wait till at least Christmas Eve. We ended up waxing our snowboards that night, and by the time we got around to open them it was after midnight. In the end I guess we did wait till Christmas to open them, but we just didn’t wait till morning. It was pretty fun for both of us. We laughed at the typical things that we each got. I, of course, got a toothbrush and toothpaste. It wouldn’t be Christmas with out those in my stocking. It was also kind of funny that he and I both opened a package of socks at the same time, and we also opened long sleeve shirts at the same time. The best part was eating the shortbread cookies that my mom sent. The best shortbread ever was made by my Gran, but this is my mom’s best attempt yet. She put her own spin on them and they turned out delicious.

I had a great Christmas, but it would be a little dishonest to make it seem that I don't miss being home for the holidays. I miss getting to spend time with everyone. I miss relaxing by the fire and the tree with a coffee & Baileys. I do miss many things, but I knew what I was getting into when I came here. I feel like I prepared myself well, and I think the way everything turned out has also made it a good Christmas. I am happy with the decisions I have made, including staying here for the holidays.

Now it is almost the end of Christmas here, and most of you are just about to wake up for Christmas morning. I hope that you all have a great Christmas. Enjoy whatever it is that you do today. For me I will be waking up on a Boxing Day in Exile, and going to work. That’s right, we still have school. Winter break doesn’t start until Thursday!

Well here’s hoping for peace on Earth, and to health and happiness for all of you.

They Said it would never happen...

They never cancel school in Nakano. Come hell, high water, typhoons, or blizzards. Well they never thought this day would come. School was cancelled today…and all over a little snow. By little I mean snow that is almost to my knees. Besides it didn’t come down very quick at all. It has been snowing for 3 hours. That’s only a little over 6 inches and hour. Come on, half a foot in an hour…we should still be in school.

Now if you will pardon my previous sarcasm, I am going to have a beer and build the cities biggest snowman with Brandon!

It's finally here!

No, not a new post, the SNOW!!!!!

Before anyone starts on about how it has already snowed in Vancouver (and probably in Toronto too Auntie Sue…) I am not talking about a little snow. We have had our share of flurries over the last few weeks, but I am talking about a full-on dump of snow. Snow that even makes die hard snowboarders cringe (well really only when armed with a shitty Japanese snow shovel…but more on that later). So here is the deal:

Monday night, my buddy Derek came over to watch some hockey (yeah for Liz and the delivery of recorded hockey games…the lock out didn’t end for me until yesterday.) At some point in the region of 8:30, I ran out to my car to grab something. The odd night time snow flake was making its slow way to the bare ground; nothing unusual there. I went back inside to watch the rest of the game.

Derek had a hockey practice later that evening to attend, so he booked out around 9:20. I was seeing him to the door, when I happened to glance at the winter boots I bought at Mountain Equipment Co-op. They are rated for -10 and they are comfy and really nice to walk in. Looking at them while Derek was putting on his shoes, my exact words were “Man, I can’t wait for it to snow enough for me to finally get to wear those boots…”

It was seriously not 10 seconds later when Derek opened the door to go, and…all he could say was “ask and ye shall receive.” He stood aside to reveal the ground entirely coated, nay, blanketed in snow. There was a good 8 cm on the ground already, and it had only been snowing for less than an hour!

It was absolutely puking. It made some of the snowstorms I have seen on the Sea to Sky highway look like dry heaves! Everything was coated in fluffy whiteness, even the links in my neighbour’s chain link fence. It was a beautiful sight to see, and yes indeed I got to use my new boots right then and there.

I followed Derek out to his car, only to see that both his and mine were simply amorphous white blobs in a sea of white. As Derek got started on cleaning off his car, I decided that I should do some preparatory snow removal as well…since it didn’t show any signs of letting up. After dusting off (and I use that term very liberally) my car with my little scraper/brush combo, I hauled out the snow shovel to work on my disgustingly large drive way.

A little side note here on Japanese snow shovels: They suck. They are quite unlike the ones we have back in Canada. They don't have that nice curve on them. They aren’t wide. Worst of all, they aren’t made of thick plastic or metal. They are rather flat, only about 20” wide, and worst of all they are kinda like flattened baskets. They are full of holes, as if they were woven. Now maybe in the olden days that’s what they were, woven, but come on now, a flimsy, narrow piece of plastic that is full of holes is not a good way to remove snow.

***Amendment***
I have found the snow shovels that are like the ones in Canada. Apparently they don't stock those till it really snows. By really snows I am talking about feet of snow in a day. I have gotten myself a nice new orange Canadian-style snow shovel now.

Back to the story.

