What's New?

...not a whole lot, though it's been a while since i've had either time or purpose to tend this blog...here's a run down of what's gone down since i last wrote:

-spent days upon days writing a test
-spent slightly less time planning for a music workshop i taught on wednesday
-had a school mandated fire-extinguisher tutorial in the pouring rain
-nearly lost and mostly regained my voice (see above)
-the red sox signed daisuke matsuzaka, which is promising both in terms of the red sox winning more games, and me being able to watch them on japanese tv
-it kept raining here in kanazawa

...it's been a very hectic week (so much for the cush university job) but there is light, a big bright light, at the end of the tunnel..this weekend is our school's annual bonenkai, which is an end of the year debauch-fest in which everyone eats and drinks in massive quantities, and is merry as can be...all of the teaching staff from the university will be there, so sloppiness is more or less a given...the setting for all this fun will be an onsen hotel...onsen are natural hot spring baths in which japanese people have an unnatural ability to sit in for a loooong time...given that this place is one big volcano, you can imagine the country is crawling with onsen resorts...there are natural springs alongside rivers and such, but most resorts have the water piped in...they can be amazingly pristine, peaceful, and stereotypically japanese, zen-looking places, and they are...



...given my low tolerance for immersing myself in scalding hot water for any period of time, i am a fan of the onsen's close relative, the rotenburo, which is an onsen that is outside...i like sitting in these when it's about 20 degrees outside...i put in my five minutes of submersion, then sit up on the edge until my nipples freeze, and then ease myself back into the water...generally rotenburo offer some nice scenery to look at other than crusty, naked japanese men, which is really all there is to look at in regular onsen (this is a naked experience, bathing suites are a no-no)...most onsen/rotenburo are divided into separate male/female baths, but one place chieko and i went allowed us to rent a private onsen for an hour or so which we could share together, and that was cool...
...note: i pulled both of these pictures off of the web, but i have actually been to the rotenburo in the bottom picture...it's located in shizuoka prefecture, on the east coast of japan, and is spectacular...just on the other side of that fence is a 100 foot cliff down to the water...very nice...



...and so it's going on 11 p.m. here and my whole plan to go to bed early tonight is shot, but alas...there is light...