Monday 17 February 2014

It takes the flu

Due to a bit of an illness scare, my weekend went very differently to how I had originally planned! Instead of showing up to a hip hop event at my local bar, I spent the evening in a hospital/clinic, hooked up to two IV drip bags. Luckily, things all got sorted out and it turned out I had (and still have slight traces of currently) influenza and a bladder infection. They packed me off with a set of anti-biotics, which I have been taking dutifully ever since.

My Friday Night Companion

Unfortunately, that also meant that I had to cancel the pot luck that I was supposed to be hosting, as well as bow out of a half-marathon that I’d signed up for! I’ve only ever run the Greenwich Nike Run to the Beat half-marathon before, and this was to be my dive into Japanese events. Alas, it was not to be. In fact, I couldn’t even run my school’s cross-country event, so I felt a little down at the outset. Instead of my beautifully imagined weekend of run-dance-eat-run, it looked like: fever, loneliness and the gradual onset of snow and grumpiness.

The way my area looked before setting off for Hokkaido

The weather’s been a little crazy everywhere lately – although the celebration for setsubun, the first day of spring has been and gone, we’ve had snow twice since then! Once just before I set off for Hokkaido (ironic, since I was headed there for the yuki matsuri, or snow festival), and then again this weekend. Apparently, Shizuoka has seen the heaviest snow in forty-five years! It’s crazy. Further up north, in places like Gotemba, the snowfall reached 85cm. It’s not called Hokkaido in Shizuoka for nothing! Fortunately, around my area, the snow quickly melted away, but it was pretty miserably cold for a few days. Combined with my illness, I got into bed wearing two pairs of trousers, two hoodies on two shirts, and tucked myself under five blankets. I woke up in the night, sweating out the fever, and fought my way to the surface, only to recoil at the frigid temperatures outside. Japanese houses aren’t very well insulated, so my blanket-igloo has been a lifesaver this winter.

Not to mention something that brightened up my entire week:

A surprise Valentine's gift! How insanely cute is this giraffe?

The snows began to melt on Saturday, and even bought visitors, one bearing chocolate, and the other a ring! We ate nabe, Japanese hot pot, and chatted the day away. On Sunday, the sun shone bright and I dragged myself outside for a walk. If I couldn’t run 21km, then I was going to do the next best thing; walk around and explore.




I’m glad I did, because I climbed a mountain nearby, and it was beautiful. We have the best views of Mt Fuji one could ask for, and it just felt so good to get up and moving again. I’m not a big fan of cold weather, but it was just perfect; cool enough to walk around without working up a sweat, but warm enough to sit on the riverbank and read a book thinking, damn, this is the life.


Walking up the mountain

Endless stairs

... But the view was so worth it

Just... beautiful

So it was a pretty worth-it weekend, even if it didn't go as planned! 

Big improvement from Friday!

Outside a shrine I found

By the river (yes, it took many, many tries with my self-timer here)
Peace out guys

Quizu