Kikuchi: やまあい村

Yesterday was beautiful. A perfect clear day, brilliant blue sky, no wind...  I went with Keichan and Hiroko-obachan to a few places in the country. First we went to a dairy farm, nestled in the mountains of Aso. There we walked around and enjoyed seeing sheep, a funny little meandering black pig, cows (including some that were pregnant), goats, dogs and even guinie pigs! We also were in time to watch a goat race, mini goats running around a track with a confused look, lead by the sound of a whistle. Though it was a little chilly, the sun was warm. We bought a variety of cheese at the shop, and Keichan bought milk caramel. I saw milk jelly there...I could only think of it being somwhere between creamcheese and normal jelly...whatever that means.

Seeing the animals is always a joy, it reminded me of how soon I'd be with the piggies in Kikuchi.

After that we drove further into the mountain to cross over and down into Minami Aso (Souther Aso) area. Parts of the road high in the mountain that was still in shade had snow and ice. Keichan drove carefully. One moment we'd be surrounded by a winter wonderland and the next we'd been in bright sunlight and perfectly cear roads. We stopped once at a grand over look of the valley and the scraggly peaks of the Aso mountains. Everything was a faded from what I remember. Brushed into greys and browns by winter. The near sugi evergreen trees were still a deep green, some with snow caught in the shade of the branches...dusted white. In the valley were patches of houses and fields, the land seemed quilted. The sky was pure blue.

We drove on and down into the valley and we came to the Aso visitors center. There we ordered a lunch in a high quality cafeteria-like restaurant. I roder Dango jiru (dumpling soup) and picked a side of creamy pumpkin and Japanese pickles. The dango jiru was miso soup base and the dango thick chewy slabs. Daikon, carrots, tofu, wakame, satsumaimo (a gooey potato) and burdoc floated in the broth. We took our trays outside onto a long deck that ran the length of the building and sat a table OUTSIDE. There were people everywhere, enjoying the one day break that nature allowed Kumamoto area to have amidst the days of rain and even snow. There were fenced in areas for dogs to run freely, one for small dogs and one for larger dogs. The tiny dogs had little vests on...they looked so tiny from where we sat. Sitting there with Hiroko and Keichan in the sunlight, eating one of my favorite comfort foods, watching happy dogs and children and the vast scenery of Aso and the valley was amazing. The epitome of comfort.
The children were everywhere...a father put his two small daughters in a little red sled and let them slide down a short hill, the grass was flattened perhaps from sledding in a time when there was snow. The sun grew hot on our backs and I shed my jacket...
Hiroko went in for dessert and brought back a blueberry tart that she split with me. I was so surprised by how real the blueberries tasted. Aso has great blueberries, apparently. After a little while, our stomachs stuffed and bodies warmed with happiness and the sun, we drove back towards their home where there was a garden festival/market. I fell asleep in the car on the way.

They were selling EVERYTHING there. Stone bridges, ready made garden sets, large trees, fruit trees, bonsai, woven baskets, grilled chicken, flowers, koi, antiques, crafts, indoor plants - anything. There were artfully crafted logs and stones that had mosses and tiny plants growing on them, like mini gardens for the house. There were tiny bonsai for $10 and big ones for $2,000-$3,000. Keichan pointed to a rather small bonsai and said "If you start now, by the time you grow old, " he pointed to the big one, "it will look something like that."  No wonder they are so expensive. Someone or even a couple people have spent their lives carefully clipping and caring for it...amazing. The art of patience...

Suddenly I wanted to have an empty house and decorate it with pretty flowers and mini gardens and bonsai and mini streams and moss...maybe one day I will be able to come back to the market and have a place to bring those things back to. A garden to create for myself.

After meandering about for a while we returned home with our cheese.

Hiroko-obachan cooked up okonomiyaki with squid and pork for us. We also tried this cheese that is supposed to be grilled for best flavor. In the end, we ended up eating a lot of cheese. I was really full, and probably good on any cheese craving for a while.

We relaxed and talked and watched TV. Later in the evening Shin-chan came home after eating dinner with friends from work. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so he received a lot of chocolates from the women at work. In Japan women give men chocolate on Valentine's Day. Not just your boyfriend, but bosses and friends or teachers. On White Day, those men have to return something to everyone they recieved from (or be thought of as really rude) and on top of having to return to everyone, the item you give the woman has to be worth three times as much as the item you recieved. That's a little messed up, right? We agreed that is only for the stores...I feel sorry for the men. I wont bother with giving them chocolate because really, it just makes like tougher for them. My gift to them is nothing! So in return they will give me nothing x 3...sounds good to me:)

Today Keichan brought me back to Kikuchi. There are two Taiwanese girls here, juniors in college. They are in Japan for a little over a month for their winter break which goes from the end of January to the end of February. Sadly, they are leaving tomorrow. I've only spent the afternoon with them and this evening, but it has been having them here. It is the first time in a while I've socialized with girls around my age...it is nice because they enjoy WWOOFing, so we have that in common. One of them speaks really good Japanese, the other girl is good at English and okay at Japanese, so we can communicate. We sorted rice this afternoon and collected eggs.

The farm has changed! The cleaned and rearranged many things. In the room I used before, there is now a bunk bed and table. In the main room, the couch and chairs are swicthed around, DVDs, videos, cds and book all organized and cleaned up. The floor looks like it was scrubbed really well. In the main storage house that we spend time in, there is a new huge table and all the shelves have been cleaned up. In a chicken coop where there were only three roosters before no there are also chickens. So now, there are three places for chickens. I was really surprised at how it changed.

I saw Muto-san, Hitomi-san and Hiro today. I think Katsu was out delivering the pigs for most of the day, I will see him tomorrow. It was rainy today and supposed to be rainy tomorrow. Snowy later this week.

I'm just hoping I have enough clothes.

Tonight we had kimchi nabe with all kinds of vegetables, fish and pork too. At the end we put in udon noodles and mochi to try and use up some of the left over broth.

Tomorrow the girls leave around 8. I will try to get up before they leave to say good bye. Then I get to work on the farm for the first time in two months.

I've been here almost five months. More than half way done... two months here and a month in Uto. It's going to fly by.