Home!

It has been so long since I have written! I have been home for four months now. Japan, unfortunately, seems very far away in both past and future. Since I'm in college now though, I am studying Japanese again and am very glad for the insight my time in Japan has provided me! Though I thought it was amusing when my sensei mentioned she could tell me "accent" was normal and when I told her, Kumamoto, she wasn't very surprised at all:)

I'm also in a class called "Japanese Food Cultures" and have to keep a blog for that one. Here is a link!
http://tabemonster.weebly.com/

I do not regret doing a gap year one moment. It is was perfect for me because it gave me enough time to clear my head, feel out my goals and bring myself to focus for these next fours years of a new kind of adventure - education!

I've met many people here who have taken gap years, because it is becoming a lot more common. Not one person has regretted taken a gap year. I completely encourage it!
Not all learning is done in a classroom. There is a whole wide world out there to explore and learn about.

I'm planning to go back to Japan for study-abroad - maybe I will see you there!

Thanks:)

5.12.2012

It's Saturday, I'm going home in ten days.

Last night Ojichan had jyuku while Obachan and Ema had a meeting/get together at the high school so I got to ride in Kazu's cool car and we went out to eat Hiroshima style Okinomiyaki. I told him I'd just have the normal one, but he ordered us the "special". Which was amazing! Normal okinomiyaki is basically cabbage, meat, flour and water and maybe eggs mixed together into a batter then cooked. But the Hiroshima style is a whole different thing. First they brought out soba noodles and started cooking that before pouring a little bit of plain batter on the grill, the woman used the laddle to smooth the batter out into a thin sheet. Then there was a lot of sliced cabbage, like 3 inches piled on top. She started cooking mochi seperately at that point. Then on top of the cabbage was set shrimp, squid and pork. Next was the egg, she cracked it on to the grill and same as the batter, smoothed it out into a thin sheet. The noodles went on top of the egg, mochi went on top of the noodles, then the cabbage and meat and pancake portion was flipped ontop of the mochi. It was absolutely massive. Spices, sauce, and mayo decorated the top and it was moved to the part of the  skillet close to us. It was really good:)

Today I went to Hashirigata for the morning, but decided I'd try to spend some time with the family during the afternoon. Since yesterday was harvesting day (since today was the morning auction at the market) I hadn't really spent any time in the green house. But the market is not open on Sundays so Satuday is always a green house day. I finished picking the new sprouts and adjusting the support strings on the tomato plants so today I got do something new. I sat on a little cart that could roll, and clipped off the bottom three "branches" of each tomato plant stalk. I know it doesn't sound that hard, but the tomato plant vines are kind of woven into eachother. The green house is 50 meters long, so I went up and down the row in 2 hours. I couldn't believe it took me so long but I listen to the RKK radio station while in the green houses...so first it was "mamonaku, kuji ni narimasu- ba ba baaaaaaan" then the next thing I knew "Mamonaku, juuji ni narimasu - ba ba baaaaaaan". Today the radio show wasn't very interesting. I guess they don't do the 8:50 AM horoscope reading on Saturdays...and luckily the "bag" talk is over. For about two days straight there were all kinds of discussions and stories about people and their bags...which was interesting at first but got kind of dull after a little while. I also think that about 5% of everydays radio talk time is made up of "sou desu ne~" or basically just "ne" in general. It makes me think of when Dad "speaks Japanese" which basically his a very exagerated " desu NE~~~"  and I end up laughing because all of Dads Japanese imitations are actually really on the spot:)

I left at 11:30 and got back to Uto around 12. Kazu and Ojichan had already eaten lunch and were doing their own things so I ate ramen, apple and mini cucumbers while watching some TV before working on packing. I think it will all fit... then I showered and decided to go on a bike ride.

I first visited Obaachan and Ojiichan's grave because I haven't this time. The day was beautiful and the view of the mountains from the cemetary was really beautiful.

Next I went to the Todoroki Spring, where I always go. Last time I went though it was winter time and I had been the only one there. Today was warm (I decided to be a proud foreigner and biked around in a tank top today, proper Japanese girls don't do that sort of thing, you'll turn brown if you do!) and because it was warm there were all kinds of people at the spring. A group of about six little kids were playing in the pool of water while other people were collecting water from the top of the spring. It was a gorgeous day, the sun was golden and everything seemed to glitter with beauty and joy. Listening to the children's voices and the birds and the water trickling - I was in a very happy place. I remember playing there too, with mom and Elijah and Ema and Kazu. I don't know when that was...I think it was when I was in 5th grade.

Then I walked a little down the road to where there are ruins and mossy steps, bamboo and giant trees. I'd gone there too in December, but it had a completely different feel now that it was warm and green. There was a pool of water and a little stone bridge before the steps and in the pool a turtle had its legs stretched out as it sun bathed on a rock. The turtle and I enjoyed the forest together for a little while...it was really beautiful.

Just in the past week I can see how much the tabacco plants have grown, some have the flower already. I think that perhaps after the tabacoo comes rice. Around the end of this month they at least harvest the wheat and start to prepare the fields for rice. Apparently the wheat harvest is really finicky and if the weather doesn't hold up, you can lose the whole crop. Apparently Chizuko-san's cousin lost all ten fields because there was took much rain and warmth and so the grains started sprouting...they then use a tractor to just mixed it all into the earth...natural fertilizer. I also learned that after harvest there is certain plant that is scattered over the fields that aren't going to be used in the spring so that when it gets time for planting rice, they can mixed that flower into the earth and it is an especially good fertilizer for rice. Pretty cool.

I came back from my bike ride and had a nice talk with Ojichan before he had to get ready for his 5:00PM class.
Tomorrow is the MTB race, two hour enduro followed by onsen and buffet lunch at the hotel that's hosting the event. Ojichan organized it so he isn't participating, but Ema and her high school team are. We are leaving at 5:00AM since it is about an hour and a half away in the northern part of Kumamoto. Kazu has to work tomorrow so he wont come. He's been outside washing and working on his car for about two hours now...he really, really loves cars.

I have a lot of time to think...so I've been thinking a lot about home...as well as my experience in Japan. It really does feel like it has been the fastest eight months of my life. I don't really know what to expect when I get back to Oberlin... if it will feel different...if I will be different. It seems so surreal that I'll be sleeping in my own bed soon, that I'll be fighting Elijah for the good side of the couch at Dad's house, that I'll be able to pet my cats and cuddle with them, that I'll see my family and friends, that I'll be speaking English, that I'll ride my own bike across town and see all the familiar sights that are Oberlin. What's it going to feel like to take off from Osaka? To land in Cleveland?

I like running through all my favorites memories from Japan, like flipping through a photo album - just snap shots here and there that I hope to never forget. A facial expression, a wave, kind words, gesture - like Hana-chan's joyful face while harvesting shiitake mushrooms together...just a moment...but all that good feeling from that moment is still here and that's what makes it so special to me. For some reason I can recall everyone's laughing face pretty well - maybe because everyone laughed often enough it is now printed onto my brain...whatever it is, I'm very happy that is something I will take home with me.

It's still not the end, but from her it is a lot of good byes... not until I land in Cleveland will I get to say "hi!" or "it's been a while" again:) But that will feel really, really nice.

Kagoshima was really wonderful. Kazu dropped me off at Uto station (in his new, cool car that has the engine in the back instead of the front so I got to put my bag in the hood of the car! whoa!) and then took the train to Kumamoto, found platform for shinkansen, rode shinkansen for like 45 minutes got to Kagoshima. Megumi was waiting for me at the gate and we took a taxi to the ferry and then took the ferry to Sakurajima, the "used to be island" volcano in the middle of Kagoshima. That ferry is famous for udon so we ate that during the ride. Then Megumi's friends picked us up at the otherside and we drove into the mountains of Teramizu to the campground where we met Megumi's college professor and about 25 other people for the overnight camp. Megumi's friends are mostly guys - I think due to the fact she went to technical school for woodworking and what not. One of them was "Joe" who lives in Miyazaki - he is the same age as Megumi and really kind and hilarious. "Testu" and "Gaku" (shortened names because they have terribly long names) were also really nice. They were 29 and 30, but they didn't treat me like a little kid which I really appreciated.

We set up camp and then the five of us plus three other women went on a river walk which was fun and perfect activity for the hot day. When we got back to camp other people had started tempura and BBQ so we basically just got to eat. Another of Megumi's friends came later , Shogun- he works at the nearby by chicken meat/egg company. I got to eat all kinds of strange tempura - even ocha leaf tempura!
There was a night hike for the kids (there were about 8 kids, elementary age)  and after chatting and drinking some more I got tired and went to bed while everyone else stayed up but it was fine. Megu, Joe, Shogun and I had plans to get up at 5AM and climb a mountain to see the sunrise. The night was cold so I slept on my belly with my arms under me - which I haven't done since the Smoky mountains while hiking the Appalachian Trail. Anyway. I was the first to get up and somehow we managed to get Joe up (who had been awake till 3) and we climbed the mountain. The valley of the mountains is where the chicken company is, so it is dotted with the houses for them. But the place is famous for the azaleas (which had just finished blooming) because the mountain we climbed and part of the valley is basically entirely azaleas - it is a major attraction during the blooming season. We had a late start so about half way of the mountian the sun came up over the other mountain. But the top was still incredible - rising sun to one side, view of the bay and Kagoshima, a view of the valley of azaleas and chicken houses and a perfect view of the valcano that happened to start spouting ash while we were up there (that happens 3-4 times a day). Joe had a pretty difficult time making it to the top, but it made him feel a lot better so it was fine and back at camp we made coffee and tea until everyone got up and we made breakfast.

