You mean I have go in NAKED?!

So its been a while since I wrote a blog. Lots has happened. Lets see if I can remember.

We last left off with Christmas Eve. So moving on to Christmas day. Christmas Day started off with a trip to the Imperial Palace (the one in Kyoto, not Tokyo). We were scheduled for an English tour at 10AM. The problem was, we weren't sure how to get there by subway. We asked this big group of cops or something how to get there. They decided to lead us out of the subway, and walk us halfway to another subway. When we get there, we follow their instructions that would get us to the Imperial Palace. Once we're on the train, we realize that they made us walk to one stop further away than where we needed to be. In the end, we stopped at our original stop. They made us go further back, and thus lose lots of time, and miss our tour! It was crazy adventure in the subways. But no worries, we just signed up for the 2PM tour, so all was good.

The Imperial Palace in Kyoto (not to be confused with the one in Tokyo which we already saw) was pretty interesting. It was the palace of the emperors for hundreds of years (before the shogunate, until the Meiji Restoration when they relocated to Tokyo, where they reside today). It was a beautiful place, with lots of gates and halls. Highlights of the palace: really cool joints at the corners of the roofs, the "Imperial" gate, which could only be used by the emperor. Even the empress couldn't use it unless the emperor was with her. The gardens, which were beautiful. One of the gardens was meant to look like the northern mountains, thus lots of trees and rocks and ponds and waterfalls. It was beautiful!

The rest of the day was spent just walking around (and shopping!). We also had our special Christmas dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse. Sadly, it was the best meal I had in a while. Its not that I don't like Japanese food, but there's nothing like a good Brazilian steak. And pork. And sausages. It also reminds me a lot of Cuban food, so it felt a bit like home. It was a nice night. One thing I noticed that night which was interesting, was that that night (Christmas) they were already taking down all of the Christmas decorations and putting up the New Years ones. They really don't wait for anything, do they?

The next day was a full day of travel. We were headed to my brother's house in southern Japan (a town called Osaki, the prefecture of Kagoshima). In order to get there, we had to take an hour car ride to Osaka airport, then an hour flight to Kagoshima airport, then a 2 hours bus ride to a town near Osaki, then a 30 minute car ride to my brother's house. A total of about 6+ hours of travel. That's right, my brother lives in the middle of nowhere. Actually he lives in a small town with very nice people. When we got to the bus stop, two of my brother's coworkers were there to help us get to my brother's house: one car for the luggage, and another for us. They drove us all to my brother's house. They were really nice. Once we got to my brother's house, literally a minute after, all of the neighborhood kids came running to greet him. There are two brother: Naru(age 7) and Haru(age 5), three sisters: Nene (7) and twins Kurumi and Nanami (5), and brother sister Hibiki (7) and Yura(2). They are adorable!! They wanted to play with Andrew, but saw us and were very curious. We also met their parents who were also very nice. Basically, all the townspeople are really nice :)

