Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

So I got up and ate breakfast for the last time in the Grand Prince Hotel.We left for the Haneda Airport at around 11:00. We had a box lunch in the airport, which consisted of chicken and sandwiches. Tetsuya, a man who was apparently one of our travel managers, met us at the airport and hung out with us until we got on our flight. Thankfully, the flight was pretty short, so it wasn't long before we walked off the plane and onto a coach again.

The scenery in the Kyushu islands is really pretty! It reminded me of the mountains in Princess Mononoke. There are always a lot of clouds around the mountains. Other than this, there wasn't much to do on the really long bus ride. I had gotten a Shonen Jump at the airport, so I tried to translate the Japanese into English. And failed. Oh well. >_<

We got off the bus around 16:00 or 17:00 to use the bathroom and meet our new members. They were the ones who helped organize the whole stay in Hirado (our destination) : Satoshi, the manager, and Rei and Masao, two people who spoke pretty decent English as well as fluent Japanese.

So they rode with us for the rest of the distance, then we finally got off the bus in Hirado. We ended up walking up this flight of stairs (on, I may mention, a really frickin' steep hill) to get to Matsuura Historical Museum.

And there was a welcoming committee out for us.

The mayor, along with several men of the press (that's right) were waiting for us in the courtyard of the museum. The mayor gave us a speech (thankfully, Satoshi was there to translate since it was all in Japanese, then we got back on the coach (after going down the stairs, aargh) to go to our hotel, where there was another welcoming committee.

The manager, in her best kimono, along with about twenty other people, stood outside to welcome us. Not only that, but they had two other employees playing these giant taiko drums for us.

Yeah. How many hotels in America greet you like that?

That's right.

So, we had dinner, which was traditional Japanese food since the inn was also traditional Japanese style (tatami floors in the rooms, futons, hot springs). It was today that I discovered that I like raw fish but not cooked fish.

After dinner, I had a bit of free time. So I decided to take the plunge. Literally. Into the hot springs.

There is a specific process for getting into the hot springs, developed by the other delegates. Obviously, getting naked in a tub witrh other women is not the norm in America. The process is:

1. Wash yourself off.
2. Wrap a towel around yourself.
3. Ask everyone else in the tub to look away (if applicable).
4. Take off the towel and get in really quickly.
5. Relax.

Being in the tub was really awkward, but it was worth it because the water was really nice to sit in. I felt much less tired afterwards.

So, that night we slept on the floor. I don't have any problems with this, but I think it might be hard for other people. Actually, this was the first of 3 nights in which I slept on the floor.