This week we went to Beppu for apartment inspection. It was a rainy day
with some fog through the mountains, luckily it cleared up after a short while.
The Elders got a "Celestial rating" again and they chose to go out to lunch as a reward and took us to the same Yaki Niku we went to last time. It is delicious, but hard on our waist lines as it is all you can eat in one hour. The Elders can really put it away, so so can we.
That night we stayed in a small Toyoka hotel room and studied.
Friday we inspected the Oita Elders Apartment. First we has a traditional breakfast in the Toyoka Inn. I am getting more use to this style, the rolls and jam were out when we got there.
On the way to the elders apartment we passed the Oita castle, of which only the stone walls are standing, however it looks like they were tearing down a building inside, maybe to restore it like the Kumamoto Castle.
We also went to the water from that we have visited in the past, there were many fishermen there.
Also a large ferry boat across the bay.
In the water there were many jelly fish, here is one.
And here is a movie of it moving.
The Oita Elders got a "Celestial rating" and chose lunch. You guessed it at an all you can eat Yaki Niku, only this one was all you can eat in 1 1/2 hour. Ohhhhh. The signs below are 食べ 放 題 (Tabe Hana Dai) or All You Can Eat (Buffet).
It taste so gooooooooood. Eat your heart out Jen.
This apartment has in the past used a lot of tack put in the walls which is against mission policy. The mission has to pay for damage to these wall when the apartment is changed. Often times this can exceed the deposit amount. To help them out we got four large sheets of foam plastic that you can place behind your desk and pin into as much as you want. Area maps and inspirational pictures are very valuable to have readily visible. We hope this helps. Here we are with the car loaded.
After finishing at Oita we took a side trip to an astronomical observatory on the coast just south of Oita. Here is Sekizaki Ocean and Astronimical Observatory Hall. We couldn't stay late enough to see the telescope and observe the sky, maybe another day when our schedule is different.
They had Kinobori wind socks displayed all over for Kodomotachi day on May 5th.
This is the view from just outside the viewing room looking towards a local island.
There is also a small light house down by the shore.
Here is a pictogram of the area. The distant lands are not visible above due to fog.
Here I am in the binocular observation room which is below the main observatory.
We finished off the day with a beautiful sunset on a beautiful spring day in Japan.
I didn't take this photo, but here is the telescope.
On Saturday we did a little street contacting. Here is one contact. We did have some language issues.
Typically we will bike along where people are more open to visiting such as the river/canal. We will ask them if the know English with "Anata wa, eigo ga hanase masuka? (あなたは、えいごがはなせますか？)" or something similar and give them an Eikaiwa flyer. If they know english we can talk to them in greater depth. This time we tried a bench and smiled at everyone going by and saying Konbanwa, if there was any positive response we will try to continue the contact.
Oh well a day in the life of a senkyoshi.
Love the sunset picture! We spent the past week in Hong Kong. But what we ate most there was Indian food. :)
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