Sunday, February 26, 2012

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:)

Friday, February 24, 2012

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.

Monday, February 20, 2012

A Monday

Last night I went to a small "business" party type of thing at the house next door with Muto-san. There were people from Nagoya who are part of a new wave of organic and small farm supporters trying to get that produce into the city...or something like that. This group was called "The Ninjin Club" which means the "carrot club". There were eight of us all together and we enjoyed a meal of grilled pork, beef, cabbage, onions and shiitake mushrooms. The beef was Dai-san's beef and the pork Muto-san's. Everyone chatted and drank. There was a girl who is 23, she was really nice and when they came to sleep at the guest house, she had the top bunk in my room. We chatted some and she invited me to come by Nagoya before I go home. She has a little daughter that I think would be a delight to meet...so I think I might stop there in May. They were all very nice. They left at 6 in the morning to go to the onsen nearby before heading to Fukuoka for more touring of Kyushu. 

Yesterday was Sunday and technically my day off. I skyped Dad in the morning and was pretty happy about joining the little birthday get together that Elijah, Qun and Uncle Bill had for Dad. They showed me the cake that Elijah had made for him - what? I beautiful chocolate bunk cake with powdered sugar dusted on top. It looked really yummy:) I also got to see the front page of the Oberlin News Tribune where Elijah's smiling face was. Proud sis.  However, my little moment in Oberlin ended when I went to wash the eggs I collected that morning. It's always good to see people back home...if it weren't for Skype I probably wouldn't have lasted this long. 

It's been terribly cold. In the mid twenties, Fahrenheit. The water system in many places was frozen. Only one sink worked in the storage house where I wash the eggs and I still had to carry a bucket of water along with the feed to the coops. It's kind of a work out...hopefully by April it will feel like nothing. 

After that I worked on braiding some bracelets out of some string I had and studied two chapters of kanji for a couple hours...I felt really good about that. Before I knew it was chicken time #2 and I went off and did that. Everyday now we get a little over 100 eggs. 

Today in the morning I did some busy work...slicing stickers for rice bags to sell, filling rice bags, laundry...that kind of thing. I found a map the other day with the beginnings of what seemed to me as the coloring in of countries that WWOOFers had come from. I decided I was going to carry that out on a small map, because the other is apparently too large. I looked through the log book and also asked Muto-san and there are 23 countries. That's pretty cool...I must say. I'm the first from Ohio in the US. People came from New York, California and Washington before. 

In the afternoon I went with Hitomi-san and Muto-san back to the shiitake work in the mountains. I tried not to think about feet and chainsaws. That was pretty tough...I'm just too weak right now. Soon I'll get stronger!

For now I need to sleep and heal up for something (hopefully) to do tomorrow. 

Today was sunny and beautiful but the next scheduled nice day is next Sunday...I'm not very happy about that. 

Saturday, February 18, 2012

yet another cold day

Today is so cold.

When I woke up my nose was hurting from how cold it was in the room and my breath was like a cloud. If it weren't for the electric blanket I sleep with, I'd probably have frozen to death! I woke up before 8 and managed to force myself out of the warm capsule of my bed (I know sleep on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed - it is awesome). I made breakfast and around 8:30 Muto-san got up and we ate.

It was freezing cold outside. I went outside to feed the chickens, and just walking to the chicken coop my toes were hurting. There were so many eggs. Probably the most I've collected at one time ever. The cold and all that chicken shivering must've made extra eggs pop out or something...Katsu had asked me also to give the chickens water if it had frozen. The seperate water dishes were dirty so I brought them back to the hose. I took a moment to get heat pads for the toes of my shoes and rubber gloves for my hands before washing the dishes. But, the hose was frozen solid. I went to the tap off the side of the main store house and washed them there. Katsu had been there in the morning so I figured he had fed the cat, but she was rubbing against me and kneeding me with her claws and whining. Of course, I loved it. A cats affection, even if the source is food and not really genuine love, is wonderful and I appreciated it very much. She followed me down the road a little while whenever I walked away, she stopped probably when she realized it had nothing to do with her. But she'd be waiting on my way back. What a good friend.

I knew I couldn't carry the dishs filled with water to the coop so I carried them alone then brought a bucket of water to pour into them afterwards. Cold cold cold. Then it started snowing a little. Cold cold cold. I washed the eggs with rubber gloves on. I counted them, 76. Just in the morning! And unlike the batches I've washed recently, these were all around the same size and very clean. After that I cleaned up the storage house a little...just simple tidying.

Muto-san planted a tree that Katsu, Ayumi and Hiro (his children) had given him for his birthday.

We just had pasta for lunch.