Andrew's house is a typical Japanese home. It has an entrance way where you take off your shoes, it has a "living room" where there is a small couch, a small table and a TV. The room is separated by removable sliding doors which leads to a "bedroom". Really its just a room with tatami mats which can be turned into a bedroom at night and be used as an extension to the living room during the day. There is also a kitchen, which looks like every other kitchen, a washroom which has the washing machine and dryer, the sink and the shower. The shower is interesting. There is a tub then an area with a little stool and a shower head. So basically, you sit on the stool and clean yourself with the shower head, then you get into the tub and soak. I like this concept, because I love just sitting in a tub of hot water. The toilet is located next to the washroom. One interesting feature of the toilet. There is a little sink and faucet above the toilet tank. When you flush the toilet, water comes out of the faucet and flows into a hole in the sink, which is used to fill the toilet tank. So, you can use that water to wash your hands. Its awesome! The only other room in the house is my brother's bedroom which my brother and I share (he sleeps on the bed, I sleep on the floor on a futon which is pretty comfy). We were a bit concerned how we'd all fit into the small house, but we found a solution: my parents in the extra "bedroom" on futons and my uncle in the living room on a futon; the rooms are separated by the sliding doors. The system works pretty well, except for one thing: heating. The house has no insulation. Zero insulation, thus the house gets FREEZING. The heater in my brothers' room doesn't work, my uncle has a heater which works half the time, and my parents got the electric rug (or as my brother likes to sing: "hot carpet" just like "hot pocket"). We had to go out and buy an extra heater in order to heat all of us up! Our first day in Osaki,we headed out of town and towards the near by ACTIVE volcano called Sakurajima. The volcano was erupting that day, so it fogged up our view of Kagoshima City across the bay. We stopped to take picture and see the giant radishes that grow in the volcanic area. These radishes are HUGE. LIKE REALLY BIG. Afterward we drove to a ferry that took up across the bay and to Kagoshima City,the biggest city in the area (Andrew tells us that even though its a city, its nowhere near as big as Kyoto or Tokyo). Kagoshima City didn't have too much sightseeing, but it was nice either way. We walked around a bit and did some window shopping. My brother and I also did Purikura, which is a sort of photo booth. It was ridiculous. I can't even describe it. I think I'll just post the pictures up somewhere and just let you see what I mean.

After exploring Kagoshima City, we got back on the ferry and headed back to Sakurajima. Andrew took us to these outdoor hot springs at the base of the volcano. The hot springs were being heated by the volcano vents, and the water were slightly sulfuric. We first had to take showers before getting into the springs. We got these robes you wear to the baths. The baths are outside,the time, the hot water was relaxing and healing. It was FANTASTIC! I want to go back, but on a clear day when the volcano isn't erupting so that I can see the bay view.

The next day was a very busy day. My brother wanted to make lechon (the typical Cuban way of cooking a pig for Christmas) and invite all his friends to come over and eat. So, my brother had ordered a pig a while ago for the occasion. They killed it while we were in Tokyo, and placed in my brothers fridge (no room for anything else!). He also got a grate made and an oil drum cut in half to make the place for pig cooking. The proper way of cooking a lechon is a slow cook or rotating and coating the pig with a special sauce called mojo.So my uncle, father, and brother got up early in the morning to start cooking the pig which took a looooong time (from about 10AM to 7PM, which doesn't include when we had to defrost the pig in our bathtub, haha). My mother and I cleaned the house up and made some arroz con leche (or rice pudding). My mother also made black beans and rice. It was a long day of preparation. And neeedless to say, we didn't expect the amount of people that showed up to our gathering. There were about 40 people who showed up, and about 35 of them showed up at the SAME TIME. The neighbors, the coworkers, the Japanese friends and American friends all showed up at the same time, and none of us knew what to do!

In the end, the gathering turned out to be a success. Everyone loved the lechon, and all the rice and beans were practically gone, as was the arroz con leche. There were lots of talking and drinking, lots of socializing and mingling. There was quite a number of kids (mostly the neighbors) who were running around or watching the the DVD my brother put on. One of the neighbors, Haru,took a particular liking to me. He started following me around the whole house, never far from my butt. He would run up to me and yell, then laugh hysterically, then run away. They he started running up and poking his head between my legs. Later, while sitting down, he could climb my back and try to tickle my neck and cheeks. It was all cute, until he jammed his head straight up between my legs. Lets just say I'm glad I'm not a guy. One thing that calmed him down was when my mom and I taught the kids to make gingerbread men. I had never seen children pay attention and behave so well. It was crazy/nice/I hope my children are that well behaved. I basically spent the whole party playing the kids. I didn't really talk to any of the adults. Little Japanese kids are way cuter than old Japanese men.

At least the clean up wasn't too bad.

