Sailing Adventure

Ok once again I'm posting this a bit late. On Sunday (its now Friday) we went on a sailing trip/race/lunch trip. It was arranged for participants in the JET program who are in Kagoshima prefecture, so I got to meet other JETS who I hadn't met yet (Eli had met many of them at orientation events already). We were sorted onto around 12 sailboats based on country of origin. Eli and I had been placed on different boats (there were 4 USA boats) and we spent the time before boarding trying to sort things out so that we could be on the same boat. Well we did manage it, but because of the confusion (most of the event managers and boatmen knew very little English) we didn't have time to find someone with sunscreen. We ended up on USA D boat and the other American on the boat also had forgotten sunscreen. (More on the consequences later).

The sailing was a race around these three small islands in the bay north of Kagoshima city. We hitched a ride up about an hour or 45 minutes north of the city with Charlie (from Great Britain) and Nadine (Canada). (Nadine's a first year in Eli's office and Charlie is a third year, I think, who lives a little further out of the city then we do. Charlie has a car and she was very nice to take us on as passengers.) Anyway the race took us around the islands, around a buoy, back around the Islands the other way, etc. We went around 2 times I believe. It was HOT and I was wearing my bathing suit under my clothes, so I took off my shirt and just wore the suit and my shorts.

As we were nearing the buoy for the last time we heard excited squeals from one of the nearby boats we were passing (they had already finished the course). We looked to see what they were so excited about and there was a school of DOLPHINS!!!! We counted at least 6 of them. We didn't see them up close since they were pretty curious about the boat they were by, which happened to be Nadine's boat. It was SOOO cool. On the way home we found out that Nadine's hat had fallen into the water and she was afraid the dolphins would take it with them because they were curious about it. They left it behind though so she was able to retrieve it. Nadine's boat was the first one to finish the race. Canada beat the USA..... our boat came in 4th place. The second and third places went to a Chinese boat and one of the other USA boats (not sure in which order).

After the dolphins we ended up docking at the middle of the three islands. Here I was able to finally get some sunscreen, a bit late. Then we walked up a steep hill to a shady spot where we set up grills with tables around them and tatami mats around that to sit on. Each table got packets of meet (chicken, pork, maybe beef, and little sausages of some sort) and veggies (cabbage, green peppers, and onions). We grilled the stuff and put it on plates which we put sauce on, it was SOOO yummy. Then there was a free raffle in which we won a little statue of a Japanese demon. Once that was done we got to go swimming for a little while. The beach and the way shallows were covered in sharp little rocks so it was somewhat painful to feet to get in. Once we managed to get into deeper water it felt really great and was well worth the sore feet. The water was cool, not really cold, and was VERY salty. After the short swim we had to head back to the boats and sail back.

Charlie told us that Matsumoto was sort of on her way home so after we dropped Nadine off in the City she drove us home (which was hard because driving in the city is confusing, especially when you can't really read the road signs). But once we got here Charlie was able to show us where the local Family Mart is. Family mart is a convenience store, sort of like United Dairy Farmers is back home. She was friends with our predecessor so she knew a bit more about our town then anyone else seemed to. (Our predecessor left about a month and a half before her contract was up, for personal reasons, so no one in Eli's office could tell us about the area we're living in). Charlie also told us that the Joyful restaurant (its a chain see my comment on the previous post for more info) is a ways past the Family Mart. We were very excited to learn that there are more culinary options available with taking the train. They may not be wonderful options but they are also open 24 hours.

Once home Eli and I took cool showers to wash the salt from the water out of our very bad sunburns. That's right we were both very red, me mostly on my back where there is a very nice outline of my swimsuit and the bar on the boat that I was leaning against. Eli's worst burn was his knees though he also was burned on the tops of his feet and on his lower arms. We both had burnt faces too, although not quite as bad, especially on Eli who had been smart and worn a hat.

Since that day we have tried Joyful, its decent and the food is really cheap compared to other places in the city (our ramen shop is cheap too). Our burns have started clearing up in the lighter burnt places and pealing where we were burnt more heavily. And life goes on. (But I can now say that I've seen wild dolphins!!!)