So my driveway and car were clear from snow, so I went back in to my house to do some reading. About half an hour later I went outside to take a peek at the weather. I didn’t think it was possible, but it was coming down even harder than it had been before. I took a walk to my car, and found it covered in another 5 cm of snow. That’s 5 cm in 30 min, which breaks down to about 1cm every 6 min. I am not exaggerating that at all either. At that point I decided that I was just gonna deal with it when it was all down. If all the work I had done was erased in half an hour then I wasn’t gonna bother.

Later that night I was awake reading in bed. It was around 1am, and I was trying to muster enough desire to sleep (I was reading the 11^th book of a series that I am severely addicted to). It was all quite, then I started hearing a strange scraping sound. I took a look out my door, and my neighbour Brandon was out shovelling. When I asked why the hell he was doing it at 1am, he said that last year he found it easier to get it done before the morning. The reasons for that being are that you get your driveway before the plough fills it with more snow, and you can get the road in front of the house before it becomes hard packed and hard to drive on or clear.

That all being said, I was soon hauling on some warm clothes, and my faithful winter boots, and trekking out to my car. The snow had eased significantly, but not before it had thrown down 6 or so centimetres. I cleaned where I had before, my car, and this time I did the road in front of my house as well. After that it was on to the area around my car, and then to my door. Brandon and I were planning on doing the neighbours roadway as well. They are old, and it just makes it a little easier for them come morning. I say planning, because a series of events was put into motion that wouldn’t be resolved till the next afternoon.

It was about 2 am. I was just finishing my snow removal when Brandon came out side. For some reason his gas heater was not working. It was clicking (the electric starter) but not engaging, and then the safety shut off would engage after about 15 seconds of not working. I went in with him to check it out. We tried a bunch of hunches I had on what it would be. None worked. We hauled out another heater he had, and that didn’t work. Brandon was getting a little upset at this point…it was getting damn cold in his house. I have a spare electric only heater, and I told him I would let him borrow that. After trying a few more things, we went into the kitchen and checked the gas range. Low and behold it wasn’t working either.

So we had the problem diagnosed, now time for a prescription. I asked B where his main gas shut off was. He kinda looked at me like “what the hell is the main gas shut off?” I just went outside to find his gas meter. After a little searching, I found the meter and the valve. There was a red light on the meter flashing. For me, that was a sure sign that that was where the problem was. I turned the valve to off, then back on. I looked for something else to do, but it was really dark, cold and late. We went back in, and the gas was still off.

B was gonna lose it at this point. I told him I was gonna go get the other heater I have. On the way to my place, I went to my meter to check out what it looked like to see if there were any clues to how to fix his.

I got to my meter and there was no flashing light. Decided to turn the valve to off, and then back on. I left it in off for about 2 seconds when I heard a very loud, very ominous click. If my suspicions weren’t enough, the little red light on my meter started flashing. Sure enough, my gas was off now too. (note to self: don't mess with the gas lines unless you need to shut them off in an emergency)

I went over to B’s, and told him I couldn’t lend him the heater. He asked why not. I was trying to explain, but I just started laughing. I couldn’t talk. Every time I tried to get out what had happened, I just started laughing more and more. It got to the point where I was in tears, and doubled over in pain. After that had subsided, I managed to squeak out what had happened. B went from chewing nails to doubling over as well. We were both wrecks, but at least it put B in a bit of a better mood.

It was about 2:45am. Our houses were cold. Neither of us could cook breakfast. Neither of us could have showers, but surprisingly we both headed to bed laughing. The situation was just too silly not to laugh at.

The resolution is that we called our boss the next day. While we were at work, a little cold, hungry, and stinky, our boss called the gas company. By the time we had both made it home that day we had gas again. One cold night, and a hungry morning, but in the end all was normal.

As far as the snow goes, there was 20 cm on the ground when I woke up. I stopped snowing sometime in the night, but started up in the afternoon. It has been going on and off ever since. Last time I checked, it is coming down pretty hard again tonight. The real irony is that a few months ago while I was talking to Brandon about when winter arrives, he simply told me “you’ll wake up one day, and there will be a foot of snow.” He wasn’t that far off. The snow is still on the ground, and winter had most definitely arrived.

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So I have a lot of adventures to relay to you all, but they will have to come in time. Since the snow is coming down fierce, the hills are prime for shredding. I hate to tell you all, but ripping up fresh powder with my board is probably my top priority other than the necessities. Who am I kidding, it is one of the necessities!

Well that’s it from Nakano. I have a hockey game to get back to watching…albeit from Oct. 8^th. Big big props to Liz for bringing me a few months worth of NHL on tape (amongst all the other things I requested)…the lock out didn’t end for me until yesterday when I watched my first game in a year and a half.

Cheers Beers all!
Adam