温泉の旅 I - 別府 Onsen Tour Part 1 - Beppu!

Damnit, I'm terrible at this blogging thing...!

So a couple of weeks ago, my friend and I headed off to Beppu for the weekend. Beppu is located in Oita Prefecture, on the northwest side of Kyushuu. A town filled with pachinko machines and an extensive sex industry, this place also happens to be the one of the largest hotspring by volume in the world, 2nd only to Yellowstone National Park. With this in mind, I am off to a wonderfully relaxing weekend (in the onsens, of course!!)

JR Beppu Station, with the founder of Beppu

This city is pretty much gushing hot water from everywhere. There are pipes in the ground specifically used to re-direct the hot water elsewhere. As my friend MP puts it, the city is going to boil itself over one day...! So, when you come here, don't forget to bring a hand towel. You will need it when you see all the hand onsen around the city ^_^

Hand bath outside JR Beppu Station

One of the most famous tourist attractions in Beppu are the Jigoku Hostprings 地獄温泉. Literally translated in English as the Hells Hotsprings, these hotsprings include a steaming mountain, boiling mud ponds, and hotspring ponds that are of different colours. My favorite one is the red 血の池地獄 (Blood's Pond Hell), where the bottom of the pond turned bright red from the iron oxidizing and settling. There is also a foot hotspring for you to dip your feet if you get tired. The other hotsprings with the boiling mud at 鬼石坊主地獄 (Shaven Monk's Head Hell) and the steaming mountains of 山地獄 (Mountain Hell) are also quite impressive.

山地獄 Yama-Jigoku

血の池地獄 Chinoike-Jigoku. It got dark as the sun was setting on the other side of the mountain.

After a day of serious walking, it was totally time to head back to the ryokan. We had a Japanese-style tatami room for 4000yen per person. Included was free access to the private onsen in the ryokan; we just had to book the room in the lobby! Of course, I took advantage of that and booked in some private time for like 2 hours.... afterall, that's what I came to Beppu for..!!!

Private onsen, tehehehehee... ^_^

And that, my friends, was pretty much how I spent my first long weekend in Japan. ^_^ I'm looking forward to more onsen adventures in the near future, and of course, I'll try to remember to post more! A shout out to all my friends in Vancouver... I miss you all lots!!

Ta ta for now ^__~

Happpy One Month, Fukuoka!

I've been here officially for 1 month!! Time really does go by fast...!! I'm really liking it here... work is actually going pretty well ^_^ My co-workers have been very nice, helping me with work and with everyday things outside of work. As well, I feel like I'm getting a hang of this job already... so no complaints there~~

In general, I really like my students. I feel like I am able to motivate them to learn, in which motivates me to try harder to give a good lesson. However, I just can't seem to figure out how to teach those 11 to 12-year-olds... They are very bright kids, that don't seem to be challenged enough in class. As a result the participation in class is terrible...! It seems like I am dreading these classes, but I do want to help them improve. For the sake of my sanity, and the sanity of my students, if anyone has any ideas about how to improve classroom moral and would like to pass it along, I will be so grateful ^^".

Now that work is settling nicely, I want start picking up my Japanese again!! I haven't studied my Japanese at all since I've gotten here, so there has been little or no improvement LOL. I'm still debating whether I should take Japanese lessons - maybe I'll review my textbook first and see how it goes hahaha. Also, I'm going to start going sightseeing around Kyushuu soon! I've got a trip planned to Beppu next weekend, I'm super excited!!! Stay tuned for photos ^_^

Sorry for the short blog post today, for some reason I'm super tired... going to peace out to bed... お休みなさい!

Settling into my new home

First post in February!!

Wow... it's been over 2 weeks since I last blogged... I must apologize - ever since I moved to my new home I have been deprived of internet access...!! Now that I finally got tethering figured out on my new phone, I am connected again!! ^_^

The past 2 weeks were kind of crazy. I finished my initial training, and moved into my apartment! It might kind of surprise some of you, but actually I'm kind of OCD when it comes to cleaning things and putting things away. I only tend to give up when it gets overly messy and I can't deal with it... in which case I just leave it and ignore it =.=". Anyways, I spend 1 whole weekend scrubbing my apartment, going to the local 100yen shop to buy storage compartments, obtaining kitchenware and things I need around the house... I was FINALLY ready to unpack my suitcase and move in!! That was such a happy happy day!!! And now.... ladies and gentlemen.... I present to you.... pictures of my tiny apartment!!

My kitchenette! You can't see it, but it's complete with a happy face sponge ^.^

My bathroom! The toilet is in a separate room, lol. It's also across the hall from my kitchenette. ^^"

My living space. I sleep on the futon next to my couch ^_^. Yes, the futon is on hardwood floor...

The view from my living room to the doorway. Bathroom on the left, kitchenette and laundry closet on the right.

I really enjoyed cleaning and organizing my apartment! Even though my there isn't a lot of space, it's a lot of fun thinking of innovative ways to store things. A hook here, and a rack there, an viola! Everything in the right place. I think I've been guilty of abusing my living space in Vancouver... my room is probably bigger than my current apartment, filled with crap I don't need. I also didn't use my space very efficiently. I can't believe I used to tell my parents that there is "no room" to store all my stuff. Argh... I feel so ashamed... lol. I'm proud to say that I'm keeping my apartment in good shape everyday, since if I don't there's literally no space to walk around lol.

The area around my apartment is awesome. I live 5mins walking distance from work and the train station (the two are next to each other). Inside the train station there is a small shopping arcade for clothes and such, as well as a supermarket and plenty of places to eat. Next to my apartment building there's a 24hr supermarket, where I've been wasting tonnes of money (I use the fact that I just moved in as an excuse, and buy things like soy sauce, cooking oil, sugar, salt.... it apparently all adds up!!!), and I am within walking distance to things like banks, post offices, gym, pool etc. I'm so happy that the location is so convenient!

I hereby officially declare that I've settled into my new home! Yay!!! ^_^