As the title suggests, yes, there is (was) snow in Matsuyama, quite a bit too.  We woke up to just a blanket of white on the cars, streets and mountains near by.  We woke up super early and took a walk around the neighborhood, snapping photos and enjoying one of my newest hobbies; foot onsens!

I shot a video this morning of what Sen Guesthouse looks like now; walking through all of the rooms giving super interesting comments (oh yeah).  Of course, the guesthouse won’t look like this when we open…just a glimpse of what it looks like now, a little of what we’ve done, and how far we still have to go.

This last week has been sort of a roller coaster ride…ups, downs, some unexpected turns and I might have a slight case of whiplash; at least I didn‘t throw up.  We have made good progress though, as is evidenced by the tons of wood, sealant, screws, yukatas, old tiles and sewing machine table we have strewn about the (soon to be) cafe.  You did hear me correctly, we have, as of today, 3 antique sewing machine tables (one still has a sewing machine attached to it) that we will be using as normal tables in our guesthouse.

Day 12

Yup, a bit of a jump.  So we’re figuring we just finished the second phase of “operation Sen guesthouse”.

One of life’s all time highs…sitting in your own sento (Japanese communal bath) with your wife, dark chocolate and umeshu (plum infused liquor) after a hard day of unpacking (well, guess one could forgo the unpacking part).  The move is complete; got out of Osaka is one piece, stayed for one night in the family’s house in Takuma, Kagawa, landed in Matsuyama on the 6th of January, 2012. 

I found this article during my morning ritual of NY times perusing.

http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/travel-lessons-from-the-world-of-academia/?src=dayp

At the crossroads of Dogo Onsen (Matsuyama) and the 88 temple pilgrimage will soon exist a place for one and all to rest, discuss, learn, experience and meet like-minded individuals.  This place, this idea, has been a long time coming and is the fruit of much hard work (both up till now and in the future).  We have so many ideas for what Sen will become and what we will offer to our guests.