Rizza Camus Caminero ...: laboratory trip in Oginoshima Inn, Takayanagi Town

we just arrived this morning, about 11am, from our laboratory trip in takayanagi town, kashiwazaki shi. it was a very nice experience.

yesterday, we left gidai at around 230pm. it was almost an hour's ride to ogonoshima inn. i rode in ashu-sensei's car with nandasara-san (both sri lankan), and pann & zin (myanmar). in mikami-sensei's car were suzuki-sensei, nakahira-sensei, and adachi-san. in iwafuchi-san's car were chisuga-san, wada-san, and kitade-san. kodama-sensei went there by himself, because he was still a beginner in driver. he was called a "baby driver". at the inn, we left our belongings, had ocha, decided that the men would stay in the first house and the women in the second house, left again for the onsen, which was 10minutes away. it was zin's first time. pann also haven't tried onsen before. when she entered the room with us girls, she was surprised that the people there were not wearing anything! she said she will not take a bath. she just waited outside. her religion is islam, and i think it's not allowed for other people to see their body.

it wasn't my first time to strip in front of someone i know. the first time was in nov1999, during my first trip to japan, a business trip in the tamagawa plant. i stayed in a girls dormitory, where the only bathroom is the common one. you have to take off all your clothes when you enter, put your clothes in a basket, and walk naked to the shower room. after showering, you could go into the hot bath. during that business trip, i was introduced to this japanese girl who's a friend of an officemate. my officemate told me to look for the girl and introduce myself because she stays in the same dorm with me. one time, i saw her in the changing area. she talked to me, said hello and a few things. i was shocked that time. usually, when i go there, i don't talk to anybody. apparently, if you know someone, it's normal that you talk to them while change. she just finished taking a bath and was changing, while i just arrived there. that really was a first for me. anyway, i never tried the ofuro. i just showered (the shower room has 3 cubicles, but no door in each. if you face the faucet, anybody who gets inside the room can see ur back), even bringing my towel inside so that when i go out, it's wrapped around me.

now, back to last night's onsen. the four of us (adachi-san, nakahira-sensei, kitade-san) showered then went in the bath. we talked just for a while. then we decided to go out, to their outdoor bath. it was so nice. it was so cool at that time, the water was hotter, though. then, adachi-san went back inside first. after a while, nakahira-sensei and kitade-sen followed. i stayed the for a while, then went out and followed them inside. we still took a bath , but adachi-san went out first. the 3 of us followed after a few minutes. i noticed they did not shower anymore. i still took a shower (just to wash off the onsen water), but without soap anymore. then i went out to the changing room, i felt dizzy. still, i tried to change, but had to stop 'coz i really felt dizzy. they kept on asking, "rizza-san, daijoubu desu ka.", and i replied "daijoubu desu.". so, i slowly changed, but still felt dizzy. they suggested i sit down near the sink with mirror. so, i did. i also drank some water, i thought maybe i was dehydrated. so, i had to continue changing while sitting, and combed my hair, too. i was feeling a little better, but i had to walk real slow. at the lobby, the guys were already there. they just finished eating ice cream. i couldn't bring myself to buy soft cream, so i just bought aquarius from the vending machine. from there, we went back to the inn. at the car, i felt so dizzy, so i just sat quietly, sometimes putting my head on my knees. the roads had many twists and turns. so, at that time, it wasn't a good ride for me. when we arrived at the inn, i immediately went inside our house. i went to the toilet and vomited in the sink. pann maybe noticed that i wasn't feeling well so she helped me. after that, i felt a bit fine. maybe dinner would make me feel better. i don't know what made me dizzy. it's possible that i was hungry, because during lunch, i ate only a little. it's also possible that i was in the water for a long time (longer than my normal time). i don't know for sure. but during dinner, i felt better.

we gathered at the first house for dinner, which consisted of lots of food. all were vegetables, except for one fish dish. all were very delicious, i suppose. but there were others that i felt were delicious but just too bitter. we talked while eating and drinking. i only had coke at first because i wasn't feeling well. kodama-sensei opened some other drinks like sake, umeshu, wine, etc. i didn't drink the sake and umeshu and the other sake. later, i drank the wine from honey (very sweet), fruit wine (like punch), and a little beer. there was a time when the talk was about girlfriend, like wada-san's, iwafushi-san's, chisuga-san's. i was curious about kodama-sensei's lovelife, so i asked adachi-san. she said he's not married but she thinks he has a girlfriend. she told me to ask him myself, but i'm embarassed. adachi-san loudly told kodama-sensei that i have a question, and she asked in my behalf. kodama-sensei said that his gf is teaching nihongo in china. they met in tokyo university of foreign studies. so, that solves the mystery of kodama-sensei's lovelife.

later, sensei talked about some professor's words that has very nice impact or meaning. then he asked us to draw the university emblem. all students had to draw. i have seen the emblem, but i don't know how to draw, and i can't remember what's in the emblem. so, i just drew something, just for the sake of submitting one. sensei laughed at my drawing, because it looks like the emblem of keio university. haha he graduated there, so he knows. a little later, all of us were asked to say something a book we read or a movie we saw. then later, we sang songs from the songbook mikami-sensei and adachi-san brought. they were japanese songs, old songs, i guess. i found a nihongo song translated from a filipino song, "magtanim ay di biro". i sang a bit of the filipino song. zin & pann sang a myanmar song. the others sang songs, too. but not everyone sang. we finished at about 12mn or 1230am. we then went outside to go to our house. pann took a shower first and slept. i slept a little while later, listening to my iPod music.

breakfast was at 8am. pann & i woke up around 730am. i immediately went to the bathroom to take a bath. i never feel comfortable leaving a house without taking a bath. after dressing, we went to the first house for breakfast. we talked a little, but ate a lot. mikami-sensei left around 9am, since he has a meeting at 11am. nakahira-sensei and suzuki-sensei went with him. we left around 945am, after taking some pictures.

i took pictures of last night's dinner and this morning's breakfast. i also took pictures of the scenery outside. it snowed this morning. so, the view was very nice. we also wrote in the notebook (like a guestbook) of the inn. we found the messages of the previous visitors. mikami-sensei and other foreigners first visited that place 2 years ago, around this time. but at that time, the snow was very heavy, the pile of snow was very high. we wrote our own messages, with me writing in bisaya. it was difficult to write because it seems so formal. i don't know how to write in formal bisaya. i just know daily-converstaion bisaya. we also left a shikishi with our shorter messages. i wrote, "Daghang salamat. Maraming salamat po.". they put it on the wall of the first house. on march 4, sensei and other delegates of the Oshin summit will be going there again.

it was a really nice experience. even though i vomited just before dinner, it was still a worth-while experience. i hope i can still join some trips like this in the future. (ashu-sensei suggested having a laboratory trip every quarter. he also wants to go to okonoshima inn once a month, for lunch)

now, it's back to my research. i'll concentrate on my research for the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow. saturday will be another trip, to tokamachi, for the snow festival. whew! so busy from last saturday until this sunday. but, this is my last winter in nagaoka, so i would like to visit as many places as i possible can.

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updated with some pictures...