ACC Onsen Retreat!

Sendai's pretty lucky. Whenever there's a typhoon we usually don't get hit hard. Today was a typhoon that seemed to do a lot of damage further down south. It certainly did rain hard and there were some strong gusts of wind throughout the day, but there were also lots of moments when it didn't rain at all.

The church had planned an onsen retreat today, but we didn't let the rain ruin our plans. We all met up at 10:00 am this morning and carpooled to Ogawara. As we were leaving we saw that a tree in front of the Bengtsons' house had fallen down. That was the most serious damage I'd seen all day. Everything else was pretty minor -- fallen leaves and branches. 

After a not too long drive we arrived at our destination. When we entered the parking lot, I realized that I'd been there before. It was the really yummy and stinky tonkatsu placed I'd visited with my Osawa coworkers several years ago!  I had thought of bringing Aaron there before but I didn't know where it was, so I was really glad to be back and excited that Aaron could try it out.  Although I'd eaten at the restaurant before, I'd never actually used their onsen before!

When we walked in, the staff led us down to a private room where there were bentos waiting for us. The food was excellent! I couldn't finish it all and I was so stuffed. 

    

 

Immediately after the meal, we headed for the onsen.  It was really small but nice.  At first we stayed indoors for awhile.  But we decided to check out the outdoor onsen.  There we got a whiff of the pigs from the pig farm directly behind the building.  Also, because of the typhoon, the bath was a little dirty and we were getting rained on.  After a while, we decided to go back inside.  We didn't take too long before coming out again. After about 40 minutes, we were outside behind the onsen checking out their pig farm. We saw several "mini pigs" that were not mini at all. We also saw peacocks, chickens (which I avoided), a duck, two ponies, and a stag. They ponies were really cute. As soon as we approached, they were nuzzling us to pet them. The stag was really cool but we didn't get a good look. It was at the back looking very badass. It didn't move for a long time and it almost looked fake, until it did move. Unfortunately, it was too far away to get a good picture. 

 

On the way back, we stopped for some ice cream.  It was really yummy and perfect after a hot bath.  We all regrouped back into the private room and tried to take a picture.  It was a very interesting situation.  We had to stack a bunch of chairs up so that Toru could set the timer.  It took quite some time to figure out the right height and the right amount of objects we could stack together before finally taking the picture.  After the picture, we all headed home.  When we got back, it was barely raining at all. And tomorrow is expected to be a beautiful, sunny day!

Toru setting the camer on top of 3 chairs, 3 lids, and a serving pan.