The ever so generous and inviting Yoshida-Sensei planned the whole event. He picked me up yesterday afternoon and drove me to his home in Nasushiobara city 45 minutes north of Nakagawa. Nasushiobara is more of a region than one specific city. It claims a population of about 110,000 people, but it stretches from the northwest mountains to the eastern boarder. There are multiple ski areas in Nasushiobara so it’s a very successful tourist city. We arrived at Yoshida-Sensei’s house in time for dinner with his wife, 24-year-old daughter Shoko, and his wife’s mother. They were a real treat to spend the evening with and the food was top notch: sushi, fried shrimp, salad, and hot soup.
The morning started at 7am and we went nonstop all the way until 6:30 when I was dropped off back at the Sato’s. Yoshida-Sensei invited the school principle (whose name is also Sato, no relative however, Sato’s a very common Japanese last name), two of the English teachers (the wonderful pair of Funayama-Sensei and Shimanoki-Sensei), Sasaki-Sensei (one of the youngest teachers at the school, he is good friends with my neighbor Miyazaki Miki, and is a very good snowboarder), plus my two classmates Miki and Tanaka. That made a total of eight of us. Everyone had been skiing before and the school principle really impressed me by being both a talented skier, but also a good snowboarder. Ready for the surprise: I’d put him around age 50-55! Haha Besides that Yoshida and Sato-Senseis also paid for my lift ticket and ski rental! I was so grateful to them. I really, truly was placed in an incredibly generous school.
Hunter Mountain is always one of the favorite ski-getaways for people from Tokyo and today was no different. It was busy from morning to afternoon, but luckily it is quite large and I never felt crowded and hardly had to wait for chairlifts. The weather was an ever-varying mixture of snow and clear skies. The morning brought pretty thick snowfall, but by the afternoon it was only scattered flurries. I loved the whole day! Nothing more I can add besides that. It was a fantastic day. I can’t think of anywhere I would rather have spent it.
Two things:
ReplyDelete1.) would it possibly have made for a better day if you'd had a small furry companion who no longer fits into his santa suit due to excess consumption of scraps and occassionally small animals??? (and no, i don't mean lila)
2.) kudos to you for using top notch, your vocabulary astounds me, i hope there's a japanese equivalent to "top-notch" it really should be used more in INGLES!!!
guess who :) xxoo