Snow in Kyushu

Let me begin by saying, field trips are awesome and I wish schools in CMS and other schools in America would allow field trips again. These Japanese field trips are so much fun, they allow you to visit historical landmark sites and see the beautiful scenery that only the locals know about. Also on 2 separate field trips they let us try their locally made alcohol, YAY!

This Saturday I went on an optional field trip to Ono River and around the nearby area. It was a cold day in Oita city! But after last Wednesday's weather I falsely believed I would be fine wearing a short sleeve shirt underneath a cloth jacket (it wasn't even a real jacket!). Our first location was a waterfall and river, it was windy and cold, but bearable still.

Then we rode further up the mountain where it began to snow. The picturesque view of snow falling onto the sleepy mountain town reminded me of a snow globe. While the scene was very lovely and breath-taking, I knew at this point I was officially screwed, because I was going to freeze my butt off. And indeed I was right.

Being cold had an upside though, when we stopped to have lunch, the hot food combined with the view of snow falling outside the window was just perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more than to be there in that cozy room eating Japanese noodle soup with a hot cup of green tea (although a jacket would've been nice too!).

Next we went to a town that makes sake. It was pretty cool, but I was too busy keeping warm to pay attention. Then we went to a park at the foot of a mountain. Needless to say, it was quite cold but also very beautiful and serene.

Throughout the trip, there was a little kid probably 11 years old that had on nothing but a long sleeve shirt and a pair of ripped jeans and he wasn't cold at all. It made me remember when I was a kid, even in the coldest weather I would rarely ever wear a jacket because I never felt that cold, and my parents would always get mad and yell at me to put a jacket on. Geez that kid makes me feel so old! what I wouldn't give to be him at that moment, because at least I wouldn't have felt so unbearably cold.

Just thinking about that day makes me cold. I did have gloves though!...

Bamboo Festival in Taketa

Yesterday there was an amazing festival taking place in Taketa, just an hour and a half away from Oita city.

We went there early enough to participate in lighting some of the bamboo lights. That was pretty awesome to be able to light up the candles. The sun was still out so we decided to walk around town a bit and check out Oka castle ruins.

While walking towards Oka castle ruins it started to rain so the lady selling tickets lent us free umbrellas! her generosity took me by complete surprise. Little things like that just makes me love Japan more and more.

The view from Oka castle ruins is fantastic, you can see the mountains all around you. A lot of skeeters there though, I got chewed up!

It was starting to get dark so we went back to town hoping all the lights would finally be lit. Unfortunately the rain picked up.

It wasn't raining that hard, but just enough to put out most if not all of the candles.

We were feeling a bit down about the rain and ready to head back to the train station when we decided to dry off, warm up, and get some hot ramen and tea at the local restaurant.

The steaming bowl of ramen made everything feel much better. I love eating hot noodles and soups on cold rainy nights.

It definitely made me feel better about the rain situation. Upon leaving the ramen shop we realized there were people still determined to relight the candles inside the bamboo in spite of the pouring rain. They laid the bamboo down so the rain wouldn't get inside. It was cool seeing everyone trying so hard to keep the festival going.

The atmosphere of everything was pretty indescribable. It felt like looking into a sea of stars. The whole night made me reflect and remember that even though things might not go as planned, if you focus on the negatives too much you can easily miss out on up side of things Who's to say that just because its raining that the festival has to end? I believe the rain added more to the whole awesomeness of being there and definitely made the ramen taste 10x better.

Field Trip to Hita

So today we went on a field trip to an old ninja village hidden deep in the mountains of Kyushu island!...

Ok so it's not really a ninja village, it's actually a pottery town, but ninja village sounds so much cooler don't you think? The town was so peaceful and chill and they specialized in hand made pottery.

It was nifty, I love seeing Japanese style towns like this.

They use the current of the stream to fill up the logs which lift the arms up to pound the clay. So cool! Walking through the town all you hear is the stream rushing by and the echo of clay being pounded.