It is now evening... almost 11. In the afternoon there wasn't much work so I took a little walk towards where we went and cut sugi trees in the fall. I was trying to find some of the houses up there, because one of my great aunts lives somewhere around here... There was construction on the road and the snow was falling heavier so I turned around. I napped and watched the movies I'd made of the Orchestra Bahamas trip, Englad 2009 trip and Appalachian trail trip on my comptuer. At 4:30 I did the chickens again. All the water was gone - I was shocked. Luckily there were hardly any eggs, so I quickly took another bucket of water and only spent about 15 minutes washing the eggs in the cold water. Hitomi-san came and dried them for me, 106 eggs for the day.

Muto-san had recieved a hakusai cabbage from the other pig farm boss on Friday, so we decided to eat nabe for dinner. Hakusai, carrots, daikon, chicken meat balls, tofu and shiitake. And a shiny bowl of white rice on the side. Muto-san said if you put a little bit of vinegar in the rice cooker before it is cooked, it makes the rice extra shiny. I think so too now.

I was stuffed, but all healthy fresh vegetables (everything but tofu and meat balls is from this garden or friend's garden - amazing).

I took a bath for the first time here in Kikuchi...it was just too cold without it today. Then watched "Stranger than Fiction" with Will Ferrel. I'd never seen it before...it was interesting.

Tomorrow is a new day, but just as cold as today.

Friday, February 17, 2012

another experience...

I didn't realize today was going to be so eventful.

In the morning I hurried to do chicken work so Muto-san and I could leave to pick up new pigs at 9:30. When we picked them up at the farm that is in the flat valley, wind and bits of snow hurled  at us.  Out of the pigs, there was one brown one.

We got back and Muto-san had to go to a funeral. Yesterday was his birthday, but on that day someone passed away.

I stamped a receipt pad for Hitomi-san for a little bit. Muto-san left soon after that I started making lunch though it was 20 minutes early. I made the same thing as the other day - daikon, carrot, cabbage, shiitake, onion stir fry with seaweed, soy sauce, sugar and dashi. There was a half loaf of garlic bread that Hitomi-san had brought me while Muto-san was away so sliced a few thin slices off, toasted them until crispy, and put on some of the cheese I bought in Aso and tomato on it. I topped of lunch with an apple. I started "I, Robot".

A little before 2 Hiro and Katsu came back from lunch. We finished the rice sorting yesterday so I didn't know exactly what to do. I thought there was a possibilty of spreading gravel, but first it need to be done with the tractor. After cleaning up another chicken coop a little I went with Hiro into the mountains to where the kunugi trees we cut in November are. They had done most of it, but there was still about 1/4 left to do. He asked me to use the axe and cut off stubs and little branches off the logs he cut and collect the branches that they didn't need because they were too thin into piles, Hiro was working the chainsaw. It was still beautiful up in the mountains. The bare kunugi trees with short grasses at their bases, everything turned golden brown by winter, the surrounding sugi trees still deep green, soft winter sunlight, patches of blue sky and thick silvery clouds...when we first got there, a strong wind whipped right over the bald spot where we were working with fat flakes of snow. It was beautiful...took some of the chill away.

As I worked I actually got hot despite the cold, moving the logs and things. Not to mention I suck at using the axe...so where a normal person might take three hacks, I took seven. Hiro asked me after a while if I wanted to try using the chainsaw. I said no. When we were in Alaska we stayed at the Blood family's house. Mrs. Blood mention once that she had to use the chainsaw once to cut some branches and said something about how the chainsaw, because of the spinning chain, tends to move towards your head - or something. So now whenever I think of chainsaw, I just see her holding it being tough, and me with the blade coming towards my head. Really, I'm OK. A little later he asked if I need a break, I said I was fine.

A little later I look up and saw him sitting on the ground holding his foot. He asked me to turn off the chainsaw which was sitting a few feet away on the ground. I didn't know how...but finally found the button. Then I saw the boot. His left boot with a gash in it. Then I saw the blood. He asked me to go get a towel from the truck. I ran and got tissues and water and realizing I didn't bring the towel I ran back and got it. He was tying his jacket around his calf. Next he did the towel. I'd never seen so much blood in my life...dripping onto the grass and soaking his sock. He said he called his parents and asked if I could drive to the bottom of the mountain. We were 10 minutes away from their house or so, so if we could meet halfway it would be the fastest to get him to his parents and to the hospital. I thought at first, no, I'm not going to drive a manual truck because the last thing we need is me killing us both in a automobile accident in the middle of nowhere mountain. But then I realized I can do it, I've done it before. I helped him to the truck about 200 feet away, ran back grabbed the chainsaw and axe and boot threw in the back of the car and helped him tie a rope around his calf. Then I drove to the bottom of the mountain. I kept thinking, if maybe I had tried and used the chainsaw or if we had taken a break , this wouldn't be happening, there wouldn't be blood dripping on the dashboard, there wouldn't be me trying to drive a manual truck on some rocky, narrow mountain road.