We were done with camping stuff at 12 when Megu and I met another friend - Rumi - near the port. She was going to drive us around Sakurajima. She was born and grew up (with four older sisters) and still lives there with the ash spouting volcano. We ate lunch before driving around the island. One side of the island where all the ash goes is really rocky and only has pines, while the other side seems pretty normal. Cars that have been parked too long are dusted with ash, the city gives the residents bags to collect ash so to keep the place clean. One area looked like it was dusted with flour - the trees and plants were all whitish. I couldn't live there...it even gets in your eyes and hair and clothes and stuff when it's bad.
Rumi was really cool - she too treated me like an adult, and we listened to Monkey Majik (aweomse band) toured the island and even got to see her families mikan and loquat farm. The island is famous for the smallest mikan in the world and the largest daikon in the world - pretty funny.
We also went to see a giant Nagabuchi memorial...which was both amazing and amusing. We ate mikan ice cream before she dropped us off so we could return to Kagoshima for the night. I'm really hoping Rumi and Megu come visit me in America together - Rumi is learning English so she was excited to meet me and the idea of going to America.

We took the ferry back to Kagoshima and went to a little tonkatsu restaurant. The city is also famous for "kurobuta", black pigs. So I got to eat kurobuta tonkatsu that came with cabbage, miso soup and rice. It was a tiny little traditional style restaurant - and the tonkatsu was delicious.

After that we got breakfast materials and snacks for the next day before taking a taxi to Tetsu and Megumi's friend's place who is in charge of a house that is actually an NPO office. It's emtpy during breaks and nights so they were letting us stop there for the night. The house was beautiful. Shiny and clean and new Japanese style with wide open wood floored rooms and lots of windows. We ate snacks and drank tea and chatted before taking baths and falling asleep.

In the morning I made yogurt/apple/banana mix while Megumi prepared this thing (which I forgot the name of ) but is like mochi/dango but is made with rice that is cooked with ash water. You eat with kinako and black sugar powder mixed. It was really good! I could eat it all day - and I know Mom could too:)

Then we went to the sweet potato sweets cafe/shop that Megu used to work at and got to try some samples:) After that Megu rented a car, we went to Tsutaya to rent CDs (Nagabuchi, Monkey Majik, Blink 182 and I think "Ikinogakari" or something like that). Then we went to the other shore side to see the Sand and Flower Festival. Basically a sand version of the Sapporo Snow Festival. It was super hot but also incredible - my famous piece was done by an Italian woman, a sculpture of the Wizard of Oz. It was really beautifully done. I can't imagine making such pieces of art from sand...I can't even make a mini sand castle. We walked the route and enjoyed sand scultpures of Star Wars, Broadway, Titanic, Totoro and more! For our first lunch we got shaved ice and shared a sausage on a stick. After that we made our way back to Kagoshima, bought souveniers, ate our second lunch of sushi and chatted before she took me back to the station.

It was really sad saying good bye. She waited at the station with me, and stood right outside my window until the train left the station. She cried a little and I was kind of surprised. I think one of my faults is I don't really trust that people truly care about me or are genuine until a display of emotion like that...it's kind of pathetic on my part. I was really touched. I know how I feel about Megumi...I think we will be friends for a long time. It's pretty amazing that in this big world we happened to meet at the right time in the right place. Before she came to Kikuchi, I almost chose that time that she was coming to go to Mashiki, but the way it went we got to meet and clicked right away. Very amazing.

I'm looking forward to either the day she comes to visit in America or the day that I get to return to Japan.

I'm back in Uto and it is really hot. Today I went with Ema and Obachan to see an art show of bead work. It was incredible... tiny little beads, such beautiful artwork - the time it must take! The patience and steadiness! Not for me, but what a sight to see!

Right now in Hashirigata it is still very busy. Almost 200 boxes of tomatoes today and lots of cucumbers. I went with Yoshifumi-san to the market when taking the cucumbers. There was so much there! Boxes and boxes of carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, daikon, eggplants and watermelons...filled the place. I bagged the tomatoes and cucumbers that can't be sold in normal stores for the afternoon. Tomorrow I'll  go for a full day, because I only went from the afternoon today. I think I can get through the houses one more time clipping the sprouts...

I wrote that portion on Sunday, but now it's Friday and I haven't posted yet!

I finally got through picking off the little sprouts of the tomato plants - twice. Yesterday I spent the whole day lowering the strings of the tomato plants...hard to explain...but it was kind of tiring. I literally did the same thing for like 5 hours - but it gives me a lot of time to think and luckily there was a cool breeze that managed to get into the green house. It's been 29 or 30 degrees Celcius recently...hot.

I went to eat a unagi dinner with one of my mom's friends - Eiko-obachan on Tuesday. It was very beautiful and very, very delicious. Eel has recently gotten more expensive than usual becuase for some reason the population has gone down...oh no!

Sunday is another MTB race with the family, which I'm looking forward to. Everyone is so busy, it is rare I get to spend a day with the family.

11 days.

leaving 菊池 and coming to 宇土

It's been a while since I've written...that's not because I haven't had anything to write about. Just gotten lazy. But Dad sent me an email and he wrote he was going to check my blog so I decided I better get on it.

I've left Yamaai Mura and am now in Uto. My last week and half or so at the farm was a little tough for me...I think leaving there anytime would be leaving too soon. The weather held up for me - so the place dazzled in sunlight and beauty of spring. Muto-san took me to see a giant sakura tree in Aso area, some of the large branches held up by stilts to keep stirdy. Hiro told me before that a large branch of the tree fell during a hurricane...it used to be a lot larger. The tree when I went with Muto-san was basically all little golden green leaves rather than flowers - but still beautiful with the mountain background, yellow flowers in the foreground and blue sky. After we had seen that Muto-san said, "Well, since we have come all this way we might as well go to the crater!" So we did and the gas wasn't strong like it had been the other times I'd gone so I could see in and enjoy the view. Aso is such a gorgeous area...maybe one day I can explore there more thoroughly. Hiro went to college there and tells me about cool little shops and restaraunts - I guess you might really need those 4 years to see everything there is to see.

Before I knew it, it was Firday. My last full day. We were having a party that night that was supposed to be a Birthday party for Hiro and Ayumi and partially a last night for me. In the morning Muto-san went to pick up pigs, Katsu fed pigs, Hitomi and Hiro collected takenoko (bamboo shoots) and I cleaned out the grill room for in case it rained that night. In the afternoon it was basically party prepping. I made "tiramisu" (improvised in some areas) and cut veggies and things. There was a TON of meat for the grill. Muto-san prepped the pizza oven. Then Hitomi brought "loose sushi rice" (chirashizushi), an apple pie, these mini chocolate biscuit cakes. Ayumi's children were there, and soon Hana came with Hiroko. A previous WWOOFer and her 3 year old son were also there - tons of children - the best:) Makoto came later, and Dai-san (the owner of the cows next to us) came, after their work Ayumi and her husband came as well. Pizza, veggies, meat, home made apple pie, cakes, chirashizushi - it was all delicious. They even gave me gifts...which caught me off gaurd...but I was really touched and very grateful. They feel like family...they really do.

After it got dark I played soccer with Yuto, Fuma and Aina then afterwards the kids challenged adults to different body contortions that come naturally at a young age. So I got to see Hiro and Ayumi do hand stands and hand walking and Makoto attempt a handstand and Katsu the bridge and the adults acting as obstacles as the kids leapt over them...they will seem so grown up in 4 years! But they are such good kids, maybe they will still play a little soccer with me next time...

I packed that night and exchanged photos with Muto-san. It still hadn't really hit me that I was leaving. It never does until I'm gone.

So the next morning I got up early and washed the dishes and collected the eggs because I wanted to...as if I weren't leaving. Put my things in the car. Ate leftover pizza, fruit and yogurt with Muto-san while watching NHK like usual. Hiro washed the eggs while I dried. Then it was time to go...so Katsu came back from pig feeding and we took a group photo at the entrance. I hugged them and thanked them and Muto-san drove me down the road to my great-aunt's house because one of Mom's cousins was going to give me a ride to Uto. Muto-san said, "I think I'm going to have to come to America afterall." I really hope he does. He has been so good to me - they all have been. I'm already looking forward to going back college. I think I've made a second home there... but I don't think I can never thank them enough for what they have done for me.

