Relief Society Luncheon- in a Blizzard

A tradition in this branch's Relief Society is to go out to lunch together in January at a local restaurant.  Many of the sisters look forward to this annual outing.  Last year, we went to a sushi restaurant.  This year, the plan was to go to a traditional Japanese restaurant.  But I didn't know that.  It is all discussed in Japanese, and all I get is the date and time.  If I had known, we may not have gone- for reasons I'll explain.
When we woke up and looked out the window, this is what we saw.  We were in the middle of a huge blizzard.

We all met at the church.  Then we drove out to the home-turned-restaurant- in a horrible blizzard.

It was near white-out conditions.

We had Sister Hirayama and Ritzu with us.

When we got there and inside (out of the blizzard) was when I learned what kind of restaurant it was and that I would need to remove my boots.  Taking them off isn't too bad, but getting them back on is really hard- and I need to sit down to do it.  Ahhh!  Well, when in Rome . . . so I took them off.

Then we went in and found that it was the low tables where everyone sits on cushions on the floor.  I can't do that.  They did find a very low chair for me, but that provided no comfort because it was so low.  I was miserable.  Ken suggested he could go out and get the folding chair we always carry in our trunk for when we have this kind of situation in homes.  It was embarrassing, but I finally agreed that would be best.  So he went and got the chair.  It was so much more comfortable.  The sisters were so nice and got me cushions to make that folding chair more comfortable.  These are kind, good people. I was embarrassed, but they were so nice that it was almost worth it.  Many of the sisters sat there the entire hour and a half seza style- with their knees folded under them.  I was in awe they could do that.  But they've done it their whole lives and it is comfortable to them. 

The meal was very traditional Japanese food: Soup, rice, pickled turnip, fish egg salad, Japanese vegetable salad, and grilled fish with mugicha (a bitter hot drink made from wheat)  to drink.

Some had marinated beef instead of the fish.

It was a very old, traditional Japanese home with the paper walls and ancient furnishings.  It was indeed a cultural experience. 
After we ate, I asked everyone to tell us their favorite food.  That was such an interesting discussion as we learned about each sisters' likes.  They said things like tempura, fried meat, spring rolls, soup, and just rice.  Japanese people love rice- rice with skemono (any vegetable pickled- like shown above, a pickled turnip.) And that is good.  The rice here is very tasty and delicious.  I loved that everyone participated in the discussion- and that Ken interpreted it for me!
After it was over, I was blessed to get my boots on without too much trouble.  I worried through the whole meal, but ended up doing just fine. 

I took a couple of pictures out in front of the restaurant.

If you look closely, you can see birds up in the rafters in the building next to the restaurant during the blizzard. 

It had snowed a lot while we were inside, so all of the cars had to be dug out and cleaned. 
So though it caused some embarrassment, I was glad we went.  The sisters are all special friends and they are good to invite Elder Hinton along to help with the language (and I think they like him.)  We were grateful to make it home safely.  We spent the rest of the day holed up inside our cozy, pretty warm apartment.