11:40pm セミナーハウス
天気：曇り
Today ran along a similar vein as yesterday… I got up at around 10:30, Jamie and Hugo had already left, so I had breakfast and then showered. I did get to do my laundry, which was great. I did some more study, and then played Heart Gold, and then it was time for lunch. I chatted with Jo for a while, and she suggested we should go into uni together. So at about 1:45 we left, with Ash and Katie. We all had to do the loan session, so that meant climbing up those dreaded stairs to the 4th floor; going to have to get used to that again. After a bit of sorting, it was found the easiest way to pay for my accommodation was to take it all out of my JASSO scholarship money, so I went with that. Now I just have to pay the “Liability Insurance Fee” tomorrow and I’m done. After the loan session, Ash and I waited in the lounge for Katie to pay her fees, and talked with Jacinthe and Nadezhda respectively; Nadezhda was successful in her jump test so will be going into level 6 this semester.
After Katie got back we made our way to 渚の湯 (Nagisa no Yu), the bathhouse/onsen near Gotenyama station. After a bit of walking we came across it; the bigゆ gave it away. We got there at about 3:15, so gave ourselves an hour to enjoy it; girls in the left side and me to the right. It wasn’t that busy, and I just took my time trying out all the different baths. One in particular that was really cool was an outside bath with reddish brown water; must’ve contained a lot of iron? It was certainly the steamiest bathhouse I’ve ever been in; made the atmosphere really relaxing though. I also got to see a yakuza, his full-body 入れ墨 (irezumi – tattoo) giving away his trade; when we got out I told the girls and Ash was really jealous. As usual, it was mostly elderly men; I was actually surprised to see two other young guys.
After about 45 minutes soaking, I was definitely ready to get out. I weighted myself on the scales in the change room and was very happy to find that I've put on weight; now I'm 67kg! After getting dressed, I sat in the lobby and waited for the girls while reading the 渚の湯ものがたり (Nagisa no Yu Monogatari – Nagisa no yu story); too much kanji! The girls came out, and Katie looked very flush. She’s been to hot springs before in Canada (so lucky), but wasn’t used to being indoors and surrounded by steam. It was Ash’s first time, and she said she really enjoyed it, and was feeling very relaxed. We exited, and then went to a nearby Lawsons for some food. Ash introduced me to this amazing treat; mochi with cream and strawberries inside. I thoroughly enjoyed munching on that. Then we started making our way back, seeing if we could cut through the suburbs to make a straight line to the dorms, rather than going back down to the uni and then up again. It was an interesting and trouble-free walk, since we were too relaxed to be worried.
We eventually found our way back to the main road that passes seminar house 4, a made our way back from there. Ash and Katie went back to their room, and I went to the kitchen to find Biancha. I told her where we’d been and she described what was on the female side; it sounded really cool. I did notice there was a chart with day of the week on it, showing which room would be designated to men and which to women, so I’ll have to go back to experience the other room. I then sat down with Simon, and met Pat from Perth. We chatted for ages while watching TV and Jo also joined in. I had dinner at about 7:30; left over curry with toast. It wasn’t until around 9 that I finally left the dining room for my room. Finding no one here, I hung up half my washing inside, and then decided to go bother Ash and Katie, taking some mandarin with me. Ash and I helped Katie to word an email to her uni concerning a mess up with her scholarship; what a bummer. After she was satisfied with it, I got to see her photos from Singapore. Ash was packing a box to send home, and after she’d finished that, I got a manicure; yay! Finally it was time for bed…
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