The first couple days were rainy. I was a little down because of it...everything looked so gloomy and sad. Whatever might have been green in the winter was wet and brown. The only thing I enjoy about rain is the sound of it on the roof.
On Tuesday morning the two Taiwanese girls left for the remainder of the vacation before returning to Taiwan and school. Since it was rainy, after feeding the chickens and washing the eggs, I sorted rice for the entire day. However, Hana-chan, Katsu's daughter who turned 1 in November, was going to be here for the day since her mom, Hiroko, was working. Hitomi-san watched her the whole time, but I felt a little bad because Hana-chan cries constantly...Luckily, she is adorable. I laughed when Hana-chan was munching on a sweet potato chip, perfectly normal, when all of a sudden her face turned red and crunched up and she cried out, "Mama!" long and drawn out with chip and saliva in her mouth - but while she cried she kept eating that chip, not pausing her crying or her eating for the other. After lunch I came into the main room and Katsu was sitting in the chair with Hana-chan in his lap, both were asleep, the most peaceful, heart warming sight in a while.
On Wednesday morning Muto-san left for Kagoshima for an agricultural meeting or some sort. It was another rainy day. I didn't want to sort rice yet, so after finishing up the chickens I went back to the coop in attempt to clean it up a little. There is dust everywhere, not just a sheet, but thick chunks caked onto the beams, the wire mesh, the walls. There was a mini broom there and brushed at all the surfaces. There was dust flying everywhere. When I got to the wire mesh of the coop, the dust fell away easilly and whatever light the cloudy day offered came in...what a difference it made! Then in the other coop I scraped the caked poop off the box top. I felt satisfied because the things made an obvious visible change. Then I swept the storage room.
Hiro was packing eggs so I helped him until lunch.
I ate lunch alone, which was fine, watching the rest of "Gone with the Wind" that I had begun the night before. I'd never seen it before, but it was great. My lunch was two open faced sandwiches, one was apple and cheese and the other tomato and cheese.
Hiro said he could take me to see "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" with Hitomi-san and that we'd be leaving at 4:30. I don't remember exactly what I did in the afternoon. Some cleaning, perhaps... at 3:30 I did the chickens. When Hiro came he said Hitomi couldn't come because of a death in the neighborhood...
The movie was interesting. The beginning credits surprised me with that odd animation. In my mind I was seeing the book and the Swedish movie as well, trying to pick out what was missing, changed, added, done better, worse... we had gotten some popcorn, but I didn't eat a lot because there weren't a lot of opportunities that seemed like "popcorn" moments. When it was over I was in a daze. I asked Hiro if he understood it. I thought, well I've read the book, seen the other movie and watche the movie in English. Hiro didn't read the book or watch the other movie and had to read the whole movie in subtitles that are always shortened from what is really being said...he said he was confused but thinks he got it. Complicated. I was glad I FINALLY got to see it, I'd been looking forward to it for a while.
It was basically 9 when we got out of the theater and we hadn't eaten so we went to eat at a "shabu shabu" restaurant. I hadn't been to one since I'd come to Japan this time. There was a pot and electric stove pad in the middle of the table and we ordered raw ingredients. Bok Choy, carrots, enoki, pork, chicken, wantons, hakusai...you put the items in the boiling broth with chopsticks then dip it in a sauce (ponzu, sweet and spicy or sesame) and eat. It was yummy and I ate a ton of enoki...it's my favorite:) It was 11 when we headed home.
Today was good. Chickens. Rice sorting (but not alone this time, Hiro and Hitomi-san helped). After lunch (which was a curry bread roll and chocolate treat Hitomi-san had brought me) I didn't know what to do. The day turned sunny so I brought out my laundry. Next I cut down the rotted persimmons from November. When we had hung the persimmons, the weather suddenly turned rainy, and the persimmons didn't do so well. Then I started a bag of wet laundry that the Taiwanese girls had left behind to lighten their luggage. Then I was determined to clean up a pile of trash by the feed house. So I did. It took me all afternoon. It felt GREAT...to do something... however, the problem is that despite the fact that I gathered up the trash, there is still no where to actually get rid of it. Japan is so strict about their trash situation...
For dinner I cooked up a stir fry of daikon, carrots, cabbage, shiitake, green onion, onion, chikua and a fried fish paste. I didn't really know what to season it with, but basically everyone uses soy sauce and "dashi" which is broth, that can be from dried fish, dried shiitake, wakame or something...
I also used the seaweed that Keiichan had collected and dried himself because it has a really strong flavor. I surprised myself at how good it turned out...perhaps I was just starving.
Now I'm chilling and watching Casablanca, also for the first time.
Tomorrow, if the weather is good, they might let me go to the mountains with them and do shiitake work...which I've been wanting to do.
Let's hope!
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