9-11-09
Today is my girlfriend Dorinne's(for those of you who haven't heard me talk about her) birthday! I'm actually glad it is because it is so easy to remember. There has been a lot that has happened to me in the last week or however long its been since I've sent out a group e-mail. But I really just want to talk about yesterday because it has been the best day here since Dorinne has left. As any other day it started off as a normal school day with lots of "canceled" classes (meaning the teachers don't want me to come to class) but it gives me lots of free time to sit in the staff room and try to occupy myself with something. However on this particular day I did get to start my routine of giving an American culture talk. Yea! This time my topic, 9.11 or the start of "War on Terrorism". I know what you are thinking and yes I probably scared off many of my English teachers as being a radical liberal but the students probably couldn't understand anything I said anyway. I also continued giving my introduction schpeal; which has gotten a lot better since I first stumbled my way through it but unfortunately this time the projector stopped working so I had to basically talk about myself without any pictures. Surprisingly it wasn't so bad and my JTE(japanese english teacher) helped make it a lot of fun. In the afternoon a vendor came to school selling unusual sweets, which I expected would just be ignored and sent off as a peddler of useless crap but too my surprise all of the female teachers gathered around and each spent a good amount of money on these nicely packaged sweets. Suddenly I felt bad for refusing to buy anything minutes before. Since I couldn't eat much for lunch(there is usually lots of meat but since it is free I take a lunch anyway and give most of it to the kids) a few teachers felt bad and offered me some of the sweets. It was very interesting for lack of better words. My first time eating what seemed to me to be a very sticky gelatinous candy which was then covered with daizu(soy flour). It was tasty albeit a little difficult to swallow. So after some speech contest practice I headed over to the BOE(board of education aka my employer) to pick up my modem... YES. Finally I have internet!!! I was so happy I had no plans but to go home and immediately reconnect with the world or at least thats what it felt like(I am a bit addicted to the internet). However on my jubilant exit with my beautiful modem in hand I ran into Tsuroka-sensei. Hes an old gym teacher who has taken an interest in me had has taken me out before and basically just paid for everything. This time he said "lets go have a special english lesson.. are you free right now". It was a little strange to be in front of everyone else in the office when he said that but I thought why not even though I really wanted to go shopping for computer things and call Dorinne. But...
HE ended up taking me to my first Onsen(japanese natural hotspring)!! It wasn't to far away in a little surfing town named Chosei, about a 40 minute drive away. So he picked me up at my house and with very little said we soon approached a huge new looking building with adjoining restaurant and outside seating and ice cream stand. For a second I thought I was at some amusement park or indoor water park. But Au contraire, I entered the building and the onsen was amazing! The first hurtle to cross was the nudity. Yes, there are no clothes accepted when you enter an Onsen. They are sex separated though of course. So everyone is naked and only carry around with them a small hand towel I imagine solely for wiping sweat away from your face. Entering this onsen was like entering a dulux spa. There where about 10 pools or what looked like rock walled ponds both inside and outside(traditional) in a courtyard behind the building. This was a nice place but unfortunately wasn't a real onsen becuase it is not a natural hotspring. I heard that they ship the water from the natural hotsprings close by in the mountains but I don't believe this. After I entered feeling a bit strange standing completely naked holding a small towel(and I mean small) I didn't know what to do. Luckily I had Tsuroka-san with me. He treated it as a challenge and I had to experience every pool like it was a stage to be completed in some culture appropriating video game. So first was the typical suana. Well maybe not so typical being there is a TV in there and all the wooden benches are covered in thick towels. I love a good suana! Next was the hot tub pool inside about 41 C, after a bit on to one of the hot springs outside (the cooler one) and it when on like this! He took me to the mineral scrub too which is in a little room, basically a suana and you rub your entire body with a salt like mineral. Unfortunately I had a few small cuts on my body and man did it sting! There is a shower attached to this room so we showered the mineral off after a painful 10 minutes. The next hour was spent alternating the sauna, hot tubs and oh yes I forgot the cold pool! This was really hard to do but man what a sensation! One pool outside was had "black water" which Tsuroka-san said was for longevity. Finally your next challenge as Tsuroka-san put it. The water massage. I tackled this one on my own. A stream of water came down into a shallow pool of hot water. The water fell from about 10 feet and man was it intense. I mimicked other japanese and slowly let the water fall from my neck to my toes, which ended up causing more damage then help I think. After this you go into a really hot pool which basically looks like a slightly bigger well. The next hour was "free time". I wandered a bit taking it all in. Being in what looks like a natural hotspring in the quiet night air looking up at the stars, it is awesome. I eventually made it to the grooming area. Basically a L-shaped corner of the inside area had was looked like cubicles of sit-down showers. It sounds weird to shower in the open with a bunch of old naked men around you and it is but after being naked for 2 hours walking around a huge building you kinda forget about it. Japan also has a really relaxed attitude towards nudity so its not embarrassing at all. So I had a shave and shampoo and was ready to go. Both of us left feeling refreshed and extremely relaxed. As soon as I entered the car I felt exhausted. When i got home it was only about 9:30 I still made it out for a little shopping. Unfortunately the only place that was open was Yac's, its kinda like CVS or Walgreens. It had lots of the necessities and I ended up spending a lot about $80 but it had none of the computer electronics I needed. I got home and talked to Dorinne a bit still coherently. After about 20 minutes though I said goodbye for tomorrow was another school day and drifted off into darkness...
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