Yakisoba + Onsen = ....

...heaven.

Delicious, eggy heaven

And then I added some kimchee!

Today I made yakisoba, which is basically grilled vegetables, meat, and noodles served up with sauce and an egg. It was delicious, and Okaasan even let me cut my own vegetables! It was beautiful and delicious.

View from the car - it's much bigger in real life

Going to the onsen (hot springs) may have just been the most relaxing thing I ever did. The one we went to (I forget the name...), was huge! Okaasan and I experimented in all the different pools (both indoor and out) as well as all the saunas and other things. During this muchly needed, very relaxing trip, I sat in an indoor hottub, an outdoor hottub, a little barrel that was just big enough for me to fit into filled with running hot water (the excess spilled over the  sides) and lay down on some stone with water trickling over it. However, my favorite experience was the steam sauna. In it, first we rubbed ourselves with some ginger salt (it smelled gingery, but I’m actually not sure of the scent), then we sat and sweated. It was the most wonderful thing in the world and I could have stayed in there for hours (though that would probably not be very healthy…), but Okaasan soon insisted we should go. It’s been less than half an hour since I was in there and I already want to go back! It was sooooooooooo nice.

One thing that may throw some people off about onsen is all the naked. Yes, you enter these tubs with many other people in them and you are naked. I, personally, have no problem with this due to the old showers after gym in middle school, but I know some people might. So to all of those people, I’m giving you this advice: forget about your hang ups and do this! You will be glad you stepped out of your comfort zone to try. Also, for those of you who think it unhygienic (Mom, I’m looking at you~!), everyone washes  both their hair and body before getting in, and there’s always some towels and stuff to wash yourself off more. This may quite possibly be the best thing that I’ve ever done in my entire 20 years of existence. You should try it too!

Also, remember to drink lots of water, because you sweated most of it out anyways!