weekend

This weekend was rather relaxed compared to last weekend. I went to the local live jazz bar on Friday with some of my JET friends. On Saturday I went to a barbecue with my supervisor, Jeff, and Jill. It was a lot like a barbecue back home but with different food. There were tons of people, a couple guys manning the grill, kids running around, lots of drinking, and way too much food. They grilled chicken, oysters, corn on the cob, beef, and sausage. Lots of people brought food too. I had some of the best potato salad in my life there. It had avocados in it! Anyways, I met a lot of Japanese scientists that work for Otsuka in Naruto. Otsuka makes a lot of the popular sodas, energy drinks, snacks and pharmaceuticals in Japan.

Later I went to an onsen in a nearby town with some of my friends. It was kind of sketchy, and I'm pretty sure the wine bath was just water with red dye in it. Everyone kept staring at us, even when we had clothes on. They didn't provide soap and hair drier usage cost money, which are both usually free. Part of the bath had this electrical part to it, where you feel a fairly light electrical shock in the water. I was pretty confused as to why people weren't dying.

Today I did nothing and it was everything I thought it could be. :)

It's pretty cold now. It's in the 40s outside. Some of the teachers giggled when I walked into school last week with a scarf (a beautiful one made by Mary!), hat, gloves, and winter coat. They don't ride their bike to work though! I've been wearing 4 shirts to work everyday and my hands and feet are still cold. There's no heat/heater in the classrooms and hallways. Yet the girls are still required to wear skirts as part of their uniforms. They just started turning the heater on in the teachers' offices.