Fun in February's Flurries
With February coming to a close I thought I would do a quick recap of our month.
Northern Japan is noted for it's incredible winters, providing outrageous skiing and boarding, mountainous drifts and helacious roads. This year is no exception. Misawa reached it's February average snowfall by the 5th day of the month. Oddly enough there was a run on the base BX for shovels, sleds and Tiger Balm. Mike has been boarding a lot and even keeping ahead of the 20 something year old kids he goes with, well most of the time. I was able to get him off the board for a weekend when we took a horse trek through the Hokkoda Mountains. (See Map - Red Route)
We went with about 8 other riders from my riding club near Towada. After a morning warm up ride at the ranch we loaded up and drove to the hotel (with an amazing outside onsen by waterfall) to leave our van. The kids rode with our friend Yukie during the trek. They would follow us for a bit, then drive by waving, taking pictures and laughing at our snow covered figures. Mike rode Shiro (she-ro Japanese for white) and is second in line. I am on my girl, Hime (he - mae Japanese for Princess). It was a bit icy, and Mike made quite the impression when Shiro slipped and fell causing Mike to do a flying dive into the snowbank. Our kind friends gave him a generous
score of 9 for his graceful dismount.
No one was hurt, and although I don't speak much Japanese I could tell that the event was the talk of the night. Leave it to Mike! The kids had a great time as well handing out in the support vans with the staff laughing at us all in the blizzard. The snowfall there had been more then double the average so in some areas the snow walls along the road were 15-18 feet high. That does not mean that they blew the snow up that high, they actually cut down to the road and then remove all the snow. Can you imagine that much snow? It was some of the most amazing scenes. This is the Japan that Mike and I will remember. We ended our day at an old onsen (hot spring) with the second best curry we've ever had, but did not get the chance to bath there. Instead we all went back to the Japanese style hotel and soaked in the hot mineral waters overlooking a beautiful and muscial waterfall with snowflakes melting on our faces. Of course the kids were a hit, and enjoyed having their own little kimonos and slippers to wear. It was nice to get away from the base, the TV and just hang out together. It was an amazing experience and one that none of us will ever forget. But I think I'll have to get Mike riding a bit more before I expect his butt to get in a saddle for a 4 hour, 20 km trek. Even after three trips to the onsen, his back end was still a bit sore.
I have been subbing nearly the whole month and loving every minute. Mike is swing shift supervisor, which works out well. He is able to spend some time with the kids in the morning before taking them off to school and then he still has time to study. He is taking his third term of Japanese and learning Kanji now. He says with the more he learns the more he realizes how little he knows. I am so proud of his ability and desire to learn the such a difficult language. The kids are working hard at school preparing for their performances on March 3rd, Girl's Day. They are growing way to fast for us. Kameron has adopted this funny British accent when he asks questions and I can't quite figure out where he's picked up. Merril loves signing and dancing and well, anything to do with music. I often catch her singing "You are so Beautiful" (Little Rascals style ~ thank you so much Brain and Amanda!) and it just busts me up.
We all love Japan and hate the idea of leaving here, but time goes by and things must change. We are currently on indefinite, but did put in for a assignment that has a November 2006 departure. Although we would be very sad to leave Japan, we felt that at this time putting in for the location that come up was the right thing to try and do. As Mike says, "Things happen for a reason." We should find out the middle of next month if we've been selected and will let you all know then. I must say I am sort of hoping we don't get it and I can stay here and keep riding Hime, but there are so many potential positives and they will help make the move much sweeter. We will keep you informed.
We'll get some pictures of the kid's show and try and get them posted this weekend.
All our love to you.
Thanks ~ Sheila
Northern Japan is noted for it's incredible winters, providing outrageous skiing and boarding, mountainous drifts and helacious roads. This year is no exception. Misawa reached it's February average snowfall by the 5th day of the month. Oddly enough there was a run on the base BX for shovels, sleds and Tiger Balm. Mike has been boarding a lot and even keeping ahead of the 20 something year old kids he goes with, well most of the time. I was able to get him off the board for a weekend when we took a horse trek through the Hokkoda Mountains. (See Map - Red Route)
We went with about 8 other riders from my riding club near Towada. After a morning warm up ride at the ranch we loaded up and drove to the hotel (with an amazing outside onsen by waterfall) to leave our van. The kids rode with our friend Yukie during the trek. They would follow us for a bit, then drive by waving, taking pictures and laughing at our snow covered figures. Mike rode Shiro (she-ro Japanese for white) and is second in line. I am on my girl, Hime (he - mae Japanese for Princess). It was a bit icy, and Mike made quite the impression when Shiro slipped and fell causing Mike to do a flying dive into the snowbank. Our kind friends gave him a generous
score of 9 for his graceful dismount.No one was hurt, and although I don't speak much Japanese I could tell that the event was the talk of the night. Leave it to Mike! The kids had a great time as well handing out in the support vans with the staff laughing at us all in the blizzard. The snowfall there had been more then double the average so in some areas the snow walls along the road were 15-18 feet high. That does not mean that they blew the snow up that high, they actually cut down to the road and then remove all the snow. Can you imagine that much snow? It was some of the most amazing scenes. This is the Japan that Mike and I will remember. We ended our day at an old onsen (hot spring) with the second best curry we've ever had, but did not get the chance to bath there. Instead we all went back to the Japanese style hotel and soaked in the hot mineral waters overlooking a beautiful and muscial waterfall with snowflakes melting on our faces. Of course the kids were a hit, and enjoyed having their own little kimonos and slippers to wear. It was nice to get away from the base, the TV and just hang out together. It was an amazing experience and one that none of us will ever forget. But I think I'll have to get Mike riding a bit more before I expect his butt to get in a saddle for a 4 hour, 20 km trek. Even after three trips to the onsen, his back end was still a bit sore.
I have been subbing nearly the whole month and loving every minute. Mike is swing shift supervisor, which works out well. He is able to spend some time with the kids in the morning before taking them off to school and then he still has time to study. He is taking his third term of Japanese and learning Kanji now. He says with the more he learns the more he realizes how little he knows. I am so proud of his ability and desire to learn the such a difficult language. The kids are working hard at school preparing for their performances on March 3rd, Girl's Day. They are growing way to fast for us. Kameron has adopted this funny British accent when he asks questions and I can't quite figure out where he's picked up. Merril loves signing and dancing and well, anything to do with music. I often catch her singing "You are so Beautiful" (Little Rascals style ~ thank you so much Brain and Amanda!) and it just busts me up.
We all love Japan and hate the idea of leaving here, but time goes by and things must change. We are currently on indefinite, but did put in for a assignment that has a November 2006 departure. Although we would be very sad to leave Japan, we felt that at this time putting in for the location that come up was the right thing to try and do. As Mike says, "Things happen for a reason." We should find out the middle of next month if we've been selected and will let you all know then. I must say I am sort of hoping we don't get it and I can stay here and keep riding Hime, but there are so many potential positives and they will help make the move much sweeter. We will keep you informed.
We'll get some pictures of the kid's show and try and get them posted this weekend.
All our love to you.
Thanks ~ Sheila
posted by Haney Family | 1:16 AM
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