It started to snow and would not stop!!!

I finally experienced my first snow...which became my first snowstorm...which became a very cold week! I didn't know how to deal with it, since I've only seen it in movies. So I went out, frolicked, and obviously got wet...haha! But anyway, I took some pictures throughout the entire snowy period. My favorite is the picture outside Tachikawa Church where there is a statue of the BVM and Jesus, snow covered...seems a bit nice coz the snow looks like angels embracing the two.

During the snowstorm, it so happened my adviser had scheduled an event and we were supposed to help him out. What did I do? Shovelled snow (shovelled being the operative word). Actually pushing snow to the side, which sounded fun at first, then wet when we were doing it, and finally the next day, my back hurt a bit. :)

For Chinese New Year, I visited Bac-san in Yokohama and then went to Chinatown there. Yokohama University was HUUUGE. Probably the size of UP Diliman. Their cafeteria felt almost like ours in Hitotsubashi, except that it also has a salad bar and an italian section. Our cafeteria only has a Noodle place, Rice Bowl place and a Western style place. Unfortunately, Yokohama University is in the "middle of nowhere" (figuratively) as opposed to Hitotsubashi which is in the middle of Kunitachi city. After lunch (where I was treated by Bac), I went to Chinatown to see the hubbub of the Chinese New Year Celebrations. Unfortunately, it wasn't as lively as I'd imagined it would be. There was a "lion dance" where the dancers seemed to lack vim and vigor. However, I did take some pictures.

As for food, I purchased a sweet dessert called "Anmitsu" from Tachikawa. Ideally the base is plain jelly made from agar and topped with anything plus a super sweet sugar syrup or red bean. The one I got was a "specialty" of the place which included persimmon, chestnut, red bean paste, a huuuge bean and mochi topped with black sugar syrup...sickeningly sweet.

For my ekiben series, I decided to get an ekiben from Yokohama. I got the basic which is shumai ekiben. The interesting thing about it is that it had a mechanism or sorts which steamed the shumai while I was bringing it home. (according to the lady, I had to consume it before 6 hours after purchase, else all I get is cold shumai).

Finally, I had asked Arai-san to teach me to make some Japanese sweets, and for recording purposed I took pictures of each step. (Sorry, I am a bit lazy to write everything down). But this is a pretty easy one, ingredients: a kind of seaweed, sugar and water.