Holidays and onsens

You would not believe the weekend I had. It was a three-day holiday, so on Friday morning I got picked up at 7am by one of the teachers from Kawakami Junior High and we went to the bus depot where we meet other teachers from KJH and left Hagi. Just after 8am we picked up the last teacher, and as soon as he was on the bus, out came the alcohol. I'm not kidding, they had beer, cocktails, whisky and sake. I managed to avoid drinking until about 9:30 which I reckon is pretty good. We drove to Nagasaki, which is on the bottom island (Kyushu) of Japan (hagi is on the main island, Honshu). It took us 12 hours of pretty solid drinking and rest stops every few hours. On the way we stopped at a museum on a small island off the coast of Kyushu. It was 2 stories and the entire first floor was dedicated to whales and hunting them. I didn't know until the tour guide took us over to a poster and pointed out which species were the tastiest. They had dioramas, photos, actual weapons and all sorts of stuff. I felt sick. Then one of the teachers asked me what I thought about eating whale. How the hell do you answer that without giving offence?? And then the gift shop had kujira kaari (whale curry) for sale. I was glad to leave that place.


On the island off the coast of Kyushu

We also saw this huge budda statue and a few other touristy things before arriving at the hotel (5-star, nice.). I was the only foreigner there, and I kept getting started at, especially when I spoke in Japanese.


Outside the hotel

The hotel had an onsen, which is kind of like a public bath. The men have a separate area to the women. You get undressed in one room, then walk through to the onsen, where you sit and have a shower, then hop into the hot pool and just relax. It is fantastic. It gave me a chance to talk to the other women teachers who are usually too shy / scared to talk to me.
We had an enkai (party) a little later, where the alcohol continued to flow, then watched some tycho (said tie-ko) drumming and a few of our party took part in a karaoke competition.
At midnight, me and 2 other teachers went to an outside onsen (rotemburo). It was f*****g cold outside, but the rotemburo was great. The stars were out and the moon was full and we were on the top floor of the hotel - amazing.
The next day we did some sightseeing around Nagasaki then came home - it was a long drive but I had an amazing time.


Outside a samurai castle in Nagasaki, sorry its sideways.


The sunset on the last day

Then on Sunday I had a bunkasai to attend at Akiragi JHS. This is my favourite school, and the kids were great. I had an awesome time even though I was absoluted stuffed.


Some of the boys from Akiragi JHS

On Monday I made it to school only to be sent home sick, and I'm still sick today. But hopefully tomorrow I'll be ok.
Next weekend I am dressing up as a samurai lord and taking part in a city-wide festival! Cool, huh?