A Cold, Snowy Day in Tokyo!


It snowed in Tokyo today!
This may not seem like big new, but we don't get much snow in the city.
The snow didn't really stick, but it was coming down in big, fat flakes for awhile. The kids at my school didn't believe that it was snow at first. They were all claiming it was rain. When the flakes got big and white enough for them to believe it was snow, they started talking about making snowmen. I felt bad, because I knew that their three year old dreams of making a snowman in Tokyo were not going to come true!

In the afternoon, I suggested that Santa might come back since it was snowing. My students thought that that seemed totally plausible. Sometimes teacher humor doesn't compute with kids.




Now it's 7:30pm and I am FREEZING! The snow turned back into rain, but it's still close to zero degrees Celsius, and we are out of kerosene. I do not have it in me to wheel the 18 liter kerosene tank to the gas station on my grandma-style mini-wheelie cart, after dark, in the rain. Nope. Just can't do it. So, I am trying to stay warm using the Japanese air conditioner/heater (エーアコン) that is mounted on our wall, but it is not heating this place up very well.

I brought down a small electric heater from upstairs, which is pointed at my legs. I am also wearing a long-sleeved shirt, a fleece turtleneck, cotton pajama pants, fleece pajama pants, a fleece robe, knee socks, slippers, a hat, AND my knee-length down coat!
My torso is warm, but my legs and feet are still freezing. Ugh.