Last week, we heard that it snowed on the mountains outside of town. Of course, it melted as soon as the sun came up and we never even saw it. The weather has definitely changed from the rain of September to the cold of October though. We have been freezing at home--our place has sliding glass doors and windows, so air forces its way in through all the cracks!
Last night, the wind blew so hard, it even woke me up a few times! I climbed out of bed at 6 AM, and at 6:30 when I woke Angie up, she asked if it was snowing. I said, "No, it's sunny," but before she even made it to the front room, a wall of black clouds blew in from the southwest, obscuring the sun. Within moments, it began snowing!
It snowed on October 18th!
The snowflakes were huge--at least the size of quarters--and they were coming down in sheets. Before we left to catch our train at 7:30, the roofs below us had a light dusting on them. We took a cold, wet ride on our bikes, and even though I vowed to ride my bike until I slip on the snow and ice and actually fall off, I began to reconsider. It is cold!
One of the reasons it is cold is because I can't buy clothes here (at least I haven't yet found many that fit--or are in colors/styles I'd wear. Imagine fluorescent pleather for men--you catch my drift). I found out that I wear "King Size" shoes here--that's size 10 in the US. I also wear "King Size" clothes, which is the trouble. Here, sizes run "L," "LL," "EL" (extra large), and 3X ( I haven't seen 2X). The 3X clothes fit, but barely. Even after dropping 10-15 pounds, I'm still a big man here. Japanese men are simply not wide.
Clothes complaints (not complaints, more like a quest) aside, it snowed on and off all day, never sticking, but it was very windy and cold, even in the sun. It looks like we are in for a long, hard winter.