Sato-san, Mom's cousin, drove me to Uto along with her daughter and grandson. We went to Hashirigata (The cucumber and tomato farm) to see everyone there and eat lunch. Chizuko-san and Obaachan had prepared quite a spread (chicken, bamboo/bacon dish, dango, salad, greens, cucumber salad, miso soup, warabi sticky rice). A little after that, Makito-Ojichan came to pick me up and took me to the house. Everyone was home! I was surprised since it seems rare in this very busy household, but it was Saturday. Everyone is happy and healthy I think. Kazu is working now at the mechanics and Ema is now a senior in high school. She is thinking about taking a year off after graduation to go to an English study school in the Philipines before going to college in the states. That is pretty adventurous! She can definitely do it - it will be fun to have her in America:)

Since Ojichan is busy with teaching, Obachan with working at the day care, Kazu at mechanic and Ema at school, I am going to help at Hashirigata again. On Sunday I didn't go, but spent most of the day relaxing and going shopping. Monday I went. I was really nervous about working in the green houses now that it is warm out because inside the house it was really hot even in the winter time. Also in Japan women cover up every inch of skin so they don't burn. So now I'm wearing long pants, long sleeve shirt, arm covers, towel around my neck and baseball cap, which is definitely the MOST I've ever worn in a 25 degreen celcius situation. Today was hotter than yesterday, but still, what I was expecting was a lot worse...but it's still April. Yesterday I clipped the new sprouts on the tomato plants in the morning then helped sort tomatoes, made boxes, then in the afternoon clipped some more. Then another of Mom's cousins that has a melon and cucumber farm came by. Yoshifumi-san had mentioned that I'd like to see the melon farm to her, but they had just harvested so when I come there wouldn't be any ripe ones so she brought melon for us to taste. And yes, it was amazing:) She had sliced it and even brought little forks for us.

Today it was clipping all day - it becomes medative - and I got better! I helped Obaachan make lunch too - and she made one my favorite sweet mashed tofu dishes - I think I can make it now tooooo!

It's nice to be here with the family in Uto. It feels so relaxed and it's nice to hear about everyone's days and how work and school went and eat dinner together and take turns washing dishes...like home.

I'm one month away from home...which basically means, before I know it, I'll be there.

A beautiful day - winding down...

April 11th

Today was an interesting day - due to the weather. It started out as a kind of miserable rainy day. Grey and dark and with the rain coming down steady and humming... After I did the chickens (there were a lot of eggs this morning, probably because I went later than 8:30 due to watching some NCIS that I rented) I didn't know what work to do. There wasn't even any rice to sort. Muto-san and Hitomi-san had collected some vegetables and herbs- italian parsley, asparagus, long green onions and some more - washed them, and then wrapped them in newspaper for Miyata-san to come and take them away for a restaurant... I'm so cheesy, but I find something really poetic and beautiful in how they go about that...maybe it was just the sound of the rain today that has gotten me a little sappy...Then they left for errands and things. I had the house to myself...on a normal day like that I'd probably do cleaning but I was really unmotivated to do anything productive. I was thinking about trying to bake cookies but there as no butter. So, I grew weak to another disc of NCIS. I started watching NCIS at home during the later seasons, so I've been watching some of the earlier episodes that I'd never seen  before. I really, really love that show! So after that I decided I'd make some lunch - tuna/boiled egg/ cucumber/ tabasco sandwich with leftover miso soup (that was STUFFED with onions, sweet potatoes, fried tofu, normal tofu, chikua, yaakon, burdoc, long green onions, wakame, carrots and more) with apple. The sandwich was kind of lopsided due to my very terrible bread slicing job and therefore basically fell apart and had to eat the thing with chopsticks. More NCIS. Then I made a can of zenzai (sweet bean soup) and some quick make dumplings to put in it...then feeling guilty about being so lazy I decided to go on a walk. The weather had changed considerably - white, fast moving clouds, blue sky, shining golden sunlight everywhere - the world glittered due to the wetness left after the rain. Absolutely gorgeous. However, it was also hot and humid with only an occasional breeze so I got pretty uncomfortable with jeans and a long sleeve shirt.

All of the spring flowers are still out and beautiful. There are these beautiful bright yellow flowers that grow in bunches and sometimes like entire fields - there are still daffodils, purple wild flowers, some remains of sakura, the fallen tsubaki flowers, and a lot of little white flowers and even tinier blue ones. The grass that is growing underneath the black barked, still bare chestnut trees is amazing, literally glowing green and the blades fleshy, the grass is thick and tall and perfect - like green fire - beautiful.

When I came back Hitomi-san and Muto-san were home (and with doughnuts!). I ate soy powder doughnuts - they were chewy and delicious:D

I have only a little more than one month left here in Japan. I leave here in 10 days to go back to Uto. Everyone here has been so wonderful to me... it's going to be hard for me to leave but I know that I'll be back. Hitomi-san said it's going to be lonely around here without me... I told her I'll be lonely without them as well.

Hana-chan (Katsu's 1.5 year old daughter) came yesterday, since her mother works every Tuesday. Last week, we watched Totoro three times in one day. Yesterday, it was a record of four. She is adorable - wanting to play outside then wanting to see totoro, and after she sees totoro, it's back outside, then she wants mama and papa then she wants totoro and so on and so forth. However, she finally knows my name! She went from calling me "Older Brother" (Oneechan) to "Older Sister" (Oneichan) then to "Leah" (my name). It makes me so happy to hear her tiny little child's voice call out my name " ria?" Makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside:)  I get to see her one last time next week. Then probably the next time I'll see her, she will be 5 years old.

Michael leaves for the Pacific Crest Trail in three days. Before when I was skyping with Mom, Michael came and did a harmonica performance for me - he's been practcing. I hadn't heard the sound of a harmonica in so long...it was really, really wonderful. I just think how in a little bit, he will be exactly where he has been dreaming to be for a long time, somewhere in the wild - in nature and beauty - I can see a campfire and him sitting there playing the harmonica in the dark and only orange light from the fire... :) I can even smell it... I hope that David and Michael stay safe and healthy and have an incredible time - they have been looking forward to it, working hard for it and really deserve it.

April is here!

4.1


It's April.
The flowers are stunning all over. Forsythia, daffodils, cherry, plum and peach trees and so many more that I don't know the names of. The sky has been a cloudless blue for nearly a week straight. Sun has been warm and just enough of a breeze to keep things from getting hot. The best weather. I love autumn the best out of the seasons, but spring is pretty amazing too.

We've been going to the mountain almost everyday to work on putting the shiitake mushroom bacteria into the logs we cut in November. I didn't realize what a process it was. For some reason I really thought of needle inserting some liquid into the trees like a flu vaccination. Of course, it's nothing like that. There is a drill with guard on the head to make sure you can only go so far and makes these perfect little holes about the same width as my pinky finger. In one log, they drill about 14 holes (more or less depending on the diameter of the log). After that there are these little cork-like plugs that are the bacteria. They fit into the holes pretty well, but you have to use a hammer to make it go in all the way. In one pack of the shiitake bacteria there about 1,000 pieces. In one afternoon if we are fast we can go through 3,000. Hitomi-san told me the people who are really fast go through 10 packs in one day, that's 10,000 pieces. Wow...

I tried drilling but it didn't work out so well. I have to hold the log up and spin it with one hand and then drill with my other hand. With small logs it's fine, but there a lot of big ones that I can hardly lift so I got tired just after one pile. I'm good with hammering.

The two grandboys, Fuma and Yuto (Muto-san's daughter's sons) came for most of the week. They stayed overnight at the main house and came with us to the mountains to work (and to play as well). They really seem to enjoy working here and are overjoyed when they find the many eggs to be collected and collecting weeds to feed to the goats.

Okay, now it's actuallly April 3rd since I neglected writing this for a little while.

The weather has been incredible, sunny and warm and blue skies for a week or more, then one day of rain, and another beautiful week - my kind of weather!

On Saturday it was Hitomi-san's birthday. I didn't realize it was kind of surprise, but we did a party for her. A "tako yaki" party. Tako  yaki is a cabbage pankcake EXCEPT in ball form, so you have to have a special grill for it. You can put anything in the middle so of course we had tako (octopus) but there was also mochi, weiner and cheese. I spent the afternoon shopping for food items with Muto-san then trying to make deviled eggs and fruit shish kabobs for the party. But when we had gone into town, the sakura trees were blooming all over the park/hill that leads to the city. Muto-san parked and walked me around the path. He said they were only in 80% bloom, and it will become even more beautiful. I'd never seen so many trees like - everything was white and pink and completely stunning against the blue sky. With a sight like that, you feel so at peace and so appreciative - there is such beauty in the world! People were sitting beneath the trees eating a drinking as is custom.

I had never made deviled eggs before, but I figured it was pretty American party food and I'd give it a try. Hiro and I mixed the batter and cut up things for the tako yaki while Hitomi-san made onigiri. Muto-san had bought a cake for her, strawberry cream:) There were two grills, an electric nonstick pan and a cast iron one that we used on a table top stove.  I was sitting near the cast iron one with Katsu and Hiro so worked that one - pouring in the batter so the cups were half full, putting in cabbage and a filling, then pouring more batter over it. Then your had turn the little balls with sticks earlier enough so that the batter was still liquidy enough to create an actual ball when you turned it over and late enough so that you could turn it without ripping it to shreds. Basically, we sucked in the beginning but by the end not only were they pretty but we could do very quickly. Hiro had made enough batter for 200 Tako Yaki:D Which was good because Katsu and his wife and Hana-chan were there, plus of course Hitomi and Muto-san, Hiro, Obaachan and then their daughter, Ayumi, came with two kids, Fuma and Aina-chan. It was really yummy and fun. Hiro said he used to have tako yaki parties with his friends during college - and that I should too! Ayumi gave me a small tako yaki grill, I think I'll mail it home with winter clothes...then I really cane make tako yaki.

