Snow Yuki Good!

The Coast is freezing now. I rise in the morning and my breathe hovers in the air for some moments. Today the sun shines brightly. My thoughts have become gentle lately. Classes are over for this year. I taught my last elementary class yesterday, singing Christmas Carols and playing guitar. I look forward to Christmas and the holidays, making rendezvous with good friends and celebrating a holiday centered on the concept of giving and being together and of course the color red with white. My English teacher taught me something new about Christmas the other day. I will ask you if it's true. Is Santa Claus Red and White because of the Coca Cola Company? I can't imagine a green Santa, but pre 1940's that was supposedly the color.
We decorated the English room with Christmas decorations. I tried to draw a picture of the inside of my house at Christmas as well, which went over quite well . There are 2 songs that seem to stick out as favorites among the Japanese. Everyone seems to request Mariah Carey's Christmas Carol and Jingle Bells. I know Jingle Bells really well. I'm excited to head home for the holidays and ski. The snow here is just starting to fall and that means that powder is in recipe books. Pow Pow Pow Pow. I ask you this what is snow??!!! We can say what rain is. You go outside and water sprinkles on you, but snow is different. When you walk outside and hear snow falling it is a gentle sound almost like silence.

There is a pace when snow falls
And many people feel it should be a bell
A soft bell with a kind sound, high-pitched, happy, yet quiet as well.
And when you focus on the sound the snow does really make
And do not take a rustling step
You witness this soft ,almost silence
Especially if your smokey breath you retract as well.
It's just you and the soft chimes singing of the times.

Here's a new one for ya

Picking the Vegetarian food style has it's challenges when living in Japan or where I am. I also feel secrets are revealed. Lately the navigation setting on my phone has pointed my life in a confident direction literally. I love looking at my little blip on my screen as I navigate around Earth now I'm here..... and now I'm here... and now I'm on a train.... and now I'm in my car... and now I just hickup'd.... and now I just Far..... we'll let that one rest. While in Tokyo my new found love of exploration has recently been Vegetarian Restaurants. After checking into a Hostel in Asakusa, which is close to Ueno and called the Asakusa Annex, I asked the friendly staff where I might stab some local vegetarian delectable s. Luckily one of staff members was vegetarian herself and recommended a place called Pei Pe Saitan. The dining establishment was supposedly located in Kinshicho, a close distance away "a new adventure says I" with my new map finding tools at the ready I struck off for the location. Kinshicho station was estimated to be about a 30 minute walk from where I was and I was in the mood for a walk. The night was cool and narrow streets crisscrossed this way and that. Traffic lights blinked from red to green to yellow as there were few cars and few people on the streets. I reached the train tracks and turned left and found myself on a lively street. Kinshicho station was full of people. I watched a really good robot dancer in front of the station for 2 minutes before continuing my search for Pei Pei Saitan. Pei Pei Saitan was seemingly a dream as it was not showing any signs of being present in the actual world according to my Google sources on my hand held apparatus. Feeling a bit deflated I did a search to see if there were any veg like establishments in the area and inflated again when I found there was a "famous place" called "It's Vegetables" Yes that was the name and interestingly enough it was in the same vicinity of where my Pei Pei Saitan place was supposedly-- a change of name says he...... a slip of the mind says I..... and so I found myself on a Saturday at about a little before 7 entering a little food place excited about the prospect of vegetables. The place was cheery and intimate and I sat down at a little table and a friendly older man gave me a menu. At first glance it looked as if it was just a regular restaurant as I saw many different selections, but upon further inspection all the dishes were made using vegetable products and suited both the vegan and vegetarian fan. The food was delish could have fooled me. Maybe I was fooled it is possible that everything was real meat in which case all cows and pigs of world I apologize, but It was tasty and the plan is to venture again. I had not been seated more then 5 or 10 minutes when someone joined my table and we were introduced. The restaurant required that kind of open perspective as there were few tables available in the cozy space. We hit it off. She was a vegetarian too and had been so for 12 years. It was great practice for my Japanese test that next day. She had a daughter living in Canada that played the Violin and she herself was a piano teacher. What followed was a pleasurable te to te and a sharing of ideas and thoughts over cuisine. I eventually joined another table as I was invited and listened about how one of men at the the table was a shipper of goods and had worked in Indonesia for the last 20 years of his life. His family had traveled with him and they had thus navigated the greater part of the world. It was a great story and I felt humbled by his experiences. My Japanese test was that next day so I retired to bed early, found my way home first of course! and wondered what JLPT would be like the next day.