After our trip to Kyoto we took a train back towards Tokyo & met up with one of the girls I met the week before, Yumi. She took Krista and I to their Sunday meeting. It was really nice to be around witnesses again, very refreshing. Krista and I both commented in Japanese (with the help of Yumi) and got to meet all the wonderful friends. They were all so sweet and welcoming. I was definitely able to see my Japanese lessons at work at the meeting. Even though I was only able to follow very basic points during the talk, I was able to follow along in the WT just fine and got quite a bit out of the meeting still. (Thank you Rina for equipping me with theocratic vocab!!)
After meeting we met up with a group of Yumi's friends & siblings from the area & headed for Mt. Fuji... equipped with instant ramen, coffee, tea, lots of big coats, and a big portable stove. After a long winding drive up the mountain we arrived in the dark to go star gazing. The wind was so intense that I thought it was going to rip the doors off the car. And it was SOOO cold. We were all bundled up and getting blasted by freezing wind but we were having a great time. (as can be seen in the pictures below) We made a fire in the stove, cooked up noodles and coffee and watched the stars zip by above us.
The next day the Noguchi's took Krista and I to Kamakura, which is a nearby surfer town. I really liked it there. It had a very laid back feel, and there were plenty waves in the area to surf. We went to a bamboo forest where we got to experience a tea ceremony. It was soooo yummy! After tea we drove around Kamakura, went to the beach, and had coffee at the fanciest Denny's I have ever seen. (Even their crummy family restaurants are better than ours)
After a fun filled day Yumi, Ai, and Miku took Krista and I to a Japanese hotspring. Which proved to be more than we ever bargained for in more ways than one. The springs are pumped into a 5 story building that is basically a giant spa. It cost about $9 US is all. You get issued a brown Japanese UPS worker outfit which you wear in the saunas. These aren't your ordinary saunas... there are several different rooms, each at a different temperature and each containing beds of varying stones. So you go into the rooms, each has it's unique ambiance, and lay on a bed of polished stones and sweat like you never knew you could. After about an hour of hopping from room to room you feel like you've just had a full body massage. It was sooo relaxing. Then we went to the hot springs pools. Which are separated by gender... because they are totally al naturale. This took a little getting used to, but then you realize that it isn't as much like having a nightmare where you can't find your clothes, but actually you would stand out more if you WERE wearing a suit. (Although, this was one of the few occasions I was glad my eye sight is so bad) After soaking and getting totally relaxed, reality smacked us around a bit as we realized we needed to cross Tokyo to get to our next hostel in Asakusa, and as usual we were running behind and had limited directions... to be continued!
Intense mountain air!
the girls doing their best homeless impression
(hot springs not pictured.. for obvious reasons)
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