A Staff Retreat (Shokuin Ryoko)

The weekend before last I went on a staff retreat with some teachers at the smaller school I work at, Ogura Chuu. Rather than rewrite what I've already written, I'll just post a letter I wrote my girlfriend right after I got back from the trip.

2/21/10

elizabeth ohayo!

yeah the trip was good! really the weather was perfect all weekend and the countryside looked beautiful where we went. yesterday a few of us climbed a mountain, a two hour hike, and saw an awesome view from the top. it was all snowy up top and the trees had icicles on them - yokatta! it was pretty steep actually and im happy we took the ropeway the way down.

gosh i took 3 baths this weekend. the first thing we did was stop at an onsen place to take a soak before lunch and the hike. then after the hike and checking into the hotel room we took another. i think this pre-dinner bath was like a given for these sensei. and i took one by myself this morning after breakfast while the other teachers were eating or still sleeping. honestly after so much time feeling a little out of my element it felt good to be alone for a bit.

what else...our first meal was japanese style korean bbq - yakiniku, which was bomb! we had that after taking a dip, and last night we had a pretty good feast too - fugu, or blowfish, (real expensive here) in different forms - sashimi, in soup, tempura style, and lots of beer. the group of teachers were more or less informal so there wasn't a lot of speeches or things like that - and there were just 18 teachers who went. anyway after the feast we had the 2nd party outside the hotel - at a 'snack bar' - like a lounge joint where we drank more. i was a bit sleep deprived then and lacking in language skills but everyone was so nice to me the whole time so i never really felt uncomfortable.

really im happy i went. and on the way back we stopped at a place that had these old buddha statues carved from stone on the sides of small cliffs - they looked really interesting and again the weather was good so it was nice to be out by the big bamboo trees and in the sunshine too. anyway we did a mini tour there before heading back.

for whatever reason i ended up bunking in the same room as the kocho sensei (principal)! im not sure how that worked out, i think the room plans weren't totally worked out and they were trying to figure out where to put me and whatever. kind of funny sleeping on a futon next to this guy but he was so polite and a kind of reserved guy anyway that thank heavens nothing awkward happened...
i remember waking up this morning and saying 'ohayo' to him after seeing he'd been up for a while and, because the night before he came back from the snack bar early to sleep, he asked me what time everyone got in last night. i squinted and said 'wakaranai' and felt it too early to be trying to come up with more polite japanese.

and the place we stayed was beppu, a town on the ocean, in a neighboring prefecture, famous for hot springs. i actually stayed there when my family came to visit me last spring for a weekend. anyway those are really the highlights and i wish i had pictures to send but my camera died cuz i was an idiot and forgot to charge it! i'll ask for some pics from the teachers who took pictures tho and email em when i can. it might be 2 weeks tho.

i had a moment today when a nice breeze hit my face after i saw some budding cherry blossoms and i thought gosh i totally love the weather. we most definitely, gotta, have to kick it outside this spring and enjoy fresh air, beautiful views and nature together.

hope u have a sunny sunday

paul

That's it! The only thing I wanna add on this post is that fugu is a poisonous fish and needs a skilled chef to remove the poisonous parts to make it edible.