Luckily, we got to the bottom safely. I was more panicky than Hiro was, for sure, somehow he was staying so damned calm! The tissues were red. He propped his foot out the window for a few minutes until his parents came in the van. Muto-san drove him to the hospital, 15 km away. Hitomi-san drove me in the truck back to the farm. She didn't seem all too worried. She tried to tell me that this happened probably because Hiro is "blank" and has been "blank" ever since he was a kid. I didn't know what the word meant, but I thought it could be "gung ho" or something like that...She said one time she cut her leg with the axe and had to drive herself to the hospital. I can't imagine.

I was kind of in shock. Blood on my boots. On the dashboard. On my pants. How could he have stayed so calm?

Hitomi-san asked me to do the chickens. She and Katsu had to go to a meeting at the farm over. They just got done. They said Hiro and Muto-san had left the hospital, he has stitches and wont be able to do work (naturally) for a little bit. I told them if there was anything I could do, they could ask me. I also said Muto-san didn't have to come back here, because if he did, that would leave Hitomi-san to care for Muto-san's elderly parents and Hiro on her own. I just hope they are okay...

Well...that was my interesting day... poor Hiro...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

On the farm.

I've been back at Yamaai Mura for a few days now. It's Thursday evening and I got here Monday afternoon.

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!

Monday, February 13, 2012

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.




Sunday, February 12, 2012

catching up...

I haven't written anything in days.
But that's definitely not because nothing has been happening, quite the opposite really. First of all, Girl with the Dragon Tatto came out in Japan yesterday. I have not seen it yet, but just knowing that I can if I wanted, makes me so happy! I've got to find a way there.

In Sapporo on Tuesday, my second night in Hokkaido, I had dinner with Amanda and Yujiro, my hosts. I went to their house and first Amanda and I drank English tea, then when Yujiro came home Amanda and started prepping dinner. Hokkaido is famous for many things, seafood, ramen, potatoes, "shiroi ko bito" cookies and son on and so forth. She said we were going to have real Hokkaido salmon and potatoes and asparugus that night. I helped by peeling and slicing the potatoes. She brought out the table hot pan and after softening the potatoes she stuck them on the pan in a little pool of oil and let them cook. Towards the end, she added the salmon. It reminded so much of a meal I had when I was on the Appalachian Trail when I was 13 and how my family was sitting at a  table in front of shelter when a jeep came barrelling through the woods.  Two men came out and put on a show of fried potatoes, onions and fresh trout.

It wasn't traditional Japanese food, but I didn't mind a bit. I'm not sitting around Japan dying for lasgna or chicken noodle soup or even a chunk of steak, but when homey food like Amanda cooked up was served, it made me feel cozy inside...like simply comfort food of some sort despite the fact that I had never eaten Hokkaido salmon or potatoes in my life.

She also put the asparagus, peppers, long green onion and Japanese pumpkin on the pan. We picked it off with our chopsticks. Oh! I know what made it so homey, I dipped everything except the salmon in a blop of ketchup. It was tasty.

 Amanda is from London but has lived in Japan for over ten years. She runs a little English school called "Imagine".  She can aslo write the name in kanji using the kanji for the word "now" which is "ima" and the kanji for "person" which is "jin" : Ima-jin=imagine. I thought that was nice.

After our lovely dinner I returned to the apartment.
The next day I left the apartment at a little after 8 because Amanda as having a class at 9, she woudn't be done till around 2. I didn't really know what to do exactly, so I went to a large shopping center and had tea at a Starbuck's and read. It was only 10 AM when I decided I continue to somewhere. I went to one of the sites of the festival called Tsudome. I had heard it was mainly designed for kids but thought I should go anyhow. The dome was kind of in the middle of no where and the cold and the wind was so strong. When I got off the bus I was shocked by the ferociousness of the winter. The day before had been so warm that one of the small snow sculptures had actually collapsed onto an woman who had to be taken to the hosptital. Now, all that had metled turned the world into ice and vehicles and people slid around everywhere. I defrosted in the giant dome where there was food and childrens acitivities. I went back out for photos but only lasted about 10 minutes before I got afraid of damaging my hands somehow from the cold...there really wasn't a whole lot to do for a lonely person like me.

