九州 -> 鹿児島
My month and half long summer vacation came to an end on Thursday as I went back to work. The last weekend of summer vacation, I spend it by going on a staff trip with one of my school to Kagoshima, Kyuushuu. I've never been to Kyuushuu. So when I was told about this trip back in April, I was excited at the prospect of visiting this part of Japan. But at the same time, I was nervous cause it means putting my Japanese skills to the test for 2 straight days.
The trip started at 5:30 on Saturday morning, and things were off to a bad start before I even got up. For a split second I did consider not going, but it only took another split second to realize that I need to go on the trip as plan. Fast forwarding a bit: luckily I got readyk ahead of schedule as the carpool arrived 10 minutes early.
We met up with others, bought some drinks for the road and drove down to the city in 2 cars. We travel the expensive way: reserve seats on the shinkansen. I should probably mentioned that this trip was expensive, but it was a luxurious kind of trip and given the same choice again, I'll still do it all over again even though it took a while to save up for it.
Reserved seats on the new Kyuushuu line. It's roomy and nice, felt like we were traveling first class style. The chairs are rotatable, so if 4 people were traveling together they can swing one set of chairs around and face each other.
Kogashima (city), main train station area.
This was a very amusing sign for me.
This area is famous for "black pork". So we all went and had some pork, tonkotsu ramen.
And of course there was dessert: a type of shaved ice call "White Bear" (しろくま) as in polar bear cause with the toppings, it looks like a polar bear's face.
The trip included a lot of brewery visits and shochu tasting. Because we were a relatively big group, whenever the brewery saw us coming they'll offer us a short tour and explanation on how they made shochu.
The pink glass (top) and the white glass (bottom) are exact same. The white patterns on the glass changes to pink when it's cold. It's beautiful, but I couldn't justified spending 280yen on it.
We got a mini charted bus for two days, which made traveling around a whole lot easier.
This one is very very strong. Never mind that the alcohol level is at 25%, the taste is just super strong. I witnessed one of the teacher (Pe-san) drinking it, and saw her reaction to it. So I poured the smallest amount possible into my cup, and in took enough just so I had some on my tongue. But that was already enough to feel the burning sensation in my mouth. I made a face right away, Pe-san saw and offered the jug of water.
me: お願いします。
Mika-chan: That's so cool, making that face and asking for water with "Onegashimasu".
Pe-san: That's Janet for you.
Did I ever mention how I love hanging out with my teachers cause they boost my self confidence level right up like this?
Well Mika-chan apparently didn't see my action as a warning sign, cause he took a small amount in one go. It took about a second before he made the saw face as I did and poured a big cup of water.
Another teacher did the same thing. Except he poured a lot more in his cup and did not even twitch after drinking it all in one go. I was impressed, and asked if it didn't burn his mouth? He said it did, but describe it as a good sensation. More specifically, he said it's like breathing fire from the mouth, just like Godzilla.
Before dinner, we took a small break at the hotel. I shared a room with Pe-san. We got talking and announced that she's getting marry next March. It took a while for me to digest what she said, cause she didn't say it directly like "I'm going to get marry". So I wanted to make sure I go the right message across before congratulating her. After this moment, more than ever I believe that when things are at it worst things are bound to get better. That is, life truly is fair: there's a reason why we have both sorrow and happiness in this world.
We had authentic shabu shabu for dinner. Having this in the summer is mighty crazy. But we had air conditional inside the restaurant, and the food was mighty delicious.
You're suppose to cook the meat, take it out and put it in your own dish. Pour a tiny bit of the soup into your dish.
And then, we got to add in extra spice to our dish. I stuck with the more "normal" spice, like Rose Mary and garlic. A teacher did it wrong, and I was specifically told by the other teachers not to follow him. That was an amusing moment, and from then on I watch the other teachers before picking up my chopsticks.
