A Typhoon filled weekend in Kyushu

I had a long weekend last week and went down to Oita-Ken to visit my friend Jeffery. I left Friday after school with Vicki, who made the way down with me. We took the Shinkansen to Tokuyama in Yamaguchi-Ken and then got picked up by Tammy and her friend Sharona. We drove down to Oita, which is cheaper then taking the train, but longer. It didn’t help that we got loss and it ended up taking awhile to find Jeffery’s town. Nevertheless, we arrived close to midnight and then went to a dart bar and hung out with a few of the JETs I had met last time. We had a good night and made our way home early next morning. (Picture below: Jeffery's beer bottle and can collection in his kitchen)

Jeffery had ample warning of our arrival and he spent a fair amount of time cleaning, so his place looked a lot better then it did the last time we came. The next day, we drove to Fukuoka and spent the day walking around the city. Fukuoka definitely has a different atmosphere and feel to other cities in Japan, so it was just nice people watching and visiting some shops and restaurants. (Picture below: Group picture at the pizza resturant, Tammy, Vicki, Sharona, Me and Jeffery)

At night we made our way to Jeffery’s favorite pizza place in Japan, called Kenji-ya. The pizza and beer was really good and we spent a few hours just chatting and soaking up the cool décor of the place.(Picture below: Jeffery', Vicki and I being happy at the Happy Cock)

After dinner, we made our way to this really sketchy club called, “The Happy Cock.” One of the craziest places I’ve been to in Japan, with some of the ..ummm, dirtiest people I’ve every seen. Somehow, we managed to stay till 5 in the morning and had a few “incidents” at the club, probably safer to not mention it here. (Picture below: Me inside my capsule bunk)

We slept at a capsule hotel that night and the next morning we walked around Fukuoka some more and went to this huge complex called canal city. Basically it’s a large shopping mall with little canals running through the ground floor. It’s nice and it was fun walking around, but we had to leave around 4 because a typhoon was making its way to Fukuoka. Basically all the shops and stores had to close up and brace for the Typhoon.

We all quickly hopped in our car and drove back to Oita-ken and we were lucky enough to miss the Typhoon, as it didn’t make it out west where Oita is. However, we did manage to read the parking sign incorrectly and had to pay over 71 dollars for 1 day of parking. (Picture below: The lake at Yufuin)

We spent the night at Jeffery’s place then drove to Yufuin on monday, a hot spring resort close to Beppu. The town was really cool as it is more of a local tourist spot and it has lots of nice shops and little hot springs throughout the city.

Jeffery and I went to this really rustic looking hotspring and had a nice soak before we made our way back to his house and then home. The drive home didn’t really work out they way we wanted- as we managed to get lost again. Vicki and I got dropped off at a Shinkansen station because if we continued to drive, we would have missed on last train home. (Picture below: Jeffery. Vicki and I at a sightseeing spot in Yamakuni)

So all in all, we managed to get lost a few times, but made our way home in one piece. The trip went well, expect I managed to get really sick by the last day and for the past week I’ve missed 6 days of school and I’ve pretty much been holed up at home. The nasty cold has made me go through 5 full boxes of tissues and I’ve also managed to spread the sickness to a few other ALTs. Including everyone I was with in Oita and both Vicki and the new Chinese-Canadian JET that lives down the street from me, Jacki. (Picture below: Me tickling Jeffery with a harvested rice grain)

So I’m looking forward to getting better and getting back to my routine. I had to miss my elementary school’s sports day and also a Japanese cooking class. But hoping I’m all better for the upcoming weekend.

Japanese factoid# 31-If you've ever been in Japan you would have experienced the tissue phenomenon. In Japan, they give away mountains of free tissue filled with advertisements. In major cities they are pretty much on every street and they are always young girl, usually wearing leather outfits or skimpy clothes. It comes in quite handy when you got the sniffles or when toilet paper isn’t provided in some public bathrooms. They usually hand you the tissue and give you a nice bow for you kindly taking their gift.