Just finish weeding the school grounds with five other teachers I work with. Its amazing the amount of responsibilities the teachers in Japan have. Not only do they teach but they are also supposed to keep the school looking beautiful. It is part of their responsibilities as a civil service worker.

The other week I also sat through a two hour power point slash lecture comparing the nutrition and health of the children in Seinan (my school) to students in Tokyo and Hokkaido. All the niddy griddy details were discussed, from the weight of the students to how much sleep they are getting. This is also part of the teacher responisbilities, to make sure the students are in good health. Its really amazing.

I am still struggling with the language barrier, but I can definately feel myself improving. Haha funny story. So this past sunday I and a couple of other JETs in the area went to an onsen. Onsens are basically hot springs, that people bathe in nude. You wash yourself before you get into the water and again after you get out. Its really relaxing and the minerals in the water are very good for you. Anyway, I went with two other girl friends and we were sitting in the water just starring off into space and this old naked Japanese women comes up to me and we ended up talking for like half an hour. She was really funny, kept asking me about my strait white teeth and big eyes and my "huge" legs. It was kind of awkward considering she was naked and kept getting closer and closer to me, to the point were we could have bonked heads. Anyway, the conversation ended and we went our seperate ways, or so I thought. Later on, when I was sitting outside chatting it up, she comes on over and asks if I have washed my hair and body yet. Originally we weren't planning on going to an onsen so we had forgot to bring supplies. I told her this and that next time I would remember. She offered us her supplies, and I said that was okay, we were fine. She gave me this disgruntled look and walk away. As we were leaving she came up to me one more time and asked the same question, but this time she said I had to wash my hair. It was bad if I didn't. Next thing I knew I was sitting on the stool with her hands in my hair while she was sudsing me up. Hahha it must have been a funny thing for all the other japanese women to see, because it was abnormal behavior for even them. Anyway, she ended up making all of us use her stuff, which was very generous. It did feel good to be clean. After we dressed she asked me to smoke with her. Haha it was such a funny experience, something worth laughing about. She's my new best nude friend.

On Friday I was able to get outside with some good people and climb a great mountian, Ariake-san. It was very difficult but lots of fun. Definately didn't bring enough water and I barely remember the climb down the mountain because I was so dehydrated. I went with 4 other Jets from 4 different countries. Kate, a new JET like myself is from New Zealand and is obsessed with skiing (=awesome), Jo, a fourth year JET, from England is crazy in shape and found myself in her dust the whole way up. Brain, a fifth year, we followed blindly. And Alex (and friend from home) is from Scotland. He started climbing up in sandals and decided against it half way up. So great to get outside and make friends.

Other than that... everything is new :) much love!
Until next time.
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