Houseguests: Retroactive Post

So, I've realized that I kinda suck at playing tourguide, but luckily, my friends are forgiving and we still managed to have fun this weekend, despite crappy weather, getting a bit lost, getting on the wrong train and bus and missing the last buses. Anyway, this past weekend, Chika came from Nagoya and Branden, a fellow Seattle JET, came from Chiba-ken to visit me.

They both got in late Friday night, we stayed up catching up and begining L'Auberge Espagnole. I made breakfast on Saturday and introduced them to Albert, then we headed out to Shizuoka to go to Nihondaira. Unfortunately, it started to rain, and then we missed the bus, so we stopped to check out the new Parco (a department store) that just opened, ran into some of my students and then caught the next bus. Unfortunately, we soon realized that that bus was not only the last bus going TO Nihondaira, but it was the last one coming FROM it as well. So, we had to get off the bus at the next train station and go to Shimizu instead.

We barely caught the shuttle to Dream Plaza and spent the afternoon hanging out there, then met up with Sean and Rebecca for yaki-niku at this restaurant next to the station. This is of course followed by drinks at the Hippy Shake, where they got to meet the infamous Taka-san and have a couple tequila shots with him. We catch the last train back to Shin-Kambara, pick up a bottle of tequila at Max-Valu and continue with the shots back at my house, since they insisted that I must drink more. Albert joins us drunken fools until we all pass out while watching more L'Auberge Espagnole.

Sunday, I manage to wake up and make another breakfast and then Chika, Branden and I head over to Okitsu to check out Seikenji (a Buddhist temple). It was really different being there because it was one of the first temples that I had been to where there was no one else there, so it felt more like a temple than other ones that I've been to. There weren't a ton of tourists snapping pictures or kids running all over the place. It felt serene. After that, we tried to go to other temples but most of them close around 5, so instead we went to Kenkoland, which is an onsen, like Utopia in Nagoya, which I've described in an earlier blog. It was really relaxing with all of the different baths and massage chairs, and I even managed to get them to try the fish that eat the dead skin on your feet! Then we headed home and fell asleep.

Monday, I headed in to work, and then showed Branden and Chika around my school in the morning. Afterwards, I took the afternoon off and we went to the seawall to look at Fuji-san and the water. We took the train to Kusanagi and had lunch at this cute restaurant out on the veranda in the sun. Branden headed home and Chika took the train to Shimizu once again, and caught a bus to Miho. Miho is a black sand beach, that is the site of a pine tree in a famous Japanese folktale, Hagaromo no matsu, and managed to get a pretty good view of Fuji-san from there as well. We mostly just chilled out on the beach and then headed back to Kusanagi station where we parted ways.

All in all, an excellent weekend with the company of two good friends here in Japan. They reminded me that there are tons of cool things to see in my area, if I just look for them off the beaten path. So, to Branden and Chika, ??????????!????????! HOUSEGUESTS ALBUM