There's also a 3 minute timer for when you cook the ramen. Apparently, you're suppose to save some of the veggies for the ramen but we just dumped it all in.
Appetizers. No one could figure out what was in the middle dish, but it was mighty delicious.
And of course dessert.
After dinner we split into 3 groups. I ended up going to karaoke with Pe-san and 4 other
teachers.
This was a mighty cool karaoke room, way too cool for us, especially since for the 2 hours that we were in there for, it was mostly spend doing enka.
Back in the hotel, after showering it was already 12am. Along with Pe-san, Mika-chan, Kami-sama and Nai-chan, we stayed up playing cards till 3am. They showed me a few Japanese style card games. But we spend a good chunk of time playing Japanese style Big 2. It's been so long since I played Big 2, I've forgotten how addictive it can be.
After 3 hours of sleep, breakfast at the hotel we were off again. First stop at a brewer/vinegar place.
All those black pots contain vinegar/shochu.
Foot onsen. We only took a 5 minute break here, but the scenery here is really beautiful.
Pair with those flowers and plants, it feels like we're in Okinawa.
This car came all the way from Okayama, just like us. It was kind of refreshing, whenever people ask where we're from, I can blend in and just answer Okayama-ken like the other teachers.
Had a brief MiniMoni moment between Pe-san and Mika-chan. It was only after this point that I really started calling Mika-chan Mika-chan. Mika-chan did a short version of MiniMoni Telephone Ring Ring Ring. It was a blissful moment.
This is half bury tori gate on Sakurajima. This gate used to be 3 metre high, but was cover by the ashes from the 1914 volcano eruption.
Dolphin Port, where we waited forever for our lunch.
See how I have 2 spoons and no chop sticks? That's how rush and busy the kitchen was. But we still waited a good half hour after we placed our order for the food to come.
Sakurajima with a mini erruption.
A picture token by me with Pe-san, with Mika-chan's guidance.
It's not really a trip in Japan unless you get some ice cream (preferably a local favour). This one is purple sweet potato.
The shinkasen that took us back to Okayama-ken.
To warp things up, here's the last picture I took from this trip. We all wanted leg room, so we decided to make it a "team work" effort. And surprise, we ended up playing on Big 2 on the way back.
The trip started at 5:30 on Saturday morning, and things were off to a bad start before I even got up. For a split second I did consider not going, but it only took another split second to realize that I need to go on the trip as plan. Fast forwarding a bit: luckily I got readyk ahead of schedule as the carpool arrived 10 minutes early.
We met up with others, bought some drinks for the road and drove down to the city in 2 cars. We travel the expensive way: reserve seats on the shinkansen. I should probably mentioned that this trip was expensive, but it was a luxurious kind of trip and given the same choice again, I'll still do it all over again even though it took a while to save up for it.
Reserved seats on the new Kyuushuu line. It's roomy and nice, felt like we were traveling first class style. The chairs are rotatable, so if 4 people were traveling together they can swing one set of chairs around and face each other.
Kogashima (city), main train station area.
This was a very amusing sign for me.
This area is famous for "black pork". So we all went and had some pork, tonkotsu ramen.
And of course there was dessert: a type of shaved ice call "White Bear" (しろくま) as in polar bear cause with the toppings, it looks like a polar bear's face.
The trip included a lot of brewery visits and shochu tasting. Because we were a relatively big group, whenever the brewery saw us coming they'll offer us a short tour and explanation on how they made shochu.
The pink glass (top) and the white glass (bottom) are exact same. The white patterns on the glass changes to pink when it's cold. It's beautiful, but I couldn't justified spending 280yen on it.
We got a mini charted bus for two days, which made traveling around a whole lot easier.
This one is very very strong. Never mind that the alcohol level is at 25%, the taste is just super strong. I witnessed one of the teacher (Pe-san) drinking it, and saw her reaction to it. So I poured the smallest amount possible into my cup, and in took enough just so I had some on my tongue. But that was already enough to feel the burning sensation in my mouth. I made a face right away, Pe-san saw and offered the jug of water.
me: お願いします。
Mika-chan: That's so cool, making that face and asking for water with "Onegashimasu".
