The Great Mask Evasion

Monday 31^st October

Halloween lunch feat. pumpkin soup and pumpkin pudding

After being cooped up in a car with an ALT coughing all the way to and from Akita city, and two nights of drinking until 4.30am, my body decided enough was enough. I finally have my first cold and am doing everything I can to seem less sick so that I don’t get told to wear one of those bloody face masks.

I was at school at 7.30am on Monday to set up the Halloween treasure hunt for the kids. To my relief and joy, they got really excited about it and one student even asked if I would do something for Christmas as well.

Tuesday 1^st November

Four colours, one tree, Dakigaeri Gorge

My cough turned into a full blown cold overnight so im sitting here with a tap-like nose, pressure in head and in short just a really shitty outlook on life at the moment. After a number of comments pre-cold about my still wearing short sleeves I am stubbornly insisting that it’s the other ALT who was coughing in the car who was to blame for my turning into a sneezy sniffly wreck.

Having said that, the heaters are on in the staffroom and classrooms, I have put an extra blanket on my bed and I think it’s time to go and invest in warm sock, slippers and an electric blanket….winter is coming…so can all the miserable turds in wellington stop sending me pictures of sunny beaches please! :P

Wednesday 2^nd November

Honjo Park

Last night, after being informed that I should not be wrapped up in 2 jumpers, a scarf and blanket in my own house – I finally turned my heating on for winter. There is a stone in the heater which takes about 12 hours to heat up, the idea is to set it to turn on overnight when the rates are cheaper, so it can continue slowly emitting heat during the day after it has turned off. I went to bed with a room that was 11 degrees and woke up to 16 degrees (thanks for the boot Henry).

I received the inevitable inquisition at the primary school once the principle realised that I’d caught a cold (the horror!) I got asked if I’d been to the doctors – a normal procedure here because apparently you need to be stuffed full of drugs and antibiotics when you have a sniffle. I said that we don’t often go to the doctors for a normal cold in NZ and he went on to say how efficient the Japanese healthcare system was and how cheap it was if you had insurance (which I do) etc etc. I’m just glad that so far I’ve managed to avoid being made to wear a mask (some of the other ALTs haven’t been so lucky.

After lunch the kids all started walking past the staffroom windows with flowers pots and trays, intrigued I followed them out to the garden and realised that they were pulling up all of their sweet potatoes.

Thursday 3^rd November – Culture Day

Mikaeri Fall

Dosed up on Honey and Lemon and some kind of herby throat lolly, I bundled into Liam’s Daihatsu and we headed North for Dakigaeri gorge. The autumn colours were stunning (and the main reason for the trip) and the gorge is also known for its blue river. The track was flat and easy walk (thank god because my cold has not been allowing for any excessive exercise) and ended at the Mikaeri waterfall. I decided that it would be an absolutely stunning sight if the fall froze over in winter. There was a definite winter chill in the air, this week has seen the temperature plummet somewhat and there have been days where it hasn’t made double digits.

We continued on to a ski hire shop near Lake Tazawa, where the incredibly friendly owner set Cari and I up with Boots, skis and poles for the season, all of this cost only 4,000 yen (about $50 NZ), while serving us the owner asked various questions about the best way to ask people things in English, a large percentage of his clientele consisted of ALTs and students from the international university so he tried to learn bits of English where possible.

Set for the season we (Cari, Josh, Cari’s friend Molly, Liam and I) continued on to Tsurunoyu Onsen. Tsurunoyu is one of the onsens in the complex called Nyuto Onsen. Tsurunoyu was named after a hunter saw a crane healing its injuries in the water (Tsuru is Japanese for crane) and Nyuto is the nearby mountain.

Tsurunoyu Onsen

The onsen is outdoor based with old wooden buildings dotted around the complex. Cari Josh and Molly had arrived before us so Liam (who had been there before) had to instruct me where to go to find the women’s changing (or rather stripping) rooms. I got a quite a shock when the path we were walking along led us past the open air onsen and I copped an eyeful of bare ass as an old geezer was getting out of the water.

Slightly phased I scuttled off to the stripping rooms, these were substantially colder than my prior experiences as it was a simple wooden shack. As I was undressing a couple of women returned from the spring and I asked them if there had been any gaijin in there (there’s nothing like being lost and starkers to make you feel uncomfortable) one lady assured me that there had been a couple of girls in the mixed onsen. She then went on to ask how my Japanese was so good and if I was part of a tour. I stumbled my way through a reply before she apologised for questioning me (while I was pretty much nude). As I was leaving she stopped me and asked if I had a towel. Uh oh. When Liam had reminded me to bring a towel I hadn’t realised that he meant one of the ‘modesty’ towels that you use in mixed onsens when getting in and out of the water.

