2/20

On our last adventure to the hospital we actually had the chance to see more of downtown Nisshin. Today we decided to go exploring and see what else there is beyond the shadow of our territory. We found the Public Library with an adorable little hallway. After finishing our self-appointed tour of the library we went to go and find the Orange House. It's actually this random shop that we passed one night (it was closed) while we were lost. The only thing interesting about it was that it was named the Orange House but it's actually white. We didn't know exactly where it was again we were lost and following directions that consisted of "japansesthatIreallycan'tunderstandbecauseyou'respeakingtoofast - go straight - morejapanesegoingovermyhead and turn left. I'm really surprised that we made it back from that one. But regardless we did in fact make it back to the Orange House, we originally thought it was a cafe but it turned out to be a hair salon. Then we found a hot springs bathhouse. It looked a bit like a castle. We didn't have the necessary supplies (towels, soap etc) so we again skipped it. Kim did a funny because of it though. We were just standing inside the entryway, trying to figure out how to leave without looking like stupid gaijin who didn't understand. (In the end we decided on the classic pretend-to-text-a-friend-then-make-loud-protesting-noises-and-finally-walk-away-talking-quickly-and-gesturing. ) And she turns to me and says "I just realized that we're had a bath together." In Tohoku for volunteer work, we used a public bath together (it was a bit weird). The really funny thing was we went up almost five months ago. I ended up laughing hysterically at her as we rode off and I almost ran off into traffic.

Kim has a bit of a weird interest in parks (and ok I admit it, she's starting to convert me too). Therefore when we found one we decided to go play like we were in grade school again. I think we made a dad who was playing with his kids nervous and then we made some grade school kids angry when we parked our bikes the way of their game (we had parked before they got there and we moved them when we realized). Oh, we were lost again at this point but tired so we just kept sitting there talking and getting looked at by passersby and one housewife from window. It was kind of funny. In the end, we biked around trying to find our way back and stopped at three different parks to play during the duration. We really should invest in a batman spotlight to light our way back to proxy considering how often we get lost.