September 26. 2004 22:35

Dreamland Tango

Tango was great! I haven't had so much fun in ages. We were just swimming, wandering, then coming to eat from a set table... It was awesome. Most of the time I hang out with the other youngsters of the group, meaning Tim and Laura and Tom, the echange students, and another Tom from the Canberra group. Yuuko, Tom the Echange Student's girlfriend was there, too, and sometimes a couple of other guys from Canberra and the American exchange student Geneve. So that's the "we" I'm talking about. I'm not sure how much this is gonna make sense, but I guess you get the idea that this was the best holiday ever ^_^

The bus trip to the seashore took ages. Especially the trip there, as we stopped to eat and to visit a museum etc. We left at nine in the morning but it was late in the afternoon when we got there. After dropping our stuff in the rooms we ran straight into the sea, and it was so warm! Way too salty for my taste, though, the insides of my nose kept burning up and I was coughing all the time. I'm used to the mild waters of the Finnish archipelago... The waves were at least two meters high and threw me around for a long time until I got hang of it, how to swim under them and all. But the Australians were like at home there. And when I learned to hold my nose at the right times and dive under the waves that had the white bubbles on top it was so great! We were swimming all the weekend, at morning and at night.

After we got up from the sea (which wasn't an easy task with the waves throwing us off our feet...) the others had already prepared the dinner. For the whole weekend, being at the barbeque was the closest I got to making food. Or making a toast and putting jam on it, for another. The older people always had the food ready when we young ones came from our adventures. I've been eating so much my tummy feels like bursting. And all that was paid by the university, by the way ^_^ First night we had sushi, then curry for lunch both days, on Saturday there was the BBQ and then there was toast for breakfast. I haven't eaten bread ever since I came here, just because I haven't bothered to find anything to go with it. I just eat bananas for breakfast. We could've had cereals as well, but I didn't want to drink milk, 'cause it'd make my tummy ache. (Lactose intolerance.)

Then we went to swim again (nakkid!), and enjoyed a bath afterwards. We were like seven people in a bathtub for four to five, but it was great anyway. So relaxing... It wasn't even past midnight when we got out, but it'd been such a great and relaxing day we were all quite ready to go to bed. I think I went to bed at midnight on Friday and around one on Saturday. Time held no meaning for us there, but it was surprising how early one gets tired after enjoying oneself for the whole day.

Woke up at nine (both days) and went straight to swim again. Well, after breakfast. We went walking to the other end of the beach to check out a small shrine up the hill and the amazing view down the hillside, which was almost vertical. We climbed on the rocks where we could see over the whole beach, and then tried to swim around the rocks to the next beach, but the current was too strong. We were there for hours, until everyone else had already eaten their lunch. After lunch we went wandering to the small town and met a group of adorable kids and their strangely passive cat. One of the girls was hanging it around from its paws and it seemed a-okay with it, it was unbelievable. And the kids were just so cute, talking to us and posing for photos and waving for goodbye. Then we went to have a beer (or a lemonade in my case) at the highest rocks, staring out to the sea. Again we were enjoying ourselves too much to bother coming in time for the barbeque. We didn't miss much, though, they had just started when we arrived. Oh, the meat was so good!

The boys came up with a wrestling challenge, England vs. Australia, which was very much fun but ended quite badly for Tim, the English champion. Not only did he lose to both Toms, but ended up hurting his knee so that today he's been keeping it in ice and limping. He didn't notice it Saturday night, though. Sprained joints have that bothersome way of seeming like it's nothing until a few hours later. So, we collected some wood and bamboo and put up a bonfire on the beach, and the whole group gathered around it. If we had only had some marshmallows it would've been a perfect night. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the fire into what seemed like late at night to us, even though it wasn't that late to the rest of the world.

The next morning those that hadn't gone to the spa the previous day went there after a morning swim. I never got that sun lotion I meant to buy ages ago, so I got a little burned on Saturday and didn't feel like it was a good idea to soak my burns in hot water. I never noticed that I had had so much sun until people started pointing it out on Saturday night, but today it started to feel a bit sore. So, I didn't go to the spa, but instead went for a final walk along the beach and took a few photos.

On the way back we stopped at this gas station-like place, where we had stopped on the way there as well, and where I found the bliss that is Mr. Donut's Angel Creams. I've seen Mr. Donuts around before, but I never got close enough to see the yummies. Angel Creams are donuts filled with a cream that's like unbaked mareng, and they're soooo good. They scream at you, telling you to take ten and eat them all by yourself. If I ever get depressed here, I know what I'm gonna do... And I love the tape they close their bags with, it says "Thanks you beautiful people" ^_^

I felt so down when we got back to the hot, dusty and boring Kyoto, away from the refreshing wind and the fun of the sea. This one weekend has felt more like a dream vacation than anything I've felt for years. Now it's back to working and living in the dorm amongst people I can't even talk to... For a second I thought it'd feel like living in some temporary room again like when I arrived, but was relieved to find out that returning to the dorm felt a little like returning back home. And school's great and my alien registration card should be ready, so things should get rolling nicely. I hope we'll have a fun karaoke party with the Canberra group before they leave ^_^

... Endnote: I just went through my monthly money plan and checked it in euros... I just can't believe how small the sums are in euros, after learning to deal with them in yen.