Going to Yugawara

In the morning, I decided that since I had some time, I would cut my hair. It was getting really long and almost uncontrollable. So I took care of that before I left. I wanted to talk to some people online, but I got distracted with other things and just never got around to it.

Today, the plan was to go with the teachers for the teachers’ trip. We went to an onsen area. We kind of left late since I wasn’t required to be at Shin-Yokohama station till 4pm. We didn’t get to the place till around 5:30pm, which wasn’t really that long, but not that short either since we took the Shinkansen. It’s in the Atami area, so there was a nice view going there.

After we arrived, we changed our clothes to wear the yukatas that they have for the guests. A lot of teachers commented that I looked very good in the yukata since I just got my hair cut and it fits my style. We went around the place for a little bit, but there wasn’t much to see, so I wasn’t surprised. We then went to take a bath. I had already taken a shower after cutting my hair so this was the second time for me to take a shower today. The baths there were pretty small in my opinion. I liked the trip though and I liked the place, I didn’t really have any problems with that. It’s just that if you’re going to an onsen, there should be more than two baths. Usually there are around 4, a hot, cold, sauna, open air ones. But they only had a hot and open air hot one. It got really busy and crowded at times too, which could put a damper on things for a little bit.

After our bath, we got ready for dinner. We had to carry our gifts for the gift exchange too. We did that during dinner. I received a nice feminine scarf and a nice CD case. I was told that it might be better for me to give it to my girlfriend. I would agree with that, so I’ll have to save another gift that I got and give it away. I might give it to my sister, when she comes here. They will probably need it since it will be so cold when they come here. The handball coach got my gift. I wasn’t sure if she liked it or not since she said that she would give most of it away to other teachers. I think that she wanted to share, but I’m not sure that she could eat all of it anyways.

I had to make a speech tonight in Japanese about something. I wasn’t prepared for it at all. It was a bit unnerving to be on the spot like that and have to say something, which is hard to begin with and then to have to do it in Japanese made it even harder. I choked, so I’ll have to be prepared for the next event that people speak at. I thought that I would be ok and not have to speak, but I should have known. I’m a bit upset at myself for not knowing and responding to it very well.

After that, we had a Karaoke night, where everyone would get involved and sing for a little bit. I sang two songs. I did one in English and one in Japanese. The English song I was actually just helping another teacher who is studying English because she will go to America next year, actually in 3 months. It was Bryan Adams – Heaven. And the Japanese one was Kobukuro – Wadachi. I wanted to sing a Mongol 800 song, but they didn’t have it. I was a bit surprised to find that out.

After all that, we went back into the bath again. It was nice and relaxing to go after dinner. It does make you sleepy, which another teacher mentioned. One of the guy teachers got a PSP from the headmaster. That was cool and I didn’t get lucky like last year. Last year, one of the teachers got a video camcorder as a gift, which is excellent. I would have liked either one of those things. The bath was nice before going to bed, but it was hard because afterwards, it was so hot. The blanket was too thick for me and I was overheating and getting really thirsty. I was playing with my cell phone a lot and sending a lot of e-mails to friends. I like that I have a new cell phone.