ONSEN

Last night I was invited by a Japanese friend to go to an onsen.  For those who don't know what that is, it's like a public bathhouse, but has natural hot springs.  I went with a very diverse group of girls: my Japanese friend and her father, and 2 exchange students (one from France and the other from Jordan).  My friend's father picked us up at the train station and had to drive us up the mountains to get there.  I was super surprised on the way there; the road was so narrow that I thought it was a one way, but I realized that they had mirrors at each turn to let the drive know when another car was coming!  And when a car was coming, one car would just go to the side a bit and let the other car pass by . . . somehow.  We were on a freakin' mountain, so I was getting a bit scared whenever we turned.  @_@

Once we got there though, it was so beautiful.  The hot spring is a pretty famous one around Nagoya - it's called Sanage Onsen (猿投温泉).  There's a hotel also at the location, but it was way to expensive for us to stay there.  We were surrounded by trees - it really felt like nice to be in that kind of atmosphere.

When we entered through the genkan, there were bags for us to place our shoes in (in traditional places in Japan, there's a special entryway where you take off your shoes, and sometimes there's slippers for you to wear).  After receiving our locker keys and towels, we went into our sex-segregated locker rooms to change out of our clothes and walk - nude - across the locker room into the bath (お風呂）.  Even though I have done this before when I went to Japan in high school, it was still a bit embarrassing to be naked in front of my friends.

However, once inside the bath, I didn't feel embarrassed at all, because EVERYONE was naked.  I don't know, the uncomfortable feeling just went away quickly.  We all sat together in a line and began washing our hair and body.  You're not allow to enter the bath without doing that first, to make sure you're all clean.  After all, you're sharing the bath with a bunch of people.  There were a couple different kinds of shampoo and rinse (conditioner) to choose from, and the body wash could be used as a makeup remover as well.  We all lathered up our small tower so we could soap up our bodies really well.  Side note: I noticed A BUNCH of my hair falling out as I was trying to wash my hair and then put it up so I could soap up my neck without getting it in my hair.

So after washing ourselves, we finally stepped into the water.  It felt SUPER NICE - warm, but not too hot.  Although I guess for the other exchange students, it was hard to get used to it at first, but we all quickly exclaimed how nice it felt being in the water.  It took all the stress from the week away.  I'm not sure how long we stayed in there, but it felt like a pretty long time.  There was an outside bath as well, and so after a while we went into there.  Already, after getting up I was feeling a bit dizzy (like I didn't drink enough water), but I still could get up fine and walk up the stairs.

The outside bath was smaller than the one inside, but it was definitely more beautiful.  It was also pretty cool to look up and see some constellations.  However, there was this huge tower right in front of us that sort of ruined view, but mostly we all enjoyed being inside the outside bath.  Us four talked about various things, but everyone else was pretty much silently enjoying their bath.  Some kids would kind of yell and have fun, but it seemed like a lot of people just sat in the bath quietly and enjoyed it by their selves.

So after a while outside, we went back to the inside one and tried out the part of the bath that had water jets.  In summary, was pretty awesome because they weren't too strong - just right.  :)  By then though, everyone was getting dizzy and so we left after almost an hour of being inside the hotsprings.  :)

After leaving the bath, we put on yukatas and took pictures.  Of course, we couldn't take them right inside the locker, but because we were wearing only our yukatas (traditionally, I don't think you wear anything underneath your yukata), we all sat in a small area with chairs.  There, a friendly grandma took our group pictures, and we even got to talk to her a bit (since she traveled a lot, and really liked talking).  So we sat out there for like 30 minutes before changing and then heading down with my friend's father to buy some omiyage (souvenirs) for our host families/dorms.

From there, we then went to my friend's house, where her mom prepared a huge spread of food for us.  Since everyone lived in a host family, I guess they were already used to this kind of food, but it was my first time eating such a spread so I was super happy.  I definitely made sure to enjoy every dish.  It was soooo yummmy!  Definitely better than the food I've been making at the dorm or the food I ate when I went out with friends.  The food didn't even stop there - afterwards the family also shared grapes and ice cream with us.

It may not come to a surprise for some of you, but one small culture shock for us international students is that Japanese peopele don't eat the peels of grapes.  Instead, they pop the grape inside their mouth and (I think) suck on it until all that's left is the peel and seeds.  Then, they spit it out and place it in a bowl.  O_O  I was trying all night to get the technique down.  We tried asking our Japanese friend why they don't eat it, but she didn't know and that she has always done that.  My friend from Jordon ate it whole, and explained that she thinks it's because the peels are a bit bitter.

The family's hospitality was really great though.  The parents gave up their room for the night for the four of us to sleep together, which we were all surprised and like, "No, it's okay!  We can sleep in our friend's and her sister's room!"  But then they said it was okay, and that there's another room (sort of like their traditional room with tatami mats) that they would sleep in.  We were all still amazed at their generosity, to give up their room and lay down a bunch of futons for us.

The next morning, we had breakfast at around 10:30, and then the family took us to a nearby shopping center/mall.  On one of the levels, they had a little market where they were selling food from Hokkaido.  It was a huge, and at each little stand there was something to sample like cheesecake, fish eggs, or ramen.  One could really just have a lunch of samples over there.  After that, the four of us and my Japanese's friends little sister went to Starbucks to do some homework and chill for an hour or 2.  Once we were tired of doing that, we went to almost each level to shop around.  Compared to the prices in Sakae, this shopping mall was way cheaper.  Leggings and stockings were only like $4 a pair, and for 3 it was around $11 (which is way cheaper than in America, right?).  There was also an arcade on one of the floors, where we did purikura (the asian photobooths), which was a blast as well.

I felt so blessed by this family, who was really generous in everything (free trip to the onsen, free food, etc.).  During breakfast, we all even talked about how we wanted to go to Kyoto, so the parents actually started to plan a trip for us!  They brought out pamphlets of famous sites and started to talk when we should leave, and if we should stop by Nara too, etc.  All of us exchange students were just blown away by everything they did for us.  Our gifts to them seem small in comparison to what they gave us.

Japan is really a country of generosity and kindness.  Shop keepers are always super helpful and friendly, no matter what.  Even if the customers ignored their greetings (which is normal here), the shop keepers do their best at their job.  People will wait until they can go by you instead of asking you to move.  Construction workers will acknowledge you when you pass by on the road, lifting their arms to tell you you can walk by.  It's such a hospitable place to live in.  :)  My french friend said it's so different than in big French cities, where everyone is a bit rude and she feels a bit oppressed by it.  I can now see the appeal of living in Japan - the service here is definitely the best!  As a common saying goes, "the customer is god".  Shop keepers and service men are taught to please the customer, even if they're just looking or whatever.



On a different topic: today I played with Japanese sparklers with my dorm mates.  They're different from the American ones - more delicate looking.  Later tonight we also killed a freakin' HUGE spider.  It was definitely bigger than anything I've seen in the states - even at the zoo.  Its' legs were super long - it made it look bigger than my head!  All of us international students were freaking out, but the Japanese students were completely fine.  Apparently, they're used to seeing spiders that big.  >__<  Definitely a big shock, because the Japanese people I know from high school were too scared to step into the reptile exhibit at the zoo, but these Japanese people aren't scared of snakes, lizards, or spiders!