Gomen ne!!

I'm so sorry I haven't been posting lately! But, god, this week has been so hectic... But so fun. I'm either too busy having fun to post... Or too tired from having fun...
So, I've decided to post retrospectively until I catch up...

I've really started to enjoy working in the refectory now that I've got to know everyone and feel comfortable with the routine. It's good fun.

Ok, so on Wednesday I woke up, went to the toilet... And when Helen said "hi" to me from her room, I assumed it was still night time and went back to bed... Then checked the time and learned that it was in fact 12:30pm... So, a very long lie in to say the least. I considered just locking myself away in my room until we went to the onsen, but then I realised that I still hadn't applied for my gaijin card, so I went and asked Nami if she would take me.
So, after I'd done what I needed for my gaijin card and come back it was about 3pm... I really needed to get the food sorted... And get myself ready for the onsen.
So, I'm there, running around trying to finish doing my washing, cook chicken and make soup all at the same time. Oh, and I hadn't eaten all day... So I was shovelling food down my throat at the same time.
At about 4:30pm, Yuta and Yukina arrived to take us to the onsen. So I kind of left everything half-cooked for when we got back. So, off we set; me, Dennis, James, Yukina and Yuta.
By the time we arrived at the onsen the sun had already set and it was quite dark. Now, I've never been to an onsen, so in my mind I was imagining the onsen I saw in the Pita-Ten manga... All big, with seperate area's for boys and girls, with a changing room and rock gardens and the like. I was a little suprised to find us walking for about 5 minutes down a steep, rocky path towards the sound of a rushing river... And a tad more suprised to find at the bottom a sort of stone bath set into the ground, just a little above the river. There was a pipe running into it, bringing in hot water... Which was apparently from an actual hot spring.
We actually got changed on the rocks next to the bath. I quite liked this... It was like we were out of some silly teen movie, all getting changed, in the dark, next to a river.
By the time I was in my bikini, I was absolutely freezing. Bear in mind that we're up a mountain in Northern Japan in November... It was a tad chilly. So, I raced towards the onsen, with all it's beautiful steam rising and looking so welcoming and just stepped right in.
You know that feeling when your feet are really, really, icy cold and you just dunk them into really, really hot water? Yeah... I squeaked a little... But it was so good. I was desperate for my body to adjust to the change in temperature so I could just sink my whole body into the water.
It was amazingly hot. There was steam everywhere. For about five minutes I don't think any of us said anything, and we just sat there looking stupidly happy.
We sat in there for a good hour or so, I think... I don't know, time sort of stopped. For a while we talked about silly things. James and I talked about England. We then talked about national pride... Apparently I'm the only one who doesn't know the words to my country's national anthem... However, I can play it on the flute! We then all tried doing tongue twisters in English, Japanese and German, which was hilarious and crazy.
It's fun to get Japanese people to say "red lorry yellow lorry"... Although I can imagine it'd be good practice for them to get their tongues around the l/r thing.
When we got out, I felt so relaxed that I could hardly move. I just sat there in my towel smiling inanely for about 10 minutes while everyone else got dressed... I didn't even have the energy to change out of my bikini, I just put my clothes on on top... But that was fine... I was so hot that it dried almost instantly. Oh god, I felt so clean afterwards... It was beautiful, the moon came out from behind the mountain while we were getting ready to go and it was a full moon, and so bright... We were just bathed in the stunning glow... I wish a picture could've captured that moment in all its glory. But you know it can't.
So we all got back to the house and I finished cooking the chicken and soup… I then served everyone pink chicken, got depressed and James took over. Once James had taken over, it was all lovely… I take no credit for any of it, even though people tried to force it upon me. Next time I’ll make a stew. Oh, and I made a cake, which was incredibly nice. Although our oven is broken. I still need to beg someone to fix that for us so I can make cakes for everyone.