October 28, 2008: Weeding

Kaho High School never ceases to amaze me. We had shortened classes today because the last hour and half was spent pulling out weeds. You see, the schools here don't typically have a janitor or a yard service to do the dirty work, so everyone pitches in and gets the job done. This was an extensive operation too; a diagram of the campus was even drawn out and every single person (teachers & students) was assigned to a section of the school grounds. Sure, some of the students were goofing off here and there, but for the most part they were diligent little workers. I know it seems silly to waste an entire blog about pulling weeds, but it just shows a big difference in the schools here and those in the U.S.

-Sarah

October 25, 2008: Candles Light the Way...to Texas in Japan!

What do you do on a Saturday night in October when you are in the third largest city in Japan? You go look at little candles lit up in paper sacks, that's what. Okay, to be more accurate it was the Hakata Festival of Lights. Hakata is one of the more famous areas of Fukuoka and some of the biggest events take place there. The local English events calendar type magazine,"Fukuoka Now" listed this as one of the big upcoming events for the month. It sounded pretty cool, so we got together with JD and Cara and headed down there to check it out. It was rumored to be free, so we were even more excited about that. Naturally, it wasn't really free at all. Still, it was only 500 yen per person...so not so bad I guess.

A huge line of hundreds of people waited anxiously for there turn to enter through the temple gates and wander through the labrynth of luminaries (the little paper sacks with candles burning in them giving off a soft glow). Our turn came much quicker than expected and in no time we walked through the gates ourselves. To be quite frank, we were somewhat dissapointed. It wasn't the "labrynth" of candles that we expected. Instead it was a fairly simple pathway throught the temple grounds which was bordered on both sides by the luminaries. The temple steps also had many of them giving off a pleasant, soothing glow. In short, it was nice, but not amazing. Still, it was another "notch in the belt" of things accomplished in Japan. Next on the agenda was the highlight of our week!...

TEX-MEX FOOD!!!!!!!!!
After the Festival of Lights, JD and Cara led us to their newly-discovered favorite restaurant aptly named "Chili-Joes Tex-Mex Restaurant." Walking into this restaurant was like walking into a magic portal with West Texas on the other side. The walls were painted with murals of New Mexico/Arizona style desert landscapes. Brightly colored Mexican tablecloths addorned every table and "Country Music Magazine" covers were plastered to the bar. The owner (Chili Joe I would imagine is his name), even wore Wranglers and sported a little mustache and ponytail. He actually looked kind of Mexican to me! Apparently, he lived in California for some time and brought his taste for American southwestern food back with him to spread to the Japanese masses! Or maybe just to the people in his neighborhood... Regardless, I could tell right away I was going to like this place. First things first, we ordered tortilla chips with homemade salsa and guacamole. To say it was delicous would be an understatement. Then came the real meals: shredded beef and shredded chicken burritos with sides of salad and Mexican rice, enchiladas smothered with cheese, and more salsa... Now we were really in Heaven! The food was beyond amazing (even by Texas standards), the portions were such that I, Brandon, could barely finish my own! Brandon....barely able to finish a meal in Japan...that is truly unheard of! Yet, I tell you, it is true. We stuffed ourselves and smiled with delight the entire time. Before leaving, we made sure to get some pictures of the Texas Rangers jersey on the wall, the blessed Texas flag draped behind the bar, the Taos N.M. t-shirt (for our buddy Taos), and of course a pic with Joe. I made sure to tell Joe that I had found my new favorite restaurant in Japan...and I'm not ashamed to say that it isn't Japanese food. Good is good.



As our night came to a close, we realized that less than amazing festivals can easily be forgotten with a belly full of Tex-Mex delight! Now, of course, we have spread the news of this place to our American and British friends so that everyone is anxiously awaiting our next trip to see our buddy Chili Joe. I doubt they will have to wait long. We'll be seeing you soon Joe!

October 24, 2008: Hiking & a Birthday Party

To be honest, I was dreading today. My school was supposed to go on an 11 mile hike and I had a lot of papers that had to be graded (so I wanted to finish those instead). However, the weather turned out to be perfect. It wasn't hot & it wasn't cold; the sun was shining and there was a nice cool breeze. Our destination was a park, which is where we were going to eat lunch.

You have to look hard because it's hard to spot the kids in their green sweats (with all the green in the background).

It was so peaceful and scenic. Plus, the kids loved the playground and had fun running around.

It's almost like "WHERE'S WALDO"...see if you can spot Sarah in the red shirt??!

We were at the park for about an hour and half and before we left, a group of kids were assigned to pick-up trash and clean the bathrooms. The kids had buckets, brooms & mops to clean the toilets too! Very interesting!!

Oh, and I changed my mind about the hike; I needed it! I was sore, but it was a great workout!

Later that evening, we went out to eat and sang karaoke for Caitlyn's birthday...she was turning 22!!

Caitlyn

I took this picture a couple days earlier. It was her actual birthday when we all got her a cake and sang. It was delicious!

This was at karaoke, can you tell? They sang "The Right Stuff" by New Kids on the Block....with motions and everything!!

Tim, Deji, Brandon & Ira


Tim, Brandon, Deji & Ira


Brandon is "droppin' it like it's hot." (he told me to quote him on that! haha)
\

-Sarah

October 18, 2008: Park & Parade

"Being Active" is our new initiative! It was a Saturday and the weather was perfect. A group of us decided to go to the park. If you didn't think it was possible....FOUR of our friends crammed into the back of our tiny Green Monster! Here's the picture to prove it.

