Cold Ice / Hot Water

Never let it be said that Short Term Missions are all work and no play - thus far I seem to be managing to incorporate both rather well! Some of the church members held an impromptu get-together at the ice skating rink in Aomori for a couple of hours on Saturday. We shared the fun and laughter of a good skating session (or in my case, a good learning-to-skate session). The rink is a large and impressive building, with a very high ceiling and two divisions of ice: the inner rink, a simple rectangle with a roped-off area for little learners; and the large oval that surrounds it. There was a good mix of skill levels on display, from the speedy teenagers zipping past (often going backwards) to the women practicing their figure-skating spins, and the toddlers just learning to find their balance with the guiding hands of their parents. Oh, yeah, and then there was me - the (comparatively) tall Westerner who could barely stand to begin with, but who eventually found his balance and even a little bit of pace! This was achieved via a handful of really quite spectacular falls; the sight of me laughing aloud while sliding across the ice on my back no doubt offered some amusement to my fellow skaters... All in all, it was a great time to spend with friends, and everyone who attended seemed to enjoy themselves.

Of course, all of those falls did result in a few sharp aches and pains, and so I decided that a soothing visit to the onsen was the best course of action on my day off. There are many to choose from, but as I already intended to have a look around the Furosato Centre, I didn't have to think much about it. Usually I'm not the basking-in-the-heat type; I always avoided the sauna at my local gym, for example. I was just in the right mood for it that day, though, and so sinking into that steaming bath was bliss! I no longer noticed my ice skating pains, or much of anything else either - I was entirely relaxed. It took me about an hour to finally muster the will to leave, and my relaxed, care-free feeling followed me out the door. (In fact, that almost proved to be a problem. Every time I tried to make a decision about what to do with my day, I couldn't help thinking "Whatever, doesn't matter, it's all good...")

Something tells me I'm going to miss the opportunity to go to the bathhouse when I leave here.

- Jonathan