Hotspring!!

Day 4 – 1 Oct Saturday

Knowing that Teru will be working in the morning, I woke up early to have breakfast together. After walking his dog together, he went to work while I went for a drive with his mother. We stumbled on a “Japanese paper” gallery on our way. The decorations made of paper were really lovely. Saw a chestnut tree & found one chestnut on the floor. I was pretty excited coz that’s the first time I see the tree & the fruit. Hahah…so sua gu hor…

Next we went to see Japan’s largest camphor tree which is about 1,500 years old, followed by some grocery shopping before heading home for lunch. After lunch we started writing my blog while his parents worked on their mini vegetable field. In the late afternoon his mother told me to dig out sweet potatoes together. So I wore his mother’s long-sleeved top, gloves & hat. Think I looked really comical wearing all that with a pair of shorts. His dad laughed and said I’m a “Kagoshima person” now. Hmm.....

It’s really tough to do farming, especially in that crazy weather. And for someone who’s scared of insects like me, it’s not a very pleasant experience to see big ants & other creepy crawlies in the field. His dad loosened the soil so that it’d be easier to us to pick out the sweet potatoes. All this time though I was feeling excited, I was conscious & scared of the creepy crawlies around me, especially so when I was only wearing shorts & track shoes. Now I know farming is out for me, unless I conquer my fear of insects.

They asked their neighbor and her 2 kids along to pick out the sweet potatoes together. His mother chatted with their neighbor and they started talking about Teru. And I wonder why the neighbor asked if he has a gf. Then his mother just act blur saying she doesn’t know "maybe yes… maybe no…though he’s always sending emails from his mobile phone." My back was facing them, so don’t know if they pointed at me or not. I mean, isn’t it obvious that I’m with him? Why else would I come all the way to Kagoshima just to spend my time typing away on my PC & read books?!

After that I wanted to go for a jog coz I feel very fat for eating so much in just a few days. But the weather’s a killer. The sun’s so scorching hot that nobody would really want to be outdoors at that time. So I just stayed at home.

Teru came back at around 5pm, and we set off to Kamo town to get drinking water from a hot-spring. The water’s free, so we brought a big bottle along to fill it. There was a short queue as many others brought big bottles as well. Mission accomplished, we went to pamper ourselves a little at a public bath (hot-spring) nearby.

By 7pm we were done and headed home. On the way back we stopped by Imuta Lake, one of his favorite spots. It’s a lovely place ~ large lake with swans. It’s cooling there too. After 3 days in Kagoshima, we finally have the chance to spend some quality time together even though it’s just 10 -15 mins of holding hands & talking about eating the swans coz we were quite hungry (^-^;)

In the evening I called home because it’s Ah-Ke’s 17th birthday! Ah-Ke isn’t real but I can’t help treating it as real. I love Ah-Ke!! *muacks muacks muacks* Had a short chat with Mum & Dad, followed by a long chat with my sister. She’s so funny when we talked about my stay here. She says we’re just like the characters in a typical drama where the wife would stay up at night to wait for the husband to come home after work because this is really what I’ve been doing for the past 2 nights.

I’m away for only 4 days and we 2 sisters can’t stop chatting…