Brandon, Caitlyn, Ira, Darryl, Tim & Me

We played football for awhile and even recruited a little Japanese boy to play with us (Darryl was able to tell him our plays in Japanese and it was funny because the little boy was suggesting plays that only involved throwing it to him). He was cute!

Darryl, Brandon, Tim, Ira & Japanese boy

Ira & Me!

After our afternoon at the park, the whole crew crammed back into our car (we got a couple laughs and stares). In fact, we heard there's a rule that you're only allowed to have four people (TOTAL) in a car like that! haha!

That evening...Darryl, Tim, Brandon and I caught a train to Kanada (a town about 40 minutes away), not to be confused with Canada, of course! Some of Darryl's students were involved in a festival, so we tagged along. First, there was a parade with all these different floats that were lit up and being pushed by students and adults. The entire time they were chanting Japanese, while kids were playing these flute-type instruments.

Brandon, Darryl & Tim

While we were there, this older Japanese lady tapped us on the shoulder and motioned for us to meet her granddaughter (6 or 7 years old?)....who was American! She's visiting from Missouri (U.S.A). We talked the little girl for awhile and she told us that her mother is Japanese and dad is American. Anyways, it was random and the girl was very anxious to speak English!!

We also spoke to this group of little girls. They would follow us around and try to get eachother to ask us questions. It was really cute!

After the parade and mingling with little kids, we wandered around to all the food booths (kind of like "fair food")...including things we were familiar with, like: meat on a stick, corn on the cob and candy apples. Tim and I just HAD to have one! I think I chipped a tooth trying to eat it and I made a huge mess, but IT WAS WORTH IT! It was a delicious treat :)

-Sarah

October 12-13, 2008: Trip to Beppu

This is our first road trip destination in our tiny little car. It was only a two hour drive to Beppu. After passing through gorgeous tree-covered mountains and valleys, it was hard not to spot this city set right on the coast.

Look at this crazy hot rod we spotted on our way there...I barely got a picture!

You can be certain you’re in Beppu when you’re immediately hit with the fresh smell of sulfur (yummm…eggs!) and the view of steam clouds around the city (pipes and storm drains release the steam). The hot springs are one major attraction the city is known for. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beppu, http://wikitravel.org/en/Beppu )

First, something to eat! We got there just in time for lunch, so we stopped in a restaurant called “Joyful.” It had edible American dishes for me and more traditional Japanese cuisine for daredevil Brandon. He opted for a shrimp/pork thing with rice and soup, while I went for the ham and cheese pizza. Dessert was delicious! However, like some sundaes over here, this one had corn flakes in it. I don’t know why, but it sure adds a nice crunch!

Next on our agenda was a trip to the famous Ten Jigokus (Hells), and we were able to see 8 of the 10. This attraction was simply a trail of natural hot springs and each one was a different color.

One was blue, another was red, and another was a white color….just look:

Talk about a lot of steam! That's allll from this natural hot spring!!

No, Brandon isn't constipated, he's just trying to show you how he can let off a little steam! Then, you can see me gracefully blowing a little smoke myself!

One of the Ten "Jigokus" had a small Zoo attached to it. There was one elephant, some flamingos, a few monkeys, a llama and a hippo. We felt pretty bad for the animals; they looked miserable in their cages. However, we proceeded to take pictures, like any other tourist and we caught some priceless moments.

Another "Jigoku"was infested with crocodiles and alligators. Creeeeppppy!! Not really, they hardly moved, so it was pretty uneventful.

The scenery and atmosphere was really unique and we were constantly just standing there in awe (despite the constant smell of sulfur...sadly, we kind of got used to it).

I had researched a little before we left, so I had found a cheap place to stay for the night. It’s called “Spa Hostel Khaosan Beppu” and it was just right!

Ironically, our friend ,Snow, lived at this hostel for two months and she got to know the guys who ran it pretty well (so, of course, we had to get a picture with one of them!)

It was clean, we had a private room and we really didn’t mind the bunk beds! Haha…a nice touch, I think!

This is cute little Brandon getting tucked in before bed. We each had our own bunk (it would've been an uncomfortable and tight squeeze, if we shared).

We checked in at the hostel before dinner, More Japanese skills would’ve been appreciated once we got to a restaurant called “Hit Parade.” When we walked up to the hostess, she shook her head and rambled off a bunch of Japanese. We had no clue what she said, but after sitting in the lobby long enough, we gave up on hope that there would be a table for us. It was one of the most frustrating moments for us. We just assumed the place was packed and you had to make a reservation earlier in the evening. We ended up finding another restaurant, not as crowded.

The night was still young, so we wanted to hit up a private “onsen” (there were a couple in town that were open late). It’s a Japanese word and basically means a hot tub/hot springs…usually they are considered public bathing areas. They’re supposed to be relaxing and everyone’s naked. Since I’m not keen on the idea, we found a private one and since we were in a town famous for natural hot springs, we found one that was like a natural outside hot tub. (If you want to brush up on more information and the history behind them, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen)

The highlight from our next day was the “sand bath” at Takegawara Spa. It’s one of Beppu’s most famous and oldest (opened in the late 1800’s) onsens. Brandon and I were both buried with hot, black sand and we had to lay there for about 10 minutes. It wasn’t really relaxing, so I’m hoping the treatment did something for my skin!

All in all, this was a truly wonderful trip. I can’t imagine a better inaugural road trip with our little “booger” of a car. The weather was amazing, the view was spectacular, and the company was pretty good too! It’s a nice experience to visit the off-the-beaten-path tourist spots in this country. We certainly appreciate the uniqueness of Beppu and similar places. These places seem to have their own personalities that can’t be found in the sprawling cities such as Tokyo and Osaka. We can’t wait for our next adventure!

PARADISE!!