Snowy Mountains

Well my goodness,

today was the biggest day of achievements since i actually stepped foot onto that plane in Adelaide airport.

I woke at 7am and had breakfast, the usual etc. Then my host dad, host mum and younger host brother and i got into the car about 10am to set off into the mountains. We have a massive car, which i have a picture of, of course, and i will show you all one day but for now, just imagine...

Well i could see no snow for a long time but we were headed for the highest mountain in Fukushima, Azuma i believe it is called. Suddenly my host mum cried out `Yuki` which is snow and i whipped my head around to find a whole pile of white bags haha it wasn`t snow but we kept driving and eventually we were surrounded by such beautiful snow! It was a first for me and i loved touching it and leaving my foot prints and hand prints! Also remind me never ever to wear dunlop volleys in the snow. I think i came very close to frost bite. Well, we ventured further and further, stopping often and in the car we listened to Disney Spectacular which just made the snow that much more pretty!

We stopped for lunch which was とても おいしいい！Very yummy, and then went looking at the little tourist hut at the top of the mountain where i bought a few bits and pieces. We drove back down the mountain, stopping often to look at certains amazing first time scenarios for an Aussie girl such as myself. Eventually we arrived at the onsen.

Onsen, marked with the famous ゆand i think it is the bravest thing i have ever done. Onsen, sorry if i am insulting by explaining this but it is the communual hot springs or baths rather....

I won`t go into detail, wouldn`t want to scare you all haha. It was awesome and such a culture shock to say the least but there were two baths, one was outside and there was a beautiful view of the mountains but, believe it or not, i didn`t take my camera with me, i quite literally took nothing but me ...

Gender seperated by a wooden wall and then back inside there were little showers which were Japanese style, so they had little stools, little bowls for water and hand held shower hoses etc but i couldn`t read which one was the body scrub and which one was the hair shampoo so i felt like a bit of a perve trying to watch everyone else and at the same time act as if i was minding my own business... yes very awkward but eventually figured it out!

After this amazing ordeal we went to visit my host mum`s grandparents who were lovely and gave me hand made chopstick holders, or as the grandfather insisted, you can also use these chopstick holders as book marks... very versatile.

I met another Australian named Ganto, a dog who was a border collie and he was gorgeous, of course i have a picture but i can`t show it right now.

Well it was amazing and i couldn`t say thankyou enough! Tomorrow i have school which is scary and i will post again when i can!

Love always, Mel xx