I then traveled back to Sapporo Station and enjoyed a sandwhich in a little cafe before heading to the Ishiya Chocolate Factory which is famous for making the "shiroi ko bito" (white lover) cookies. I found the factory by heading the direction that many people were coming from and paid to walk around and see the factory. It came with a free cookie: two thin, crispy cookies sandwiching a piece of white chocolate. It was pretty good. I didn't understand why it was SO famous...but I could probably eat 10 in one sitting:)

The factory was more like a museum. I wasn't feeling really well so didn't stop to read much, but there was an incredible display of old fashioned Japanese, American and European toys, phonograms, hot chocolate cups and posters. There was a section where glass windows allowed us to look over the factory workers making cookies...it didn't look like much fun...but the cookies are good! There were two places to sit and enjoy giant, delicious, expensive desserts...but I decided it just wouldn't be worth it sitting alone. I was really trying to get to the end and buy the cookies to take with me to Kyushu as souveniers. I bought several boxed and then stared with longing at truffles...but the things were about 3 dollars a piece. I could just imagine how good they tasted.

After that I went back to the apartment and tried to make my yuckiness go away because I wanted to be well for the plane ride the next day. My plans for the night had been to see the ice candles at Otaru then stop by Odori Koen to see the lit up snow sculptures...in my not so well I only made it to Odori Koen and Susukino...I knew I'd redgret it if I didn't get some photos at night. Not seeing Otaru will just be an excuse to come back one day.

I decided traveling alone really isn't my thing. I know some people really like it...but I think I can't really enjoy being out trying to have fun alone...it just doesn't work.  I'm glad I got to see all the amazing sites...the zoo, the ice and snow sculptures, $250 crab, Nijo Market, the clock tower: it was good.

I got to Fukuoka on Thursday evening around 5. Yuka came and picked me up at the airport. We went to her and Mamoru-san's tiny little apartment, they had set up on of the rooms for me. We chatted and she made a really delicious chicken dish that reminded me a little of something I could get at Mandarin. But she served it with potato salad, soup and rice. A perfect meal since I hadn't eaten anything by miso soup and a palm sized pocket sandwich that day. Mamoru-san got home from work a little before 10. It's insane, at least to me. In Japan the "end of the season" is March, and the new term starts in April so everyone is busting their butts to fnish things until then. Probably the busiest time of the year. So recently, he leaves the house at 7 and gets home around 10. However, they are not getting paid overtime, the pull their time cards out around 7 but work more just in order to get things done. He went in today too, even though it is Saturday. He is salesman for solar panels. In one year, they get three vacations, and those vacations are five days long each. The life of a Japanese business is completely insane to me. It seems like a waste of a life...Mamoru-san said that between jobs is the time to take time off and have proper vacation. He took on for three months, but only once in his life...
I can't imagine it. I feel very sorry for the situation...

On Friday Yuka took me to Dazaifu Shrine. I think it is the shrine famous for luck with studies. There is a golden cow that if you touch, you will become smarter. I did that. I tossed a coin into the slats in front of the shrine and prayed to do well in college. I even bought a little charm for good luck. Let's see if this works! haha...

The place was beautiful though, similar to Kiyomizu, the street leading up to it was lined with traditional stlye little shops. Dazaifu Shrine has a symbol which is the ume blossum, plum blossom. There is even a delicious grilled mochi filled with sweet bean paste with the flower design baked into the mochi. It was great...my kind of food.

The path leading to the shrine itself was beautiful, stone with really beautiful severe red painted bridges over little streams leading to a pond. The trees all around us were ancient, giant and covered in mosses and other plants. Completely enchanting.

After that we returned to the apartment for spaghetti lunch and relaxed until the afternoon where Yuka went on a hunt for Valentine's Day chocolate for her dad and brother (girls only give to boys, boys return on White Day a month later). It was crazy how many places were selling chocolate and how packed it was with women. The best part were the samples...everywhere! At a different section there was a cheese place where we tried some grilled fresh mozerella. The taste wouldn't leave my mouth and it was absolutely delicious. CHEESE and CHOCO!

I went around gawking at all the beautiful and expemsive stores. I bought my bus ticket for going to Kumamot and a ticket store nearby.
But soon it got to around dinner time and we headed over to the restaurant where we were going to meet Mamoru-san after his work. Yuka and I ordered some food when he said he'd be a little late. It was an Izakaya, or Japanese style bar, where you can order a lot of food all through the night, but it comes in small portions so you can try a little of a lot. Yuka started us with delicious spinach salad, the spinach was wrapped in really thin sheet of fried egg. It was thinner than a tortilla. Very delicately flavored. She also ordered eggplant and miso, which is great. Then charcoal grilled  chicken that was spectacular. I had never tasted that flavor before...but loved it. Then came baked yamaimo, a white slimy potato which I don't normally care for, but this dish was great too. When Mamoru-san arrived he ordered mackeral sashimi and chicken gyoza nabe (hand made pot stickers in brother, rather than fried). We were there from 7:30 till almost 10:30, eating and chatting. It was absolutely wonderful. We ended with "shime" or more directly "the carbohydrate you eat after getting drunk to soften the hangover the next day". But in this case the specific word only applied to Mamoru-san. Yuka and finished with small onigiri wrapped in a delicately flavored green leaf pickle with umeboshi. Yeah, it was good.

