Last week it started to snow in Aizu. And I think that I didn’t see as much snow at any places I lived before until now. In only three hours a frosty but still slightly colorful autumn scenery was turned into a white winter wonderland, covered with a thick solid blanket of snow and later decorated with countless icicles. A city that I was starting to think of a familiar place little by little, turned into a completely new environment suddenly. Places I saw several times were worth exploring again, because they changed their shape drastically. And the whole city seemed to have grown to its double size: due to the street’s condition it was nearly impossible to use my bike anymore. So I was forced to walk to where ever I wanted to go to, which gave me the time to see a little more of my surrounding. And astonishingly I even got to know the people living around me better. During summer times I barely saw my neighbors for example – just somebody rushing in or out of his apartment from time to time. But these days people had to come out of their houses to remove the snow from their parking slots and cars. And there was a lot of snow to be removed… Passing people seem to be a welcome opportunity for a break and to chat about the harsh weather and stuff; nothing important, but still: although the temperature is dropping, somehow the ambiance seems to become warmer. And that’s very nice.

Frederik