Adventeurs!

So, we had to work on the 25, 26 and 27th. But from the 27-5th we are home free. I was so excited for the 28th because it was the 1st day of our vacation, and we were actually going on vacation!. We booked a trip to Shirahama. A beachy/onsen town in the southern Kansai region of Japan. The whole trip was great. We left our apartmento at 5:30 am with our MEC back packs on, hiking booties, camera equipment, umbrells strapped to the back packs. The whole 9 yards. We looked pro. P.S. dilshi/matt we love the bags.

If any one is doing the slightest bit of carrying, get a MEC back pack. It makes any weight feel like nothing. We carried thouse bags all day, and they were stuffed. And they felt like nothing.

Any ways... there we were looking like back packers walking down the side walk in bentencho with all the morning rush hour traffic looking at us like (what the.....) but we caught the train to shin-osaka staion and from there we had to wait a bit for the 7:35 train to shirahama. So in that time we went to Lotteria and ate some breakfast “set-tos”. setto=combos. Often in japanese, all you have to do is change your accent, put a little J-style into your pronouciation and you will be understood better.
For example
Coffee- they wont understand Kaw-fee=they will understand
vanilla Wanilla
apartment apartmento
bus Busu

And you get the point. So we read magazines, looked at cell phone charms (very popular here) (shiv has a fist sized winney the pooh dangling off his cell) his name is Pooh-san. Then at 7:20 we went to the platform to board the train.

The train ride was really nice cause it went along the coast, and it was really nice to see the grey building of Osaka fade away and we slowly snaked out of the downtown areas and into the burbs. I found it really intersting to see that there was really no wide open space along the train paths. Every where you look, was houses, building etc... just less in some areas, and more in others. It was a breath of fresh air to see the sky, and grass. Two things we hardly see in Osaka. After staring at the scenery for a while I fell asleep and didnt wake up will we were nearly at shirahama. And to my suprise there were orange trees every where (In december). Japan is so nutty!.

We could see the ocean, sunshine and orange trees. Taking a break from the city was well needed. And just like that i could feel my bitternes fading away.

Shirahama is a smaller city with lots of hotels and ryokan(inns) situated on the rocky coast line that faces the pacific ocean. The main attraction in Shirahama is the white sand beach. The sand was actually imported from austraillia and its any ones guess how much that beach costs to maintain because sand just washes away with each wave that hits the shore.

We took the bus from the station a bit too far into the city and had to hike/backtrack towards our hotel. It was a good walk though cause it familirised us with the area. We got to our hotel and it looked a little dodgy from the outside. But the inside was great. All this fake renaissance period peice furniture, tropical carpets, every one in uniform. It was great. We couldn't check in till 3pm so we had some time to kill. We put our bags at the front desk, and got information on how to get to (EBIKI) we hiked in the typhoon strenght winds along the coast . It was real nice and sort of funny, we had to balance becaue the winds were so strong, they could almost knock us over. We got to the island and took lots of pictures and then made our way back to the city center, and to our hotel.

When we got in, we were so tired, we took a nap. Then we got up and put on out Yukatas (japanese robes) that came with the room and our slippers (geisha-like ones) and went to the bathing pools!!!
Our hotel had hotspring pools onsite. They were segregated by sex, and you have to shower off before you enter. They were awesome. In the biig room there were 4 pools. Each one different. One pool had slanted rock seats that you sit in and have jets built in and another had rocks and water falls. It was so nice. And to top it all off there were these scoopy buckets that allow you to pour the water on you to keep nice and toasty. And there was also another pool outside. The weirdest thing by far is that you have to be butt naked in the pools. I thinks its a good thing i cant understand much japanese because im sure there was talk when the naked black girl kept on running from pool to pool and dunking herself in each one. (i couldnt help it, the whole place was so nice, you cant just sit in one!).

After the spa fiasco, we changed back into our Yukatas, and went for dinner (P.S. We are naked under our yakatas). So that was funny. We had to sit properly and make sure there was minimal flashing. Our dinner was fantastic. Our trip package came with dinner and breakfast included, so we were lead to a table that was reserved for us, and it was already set with our dinner on it.
Dinner was BOOMBASTIC!. There was, nabe ( a seafood hot pot), tempura stuff, sashimi, escargot, little finger foods, dumplings, miso soup, rice, dessert, this weird egg dish ( i couldnt eat it, shiv did though), pickled goods, dessert, steamed fish, mushrooms..... it was great. After dinner we sat in our room, stuffed and watched crazy japanese TV.

The next day we got ready a little late and missed out on the free breakfast. We were a little peeved, but decided to be positive and start out on our adventure. We took the bus, to sandanbecki cliffs. This huge cliff tourist area. Its also a populat suicide point. There are signs that warn of this as well. It was sooo windy. I stayed in the interpretive center and chatted to one of the staff. She had learned englsih on a home stay in austraillia and was a nanny there too. We talked for quite a bit and I also made an english sign for the center “ Internet free for public use- be courteous and share the computers” i was quite proud of my self. So if any one goes to Sandanbecki Japan and sees a sign hanging over the computers, i did that. Just think it could have said “ Free time computer-all people use short time please”.

Yes, i help in what ways i can.
Next we hiked to Senjo-jiki a crazy horizontal cliffed place that happened to be even windier than the previous cliff. Odd! Next, was my most favorite part of the trip. We went to Sakinoyu open air hopspring. It was great. The hotspring is built right into the cliffs, and huge waves from the pacific actually hit the rocks and some of the cold water comes into the lower pools of the hotspring.
The hotsprings are actually 3 separate pools, each one higher than the next, and facing the angry pacific. The veiw was surreal and the water was soooo hot. The pools are separated into mens and womens pools. And you undress in a covered area, that is still outside. So its so cold. PS there was blowing snow in shirahama that morning, so you can understand that it was not warm weather. Especially undressing outside. But jumping into almost boiling water will fix most any cold day. an Intersting point of the day was that japanese women seem to like to talk about foreingners beheind their backs. Another interesting point of the day was that i met another foreigner emily collins (a british jet teacher from a small mountain town) and we talked for what seemed like hours in the pool. So it was nice to have some one else to talk to, and the japanese women must have had a field day talking about both of us beheind our backs. Great day over all though. I cant explain how nice it is to talk in english with some one, about everything and anything. Its like music to your ears in japan. Especially when 99% of the people you see and meet only speak japanese, its great to talk about movies, work, homesickness, food, tv shows with someone who knows what your talking about. That is indeed priceless.

Got the bus to the JR train station in shirahama, ate some super good okonomiyaki and made our way home. The trip rejuvinated us in many ways. Some days work is really trying and boring and you just dont want to be there. And it gets us in a down mood. But going to shirahama made me realize that If is wasnt in japan, if i wasnt teaching english i wouldnt get to experience the hotsprings, see the pools, meet new people and etc.... having this job is hard some times, but i have to see the positives in working in japan. We will never fit in here, and we know that, but japan has alot to show us, and we have been really lucky to experence japan comfortably. Working is a means to our end: wich is experiencing a new place, traveling and learning more about ourselfs and our surroundings. Work is sucky some days, and so good other days, but with out it we wouldnt have our train passes, our apartment, our vacations and all of our adventures.

This trip was so good, because it opened up our eyes to how lucky we are to be here, have each other as adventure parteners and have a comfy place to come home to.

Happy new year guys. Dont forget to think about what your thankful for.
Love jan and shiv!!

ps summ and minu we miss you guys! the pictures are of the dinner, us in our yukata's (in a japanese stlye hotel room), and our hike around the coast near shirahama.