When we got home to the apartment it was late. I didn't last much longer...and the I slept till 9:20 the next day! They were up when I rolled out. Mamoru-san got ready for work around 10 and head out. Since it wasn't a real work day he was just in jeans and leather jacket.
Yuka and I relaxed and had the mochi from Dazaifu for breakfast. Around 11:30 we went to a pretty famous Soba shop for lunch. It had showed up on TV, and now people from all over come to the restaurant. There is always a line. Luckily, we only had to wait a little bit. I ordered duck and green onion soba set that came with a little vegetables and rice and pickles. Yuka ordered curry soba. From where we sat we could watch them cooking the large vat of noodles and using the traditional woven baskets to strain the noodle. It was really hot being so close. Soon our food came, it was great. The noodle were perfect and the soup flavorful. Gosh, everyone must be wondering if I do anything else but eat!

Yuka walked me to the bus station and waited till I was on the bus for Kumamoto. It was fun spending time with her, I hadn't ever done it before really, but very glad I had the opportunity.

Keichan was in Kumamoto, waiting for me at the bus stop. What would I do if Mom didn't have such wonderful friends??

I came home with him and Hiroko-obachan was home doing house cleaning. We passed Shin-chan in his car on his way to work.

I am back in Kyushu. The last leg of my trip that I've been thinking about his here. Monday is Kikuchi for around two months. Then Uto to work from Sanga-Obaachan and Ojiichan on the tomato and cucumber farm during the busy season.

It's so fast...woosh.
I'm glad to be back in Kyushu. It's my mom's home, but it has found a place in my heart too.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Sapporo: day one

Blog 2.6

Today was my first of three full days in Sapporo.
I have a list of things I wanted to do over the next few days, but I the biggest obstacle for me is getting around the city. All the websites and guidebooks say that it is easy to navigate around Sapporo because it is set up like most Western cities...but of course...I come from Oberlin and there are two main streets and about a zero percent chance of getting lost. I guess I'm not a fan of cities anyway...but there I was. I took the subway to Odori Sation, which is where all three subway lines intersect. I was going to go look for a book store. But when I came up the stairs I found myself staring at Odori Park, swarmed with people, snow and ice scultpures. Well, that's what I came here to see! So I walked along the sidewalk, trying not to slip in the slush and winding my way through hords of people. The first thing I really saw was a massive snow sculpture of an ocean scene with a walrus, seat turtle, baby seal, fish and more. I think the things was around 20 meters tall...  The walrus was beautiful, with long curved ice whiskers. The turtle even had gentle wrinkles around its eyes. I've never seen anything like it. I walked on, there were tons of stands with food and souveniers...but I kind of lost my appetite since it's no fun to eat alone, surrounded by people. There were scultpures as monsterous as the first that depicted Mickey Mouse, One Piece characters, a traditonal Japanese castle, an ice palace and the Taj Mahal. There were also little snow and ice slides and things for children and I stood and watched that for a while...they all look so happy.

There were tons of people standing in front of the Taj Mahal snow sculpture so I thought something might be happening. I stood around for a while but got cold and decided to head out, but then I caught some official people talking to eachother about how the show is going to start soon. There were many people from India there, and very official looking too. So I stayed, and finally there was an awesome performance. It is what I took to be a mix of traditional and modern Indian dances with a mixture of music. It was really incredible. There were pairs of men and women, the men in blue and pink and the women in green and red with sequins and beads and sparkles...very beautiful. As the performance progressed it became more intense, there was a "battle" between the men and the women. Goodness could they DANCE! I could only think of Clara while I watched...I was amazed at this, but she spent a year there experiencing that culture that is so incredibly different from ours. So many experiences...

I stayed till the end. The performers bowed to a very pathetic pitter patter of applause. Keiko told me though that Japanese are often embarrassed to show such enthusiasm. Thus things like standing ovations are basically none existant. In the crowd amongst the muffled clapping was the occasional hoot, holler and wild whistle of a happy foreigner. I personally think that a pitiful applause is WAY more embarrassing than a hoot. These artists deserve proper recognition...
Anyway, that was awesome. Felt like dancing. Instead I trudged along the muddy, slushy walkways and viewed more snow sculptures (totoro, doraemon, happy feet, crayon shinchan...etc.) At the end of the walk, I should have gone up the other side of the park but I decided to stop there for today and head for the station in search of a shopping center where I could find a book store.