The next day we headed to Kirishima to experience my brother's Christmas present to us: Ryokan, which is like a resort where you go to the hot springs and baths and then get an all you can eat thing. Onsen is what you call the hot springs. During the day we hiked around the area, since the resort is in a national park. We wanted to see a volcanic lake,so we decided to take an "easy" 30 minute hike. Needless to say,people had misinformed us and it was quite a painful hike, especially with the wrong shoes and snow covered paths. It was painful, and we complained all the way, but it was worth it. It was pretty cool and pretty up at the top. The hike down wasn't as bad, but sure was just as painful!The rest of the day we drove around the area and took lots of pictures of the mountains and old volcanoes.

After the hike we headed to our hotel, where we were treated to a feast of food. There was so much food, that I didn't even get a chance to try some of the food! I had to lie down for about 30 minutes without moving to let all food settle. After the food twins turned into a food baby, we changed into yukata,which are traditional summer kimono, and got ready for the hot springs! Except, we didn't go to the hot springs. We went to the traditional Japanese bath. What does that mean? Well, we were separated by sex, then we had to be NAKED and go into this huge, really hot steamy room where there were little shower stations and big ass hot pool. Once in the room, you go to the shower station, take a shower, then relax in the big hot pool. How did I feel about this? Um, that's crazy! But what happened? After seeing about 4 naked Japanese women, I thought, why not? They don't seem to care, we have the same body parts,so I got naked and did the Japanese thing.Took a shower then relaxed in the hot pool. It wasn't so bad afterall. No one really cares or looks at you; afterall,they are naked too. Plus the room was so steamy that it was hard to see anything. It was one of the best baths I had in a long time. I love scolding hot water (especially when I don't have to pay the water bill, haha). After that, I lounged around in my yukata and intently watched a Japanese drama that I did not understand. I really want to know what I was watching, and I will find out somehow! Then I passed out.

In the morning we had an all you could eat breakfast. It was an interesting breakfast, the strangest of foods was rice and miso soup (which aren't strange in itself, but for breakfast I think so. Apparently its the norm in Japan). We then headed to our next hike, so see some waterfall. It was really pretty, but it was raining so the hike was kind of annoying. We then went to Kirishima Shrine,up in the mountains. It was beautiful and colorful, and they were preparing for the new year, so lots of booths were being put up. Then our journey back to Osaki began.

Later that night (or more like,6 hours ago), we went to one of my brother's friends house for dinner. They came to our gathering, so they invited us to their house in return. So we had dinner with the guy, his wife, and his son (who plays badminton with Andrew, or used to until he got married and now has little time to hang with Andrew *sad face*).It was the best meal I had in this entire trip!It was a home made meal, but I don't remember the name of the stuff but it was good! We then sat around a kotasu and talked (or attempted to, huge language barrier happening). A kotasu is a table that has a heater underneath and a blanket sandwiched between the table and the heater, so it was nice and toasty. It was nice old time. We ate ice cream, talked about traveling, baseball (Ichiro and Matsui(?)), music, and watched Andrew sing karaoke at the son's wedding last June. These people were truelly kind and sweet, and it was nice that to have met them and eat their delicious food.

All in all, I feel like I've had an incredible experience that I never would have had if it were not for my brother being located in such a far off place. Its been awesome :)

Random thoughts: I love hot baths. I like Asian dramas, even if I don't understand what's going on. Did I mention that I like little Japanese kids? No insulation sucks. Being naked in front of others isn't so bad, when the others are naked also at least. I like Haribo cola gummies. Signs translated into English are awesome (like "fire ararm" or "visit the zoos koara bears"). Japanese cars are adorable. And everyone backs into their parking spots with those small cars. My brother's car is super tiny, and yet we somehow manage to fit in it. I of course got the bitch seat. woohoo. I cannot wait to sleep on an actual bed. Futons are comfy, but there's nothing like a nice thick mattress. I've lost count of the days. I have no idea what the date is or what day of the week is. Like I thought today was the 27th and Thursday, when its actually the 30th and Wednesday. I feel disconnected from my friends at home. I miss them. I hope they miss me too. :)