We sang happy birthday and distributed cake while Hitomi-san opened presents. Last, she opened a gift from Muto-san. I'd been bugging him before about what he should do for her (flowers, card and a big diamond necklace!). But then he told me he had actually gotten her a necklace. I was really surprised (but really happy) and I told Hiro, who told Katsu and they said that they don't think he's done anything like that before - they thanked me for giving Muto-san advice...  (and I had just been joking around and being annoying!). Katsu told me later that after Hitomi-san opened the pearl necklace, it looked like she was about to cry. I had been watching Hana-chan and Aina-chan so I hadn't seen that...but just hearing Katsu say that made me melt a little inside. I'm glad...happy for her.

On Sunday there was a picnic for just this neighborhood - I think the day for honoring their ancestors. Hitomi-san made an incredible display of obento and we drove up to a hill where the local shrine is and set up a tarp and food. We were the first ones there (they said that that was a first and they were almost always last in previous years) but soon more and more people came. Then there was a little speech, a toast and we started eating and drinking under the blue sky, bright sun and blooming sakura trees. Hitomi-san had made onigiri, inari sushi, karage chicken, fish, shrimp, noodles, seasoned spring vegetables and a lot more. Plus there was sushi, sashimi and basashi (raw horse). Three years ago I tried basashi... but I hadn't really been able to stomach it... but Hiro kept taunting me, "It's really good, you should try it again, I'll even let you use my soy sauce!" So I tried one more time. This time, it tasted pretty good, but those beautiful horse eyes and that soft nose still floated guiltily in my mind. It's not really my kind of food. Many of the men were drinking quite a bit and people started mingling and there was a lot of laughing... Hiro and Katsu told me I can take the afternoon off and they'll do the chickens since it was Sunday anyway. But I said it's fine because I don't really have anything to do...then Hiro reminded me that I can work on my scholarship essay! I told him he sounded like mom:p But now that I had that hanging over my head, I cleared off the tree deck back at the farm and brought tea and some snacks and sat down to write. And, I finished it... just some editing and what not left to do.

Monday was especially warm. T-shirt weather and not too windy so I opened up the windows all over to air out the house and even hung my blankets out on the line. I then decided I would clean out the goat pen... the rice shells (that they used like we use straw) were basically all gone and it was just dirt and poop so I shoveled some out. It stunk like crazy and I remembered when I went to farm school all those years ago... for some reason I always seemed to get the worst jobs (probably because I was too shy to raise my hand for the better jobs or something). One bad job was watering the apple trees. The apple trees were on a hill (which in my memory is more like a steep cliff) and there was a pond down below. We had to fill 5 gallon buckets and carry them up to the trees, one bucket for one tree, and me and some other kids had 4 trees each. One kid took one bucket and split it between the four and declared to be finished. Another kid started freaking out and crying and saying she felt to sick to do the work so she left after one bucket. So then me and this other kid had to make up for them... that was tough. But the real bad job was cleaning out the goat pen. We shoved tons of tissues up our noses, but it didn't block out the smell one bit. So there was...yesterday doing it of my own accord, just because I like how the clean rice shells look and because I thought the goats would appreciate it. It only took me maybe 45 minutes to do it all... but everything stunk.

In the afternoon we went into the mountains and did about 2,500 shiitake corks by 5 PM. After that, since it was Monday - badminton!
Before badminton, Hiro took me to see the night time sakura. The sakura are lit by lamps and a string of lanterns, winding around the walking path all over the hill. It had a completely different feel from the day... a softer, more mystical feel. They glowed in the lantern light, and in the black of the night, it looked like a pink shimmery powder had been sprinkled around in the dark. There were food stands, we got "Sasebo Burgers" so we could eat and walk. I believe Hiro said that Sasebo is a place in Nagasaki famous for this burger - and it was tasty! Tomato, lettuce, onion, egg, meat, salt and pepper, some kind of other sauce and ketchup. It was about as big as my full flexed hand and took me basically the whole time we walked to eat it (mostly because I was busy taking photos and video). Mom had told me I had to see the night time sakura...and ya-ta! I hadn't seen anything like that before...and when the petals fall it is like twinkling little snow fall. So many trees...

Badminton was great like last week. There are the young guys who are really good (and fun to watch) that play, but I am now being included in the "Okay" people. I think they are mostly just being really nice to me. At first Eriguchu-sensei (who runs the open badminton) helps me by teaching/warming me up. My favorite is being close to the net and hitting it back and forth really lightly, it's the most fun. My arm was SO SORE last week, and it seemed that when I started playing yesterday all that pain woke up again, but soon it went away and left only fun behind! They are really nice to me (even though I suck) and everyone seems to have fun so it is quite enjoyable. When I first came, I just watched, but now I am included in the games! I told them I'll practice during college and when I come back I'll be stellar:p We'll see how it goes!

Today is a rainy day...but this morning there were more eggs than usual. 91 just in the morning! And they were also cleaner than normal, so it didn't take too long to wash them. Though it is rainy and windy, it's also pretty warm. Spring.

back on the farm for the last time

I've been back at Yamaai Mura farm for five days now. The weather has been wonderful, which means I have been busy too! Hiroko-obachan and Keichan drove me here from Mashiki on Sunday afternoon. The last time they will have to do that for me. I will see them again briefly before I leave for Osaka. Speaking of Osaka, there was a WWOOFer from Osaka there when I came. She was 28. We dropped her off at the bus station Tuesday night.

In the evening Muto-san prepared a Japanese barbeque in the room next door with the traditional ash pit with red hot coals. We had chicken, cabbage, onions, shiitake, carrots, beef, shrimp and fish. On the side there was fish and octopus sashimi. Makoto came, bringing chocolate, chips and drinks. We listened to music, ate, chatted and had fun. We even got to talk to Evan and his dad on skype briefly before my battery died.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were similar. After the rain there was a ton of shiitake, especially now that it has gotten a little warmer. We diveded the picking into three days. After we harvested a third of the shiitake, we took them to the drying machine (where we lined the mushrooms up in rows face down on plastic sheets to go into the machine). Then lunch and whatever other work there was to be done. In the early mornings we packed the shiitake into boxes for the market. It felt busy, but there was also a lot of chatting with Hitomi, making boxes and doing laundry... I guess. On Tuesday, Hana-chan came. When we went to pick shiitake I got to hold her. After that, she seemed to really like me and didn't really cry. I was happy! I held her and walked with her and played with her. She even helped me pick shiitake for a little bit. She called out my name when she couldn't see me anymore...I was touched...and very appreciative.

On Tuesday afternoon Muto-san took me and Kuro-chan (from Osaka) to a Korean puppet show at the community center. It was definitely for children, but cute. Mixed with Japanese and Korean folk songs...afterwards we all went to a room to enjoy strawberry daifuke (homemade by the elderly women in the area) and chatted with people and the visiting Korean performers. Makoto was there too, and he sat with us as we enjoyed the treats.

That night Muto-san and I said good bye to Kuro-chan after enjoying a sushi dinner.

Hiro has started coming more. He can walk fine now, though he still has to be careful. Today was fun because the two young grandboys came. I think around 6 and 8 years old. They seem to really like the farm, and are a delight to watch. We harvested yaakon and carrots in the morning and then they invited me to lunch at their house. Ramen, rice and yaakon/carrot dish:) Yummy! We watched a movie called "Monsters" which I didn't really like...

After that we went into the mountains to start putting the shiitake bacteria into the logs, but the drill started acting funny really soon after we started so we went back and cleaned up the vegetables that we harvested in the morning. I kicked a soccer ball around with the two boys for a while too...it was fun.

I don't know...I'm glad to be here again... I like the animals and the shiitake and the routine of it. I also went on a run yesterday and today...I'm very sore now but in a good way:)

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, then be sunny again.

Oh, Spring.

It's rainy again, but it will let up for at least a week starting on Monday.

Before the rain came, I did some fabulous things here! On Wednesday Keichan took me down to Amakusa to visit his family who lives there in the house where he grew up. It takes two hours, exactly, to get there. There was a little mountain road that suddenly opened up to a beautiful open area. There were tall, green mountains hugging a tiny town against the ocean spattered with small green islands. There were the terraced gardens, some empty and waiting for the rains and the rice planting while others still had what was left of the winter vegetbales like broccoli, cabbage, daikon, hakusai, cauliflower and the onions getting ready for harvest. We drove up a dangerously narrow road to a grouping of houses and arrived at a beautiful traditional Japanese country home. There was a field next to it and in front of it. A small but beautiful Japanese garden complete with a small stone bridge and pool with gold fish. There was a tiny vegetable patch next to the garden where there were green onions, greens and then rows of flowers. Keichan's parents were there, along with his niece and sister in law. His younger brother was on a business trip. The niece is 15, Akiko. That morning she had graduated from middle school and gotten accepted to the local High School. Since so many people had left this little country town for the city, she was a part of a graduating class of thirty. When Keichan was young there were over 100 kids to a class. Now there are only the elderly in these places...

