The Day It Snowed in Tokyo

Something really cool happened this morning - it snowed!

Oh, come on. Every poor guy has the right to feel excited at his first sight of snow. To point at him and laugh, "Hah, so it snowed, eh? Big deal!" is no less cruel than explaining to a delighted kid who's unwrapping his Christmas gift, that the present did not come from Santa. People who do that are plain spoilsports.

But I digressed.

Okay, it snowed. Yes, snowed. S-N-O-W-E-D!

There has been more than a few false alarms last week when the weather forecast predicted sleet, and snow on a few occasions. It was disappointing when it turned out to be just rain. So, when yesterday evening's weather forecast predicted sleet, I didn't want to keep my hopes high.

But then...

I received an message from a friend on the cellphone this morning at 7.36am (See? I'm writing down the exact details because this is history in making. Heck, it's my first sight of snow.)

"It's finally snowing," it read.

Still half asleep, I read the message twice.

Okay, so it's snowing in Yokohama, eh? Lucky girl. But shit, I'm in Tokyo.

Anyway, I shot up and sprang to the window. Everything outside was covered in a white sheet of dust, as if some confectioner in the heavens was sprinkling icing on everything. It took longer than a few moments before reality eventually sank in.

It's snow, dude!

No kidding but I really did a little war dance, "Ohmygodthiscantbetrueitreallyissnowing."

Then feeling little suffocated from all the excitement, I took a few deep breaths.

Ohmygoditreallyissnowingwhatshouldido?

Pacing around in the room, I tried to calm down.

Ohmygodihavetogooutnownownow!

Spread some magarine over a piece of bread, gulped (yes, gulped) it down in two munches while changing, packed my backpack, slung the camera bag over the shoulder and left for the university. I was 30 minutes early but hell, I didn't want to miss the snow.

You bet it was cool. The whole wood deck in front of the main building was covered with snow.

And although it only started snowing one or two hours ago, a considerable amount of snow had collected.

Sneaking out from the classroom after leaving my stuff there, I took a walk around the campus. Students were arriving for classes. Mostly sombre, with that damn-why-does-it-have-to-snow-at-this-hour look on their faces. Well, some people can be such wet blankets, can't they?

Putting on the hood, I didn't bother to use the umbrella. I was probably grinning like the Cheshire Cat because a few people stared at me, wondering if I had a loose bolt somewhere in between my ears.

Well, who cares? It's snowing! Whee!

In the end, I skipped almost half of the calculus lesson, wandering in winter wonderland before returning to the class. And when I came out of the class again 40 minutes later, it has turned into rain.

The sleet continued till slight past noon. A mixture of rain and snow - pretty funky! Then, the rain eventually took over completely.

Until now, the excitement isn't totally over yet. This is the end of my second year in Tokyo. It was very disappointing last year because it didn't snow. But now, all the sufferings in this cold winter has finally paid off. The snow made everything worthwhile - the astronomical bill for using the heater unsparingly and the frostbites from cycling in the cold.

Oh god, I can't wait for it to snow again!

At least just one more time, pretty, pretty puh-lease?