Busy Weekend

Yummy Lunch! 8D

Okay, two things about fruit:
Japanese grapes aren't seedless. They are REAL grapes, that have sex. And babies.
Kiwi berries are adorable. They are small and soft and not as hairy as big kiwis. They are kiwis that haven't gone through puberty.

Yay for fun facebook status updates!



Anyway, I've been busy. On Friday, I went on the Board of Education (BOE) trip, which involved a ryokan (traditional Japanese hotal), an onsen (traditional Japanese outdoor hot springs bath), a trip to Sasebo in Nagasaki prefecture to see an aquarium, and a hike up a mountain to a ridge-top hotel with an excellent view and an even more excellent buffet. More pictures later.

Here's some shots inside the ryokan:

(photo courtesy Lauren Lewis, since my camera's batteries died. Thank you, darling!)











(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)

Here's the dinner that did in my stomach:











(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)

SO. MUCH. DINNER.














(photo taken by Angela Southee)


And here's the breakfast that further did in my stomach (but it was soooo delicious. Totally worth it.)










(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)

And these are our beds! I was severely tempted to roll from one side of the room to the other.











(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)











(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)

Lauren and Rebecca decided they wanted to sneak back in right before we left to see if anyone was in the onsen. No one was! So they whipped out their camera and snapped a photo. Usually you can't take pictures of onsen because there are naked women inside, but this time we snagged a picture. Enjoy!
(for the record, I went in four times in the space of about 16 hours. It was highly excellent.)



So, after everything was wrapped up at the hotel, we hopped on a bus and went to Sasebo, in Nagasaki Prefecture, to see the aquarium and ride a Pirate Ship.


First, some nice weather.











This is me and Angela Southee (thank her for about half of the gorgeous photos in this blog) and Rebecca in the background.











(photo taken by Angela Southee)

Jono, me, and Chris, enjoying nice weather.


The aquarium has REALLY BIG FISH!!!











(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)











(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)

And pretty star fish.


PICTURES TAKEN BY ME!!! 8D Oh my!

These lobsters were gorgeous. Unfortunately, the water made my focus go out of whack, so I don't have any good clear pictures of them. So, instead, I'll show you a picture of them next to a child, so you can see how big they are.














A picture of the woman who's usually behind the camera-- Lauren, in her adorable red shirt.











I wanted to hang out with the turtles, too.














Morgan and some hammer heads.












Awesome guy cleaning the fish tank directly above me.














Peace, dude.


Now, back to pictures taken by other people. My camera had been having battery issues, and the batteries finally went kaput in the Aquarium.


Here's our rustic pirate ship!














(photo taken by Angela Southee)

Thanks, Jono. ;)


Here is me, Hashima-san, Rachel, and Kristin.












(photo taken by Angela Southee)



A cool picture of it's sails:















(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)


Me and some other ALTs enjoying the wind.












(photo taken by Lauren Lewis)

Here's the ALTs:










(photo taken by Hashima-san on Angela's camera)


And here's our whole group:










(photo taken by the trip organizer on Angela's camera)


After the pirate ship was Top-of-the-Hill Deliciousness.

Here's the food:












(photo taken by Angela Southee)


And here's the view:











(photo taken by Angela Southee)

It was served buffet style, which saved my stomach. If I were forced to eat more delicious food that I had no control over (like tempura and really fatty things and acidic things and other things that make my heartburn roar) I might've thrown up. As it was, the food was delicious and soothing.

So, progressing through my weekend; Saturday night, after getting back, I stayed the night in Saga and went shopping at an excellent foreign food store. I found molasis. Pumpkin pie, here I come!

Then, Monday (a school holiday), friends came to my house to visit the 6th oldest tree in Japan (3000 years, and SOOOOO BIIIIIIIG), and then go to Cost-Co. Thus, my status update. I pretty much spent 21,000 yen and had a Cost-Corgasm. SO MUCH GOOD FOOD! *tucks into the Boursin cheese and wheat bagels and celery and raspberries *

~Mary

P.S. If you click on the pictures, you can see bigger versions.