Fukuda Fun!

I am back at Yamaai Mura for one more week before going to Uto and the family.
However, I really enjoyed my stay with the Fukudas. Keiichan, Hiroko-obachan and Shinchan were all very fun to be with. On Wednesday Keiichan took me to the Zoo/Botanical Garden/ Kids Amusement park in Kumamoto. It wasn't busy at all, we were nearly the only ones there. Probably because it was a cloudy day that was supposed to be rainy and a week day afternoon...But I got to see all kinds of animals, love! I got to see Zaboomafoo (lemur!) and this unique Chinese monkey that was given to the zoo by Kumamoto's sister city in China. Apparently when they monkeys first came to the Zoo, people from all over Japan came to see it. It had a beautiful little face that seemed almost blue and a lot of light brown fur...very interesting.
Of course I got to see elephants and giraffes and even a black swan! It was a chilly day but since we were walking around it felt wonderful...the changing colors of the trees was so beautiful. We also got to see a whole bunch of confused cherry blossom trees! Spring blossoms and autumn colors...awesome.

On Thursday Shinchan took me to Uniqlo to get a shirt Elijah wanted and then we went to the history museum next to the Kumamoto castle and after that to another museum called Wakuwakuza. It had a lot of fun hands on things- I think it was targeted mostly at kids, but we enjoyed it! We got to try on kimonos, sit on a horse and play with one of those new projectors that when you walk on the light on the ground the image changes where you step. I haven't seen one since we were coming back from Italy with OHS orchestra at an airport. The image originally shows the current Kumamoto city but where you walk it shoes a drawn map of how it used to be several hundred years ago. Yes! I think it was Shinchans first time seeing anything like that, pretty awesome. We had to rush at the end because we were supposed to be back at the house by 6 but right outside the museum there are many new shops in traditional style Japanese building. So it kind of has the feel of being old, but looks very Japanese - Nippon-poi (I think).  We went into one store and bought koro-ke, basically breaded and fried creamed and slightly sweet potato- so delicious. Mine had a little sea urchin in it:)

Shinchan knows English very well so we can talk about differences and interesting parts of the languages (and a lot more things since now we have two languages to work with!). But I was telling him about how cute Japanese sounds, they have words like "pa-pa " and "sa-sa" which means basically "quickly". Or "fua-fua" that means "puffy". I guess that Japanese uses a lot of repetition which ends up just sounding really adorable! The four of us then went out to Conveyor Belt Sushi before Keiichan dropped me off at Yamaai Mura. When ever I'm at a Conveyor Belt Sushi restaurant, I can't stop smiling. I don't know what it is! But I feel like such an idiot that I'm brought to such gaiety because of conveyor belt sushi! I think it's partly because of how hilarious it is to see the little sushi going around and around...and I'm terrible at eating sushi. Basically you are supposed to stick one whole nigiri (piece) into your mouth, but it's really hard for me to do that and chew and not burst out laughing...it's really horrible! But I love the sushi. I always get chawamushi as well. Hiroko-obachan and I are alike in that we love food:) But Shinchan and Keiichan poke fun at her all the time basically for not being able to resist anything. After sushi she wanted to order a bowl of udon and she kept saying "But I can't eat it all by myself" but Keiichan retorted "Of course you can". I guess it's funnier in Japanese, but that banter kept up a little until Shinchan just ordered it for his mother and he ended up eating a little bit of it as well - so it all worked out! They are so hilarious, I was laughing throughout the whole dinner. But Shinchan asked me "Did you stuff yourself?" And of course I started laughing because I was laughing at everything but it was funny to hear that, because in America you don't say that - you ask "Are you full?" or "Did you get enough to eat?" . But you never hear "Did you stuff yourself?" You only say that about yourself, "OH, I'm STUFFED." I was absolutely delighted by the end of the dinner, full of green tea, eel, squid, tuna, salmon, shrimp, rice, chawamushi and caramelized sweet potato fries!
I said good bye and thank you and was sad to leave but they invited me to come again while I'm at Uto so i will see them again soon.

It seems like wherever I am, that place becomes my home...
When I got to Yamaai Mura Muto-san gave me a hug and said he was happy I was home:) Keiichan stayed for tea and Muto-san said after I left it was lonely here and Keiichan said that now, it will be lonely in Mashiki as well! I feel bad that I can't be more than one person and be everywhere everyone wants me to be at once...but, I guess that's something I'll just have to live with. It's good to be back here in Kikuchi too:) Tomorrow I WWOOFer from Holland is coming, pretty cool. And tonight we ate dangojiru, my favorite!

In my heart I feel a little warm and fuzzy knowing how I am loved by those around me here and how I love them too.

Despite all this love though...I'm starting to feel a tad achy for my family. I keep saying to myself soon enough I will be home...soon enough...I still have a lot ahead of me that I'm excited for.
For starters, tomorrow is supposed to be a gorgeous day here in Kikuchi. Today was dreary as ever and I was sad but I can feel the warmth of the sunlight already!
Come on beautiful day, blue skies and sun shine - I need you.