The house was in beautiful condition. The thick beams of dark wood and the sliding doors wide open to reveal rooms of tatami mats... it is really like a step back in time. In one room there is the mini shrine for the families ancestors. The black and white photos and great grandmothers and fathers lined up along the edge of the ceiling, peering down at those who pray.

Keichan's sister in law had prepared a huge feast for lunch. Akiko talked nonstop and showed me the scroll she recieved for graduationg, then Chibi (the cat) and where the bathrooms are and more. When lunch was ready we all sat around the kotatsu table. There was sashimi (Amakusa is famous for fish and especially sashimi), homemade tempura, black sesame tofu, pasta salad, steamed broccoli and cauliflower from the garden, seasoned cauliflower, soy sauce flavor vegetables, and more, plus fruit- strawberries and apples cut to resemble rabits. I tried to just eat a little bit of everything, but I filled up too much,  it was all fabulous! The fish was soft and chewy- fresh and delicious. I LOVE JAPANESE FOOD.

After that, Keichan drove Akiko and I up to the tallest peak in Amakusa, which happened to be the mountain behind their home. We climbed the final ten steps or to the very tip top and looked out over the surrounding ocean and land. We could see Nagasaki and where Kumamoto was. Where Ashikita is and generally where Kagoshima is. The ocean was still, the little mountainous island sitcking up out of the sheet of silver water... fishing boats were the only disturbance. It was a clear day, only a little haze from the dust blown from China was there... exhilirating. There were cherry blossom trees up there, they will be blooming in just a couple weeks - I can't imagine how beautiful that would be.

When we got back to the house we went to where Obaachan keeps her pickles and Keichan collected some takuan to take home. There were big pale yellow buckets, the lids were wedged down in the bottom and three weights about 15 kg each on top. Without the weight, the pickles would go bad. After the lid was opened there was a strong wave of the pickle smell (which some people really hate) but after the initial shock, it was good. It was in a bag that was opened to reveal the flavoring for the pickles. Different greens and  the peels of persimmons. Underneath that, Obaachan pulled out about 6 deep yellow takuan logs (pickled daikon). Then they let me gather umeboshi (sour plums), because they are my favorite, into a jar to take back to Mashiki. Chibi, that cat, was there watching us the whole time. After the pickle excitment Akiko showed me around the vegetable and flower garden. She knew a lot about all the plant names and the flowers they had and the seasons they bloomed in. In high school she said she wanted to join a Garden Club or something that wasn't offered in middle school. They don't get very many visitors here, Keichan told me she was really excited about having me come. I was glad I got some chance to talk to her. At the wedding she was really shy, but she was quite the opposite in her home.

We drank tea and ate a little snacks before heading back to Mashiki. They gave me a gift of traditional Japanese sweets, my favorite - they must have known! It included "Ichigo Daifuki" (Mochi with an entire strawberry wrapped in sweet bean paste inside), "Ikinari Dango" (Sweet bean paste and sweet potato wrapped in dango) and I believe "Kinako Daifuki" (I don't remember the exact name, but it is mochi with sweet bean paste inside and then dusted with soy bean powder). They also gave me a special kind of furikake (rice seasoning) made of Shimo potato, that is special to that area.
It was fun. I hope Akiko can come to America one day. She wants to see a flat horizon of land...something you can't really find in Japan.


On Thursday I got up at 8:00, ate breakfast and then I helped Keichan weed in the garden till noon. It looks a lot better. From all the rain, the ground was soft and the weeds came out easily. Soon he will plant for the summer. It felt good to be doing something. I've gotten better at crouching on the ground "Japanese Style" for long periods of time. Only my knees were a little sore afterwards. Then after lunch I walked to the post office then Super Kids discount store and then took the long way back to the house, walking by the river rather than the noisy road and practically nonexistant sidewalk. There was a small store on the side road selling fruit...so I stopped and bought two apples, they looked good.

I sat by the river and reflected a little in the sunshine. A little girl and her mother walked by...she was absolutely adorable.

I've been copying all the kanji from my textbook onto study sheets so that I can mail the textbook home with my winter clothes soon. It's spring here... today was actually warmer outside than inside despite the rain.

Yesterday Keichan took me to Kumamoto city to go to big book stores. I finished "The Book Thief". Which made me cry at the end...it was a beautiful.
All the book stores seem to have the same selection of English books...I've read a good portion of them (or a good portion of the ones that I'm interested in). I ended up picking up "The Reader", a bilingual copy of "Nodame Cantibile volume 1" and traditional Japanese cook book. I've kind of gotten interested in cooking...I guess maybe it is because otherwise I wont really be able to eat Japanese food (other than mommy's cooking, of course).

I've been reading the bilingual comic of Nodame and it's been really good kanji practice. Also, being able to kind of read it in Japanese makes me understand the real emotion and subtle nuances of the comic, while the English, of course, makes me understant the meaning. Reading the Japanese part is way more fun, though. It loses it's flavor when it becomes English...:(

Tomorrow I'm going back to Kikuchi for a month. I hope there is a lot to do! I want to work!

March Eleventh

3.11

It's been one year since the earthquake here in Japan.
There are many TV specials today, telling the stories of the people who have struggled. However, in just that one year, they have come a long way in cleaning up the damage. Of course, the homes and the people who were lost cannot be brought back...but I hope everyone is thinking about them today...and that those who have suffered can keep healing...


On Wednesday we went to harvest shiitake. I had never seen so many in my life. Like a fantasy. But with four people it probably only took 2 hours or so to harvest them, and fill the back of the little truck. In the afternoon we went to the shiitake drying house and lined them up on the trays for the machine. Then we went back to the farm and sorted most of the rest of the shiitake into boxes. I had never done that before...maybe because there wasn't really a situation for me to do it because Hiro and Hitomi always did...maybe because there wasn't ever this many shiitake while I've been here. So Megumi, Hitomi and I sorted them into boxes while Hiro packaged the boxes with newspaper and string. After that Muto-san took Megumi and me to the "Ichiba" where all the local farmers bring their produce and then from there they are sold to markets and stores. It was a 40 minute drive. When we got back to the farm Muto-san said we were going to the onsen! Which I was happy about, because I had been itching to go. So we went off again. Megumi and I spent most of the time in the outdoor pool but quickly toured the other indoor pools - except for the cold one. After that we had dinner there. I ordered teriyaki chicken and they got fried chicken chunks (Karage). It came with salad bar, rice and soup. I ate all my food and one of Muto-san's chicken peices (because he's on a diet). I should be on a diet too, I've gained weight!!!!!!

Friday we didn't do a lot of work because all afternoon we prepared for our dinner: bread, pizza and ribs baked in the pizza oven outside. Muto-san had never baked bread there before. In the bread machine in the house we made the dough. We made the pizzas first then followed it bread. Megumi-san made wiener rolls and I tried out cutting apple into little bits, and mixing that with cinnamon and walnuts, thinning the dough then rolling - little by little- the filling into the dough. It was like a cinnamon roll, but not really sweet. I personally I thought it was really good! It all came out fabulously. The ribs, the pizzas and the bread:D Our last dinner.

I am making plans to visit Megumi in Kagoshima briefly before coming home...I'm already looking forward to that.

On Saturday Muto-san drove us to Kikuchi and from there, Makoto-san picked Megumi and I up. I thought he was just going to take us to Kumamoto Station but it ended up being an excursion! He took us to Aso Shrine and Aso crater. At the shrine there was a little circular garden where if you put a coin in the box then walk around the garden twice, you will find your partner soon. So the three of us did that, since we are all single. Then we did a different fortune where there were five levels of luckiness and you pick out the little papers (not know what is what) for 100 yen. I got the best one! Maybe that cancels the bad one I got before..:P and the charm that got in the package was for protection of family... which I think is a good one to have gotten, considering the circumstances. Saturday was a beautiful the day, the first in a week. The grasses on Aso were golden and the sky blue and with wispy clouds. The crater was closed due to the strong gases, but we went to the tourist center there and ate ikinaridango (sweet potato and anko dumpling) and chatted for a little bit before heading out. When we had come up the mountain, we'd seen a woman walking down the road - a foreigner. When we driving down ourselves, we saw she still had a long way to go so I asked Makoto-san if maybe we could give her a ride. He said sure so I ran to where she was walking and asked if she spoke English, she said yes so well I thought she must be American, but I soon found out she was a college student from Denmark spending some time in Japan before she has to go back to study. She knew a little Japanese too. She was quiet and seemed a little defensive, but we offered her black sugar biscuits, botan candy, orange caramels and a can of coffee and she seemed to warm up to us a little. We dropped her off at the Aso station and Makoto then took us to Kumamoto. They dropped me off right at the Fukuda's house. It was fun and I was grateful for their company.

At the Fukuda's I fell right back into where I left off, feeling at home and relaxed. We had chicken, pumpkin and green beans sauteed with curry flavor as well as soup and salad. We talked and took turns taking a bath. I slept like a baby.

