Haru ka fuyu?
I thought winter is already over...
Sakura has fully bloomed in some places in Japan and most have been anticipating and heralding the arrival of spring, not only because of ohanami but to shun away from the biting winter cold to which most gaijin and nihonjin alike have detested, except me who gets thrilled and excited with snow and the freezing winter breeze; longing for snow to linger and winter to last longer. Most of the time braving the cold weather with ordinary clothing and getting used to surprised faces of friends and their remarks like "how did you survive winter?" or "kaya mo?"
March 30, 2006. Past 22:00 hour, I went out of the dorm to buy at a nearby Family Mart, just to satisfy a compulsive urge to eat, my favorite french bread stuffed with walnuts I have missed for days already.
Even inside my room, the heater is almost running 24 hours non-stop, is freezing cold aside from I am living in a reclaimed area surrounded by waters. Just yesterday, I shelled out more than ichiman issen en to pay my electric bill alone. By Japanese standard that is way expensive already for a single consumer. Winter this year in Japan has been extra cold just as summer in 2004 had been extraordinarily very hot.
Once outside, I was greeted by the terribly cold air despite donning a mask, winter jacket, three-piece inner clothes (upper garments), jeans over my pajama, boots and leather gloves. However, that did not still stop me from going, so off I went in my mountain bike. Less than ten minutes after, I already had bought a bagful of my favorite bread and decided to stop by at another nearby supa (short for supermarket in contemporary Japanese) to buy what they call "pudding" in Japan which actually is like "leche flan" in the Philippines, only minus the extremely sweet taste.
On my way, I noticed that I was shaking cold and thought that today is very cold indeed despite the bright sunrise that has greeted mornings in Kobe for a week already. This is no thing to be surprised about anyway,I told myself, since weather in Japan can be unpredictably freak. This hour you have a clear sky, the sun shining very bright then the next moment you are bringing out your umbrella to avoid getting soaked from rain. Or today it feels cold because it is winter, tomorrow you see the sun beaming its bright aloha smile on you like it is summer.
I hurriedly rode back to my dorm. Around five minutes of travel, I was already looking for a designated space to park my bike properly. It had been days also that I delinquently left my jitensya parked in the driveway. Within a couple of minutes only, my hands were feeling tingly and in no time they were hurting already as if suffering from a frost bite when the last time Kobe saw snow was in December, early or mid-January, but missed out most of the snowy days since I spent holidays in Tokyo where unfortunately I did not see snow during my entire stay there!
Hurriedly, I climbed up to the third floor and once inside my room, I washed my hands with warm water. I was feeling real pain, both my hands were hurting bad. Minutes later, I saw my hands turned real red and when moisture from the faucet water had all dried up, I saw tiny red sore lines in my left hand. The skin tissues were ruptured due to the ambivalent temperature I subject myself into without paying extra attention to my own physiological limits. As the sayings goes, "the spirit maybe strong but the body is weak."
After finishing up two pieces of bread, I began browsing over the internet searching for a temperature counter but found only a weather forecast that says temperature in Japan has dropped to 36 degrees Farenheight, meaning it is around two degrees Celsius today. Though, average temperature has remained less than 10 degrees Celsius anyway since the height of the fuyu season. On a similar note, the last time I recalled being told the exact temperature came from a public announcement welcoming JAL's arrival at the newly-built Kobe Kokusai Kouko that it was "roku (means six) dou" in Kobe to think around mid-February of same time, in less than a two-hour flight away I had, is Okinawa taking pride with its 23 degrees Celsius temperature at the peak of winter season in mainland Nippon, or Nihon by some.
Which leads me to wish. Hope to wake up tomorrow gazing at snowflakes by the balcony. Or if not, hope in three straight days or so the temperature remains or drops even lower if snow is to come anew at this onset of spring... and I will be the only happiest gaijin in Port Island here in Kobe beaming from ear to ear.
Yuki ga daisuki desu yo! * _ ^