I found the shopping arcade and walked up and down the entire length. Peering down each street that intersected in search of a 本 sign, meaning book. It seemed that they had all disappeared from Sapporo's streets. However, I soon found myself near Nijo Fish Market and that was one my places to go for that day, so I walk along the walk and stared at all the fish and crabs...half of which eerily stared back at me...
It was 1:00. I wasn't all that hungry but I decided I should stop to eat. I walked up to a ramen shop stood in front of it nervously wondering if I could gain the courage to go in...when I decided that no, I couldn't, and went back to the market and walked into a less dark restaurant.

The thing about ramen shops, or noodle shops in general, is that they are really small, normally filled with business men or couples, dark, and have a bar that faces the cooks. I didn't feel like sitting alone, staring at the cooks then nervously slurping up the noodles (because I am not good at slurping) while they watched me. I'm sure that's not ACTUALLY what would happen, but I'd feel more comfortable once I found a good book to keep me company.

It all worked out, though, because at this restaurant I chose I could sample all kinds of fresh seafood that Hokkaido is famous for. I was seated at the bar since I was alone and I ordered the set that was most reccomended. It came on a laquer tray with four little bowls surrounding a little plate with three pieces of nigiri sushi. Awesome. Three bowls were seafood over a little bit of rice, one was sea urchin, one was salmon roe and the other I think was raw scallop...the fourth bowl had crab miso soup. The three pieces of sushi were salmon, tuna and crab. I sat alone and just thought about the amazing show going on inside my mouth. It was all delicious. Fresh. Flavorful. Fantastic. I usually don't like roe, but, this time I really liked it. It's been a while since I've eaten it, perhaps my taste has matured. In the crab miso soup was an actually crab claw, so I picked the meat out of it. There was a foreign man and his Japanese girlfriend or wife nearby. I felt like they kept looking over at me...I imagined they were critiquing the way I picked the crab meat out of the claw...I just hope I didn't look as barbaric as I felt! Overall, I'm glad I ate there. A definite staple in my memory of Nijo Market.

After that, I wandered around even more looking for a darn book store. I found one, but it had the worst English section ever...it was a used shop so there were no great novels or anything. I decided I'd look it up on the net for tomorrow. If I had a super phone...I could've have just done it right then. I probably looked really out of date staring at my PAPER maps...hand draw and everything! Probably why I was getting lost...haha.

I had looked up "spots to see" in Sapporo and one of them was a place called the Sapporo Factory. So, I went there. It was nice, with a  beautiful indoor garden and patio. All the stores were very expensive...I enjoyed looking. There was a little store with foreign items. I saw mini bag of Hershey's Kisses for $4. That isn't happening while I can by a Ghana Chocolate Bar for 88 yen.  There was a supermarket on the bottom floor and I picked up some yogurt and fruits. I also bought a fruit/vegetable drink that is green (therefore pretty promising on the nutrious end of things).

I was heading back to the apartment going through the subway. I was putting my ticket through the machine and walking through the gate when suddenly the little doors slammed against my knees. I was already walking with power though, so I walked right through it...however it had really surprised me and I wondered why it had happened because I had paid the right amount everything. I stood around waiting for some station attendant to come question me...but no one came. I got a new ticket for the new line and entered a different gate then stopped at an information desk. I explained to the lady what had happened and she said it's fine, that I can just go on my way. Why did it do that then? Silly machine.

I stopped at the local supermarket for dinner and TP. Now that I am here, I realized I should have picked up more chocolate!

Tomorrow I hope to go to the zoo, see more of Odori Koen, the Susunko festival site, BOOK STORE, the clock tower and then dinner with Amanda. That saves Ishiya Chocolate Factory, Tsudome (another festival site) and Otaru (festival of lights in nearby small town) for Wednesday. This really is a short trip...but, that'd good, because I'm a lonely person...I've never talked to little in my LIFE!

Tomorrow I hope I feel more up for an adventure then I do now. My body isn't feeling to hot at the moment.




Sunday, February 5, 2012

(SORRY this is from February 1, forgot to post, back track!)

Blog 2.3

I can't believe it is Feburary. I know it has already been this month for three days now, but it is still hard to accept.