Pe-san: That's Janet for you.
Did I ever mention how I love hanging out with my teachers cause they boost my self confidence level right up like this?
Well Mika-chan apparently didn't see my action as a warning sign, cause he took a small amount in one go. It took about a second before he made the saw face as I did and poured a big cup of water.
Another teacher did the same thing. Except he poured a lot more in his cup and did not even twitch after drinking it all in one go. I was impressed, and asked if it didn't burn his mouth? He said it did, but describe it as a good sensation. More specifically, he said it's like breathing fire from the mouth, just like Godzilla.
Before dinner, we took a small break at the hotel. I shared a room with Pe-san. We got talking and announced that she's getting marry next March. It took a while for me to digest what she said, cause she didn't say it directly like "I'm going to get marry". So I wanted to make sure I go the right message across before congratulating her. After this moment, more than ever I believe that when things are at it worst things are bound to get better. That is, life truly is fair: there's a reason why we have both sorrow and happiness in this world.
We had authentic shabu shabu for dinner. Having this in the summer is mighty crazy. But we had air conditional inside the restaurant, and the food was mighty delicious.
You're suppose to cook the meat, take it out and put it in your own dish. Pour a tiny bit of the soup into your dish.
And then, we got to add in extra spice to our dish. I stuck with the more "normal" spice, like Rose Mary and garlic. A teacher did it wrong, and I was specifically told by the other teachers not to follow him. That was an amusing moment, and from then on I watch the other teachers before picking up my chopsticks.
There's also a 3 minute timer for when you cook the ramen. Apparently, you're suppose to save some of the veggies for the ramen but we just dumped it all in.
Appetizers. No one could figure out what was in the middle dish, but it was mighty delicious.
And of course dessert.
After dinner we split into 3 groups. I ended up going to karaoke with Pe-san and 4 other
teachers.
This was a mighty cool karaoke room, way too cool for us, especially since for the 2 hours that we were in there for, it was mostly spend doing enka.
Back in the hotel, after showering it was already 12am. Along with Pe-san, Mika-chan, Kami-sama and Nai-chan, we stayed up playing cards till 3am. They showed me a few Japanese style card games. But we spend a good chunk of time playing Japanese style Big 2. It's been so long since I played Big 2, I've forgotten how addictive it can be.
After 3 hours of sleep, breakfast at the hotel we were off again. First stop at a brewer/vinegar place.
All those black pots contain vinegar/shochu.
Foot onsen. We only took a 5 minute break here, but the scenery here is really beautiful.
Pair with those flowers and plants, it feels like we're in Okinawa.
This car came all the way from Okayama, just like us. It was kind of refreshing, whenever people ask where we're from, I can blend in and just answer Okayama-ken like the other teachers.
Had a brief MiniMoni moment between Pe-san and Mika-chan. It was only after this point that I really started calling Mika-chan Mika-chan. Mika-chan did a short version of MiniMoni Telephone Ring Ring Ring. It was a blissful moment.
This is half bury tori gate on Sakurajima. This gate used to be 3 metre high, but was cover by the ashes from the 1914 volcano eruption.
Dolphin Port, where we waited forever for our lunch.
See how I have 2 spoons and no chop sticks? That's how rush and busy the kitchen was. But we still waited a good half hour after we placed our order for the food to come.
Sakurajima with a mini erruption.
A picture token by me with Pe-san, with Mika-chan's guidance.
It's not really a trip in Japan unless you get some ice cream (preferably a local favour). This one is purple sweet potato.
The shinkasen that took us back to Okayama-ken.
To warp things up, here's the last picture I took from this trip. We all wanted leg room, so we decided to make it a "team work" effort. And surprise, we ended up playing on Big 2 on the way back.