Today we went to Minamata near Amakusa today. We went to a place called "Fukuda Farm", a fruit and vegetable farm in the mountains that now runs a Spanish style little tourist restaurant, bakery and winery. It made me want to go to Spain! For lunch we ate there a set of seafood rice dish. It was really delicious. It also came with a drink, so I ordered an orange juice made there. That was really yummy too.
 There was a room upstairs that seemed like a shrine for turtles. There were tons and tons of turtle toys and trinkets and things... we thought the boss of the place must just really like turtles.  The whole area was made with white stucco-like buildings and had tile and mosaic patios and furniture outside. Apparently the scenery looks similar to Spain in the summer... which is why there is  Spanish theme to the place. It was fun:) As we were leaving a Spanish Flamingo Dance started...

Then we went to the Minamata town, where there is a museum. Minamata is famous for what happened about 50 years ago. A factory, Chisso, was dumping mercury sledge into the bay as waste from their factory. Despite the fact that they knew it caused health problems, they continued because at the time they were the lead of the industrialization boom, I believe, in Japan. A while after they started fish and shell fish started dying. Then cats started dying and having seizure like symptons. Next, it was humans. This is because people ate the fish that were contaminated by the sledge from the chemical factory. There are still issues about it today... It was very sad to read about different people's experiences. They didn't know what was causing this "disease" at first and people didn't know it wasn't contagious so at first when someone got it, the town shut them and their family out, telling them things like they couldn't buy from their store, that they shouldn't walk down the streets and did things like throw rocks at the windows... but before long even those who had been mean got the disease too...it was written that some of people's last words were apologizing for the terrible things they did to isolate those first families... Patients were and are being compensated monetarily for their suffering...but there is so much more that money cannot take the place of.

The ocean was beautiful. The light was soft because of all the dust in the air that apparently floats to this area during this time of year from China. Blue skies. Swooping seagulls. Strong winds. We prayed briefly for those who suffered so much one year ago...

We have been watching TV about different people's experiences with the tsunami. Some of the footage is surreal. There was a clip from someone standing on a mountain looking down at the nearing wave of water, houses, cars and trees while people were running to escape it. One person was a little behind the others, running but obviously not quick enough. The man stopped filming that person right before we could know if that person was gone or might still be alive today. I have this terrible feeling in my gut that they didn't make it... it was too close.

We see those kinds of things in movies all the time...but it different when you know it is real. That that could be you or your family member or friend running...but not running fast enough.

We ate gyoza for dinner and broccoli fresh from the garden.

Tomorrow I am going to try to make banana bread, possibly try to walk up 3,333 steps and hopefully help in Keichan's garden.

A walk...okinomiyaki...muffins and rain

March 5th

I haven't written anything in a while...not even in my journal. I know I will regret it and I started to feel guilty for wasting such great experiences...so I will try to catch up now. Megumi-san, the WWOOFer (24, from Kagoshima) has been wonderful. I have now known her for four days, but I feel like I've known her for much, much longer. I don't know what it is...perhaps my lonliness from before...but I think it is really that we get along as two people in this world. We feed the chickens, collect and wash the eggs together. We have been making breakfast together, and today we made lunch together. Two days ago Muto-san went to a wedding so Megumi-san and I walked down to "the Water Station" about a 40 minute walk or so and did a little shopping. Konyaku, dango powder, strawberries, sweet potato, deko pon and things like that for our dinner. We took a different road back from the way we came, this one I had ridden my bike on the time before, but this time on foot and with a friend it was a completely different experience. All over the area you see the elderly working on their land. It's the time for preparing shiitake logs. All over there are the fallen and chopped up kunugi trees and their tufts bronze leaves scattered around. Then there are the places that are finished stacking, that are in the process of stacking. At one place we saw an elderly couple together, doing their work, stacking the logs, putting in the nails...the wife was hunched over, then I saw that she had a cane. Barely can stand and walk but out preparing shiitake logs for use two years from now...is it because they have to? Because they love to? Because they don't know anything else but their land and their work? Where are their children? Where are their grandchildren? Those kind of questions come to mind when I see these things. I find it beautiful...but is it really? Because when I see them I want to think they have a passion for their work and their land. I don't know, though. Why has everyone gone to the city? What does the countryside lack so much of? Megumi-san feels the same as me. We want similar futures. Live in a small country town, marry a farmer, have many fresh vegetables and fruit and nut trees (specifically chesnut, persimmon and kin-kan), work on the farm, make handmade pickles and goods...simple, rough, beautiful?

 After we got back from our walk we made a pretty fabulous dangojiru (dumpling soup). We stuffed it full of carrots (that I went to the garden and plucked from the ground that night), daikon, onions, long green onions, sweet potatos, freshly picked shiitake mushrooms and of course the dumplings that we made with the dumpling mix and mashed sweet potatoes. We made it with miso soup base. That was March 3rd. When collecting eggs we found a dead chicken. Hitomi came and showed us what to do if that happened again, then she promised us chirashi rice (loose sushi) since it was Girl's Day. After our soup was done she came with a red lacquer box of fresh chirashi rice for us. We gave her some of our soup in thanks. That was a good dinner - dango jiru, chirashi rice and fruit salad. That was our one sunny day.

Yesterday was Sunday, the day off. Megumi-san went with Muto-san to Kikuchi Gorge in the morning before the rain. I did the eggs and helped a few minutes with shiitake boxing. In the afternoon we drove a while to a different town nearer to Kumamoto where there are bigger stores. On Saturday morning we had started two projects: making a new sign and making a flower bed at the driveway entrance. Megumi-san did the sign after helping me bring  a log to be one of the borders for the garden. The other two sides I made of rocks. I ripped up all the weeds and roots then filled it in with other dirt. I pruned a bush that hung over a little far and ripped up the baby bamboo and vines. On Sunday we went to a giant garden center to buy plants. Megumi-san meandered around before deciding. We bought some spring flowers for now to plant and then some bulbs that would bloom in the summer. Once the sign is finished, it will look a lot better... I think. After the garden center we went to eat okinomiyaki (cabbage pancake). There was a hot plate built into the table and we odred which one we wanted and it was brought out raw in a bowl, and you cooked it yourself. I ordered three small ones with different flavors. Egg, flour, cabbage, meat, seafood, cheese, corn, greens...then topped with special okinomiyaki sauce, mayo, nori and bonito flakes. I don't normally get too excited about okinomiyaki, but when it comes to eating time, I was pretty happy. Afterwards we got ice cream - I got vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of matcha syrup and some sweet bean paste. Love. We came back to the house and Megumi-san and I made muffins. Well, they didn't really turn out like muffins. Why don't normal Japanese homes have ovens?? Using a microwave oven just isn't the same. Nothing turns out right. They flavor was alright, orange, dried fig, walnut and cinnamon...but they came out little, greasy and dense - with a gummy texture... ざんねん。

Talking with Megumi-san has been wodnerful. We clicked. Clicked.

It was rainy last night. It was rainy all afternoon and early morning today. There was such a thick fog for the entire day, I didn't see anything else but what was 300 feet in any direction... a grey day when you can't see the world around you. In the monring while the rain wasn't coming down we planted the garden. I'm afraid it might drown now, though. Muto-san went to a meeting so we started lunch a little early. I asked Megumi-san if I could experiment on a stir fry and she said sure. Chopped up vegetables, added a seafood mix and then chopped pecans. The sauce I tried honey, garlic and ginger and dashi. After that we had to add some salt, but it wasn't so bad. I also made her try apple and cheese on a thin slice of bread. I don't know if she liked it, but she seemed to enjoy trying new things. It's fun having the kitchen to ourselves. She has lived by herself for two years now and  she said that is definitely one of the perks - cooking. I am looking forward to having some fun myself. Now that I have a grasp on some of the basics of Japanese cooking, I'm excited to experiment.

I watched a Miyazaki film that Megumi-san reccomended for me - it was so adorable. I don't remember the name "Mimi wo sumaseba". I hadn't ever heard about it before...but it was such a wonderful little love story. I just ended up feeling a little sad and jealous at the end, though...but that's only because I can be terribly pathetic:)

In the afternoon we finished sorting rice (which didn't take long since there was only a little left) and then Megumi-san went to work on the sign and I asked Katsu if he wanted help feeding the pigs today since it was rainy. He said OK so I went along with him. He let me fill the buckets with feed from the mixer, which I hadn't done before. I had to pull a small plate out from the bottom of the giant mixer so that the feed would rush out into the bucket, then close it again when it was full. I didn't get it quit right at first, but eventually it got better. While the feed mixed he showed me what was in the chicken feed - seaweed, dried greens, soy beans, shells, ground tree bark (or something), ground fish bones...calcium...and more. I never would have thought that was all in there. Apparently the tree bark powder makes the poop smell less, it is for the pigs as well. We also talked about food and how Hiroko-san's (his wife) brother went to America only for ten days and came back fatter. Then we talked about work and the generation gap and the two different views on life and work... How he wants to take two days off and go to an aquarium in either Fukuoka or Kagoshima with his wife and daughter after Hiro can walk properly again. Before I knew it the pigs were fed and the rain was thicker... Megumi-san had a carved the hiraga "ya' and "ma" into the sign for "yamai mura". It's the 5th, we both leave for our places on the 10th. She goes home to take a test to see if she can get a teaching job on a small island near Kagoshima. I hope she gets it...and finds her farmer to marry and plants many amazing trees. I told her if she does that, I will definitely come and see her so I can eat all the chestnuts and persimmons, pears and plums....:)

I talked with Hitomi-san for a while today after work was over...we talk about kimonos and family and television shows. She was at the hospital today taking care of Muto-san's father who is now in rehabilitation. She said for the first time, he told her "thank you". She smiled just in light of the memory.

