I woke up yesterday morning to....S N O W!!
Apparently, this was the first time in 54 years it has snowed in November in this part of Japan (hello cold winter) and it happened to be on Thanksgiving day. So instead of spending the day running the Turkey Trot and stuffing my face with mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, I walked to the bus stop in the freezing snow and drank 20 cups of tea to stay warm HAHA. Life is crazy sometimes.
It may not be three feet of fresh powder...but to a girl from California...this was a straight up winter wonderland!
The bust was packed in the morning with students due to the weather but luckily the bus drops us off right in front of school so we don't have to walk far. The shocking thing was, some students rode their bikes still!
This was the view from the English Office. I could NOT stop starting outside...all morning I was just transfixed by the falling snow and I felt like I was right smack dab in the middle of a real life snow globe.
Shout out to UNIQLO and their Heat tech undershirts/tights/socks for keeping me warm .
The rough part about the Japanese school system is the strict uniform policy. Even in the winter, the girls have to wear their regular skirts...so cold right!? They are allowed to wear some black tights as an extra layer, but most of them just rough it and come to school as is and I don't know how they do it!
WOWIE WOWIE. It was such a strange feeling watching the snow swirl around the sky, and I realized this might have been my first time to actually watch real falling snow. I remembered a song I heard a few years back at a Christ Tomlin Christmas concert called Winter Snow, about how baby Jesus came to this earth, born on Christmas day:
You could have come like a mighty storm
with all the strength of a hurricane
you could have come like a forest fire
with the power of heaven in your flame
but you came like a winter snow
quiet and soft and slow
falling from the sky in the night
to the earth below
And for the first time, I totally get these lyrics now. The way the snow sprinkled all over the ground. I love that description of baby Jesus. He could have come in a fury, shouting and forcing His power over all of us to because He is the Son of God, creator of all Heaven and Earth so He had every reason to. But He was born a baby in a manger, a lowly birth, no room in the inn. He came so gently, so innocently, so softly...falling snow. It was magical watching the flakes dance around the sky and It shed a whole new light on the birth of Jesus Christ our savior! I love this season and I am eagerly awaiting the days til I'm home for Christmas!