View of  Lake Tazawa

The lady gave me hers, assuring me that she’d only used it for her head (I shall explain in a minute). There is some very good karma coming her way.

In the next room there was a small bath that I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to get into or not so I compromised by using the bamboo buckets to splash water on myself to at least make it look like I was clean before getting into the main spring.

Out of the shack door and into the open, a path led past the women only spring and to a gate at which the modesty towel was hoisted up abruptly as this turned out to be the entrance to the mixed onsen. Momentary panic followed by relief when I spotted the others over the other side of the spring. The water in the spring is milky white and opaque, so once you’re in, you’re good. The modesty towels weren’t allowed to go in the water so people were floating around with them piled on their heads (this actually turned out to be a pleasant way of keeping cooler, as the girls especially could only come out of the water so far to cool off).

The prospect of siting around in hot water was a lot more appealing now that it was chilly outside. The temperature of the pool varied depending on where you were and we quickly learnt to avoid the patches of bubbles, they were a little too warm for comfort.

Dakigaeri Gorge

The hills were orange and red with autumn and we watched leaves fluttering lazily through the sky with the breeze. Cari mentioned that a few years back there had been an avalanche that had buried the onsen and killed a few people, it was reassuring to look up and see that, though Mt Nyuto had a scattering of snow already – the hills surrounding the onsen were bare still.

Warm, dry and smelling slightly of sulfur the next stop was Kakunodate for a late lunch, followed by a walk along the streets lined by autumn colours and samurai houses. Despite the brisk cold we stopped for ice cream. To conclude the night was Cari and Josh’s for a cup of tea and a few episodes of “That 70’s Show”.

Friday 4^th Novemeber

This morning involved a brisk changeover of the English noticeboard at school. Halloween was definitely over but I stubbornly refused that it was time to put up Christmas decorations yet so I settled on a mishmash of thanksgiving and Guy Fawkes.

Reluctant to devote effort to American culture (it’s bad enough as it is with many people assuming you’re American before they’ve even heard you speak) I focussed on a tidbit that was the fact that they celebrate thanksgiving on Norfolk Island, apparently American whaling ships introduced it back in the day and now it’s one of their biggest festivals.

After school H-sensei and I coached kids for their English proficiency speech tests. I bolted home, managed to sneak a quick call in with the significant other and then took off to the city for a trip to the local craft beer bar. There was quite the flock of us; myself, Liam, Cari, Josh, Molly, Andrew, Mengin and Isabel.

On the way home we stopped in at a combini to pick up munchies. Oden is a Japanese dish that consists of fish cakes, egg, tofu, konnyaku (devils tongue), daikon etc in a light soy flavoured broth. It is served on a pick and choose basis at the convenience stores and works wonders to warm you up. This was the dish of choice to nurse back to Cari and Josh’s and sit around on the couches with their heater on.

Much like the previous weekend, Isabel, Andrew Liam and I squeezed into Cari and josh’s spare room for the night. The next morning was a pyjamas and back to back ‘Friends’ episodes kind of morning topped off with pancakes and bacon aka absolute bliss.

Liam and I then headed to the Aeon shopping centre to stock up on winter gear. In between buying warm sock, winter boots and dutch cheese we managed to sneak in a visit to the pet shop where I got to cuddle a 3 month old Labrador puppy, walked out covered in fur and day made.

Armed with warm socks, beanie, gloves and snow boots I am now slightly less terrified for what is to come.

Sunday 6^th November

Temple in Honjo Park

Laaaaazy Sunday morning. Peeled myself out of my cocoon to a lovely warm flat (that stone heater might not pump out the heat but it does wonders to keep the place at a comfortable temperature) and had a chat to the significant other while munching my way through breakfast- still half asleep. Around 1 oclock I decided that yes, I did in fact want to leave the house today so I bundled into the car, armed a beanie and scarf and feet toasty in my new socks and headed into Honjo. After a stop at a Lawson for some oden I wandered through the Honjo park to find somewhere to eat lunch and watch the world go by.

Spent an hour or so pottering through the park and taking in the autumn colours – with how cold it was today (a high of 9 degrees) I imagine that they’re not going to be around for much longer.

To end the adventurous outing for the day was a trip to the café in Honjo for a hot coffee and cake, and to pour over Prince Caspian while cosied up inside the shop that was already sprinkled with Christmas decorations. That place is going to be absolutely adorable when the snow sets in.