This time coming here, I feel everyone has opened up to me in some way. Maybe they got used to me coming and going like I have been...like this is my home. Whatever it is, I'm so grateful for it. In November I never would have imagined having long, theoretical conversations with Katsu. Chatting about kimonos, food and good looking actors with Hitomi-san. Talking to Hiro about music, family and his future. Muto-san sharing his concerns about work and family...the future of Japanese farming and still his dreams.

And now I have Megumi-san, who I think is the kind of person who even if we do not keep in solid contact with over the next four years, if I show up one day and ask to see her, we can pick up right where we left off. Singing "Country Road" in English- Japanese mix with crappy guitar playing (by me), cooking experimental food and watching beautiful Japanese movies until late at night.

Despite the endless rain, I have not fallen into my hole of sadness. Even in the mist, with friends I can be happy.


ちょっと日本語でなにか書きましょうか。。。
たぶんこの後で、いつでも日本に来る時、私はやまあい村にもどらなくちゃいけません。五ヶ月前、この所しりませんでした。この人が生きているの事しりませんでした。
私ぜったいにかわってないけど、ちょっと私の見方がかわったかなと思います。この前、日本に来た時よく町しかにいきませんでした。もちろん、日本のけしきは今と同じです。まだそのたけとすぎとくぬぎとひのきの森とちさい田んぼとおばあさんとおじいさんたち働いているんでした。まだ、同じ。でも前に、その木の名前は　'クヌギ’　と　’すぎ’　ぜんぜんしらなかった。その木はしいたけ作るのためにいる事もしらなかった。そのおじいさんとおばあちゃんたちの子供はみんな町に行ってしまいましたの事もしらなかった。

この田舎すごく好きになりました。この国も好きになりました。

たぶん、私の日本語はもうちょっと上手になりましたからと思います。私の心は本当に日本人のきがします。。。もちろん、私はアメリカ人です。それはいつまでも。よくわかりません。ちょっとわかられません。まず、アメリカに帰らなくちゃいけません。その後で、大学にいかなくちゃいけません。その後で、どうになるんまだしらない。それは楽しみです。

でも、今しってる日本をわすれられません。今の生活も。今の好きの事。きらいな事も。全部大事にしなくちゃいけない。

その時まで。。。

It's March

March First

I cannot believe it is already March. I say that everytime a new month comes around, I know. But this is going so quickly. However...I find myself torn between the relief that soon I will go home and the sadness that  is the reality of leaving this place I have come to love.  I have made friends here. I now have relationships with people in this country that I would never have even dreamed of having 5 months ago.

For a while I was comforted by the idea that I could really make a home anywhere. That I could feel so comfortable and at home anywhere, really. I don't know what exactly the change was...perhaps it was my time alone in Sapporo, or coming back to Kikuchi which until I got here for the second time, felt like it was always far away (I considered a part of the "end" of my trip). But I'm here and it's been two and a half weeks. I am thankful for the caring and frienly people here. Muto-san, Hitomi-san, Katsu and Hiro have really saved me...without them (and perhaps the chickens, who I chat with everyday) I would probably not be doing so well right now. They were nice to me two months ago, but this time around I really feel like they have accepted me into their lives, that I'm more than just a foreigner coming for a little while...of course I'll never know what they feel, but that's what I like to think...

However, I have come to realize that there is absolutely nothing in this world that can truly make me feel the way my family does. I'm sure people are reading that and thinking that I must be pretty stupid to not have realized that before hand. I love my family. Everyone has issues, but working through them and forgiving is part of that love. I guess here I have come to realize that it is hard to find that, harder than I first thought...I think now that I have been here for a little longer, I have come to need something more substantial.  Even today Muto-san told me something along the lines of "American families are 'tighter' than Japanese families". I think that can have many meanings. Person by person we take away what we want. I know that I kissed my parents good night until middle school (with a good night kiss it created a shell to protect me from nightmares).
 I know that we always say "I love you". I know I can go to my family for anything. We say Hi and Bye when we come and go. We take forever hanging up the phone because neither of us wants to be the one to end it. We eat dinner together and laugh and talk. We are family, but also like friends.  I do know every family is not like ours, but also know that we are not alone. Maybe in the USA. Maybe here, there are families like ours. But there is only one family that I really love in this way and that is mine. I miss them. I do.

I listen to music, songs about going home. Make up my own too, sometimes. Sing them in the morning in my hour washing eggs... walking to the chicken coop...in the shower...gathering logs...whatever.

Maybe it is the many rainy days that has made me sad.

Or the reality that I'll be going home so soon.

Maybe it's seeing this family here...seeing Hitomi-san joke with Hiro, the two sons chatting, Muto-san taking care of his mother...and me wishing I could be back.

But something good has happened, a little perk in my lonliness. Today I went with Muto-san to pick up a WWOOFer from Kagoshima. She is 24 and went to college for technical studies and teaching. Recently I watched that movie, "Kamome no Shokudo" thta Katsu reccomended to me and loved. So I asked this new WWOOFer (while the three of us sat in Joyfull enjoying drinks and chocolate parfait) what movies she likes. She said, "Hmmm, well, so you know Kamome no Shokudo?". Muto-san and I could hardly believe it! Muto-san was probably a little disappointed because he doesn't care for those kind of movies (movies brinking on being a bore unless you have a fine appreciation for the film style, little artistic details and beautiful simplicity) but I was happy. She studied carpentry, plants, and electricity at college so that she can teach middle schoolers. She likes plants, especially herbs and using them in cooking but also ones for around the house. Her name is Megumi-san. I am really, really happy she is here. We are sharing the room with the bunk bed, and I've only know her for ten hours but I feel like we've known eachother for much longer. This is a blessing. I am so thankful that she is who she is...I hope it gets sunny so we can do fun work together.

食べ物ばっかり！

Yesterday was a good day. I'm pretty sure that it is because, despite the gloom and doom of the rainy day that it was, I was busy. In the morning it was the chickens and the eggs. I haven't really gone into any details about them recently... I think I did mention before that there are now three seperate coops for three different sets of chickens. Young, middle aged and old. I feed the middle aged chickens first. In the morning I scoop poop out of the little cubbies. But there is hardly ever any poop in theirs. They do, however, swarm the door so much that I have to slowly and with quite a bit of effort ease it open and force the bucket in and then duck in myself. I pour the feed in and they swarm it. In the older chicken's coop, I can go in easily and pour in the feed. The inner circle of chickens around the feeder eat and the other chickens actually go around and around those chickens (like duck duck goose...but with chickens) and then it seems that once of them is tired of running circles and manages to shove another chicken out of the way, and in turn that chickens joins the frantic running. The roosters hang to the edges of the coop...always seem so nervous. There is an incredible amount of poop in their cubbies. Probably takes me...7 minutes. Luckily it doesn't smell really bad... cat litter boxes are just plain awful. They are going to be done soon, though. They produce few eggs and the eggs that they do are often too pale, weak shelled and speckled...
Then I fill up the feed bucket at the feed house halfway and take it to the newest chickens. They are pretty mellow. They don't swarm the door, poop a lot or go absolutely insane when I pour the feed in. Their eggs are beautiful and brown, but tiny...sometimes too small so that they can't be sold. They like to make little ditches in the ground by rolling around in it...as much as a chicken can "roll" that is. I saw a chicken and rooster mating for the first time about a week ago. Scooping and poop, threw some of it over to the right and nearly hit the two... a couple days I saw pigs at it while dumping rotted pumpkins on the dump pile. It must be that time of year.

So, after the chicken work yesterday I went and shoveling some dirt and debris out of the road because it had acculmalated from a fallen tree and the rain... it seemed a little dangerous. Then I asked Muto-san if I could prune the tree above the dump pile because he had mentioned that it was "jya-ma" or "in the way". So he handed me a mini saw on the end of a pole. I am not exactly known for my upper body strength...but he said to try and if it didn't work to come back. So I went and chose which branches I thought would be the most efficient to cut and started to saw at the branch. It was not fun and it took longer than I would have liked...

So, in the end I finished it...I was tired...but it felt good. I didn't have to face the shame of saying "I can't do it."

Hitomi had harvested a bunch of vegetables since the market was today and so I washed long green onions till noon. After lunch I helped by washing yaakon and carrots. Yaakon is a very interesting vegetable...somewhere between water chestnuts, potatos and Japanese pear (if you ask me). I don't think we grow it in America...it seems to be a little rare even here. It took me two hours. While I did that, Hitomi washed greens and bagged them and Hiro (while sitting...) sorted shiitake mushrooms that Katsu and I had harvested the day before. There were...I believe 4 crates full so that was quite a work load for him too. My hands were a little discolored after an hour of washing those beautiful carrots. They SMELL amazing. So sweet! And they taste sweet and incredible too. We had received carrot juice for the "Ninjin Club" that visited last Sunday. Hitomi said that the best carrot juice was made with the carrots from the garden, so she brought the juicer and made it. Hiro refused to drink carrot juice. I gathered from a previous conversation he also doesn't care for tomato juice. I don't like tomato juice much either, but carrots are a completely different situation. It tasted amazing!

