Nakedness

So this weekend, Dylan and I went into the city both days. Saturday was kinda boring. He showed me where the school was (today was my first day and was really really hard - as in they are trying to teach me Japanese in Japanese), we had dinner, we walked around, and we were going to go to this international bar, but they were really slow and the train we needed to catch left pretty early. So we just went home.

Ahh, but then Sunday. Sunday, we went up to Susenji (about 1.5 hours away by train from Yanagawa, where our apartment is) and met up with Aoki-san, her new billet, and her friend, Yuko-san. We went to Yuko-san's house (which was really cute) and she gave us some drinks and snacks, and then she gave Dylan and I some adorable bowls she had bought us. They go well with the hand towels she gave us earlier and the chopsticks and bath towels Aoki-san gave us earlier. I will post pictures of them next time. When we were done, we all left for the bath. This is the part of the story where I'm naked in front of a whole bunch of people, including Dylan's previous host mom and her friend. So, you go in, get naked, shower, and then walk around going into whichever bath suits your fancy for a while, shower again and leave. It was kinda weird, but not as awkward as you might expect since everyone is naked. Surprisingly relaxing. It is more or less like sitting in a hot tub (or a variety of hot tubs - both outside and inside), except you're not in a bathing suit. You do get a towel that you can cover yourself with when walking between tubs. Actually, I think I would have found it less awkward if it had been co-ed. Then I could have talked to Dylan and had him translate things for me. Silly Christians coming and telling them it was a sin for large numbers of men and women to be naked together. There are apparently still some that are co-ed, but they are more rare. 

After the bath, we all went out tempura - which Yuko-san paid for. And we went shopping for work shirts and ties for Dylan, as well as a pot, a pan and some cooking utensils. We also briefly looked at rice cookers, but decided they were too expensive. After we finished up, they gave us a two second ride to the bus depot and gave us the rice cooker they had bought us as a present. Apparently they worry. Have I mentioned that they are absolutely adorable?