Spoiled Rotten!

For the past couple of weeks Josh's University students have been planning a day long outing for us. So on Saturday morning six of his students picked us up around 10am and promptly split us up into two cars so that they could practice their English during the 2 hour car ride up into the mountains. We enjoyed the car ride as we were able to get to know Josh's students a little better and we especially enjoyed the scenery as we got farther up the mountain into the more rural area. About an hour into the drive they decided to stop for a quick rest and we found a mini market where they bought a flat of pears from that region to split between themselves and one of the ladies also treated us to a little snack. It was like a stuffed pancake that was shaped like a fish. Inside the pancake was a sweet bean paste which is pretty high on Josh's list of Japanese foods he could go without eating. After the pit stop we hopped back into the cars and drove another 45 minutes or so to a Somen noodle restaurant. When we got there the students paid for our lunch ticket and we all sat down at a stainless steel counter that was located on the back porch of the restaurant. Across from us was a building with what looked like rain gutters coming down from it and towards us flowing with fresh water. At the end of the rain gutters was an empty strainer. However, the strainer wasn't empty for long! As soon as we gave the lady our lunch ticket and sat down, somen noodles started flowing down the gutters and into our strainers. Josh's students are pros with the chopsticks and quickly scooped the noodles up with their chopsticks and put them into another cup that was in front of us. (That cup had some kind of soy sauce in it and we had the choice to put green onion and wasabi in it as well.) Then they slurped up the noodles before the next clump came into their strainer. Josh and I, still being chop stick beginners and easily amused by the way our food was being served to us, took a bit longer. The last bunch of noodles came down the gutter with a cherry in it which signified the end of our lunch. While the noodles were delicious it was no match for the presentation! Josh is still trying to figure our how we can replicate the experience when we get back to Phoenix:) After our large lunch, the students took us to pick apples at the Hara Apple Farm. They paid 500 yen for us to get in and while we were inside we were able to eat as many apples as we could for free and then we had to pay for the other apples that we picked. So as we were walking along and deciding which trees to pick from the students told us that we should pick the ones that were up high because the sun hits those the most and they are the ripest. Also since Josh was the tallest one in our group they wanted him to get the high ones. We were under the impression that they wanted us to get the apples for all of us to share. So Josh had a brilliant idea to use his hands as a stirrup and hoist me up into the trees to pick the ripest apples for everyone. Once I had picked a quite few and came down we noticed that everyone had taken off and left us with a ton of apples. As Josh would say "WELL CRAP." So we grabbed our baskets of 20 or so apples and set off to find Josh's students in hope of pawning some of these apples off on them so that we wouldn't have to pay for them on the way out of the park. Much to our dismay everyone had picked their own apples and were not looking to take on anymore. One of Josh's students said that he probably needed to eat about 3 apples to get his moneys worth because apples are so expensive here in Japan, so we figured we needed to do the same. After we rinsed our apples we noticed that everyone was peeling them before they ate them, so we figured "when in Rome" and Josh started peeling away. I was able to eat 2 and a half apples while Josh managed to eat 4 and a half. The whole time we were sitting there Josh, in his ever frugal self was trying to figure out what we could do with all of these apples that we had picked that no one was eating. They had told us going in that whatever we pick and don't eat we have to weigh and pay 550 yen per kilogram for. Josh had guesstimated that we had about 4 kilograms at this point and was not too keen on paying over $20 for these apples, especially since we would never be able to eat them all before they went bad. As everyone was starting to finish up we decided that we were going to need to get rid of some of our apples that had imperfections and also weren't looking too good because we didn't want to buy them all. So while Josh stayed and chatted with everyone I went and hid a few apples in various trees like little Easter eggs. Then when I got back, Mr. Tanaka brought us 3 more GIANT apples and placed them in our baskets. I'm talking softball sized apples! Mr Tanaka was so proud of them and as Josh graciously accepted I could see the dollar signs in his eyes and his brain spinning as he tried to figure out how we just got three more apples that weigh at least a kilo by themselves. So we made the trek back up to the top where we parked and paid to get in. When we got inside we put our apples on the scale and they weighed about 3kg which was about 1700 yen. As Josh was taking out his wallet to pay, Mr. Tanaka abruptly stopped him and paid for our apples. We were shocked... they had already paid for our little snack, our lunch, our ticket in, and now they were paying for our apples. What a lovely treat. So we got back into the cars and went to Maple Village, which is an onsen/resort in the mountains. These students were so thoughtful and had purposefully picked this onsen so that Josh could enter with no problems with his tattoo. It was so beautiful up in the mountains... the leaves had started to change colors and it was so very peaceful. We walked into the onsen and there was a place to wash before and after entering the baths, an inside bath with jets and bubbles, a sauna, a little nook for something like a massaging shower, and a rotemburo (outside) bath. The weather in the low 70's and relaxing in the warm bath outside in the cool air was so refreshing. One of the men told Josh that he didn't like going to onsens with his wife because women like their baths and take to long so he would have to wait... BUT not this time. The ladies in our group all came out first! Then we were followed by the two older men and finally about 5 minutes later Josh walked out. They didn't know that Josh enjoys his baths too! Before we headed home we walked up to a little playground and enjoyed other little treats that some of the ladies brought to share with everyone. Josh and I also played on a see saw for a bit while everyone was enjoying the weather and the utsucooshi (beautiful) landscape! It was about 5:30 or 6 when we finally got back to our apartment. We were all talking about what a lovely day we had and all of the students were already talking about planning another trip to take us on! As we were gathering our apples and belongings from the car they handed us 2 more bags.... one full of apples and one full of pears that they had bought at the first stop of the day. Our hands were so full that we could hardly open the door to get into our apartment. We were completely spoiled by our new friends and feel so blessed to be amongst such generous people.

Whoever thought of this contraption is soooo clever!

A close up of Josh's noodles as they came down the chute.

The last batch waiting to be devoured!

Josh showing off his new found chopstick skills... not be confused with his nunchuck skills or bow staff skills.

From left to right: Tanaka San, Kazuko San, Maumi San,
Michi San, Josh, Hino San, Audrey, and Ken San.

Hara Apple Farm

Be thankful this picture does not have sound because you would hear me screaming "hurry up and take the picutre...My hands are slipping!"

The view from the front of the onsen.

Maple Hot Spring Onsen
Higashiyama (East Mountain)