However...after my "baby carrot bag" incident while our bike trip to DC (which involved me vomiting into a public trashcan on the side of the main street of a small town)...I have to be careful not to eat too many carrots.

After that it was off to the chickens again. When I came back, a surprise visitor had arrived : Makoto. He came to visit a few times when I was here before but I hadn't seen him in a few months. He said he gained weight, I said I did as well. Katsu, Hiro, Hitomi and Makoto chatted for a while. I mostly listened, someone turning to me for a few moments sometimes. They were catching up, like people do, and that was interesting enough for me as well as a challenge for my Japanese. I went in the house after a while, and then Hitomi, Makoto and I talked about cakes for a while. Then Hitmoi went home and Makoto and I talked about clothes (his $200 vest and $300 shoes, to be exact). Then he had to go off to a party for his new job.

I watched "Megane" last night with Muto-san, Katsu's recomendation. It was good, quiet...beautiful.

I woke up at 5:30 AM so that Katsu and I could leave at 6:30 AM to prepare for the Kikuchi Farmer's Market that started at 7:00 AM. That was the earliest that I had woken up in a LONG time. I ate a little bowl of rice with egg and tea and a banana. We loaded up the truck and went.

It was chilly and early, we set up the truck with a tarp and a little display of the carrots, yaakon, spinach, long green onions and other greens. Then Katsu set up the crates of shiitake where for $200 you could take a bag and fill it as full as you can, you could "GYU GYU" and stuff the bag. People loved that. Older and women and men came and worked that bag like magic - it was obvious lyan art, this "gyu gyu" ing. Two old men together "gyu gyu" ed amazingly. The shiitake were packed in so tight they no longer looked like mushrooms at all...pretty incredible...I guess. And to make a long story short, the crates were emptied in two hours. After that, the other vegetables started selling. In the end there were 6 packages of eggs, two of leafy greens and one of carrots left.

I walked up and down the market, enjoying the booths selling food, flowers, fish, pickles, art, veggies - whatever. At one end I found what I had been looking for - roasted sweet potatoes. I bought a big fat one for $200 and recieved a slice of purple potato for free - it matched the brilliant purple of Katsu's shirt...but it was all natural! Then I went down to the other end of the maket (since the Yamaai Mura booth was in the middle) and I ended up buying a bag of dried figs and a bag of mandarin oranges. All food:) Katsu laughed when he saw all what I had bought. For some reason everyone found it especially amusing that I bought a roasted potato...it's my favorite! Later one of the men who organizes the market and is the Muto family's friend bought me a bowl of pork soup from the booth next to us...I basically ate the whole time. However, I did help sell a little bit. It took me a while to get used to the proper language. "Yasai ikaga desu ka?" (Are you interested in any vegetables?) "ni Hiyakuen itadakimasu" (I will humbly recieve  200 yen)...how to hand them bags, take the money, calling out "irrashaimase!" and "arigato gozaimashita!"...it was fun. I hope I can help out next month. Hana-chan and Hiroko-san (Katsu's daughter and wife) came towards the end. Hana-chan comes to the farm on Tuesday when Hiroko-san works, but when she is with her mom, she is like a completely different little girl! Happy and polite and strong:) Mother magic!

After we cleaned up Katsu took me to a little display at the Kikuchi center where there were Japanese dolls for girls day on display. There was also a corner where a woman would help you into a kimono that had 12 collars and was an example of the 12 layer kimonos from the olden days...so I tried one on and Katsu took a picture for me. I was a little embarrassed but Katsu had wanted me to go so I'm glad that I had the opportunity. After that it was super market where I got carrot cake ingredients then a home center wher Katsu bought some bags and I browsed the perrenials. Then a bakery where we picked up some bread (apple and tea, cheese and sausage). Then we went to the family house (which I was happy about because I had only gone once...) but no one else was home so Katsu and I ate the lunch that was left. Which was great! A slice of omlet with rice, yaakon & carrot and sesame dish and miso soup. For dessert I had a piece of the apple and tea bread that is his favorite - and it was really good indeed.

After we went back to the farm I started baking. I must've made like 30 carrot cupcakes. I used the microwave oven, which I had been nervous about, but it all turned out well. Cream cheese icing and a garnish of shopped walnuts and chocolate. I was good. The recipe was ridiculously simple (though a little oily in my opinion). I think Muto-san approved and I'm giving a bunch for him to take to his family tonight...I hope they like them.

I forgot to mention it but a few days Muto-san and I found one of my many great aunts in a little bunch of houses ten minutes away from the farm. We knew she was close but we didn't know exactly where. No we do:) I'm supposed to go there in April for dinner along with the Uto Great Aunt and her family. It should be fun:)

shiitake and movies

2.24

I think it's only been a little while since I've written but somehow it feels like a lot has happened...
Well I guess yesterday in the afternoon I went into town with Muto-san. First I stopped at the post office with some post cards to mail off. The woman there kind of asked why I had so many friends in America. Something about how she asked made me realize she thought I was from here. I guess there are not a whole lot of foreigners that come to this tiny little post office in a tiny little town. However, I felt a glint of pride that she thought I was Japanese. I told her I was from American, she said my Japanese is great and when I rushed off because Muto-san was waiting she said "Please come again soon!" I said okay.   We ate ramen and had a very good conversation about work and life and family responsibilities and what not. Then he went to a meeting and I walked down the street towards a mini shopping area. There was a intersection and I stood there behind an elderly woman waiting for the light to change. She was one of those still beautiful, elegant older women with silvery hair drawn up perfectly in a berret at the back of her head. After we had waited in silence at the light a little and she turned to me and said, "This is taking a pretty long time now isn't it!"
We were going to the same place, and even though I could've have rushed ahead of her when the light changed, since we had spoken, it didn't feel right. So we talked and walked to the store and I opened the door for her, and the next set of doors she opened for me. After that she said bye and actually started jogging towards the produce section.

I went to Tsutaya, the book/cd/movie store in the center. Katsu had given me some reccomendations for movies. One was called "Megane"  (glasses) and the other was "Kamome no shoukudou" (I think...and that means I believe Seagull's dining hall). He also requested Kurasawa's "Dreams" but I decided I'd seen most of it and I really wanted to rent a English movie too. I wandered the aisles of movies and realized all I had was a title and director. I didn't know if it was comedy or action or anything (though Katsu had told me that they are technically "boring" and I might fall asleep. After watching, I can understand how people might have that struggle and he only said that just in case I belonged to the category of thinking that kind of movie was awful. Anyhow. I didn't have the courage at first to go ask about the movies so I did some other shopping. I found a cheap scarf that looked a lot like the ratty one I used to have during Middle School. That one was grey and knit with no fringes, it was super long and kind of narrow in the middle...I guess the one I bought is a lot different because it is brown, with grey fringes, the same width all along...but I just thought it looked perfectly ratty and it was cheap. After that I went looking for chocolate and goodies for the basket at the house (I am basically the only one who eats out of it so I feel obliged to keep it full just in case someone else were to want a snack). I also looked for Mexican food ingredients (like tortillas) but there was no such thing. I found a small can of salsa for $3.00...but that was the end to Mexican food ingredients...no burritos for Muto-san.

Then I bought a clip for my hair...it's pretty...I don't know when I'll use it but maybe when I go out some time...

I returned to Tsutaya and asked if they knew the movies Katsu had requested and it was perfect because then Muto-san came and I was able to rent those two and Into the Wild right then and there.

I've watched the one about the dining hall last night - it was great! It was all in Japanese...I was thrilled and surprised I could understand most of it.

Today Muto-san disappeared somewhere. I later found out his father had fallen and had to go to the hospital.

I did cleaning since it was a beautiful day. The sun was bright and wind strong. My laundry dried out within an hour. I washed every towel I could find and set out the bath mats out to dry. I cleaned the sink food catchers and set them in the sun to dry as well...they were getting pretty gross. Then Hiro magically appeared in the storage house. He was packaging eggs so I joined him with that. He is still on crutches. Since the wound was made with a chainsaw and not a clean cut, the doctors told him it will take longer to heal...

Lunch I ate alone watching Into the Wild.

After lunch Katsu came and we chatted and finished Into the Wild until some people brought a medicine delivery. After that we escaped into the mountains to pick shiitake mushrooms. Since it had been raining there were tons! And since the last time I had been, there were double the rows from before. We started picking. Katsu is really relaxed and easy to talk to. I also realized we share a lot of the same views on life and what not. It was the first time we had such an extensive conversation (while picking shiitake mushrooms!). I am going to help him run the Yamaai Mura booth at the Kikuchi farmer's market on Sunday. Awesome!

There is a WWOOFer coming, girl, 24, Japanese, interested in baking bread and pizzas in the oven outside. She will be here on March 1st and stay for 2 weeks. I am  going to go visit the Fukuda's for a week or so starting on the 6th. Then I'll be here till mid April.

Time is flying by so quickly...it's hard to grasp.