It’s now 8.16PM and I arrived at the family’s home about ½-1 hours ago. At 8 this morning I went to Taketa – by bike. It was a 23km ride, and then I rode some more in town.
First, I went to snatch pictures of Hirose shrine as I said I would. Then I just rode around and met the fruit-man once again (the one with the old house). This time I also met his wife, and we talked for quite a while; they took a few pictures of me with them, which they will be sending to the family’s place. I hope it’s ok I gave them this adress, now that I think about it :-/
Well, he also took me to a lady with an antique store. She gave me a little “maneki neko” (a cat with one paw risen for greeting/inviting in the good luck – can be seen everywhere) as a souvenir, and the fruit store-owner bought me a tiny Hello Kitty “daruma” keychain. A daruma is a doll with no eyes drawn on it. If you have some goal you want to accomplish, you draw one eye (the left, if I recall correctly – YOUR left, that is; the doll’s right… I think), and when you’ve reached the goal, you draw the other. Mine had both eyes though, hehe.
Ok, so the fruit-man brought me to another place. This was a traditional tea house. I’m really not much (at all) a tea drinker, but as the lady running the place gave me a serving for free, how could I not take it? You get a little wet towel to wash your hands with, then you eat some kind of sweet (I don’t know the name; it’s REALLY sweet though), and then you drink the tea, which is quite bitter. The funny thing about this kind of tea, “matcha”, is that you whisk/whip it, so it’s a little foamy. It’s unclear and VERY green; this kind of tea is part of traditional tea ceremony, I believe (my Japanese culture knowledge isn’t focused on tea, really). It was very interesting though.
Alright, so before leaving those two, the fruit-man’s wife offered to introduce me to her sister who lives in Osaka, as I said I was going there later on. Very, very kind of her.
Uhm… oh yeah, I also received a ticket to the Hanamizuki onsen (hot spring)! The entrance is 500 yen (about 35kr), so it’s not really because it’s expensive, but it was nice to get it anyways :b SO - had to try it out, right? So I did, and as there’s a special procedure to visiting an onsen and I wasn’t quite sure about what to do, I was a little unsure of it all. Don’t think I did anything directly WRONG though, but I wouldn’t know.
The bath was pretty hot, and I did feel a little dizzy after about 10-15 minutes, so I decided to get up for a few minutes. I was at the onsen for about 45 minutes, and then I went for another stroll in town. Found out that there’s free internet access in the information center (-__-) Next time, I’ll bring my pc to put the internet cable in my own pc, so you can all read my entries!
Ok, so it was about 6PM and time to go home – the long way home. In total, I think I’ve had more than 50km of mountain bike riding. I only got off to walk once – that was on a really steep, reeeeaally long part. It took me a little over an hour to get home. My legs were fried – tomorrow’s probs gonna be awesome (*cough*).
WELL – when I got home, I received another present from my host family: a yukata. It’s not a kimono, but something similar, just thinner and not as difficult to wear (putting on a kimono can take hours). Obaa-chan helped me getting dressed (read: she got me dressed – I didn’t do a thing).
More gifts, ey? I’ll be sure to get them something nice when I leave – I just don’t know what :-/
Also, I received a message from my next host family in Hokkaido – they’re looking forward to seeing me, and I’m looking forward to seeing them! First, however, I have to finish this last week, the next three weeks on my own, and then Hokkaido. It’s gonna be interesting! Surely, in the cities, people probably won’t be quite as friendly to me, as they’ll be used to foreigners; my Japanese has apparently improved during the last two weeks, or so I’ve been told, and I’m not as embarrassed to use it anymore, so I think I should be fine.
Uhm… I think that’s it; quite an adventurous day, huh? Well, tomorrow it’s back to work.
Now, time for a few pics, just to make this post even longer! (You’re all going “Yay!”, right? RIGHT?!)
On the way to Taketa. I couldn’t help but laugh a little when i saw this on a condom vendor machine. I get the meaning, but I’m not sure the “the” really fits. Makes me think of the positive kind of “aid”. Like “Stop helping each other!”. But then again, Japanese doesn’t have pronouns such as “the” – it’s all indefinite (unless you talking about a cat “over there” or something – never mind).
This is how you do when the crane isn’t long enough – you jack up the vehicle!
At Taketa; the matcha I drank.
Entrance and stairs to Hirose shrine
The actual shrine
I also visited a place that had something to do with Christianity. Note the priest’s big nose; that’s how foreigners are usually pictured in Japan.
Further ahead was a little hole with water (don’t know what it was). Oh, and that orange thing? –Yeah, that’s a fish… and it was alive.
At the onsen. Tried out what I thought to be the Japanese Pepsi Max. I like Pepsi Max, but this tasted a little different… Pepsi Nex Zero – probs won’t be buying that again.
Me wearing my yukata, standing next to obaa-chan. Yes, I often get comments on my height. “Sega takai…”, “ashi nagai” – I hear that a lot (“you’re tall”, “you have long legs”). I’m still not photogenic, and I’m tired. Oh, and yes; I’m wearing my pjs underneath, lol.
Today I also had a chat with both my mum and my dad on the phone. Was nice to hear from them, although the news weren’t all good, but I won’t get into that.
NOW – I’m tired and want to sleep. I won’t be up picking peemen from 6AM though, but who knows what else I’ll be doing. Maybe CLEANING the peeman house –__-
Well, nighty! I’ll sleep well tonight!
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