Weekend Getaway

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Hey Everybody,

As you all know, Maddy just finished a (very) long trip around Japan, then to San Fran and finally Canada, leaving me in frigid Morioka... : ( But she came back and we decided to head somewhere nice for the weekend, we chose Nyuto Onsen (an onsen is a hot spring). It's actually a little cluster of 6 hotels all having their own onsens, the one we stayed at is called Kaniba onsen. It's about an hour drive from our place, further inland and up in the mountains.

On the way there, the drive takes you by Tazawa-ko (Lake Tazawa), the deepest lake in Japan. The water was a beautiful blue and it was fun to get out and walk around. We found a shrine right on the shore of the lake, and many paddle-boats in the shapes of swans, dinosaurs, winnie the pooh, mickey mouse (the japanese love Disney) and a few more characters, they were hilarious.

The onsen and hotel were great! There was an outdoor and an indoor hot spring and the outdoor was awesome. It was a two minute walk from the hotel to a small creek where the hot spring was. We were up in the mountains and there was about 7 feet of snow on the ground with a path to the onsen cut right through the snow. The water was super hot, soothing and very relaxing. To soak outside with snow falling and piled all around you was surreal and very beautiful!

The robes we're wearing are the hotel robes. As soon as you get to the hotel you just change into your robes and you can wear them everywhere, to dinner, breakfast, the onsen or just reading in the lobby. It makes for a laid back weekend when you don't even have to worry about getting dressed! Although I did get in trouble once, there is an outer robe and an inner one and I had my inner robe showing which is rude. Thankfully an old lady who works at the hotel came running over and set me straight!

We stayed in a small, very Japanese, room with tatami floors (kind of like tightly packed straw floors) with a big wood table and chairs with no legs. The number 4 is a very unlucky number in Japan and the reason why some chairs have no legs!

Our beds were nice thick futons that were stored in our closet during the day. Dinner and breakfast were part of the deal and while we were eating dinner, they went into our room and pulled the futons out of the closet and setup our beds for us. Then at breakfast, they sneak in to your room and put them back in the closet.

The meals were amazing, Maddy and I had a full table of food for the two of us! Half a crab each, sashimi, nabe (vegetables and fish boiled in a broth), a small fish each (head to tail), oysters, scallops, veggies and much more. It was way too much and we didn't come close to finishing it all, but all the other japanese guests had no problem polishing off every last bit. Breakfast was no less of a feast.

It was great to get away and relax in full Japanese style!

A little update on what I've been up to recently: works going pretty good and I succesfully made it through my trial period and committed myself to a full year in Japan. With the contract I was given a little bump in pay and a car!!! I've gotten used to wearing a suit and tie everyday and the programming I do is fun but it can be frustrating sometimes because of communication (specifically the lack of it). On the upside I'm taking Japanese lessons so the secrets of the language are slowly unraveling.

I've also started teaching english to a group of adults on Wednesday nights. So far it's been a lot of work but I think it will get easier and the people in my class are some of the funniest Japanese people I've met! They're very energetic and talkative and make for a fun class.

The weather's getting warmer so I've been going to the local climbing gym more often. The regulars recognize me now (one of the benefits of standing out I guess) and I've made some friends there. I'm hoping they'll show me the good outdoor climbing spots and I'll send pics when the snow's all gone and I finally can go climbing outside!

That's all for now, later skaters...
Colin

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