Time is pretty interesting. Sometimes I try to "wrap my mind around it". I sit lying in my bed before sleeping or waiting for a train or walking down the street and I just start to try and explain it. And I can't. Stretching behind us for more than I can imagine, for always from and to infinity...
I remember when days seemed to last forever. When math class seemed to be the longest, most torturous 45 minutes ever.
But now I flip through my day like the pages of a picture book. It's quick. You think, that's it? at the end.
I have heard countless adults say how time flies, how they feel like only yesterday they were where I am now. I'm only eighteen and time seems to have gotten noticeably faster...I'm a little nervous if this lovely drive in the car of life is going to go up to roller coaster speeds.
I really hate roller coasters.

Enough thoughts...no one is here to read that!:D I'm listening to sentimental music and it makes me mind start to wonder...

I went with Keiko the other day to the glass artist's studio, Sano-san. I had met her before with Mom and Michael. At that time we all got to learn how to make beads, which was a new experience for me. This time, I wanted to see her be the artist. She asked what I wanted to see and I said whatever she thought was the most fun. Sano-san decided on a praying mantis and asked me to choose the colors. For the next half hour or so we watched mesmerized as she efficiently moved her hands about with the long sticks of colored glass in the flames. The glass glowed red when it was hot, and moved like cold honey, but when she pulled it out of the flames, it immediately started to harden, viscosity changing perhaps? (Love the word, remember half of the meaning...stupid me). It began as a blob and suddenly there were legs and a waist and then a head and the next thing I knew she was setting down a pretty, green, blue and yellow praying mantis down before me. It stared at me with icey blue eyes. Next she created a wave scene with a dolphin jumping. Then a little trotting dog, the legs were perfect, the paws round and adorable. She made a dragon fly too, clear wings and deep red body...It was amazing watching her work, she was so decisive and rough, yet, of course with some kind of delicacy that allowed her to create these fragile crystal-like creatures.

Her fault might be her incredible generosity. Everything she made she put in a box for me to take home. Sano-san had done the same the time before... I also accepted a slice of cheesecake and tea. It was a fun and wonderful afternoon.

Of course, we were home before 5 so that we could watch America's Next Top Model. Today is the last day I can see it, Keiko said she'd email me to tell me who won next friday.

Yesterday I went shopping by myself. It was easily the coldest day yet. I saw a few flakes of snow. The air and sky seemed crisp, like the cold had frozen the sunlight and edges of clouds.  The wind was crazy strong.
Stupidly I decided to ride the bike. The way back was awful and about an hour after a got back, it was actually snowing. The most snow I've seen since last years Ohio Winter! Personally, I don't mid outside cold so much...but the lack of indoor heating in these Japanese houses is not very fun. Going to bed even when I want to be lazy and just roll up in my bed, it is too cold, so I stretch and do a little exercise to get warm, put on lots of clothes THEN curl up in the bed. There is no heat in my room except for the katatsu...it kind of hurts to breath so I end up putting my face under the covers as well, which I don't particularly enjoy doing...whenever I go inside the room I can see my breath. Plucking my eyebrows in the mirrow is a pain because it just fogs up unless I hold my breath.

Well, I'm going to Sapporo in  a couple days so I might as well just suck it up because it's A LOT colder there and there is snow! The couchsurfer I'm staying with there suggested I buy spike for my shoes. Snow! Other than Sapporo, I doubt I'll see much other snow. Perhaps in Kikuchi a little, but I dont know yet. I am a little nervous about Kikuchi and how cold it is going to be and what work there is going to be. I know there will be shiitake work, which I believe will be returning to many kunugi trees that we cut down a few months ago and cleaning them up cutting them into about 2 meter logs, inserting the bacteria then stacking them so they can sit for a couple years before using them to actually grow shiitake...or something. So as long as I am moving around, I wont be too cold and get by with probably two layers under my tsunagi jump suit. But if I'm going to be doing "still" work...I might be in trouble. Night is going to be the worst...I'm going to have to sleep with three blankets plus a futon on top I think...maybe I'll just beg to sleep on the couch with the stove if it gets too cold! Weeeeeeeee!

No use worrying. I'm excited to get back to the farm and doing work. I wonder if there will be other WWOOFers...

Hokkaido time

Today was kind of sad in the morning. I left Keiko and Seibun and Osaka behind...I'd been there for a month. Watching Carnation everyone morning, chatting, eating...well, living with them. But, I know I always feel like this when I'm moving from one place to another whether it be Kikuchi, Uto, Osaka, Mashiki...I get wrapped up and comfortable and then I have to head out.

It's okay. Just keep going.

Keiko took me all the way to the gate of Kansai Airport. Before I went through security we ate udon and mini katsudon at a restaurant. As I gathered up my things after security I waved to Keiko, watched her start home and I headed for my gate. I was 40 minutes early, but they were already boarding. Good thing I went early or I might be in Osaka still. I looked for seat 9A and found it next seat 9B which was occupied by a silent, lump of a business man who didn't even help me when I was struggling to put my huge bag in the overhead bin. I was all nervous and pumped up with that adrenaline that it wasn't all that difficult...I became the Hulk for a moment. I hurred into my seat, shed all my layers and zoned out staring out the tiny window at a tiny man on the ground.

