Friday evening after work, I rode over to the apartment where the other ALTs (assistant language teachers), Jeff and Laura, live to meet up for the ride to Okayama. I met Craig, from Britain who drove there. The ride there was pretty smooth, it took about an hour or so to get there...maybe less. We arrived at the Takebe international villa about 7:30-8pm. Craig left to go pick up the others who took the train down. After checking out the villa, Jeff, Laura and I started preparing dinner. Fajitas were on the menu. First to arrive were Nate & Miho, followed later on by Amanda, Chip, Jenai & Wendy. Dinner was ready around 9ish and we ate until we were going to burst. We had SO MUCH FOOD! I don't know who put Jeff in charge of buying the groceries but we had nuff! For dessert we had brownies and then we started a game of pictionary, which was jokes to say the least. My belly was hurting from being full and from laughing so hard because some people's drawings were just horrid. After pictionary we played a game of Jenga and headed to bed about 1:30am.
Saturday morning , to my surprise, I was one of the first to wake up. I tip-toed around and took some pictures, then went downstairs. Amanda was awake and we went to the kitchen and were met by a mess in the fridge. The bag of berries for the pancakes somehow got punctured and the juice leaked all over the inside of the fridge and out onto the kitchen floor overnight. After cleaning up the mess, Craig and Jeff came in from the onsen and made breakfast while Amanda and I had a brownie pre-breakfast snack. Breakfast was VERY filling! We had breakfast bagels with egg, cheese, spinach and bacon (mine was without bacon). We lounged around for a bit and then went on a walk around town. So we get to this bridge and Jeff decides the only way we can cross is to race in pairs....ok cool. So it comes time and I'm racing him, only half way down the bridge his wallet flies out of his back pocket and his money flies out of his wallet. I was a little behind him so I dashed to stop all of his money from flying over the side. Unfortunately one lone 10, 000 yen bill had other plans. The funny part came when Jeff, Jenai and I went wading in the river to see if we could find it downstream. Just imagine the jokes at the close calls of us falling over in this rocky river with all of our clothes on. After giving up the feat, Jeff consoled himself by saying someone who needed it more than him will find it downstream and the river was dubbed "river of karma". Next we visited a nearby shrine and took some pictures before heading over to the yogurt and ice cream shop. We sat outside for about half hour before going back on our trek toward the park to play and watch Frisbee. After the walk we went to the onsen. Now, before we got to Takebe I was already freaking out about this because in Japanese onsens everyone is butt nekkid. Yea you read right....I don't change in front of my momma so you can imagine my reservations. I had to mentally coax myself through the whole process. Thank GOD for my modesty towel lol. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...once you realize everyone around you is also butt nekkid it makes it a LITTLE bit easier. It was worth the trepidation because that hot onsen water felt GREAAAAAT!!! After the onsen everyone chipped in to make dinner after stretching to literally make room in our bellies...we had roast, mashed potatoes and macaroni pie a la Amanda. They loved the pie. We couldn't move after we ate for about 20 minutes or so. Once we did get up I started my soca 101 dance lesson, which turned into an electric slide and step lesson all in one. I had a blast and now I want to start a step or dance class nearby. At some point in the night some of the ladies wanted to celebrate learning how to wine by taking shots...they wanted me to take 3 but I had to let them know they were smoking crack if they thought a non-drinker like myself could handle that so I had one. Jenai poured me some antiseptic-tasting sky vodka that burned and made me grow chest hairs! Needless to say I ran to the fridge and drank off my carton of orange juice. I was tired from the eventful day so I went to bed around 12am.
Sunday morning we all had to get up early because check out was at 10am. We had berry pancakes for breakfast, my stomach could only handle two, and then I went and took a quick shower and dip in the onsen. I was quite happy because I was the only one there so I didn't have to cower behind my little modesty towel. Onsens are the bomb! We packed up, split up the hordes of leftover food, cleaned and Craig drove the train people to the station while Jeff, Laura, Wendy and I waited and talked until he returned. We were on our way back home about 11-11:30 and arrived to Aioi at 12:30. All in all it was a GREAT weekend! I got some much needed relaxation, onsening(kinda like hot-tubbing) and pure jokes! We had so much fun we've already started planning the next trip!
ENJOY THE PICTURES!
Bridge race
Wining 101
Electric slide!
2 comments:
Okay, I hafta say, teaching in Japan is nothing like teaching in Toronto as much as I love my job. Geez, they treat you like royalty there, enjoy every minute. Actually, it sounds like u r having a blast...good for u!!!! Love reading your blogs...thanks for all the laughs, kinda feel like I'm there sometimes.
P.S. Did u trim the hair on your chest before onsening ;) The pic. of you dowing the shot is PRICELESS!!!
hahaha Frangie I waxed those badboys! That drink was horrible! Trust me I know teaching here is NOTHING like back home. I have to keep reminding myself of that for when I get back. How are John Carlo and Alie?
Post a Comment