What a relaxing start we had. I put on some music,
made some big thick fat toast and some coffee and started to
organize my suitcase stuff. Of course Alice seemed to have hers done
before we even got here.
The rain had been solid through the
night and it was very cloudy out right now. I took the video cam and
went around the house as to get all the rooms on tape while they
were still clean.
Nick and fam came around at 10:30 and we
were going to go to a natural spring fed hot bath. This is a very
old Japanese tradition. I got to drive today and it was fun. On the
way to the hot spring we went through a little
town where the
1998 winter
Olympics were held. We passed
like 4 different ski resorts as well. It was like a little ski town
and most of it was shut down as it was the middle of summer.
We had a short
walk to the hot spring and
only Nick and I were going into the men's side and the 4 little
girls were going into the girls side. There was no one in the men's
side but there sure was someone in the girls side. The little girls
told us all about the 90 yr. old lady that had lots of saggy parts.
I forgot to mention that the norm in these bath houses is to go "a
la natural". The water temp must have been like 140 degrees at the
one end and like 110 at the other. I could handle the cooler end but
the hot end would have given me a good burning what for ya. I was
just fine in the cooler end.
After a good soak for about 20 minutes or so I had
had enough. One thing I want to mention is there was this slimy
white stuff that looked like jellyfish that had gone through a
blender floating in the water. Alice's brother said this was just a natural
protein that came out of the spring. The little girls wanted to know
what it was as well.
We got out of the bath and met with
Alice, Alice's brother's wife, and Josiah, who had gone up the hill to see the arena
where the 1998 winter Olympics were held. This was hosted by Nagano.
Speaking of winter, I must put this on the snowboarding wish list as
we passed several AWESOME ski resorts on the way here and Nick has
informed me that the snow fall here is sometimes immeasurable. It
sounds like it makes the Carolina’s look like pre school.
We
walked back to the car and used the toilet at the convenient store.
I felt bad that most of us went into the store and just used the
toilet so I bought some fireworks from the guy. Cheaper than the
states that’s for sure.
We loaded up the vans and set off
(photo of car we
saw!) for the Japanese style Wal-Mart
called Besia. We had lunch first and what a lunch it was. This was
going to be the first real good meal I have had since we got here
and it couldn’t have been better. We went to the food section of the
store and I went straight for the seafood
section. I was STOKED. I mean
my jaw about hit the floor. Picture your favorite dish at a really
good sushi bar and imagine just picking it
up out of the glass case and off you go.
By the time I was done putting all the freshly prepared
variety of sushi into my basket I was shaking. All I wanted to do
was go chow down. If I had to pay for what I got at a Japanese
restaurant in Florida, I probably would have spent 40 or 50 bucks
just on what I got let alone what I got for Matt and Mommy. And it
was as good or better than anything I have eaten at home. Once we
had what we wanted we paid for it in a regular check out and went to
the food court area and sat down to eat.
Did I say that the
check out girl gave us the chop sticks, wasabi, and soy sauce at the
register? This is the norm for here. I can’t wait to go to the 100
($1.00) Yen sushi restaurant. If it couldn’t get any better, at the
end of the day all the stores mark down the sushi from 30 to 50 %
off so they can keep it fresh. Ok I will get off the sushi kick some
of you might be getting nauseous by now.
Well lunch is over
and Nelly is happy and it is time to do the big food shop. We have
split up and it is Alice and myself and H (15yr niece) as our translator.
Beyond the seafood section , the selection of things to eat was so
massive or maybe it was just so different that it seemed that way.
The hard part was that everything was in Japanese and we had to go
by what stuff looked like instead of what it said. I mean H (15yr niece)
could tell us but we were going in different directions and just
used H (15yr niece) when we needed to. We started piling the food into the
buggy.... and then we started piling it into a second buggy.
I managed to sneak off and look at the knife section and I
ended up getting a really good sushi knife and a sharpener too. We
managed to spend like 285.00 bucks or 28,500 yen. Hope this lasts
for a week or so.
The shop was fun for me but was a
stressful time for Alice. I guess that’s why I do the shopping at
home. As far as pricing, some things were very expensive and others
were almost the same. Fruits and veg were very pricey. Alice's brother said we
need to wait for the weekend fruit market and we will get the best
of the best fruit and veg and the cost is much, much less.
We got back to the cabin and unpacked and put away all of
our stuff. Alice's brother's wife was preparing a wonderful steak dinner with rice
and potato and a wonderful mixed salad at their
cabin. Did I mention that
seaweed, rice and noodles are like the main staple food? It’s all
good and I have yet to see a fat or even close to fat Japanese
person.
Alice's brother's wife makes a spread out of the seaweed and they
call it Noodi jam. I like it and it’s good on rice and potato’s and
even toast. The meal was awesome and even though it was only 9:15 we
were all tired. So we got in our van and headed back to our cabin
just down the road.
We forgot to set off the fireworks. O
well. Body still not used to the time
change.