I read my book. I was sick yesterday so I laid around and almost finished the thing...I left a little for the train and plane trip, though. However, I didn't realize it would read so fast! I have one page for tonight. One page. How did that happen? And it doesn't feel at ALL like it should be the end, so I'm worried I'll be disappointed by the end...because then I might start my bad habit of reading books till there are ten pages or so left...so I wont have to read a disappointing ending. By the time I go to sleep tonight I will have read 6 books because I wanted to (Sons, House Divided, The Help, Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close, The Road, and Norwegian Wood). I read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy this summer (becuase of Zach, THAAANKS!!!) but before that, the last time I've read so much was when we were on the Appalachian Trail. After reading books for school, I really just don't have energy, interest and ususally time to read for myself so I'm trying to get it all out of the way in Japan. I'm going to look for Water for Elephants next. I saw the movie...I think the book will be WAY better.

The clouds were fantastic. The only thing like it that I can think of are the glaciers I saw in Alaska. I have honestly never seen any clouds like that from above before...as we were descending through a few open patches in the clouds I could catch a shoreline etched below. I thought something seemed strange, like something was missing. When we broke through the clouds and crossed over the sea and over the onto the land, I realized what it was. The lack of color. It was black and white. The white of snow and black of anything else that was visible. Another thing was strange. It didn't look like Japan to me. I've heard people say especially in Kyushu that Hokkaido seems more like America...or at least not like the rest of Japan. And even from high up in the sky I could see it was off. There were huge farms. Large forrests. The farms all seemed to be for horses. In one place I saw the little black figures of horses all standing in the snow. The barns looked straight up out of Ohio itself. I even saw what I thought were silos. Rounded fence rings for horses... It was kind of confusing. My mind was going between "wow, this looks like home! I'm going home!" and "so this is what Hokkaido looks like?" I wondered to myself how I'd feel if this was Hopkins we were circling around to, that these were real Ohio farms...American soil...I have no idea how I'm going to feel going home. Probably torn...between happiness of seeing all the people I love and miss and the land that I have come to love here.

Until then.

All fantasies of home evaporated when we hit the ground. I glanced over at the lumpy business man beside me, hadn't made a single sound the entire time.

After I got off the plane at the New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, I got on a train to take me to the central station in Sapporo. Snowy scenery passed the window, the early evening sun pouring golden streams of light over the landscape and making the snow twinkle. Some people on the train near me were really excited to see the snow. A little girl asked her mom "This is snow?" I guess it was her first time to see so much of it. Even in Osaka they hardly get more than 6 inches like every ten years or something. There was at least a three feet thick layer of snow piled around everywhere around us. Winter.

After that I got onto a subway line to Hiragashi Station where I saw my Couch Surfing Host waiting for me at the gate. She is English, so she was pretty easy to spot among all the asian people...She took me to the adorable apartment that she is lending to me for the next few days. It is where she teaches English, but also lets couchsurfers stay. It's perfect with a sink and toilet and bath, internet and a place to throw down some futons. Comfy cozy. Not to mention there is a HEATER. I've basically been living without normal central heating since...yeah, like since I was in Ohio last winter. There are space heaters and things to fill up one room with a lovely cloud of warmth and also the kotatsu which is probably one of the bext inventions EVER...but other than that...cold cold cold. So, pretty sweet if you ask me. My host, Amanda, was having a family dinner tonight and promised to meet me for dinner tomorrow or Tuesday. That's fine with me. The super market was a two minute walk away from the apartment, so, hungry as I was I walked there and gathered up some food (yogurt for breakfast, bananas, one apple, chocolate (YEAH), an obento, salad and tea). I don't think I've ever been in this kind of situation ever before - where I am in complete control. Well, technically, that's not true. I'm sure people will say you are in complete control all the time! But here, these next few days, I can eat what I want when I want, sleep when I want, however much I want, DO whatever I want whenever I want...cool. I'm not going to go crazy...I'm just not that exciting:) I'm going to try and do a lot of walking, see beautiful things, take a lot of photos, eat Sapporo food, see Sapporo sites...Taking it easy (not that I haven't been taking it easy for four months now). Just me and the city. Sleep and dream and eat and walk all alone. I kind of wish someone were with me, but, hey, there's not really a better way to get to know yourself better than spending some days with only yourself for company. Delightful.

Tomorrow is my first adventure day.