Zao Onsen

Dane and I got up real early in the morning a couple weeks ago and took the train to Yamagata; then we took the *correct* bus to Zao Onsen. (We had previously taken the bus to Sendai, the capitol city in a different prefecture, heh; not only that, but we discovered, in very plain English, a schedule for departures to Zao.) Zao Onsen is the name of a little town on the side of a mountain that is very popular for skiing and snowboarding, as well as having a few hot springs. It was very pretty, I already posted the pictures. We walked like a third of the way up the mountain to go to a hotspring; when we got there, we discovered it was closed. We walked around some more, got some prices for the slopes, and made our way back down. We ended up going to an onsen that a co-worker recommended to me. It was way awesome. They had an inside pool, and two outside ones of varying temperature; they also had some barrel-like tubs for people to sit in with little streams of water falling into them that were even cooler. I loved it.

My hair is getting pretty long, I'm starting to look like Rukia from Bleach again. I don't really like it, but it's all right. We'll keep going.

Having to wear a suit to work initially bothered me; but after beginning work, it didn't bother me at all. It was no longer about me feeling like they were suppressing my individuality; it became about me putting on an outfit and taking on a role. I want to look good for my students. Now I just need to pull together the perfect outfit to satisfy my steampunk cravings.