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!