雨の日 (rainy day)

It wasn't raining in the morning but I was getting ready for it because there was that hushed feeling all around me. I didn't put my laundry on the line outside or open the door in my room too much, just in case the rain might blow in. 

I got up at 8 as usual and was slightly concerned when Muto-san wasn't up. I did normal morning things and it was almost 9 before I heard him moving around but I'd already decided to feed the chickens so off I went. 

The chickens make me feel like I'm very special, they are always so happy to see me!

When I returned Muto-san said he was sorry that he got up late but we needed to leave to go pick up new pigs from another pig farm. No breakfast! ah! surprisingly I haven't been that hungry...most likely because I've been eating crazy huge and heavy meals and not doing a lot...

So we got in the big truck and drove off. It was probably a 20 minute drive, maybe 30. The first half was on winding mountain roads before we got into an urban area. And soon we turned off the main road and went to the pig farm. This is where the pigs have nothing but a stall to themselves and a machine that dumps food before them. 

Muto-san pointed over to a truck coming towards us with pigs in the back, he said, "Those pigs are lucky ones." And yes they are, the come to Yamaaimura farm and become hashi buta (running pigs). There are 15 pigs in each fenced in area, and each fenced in area is...ah....30 by 30 meters roughly? Which is a lot of space compared to the big huge farms with tiny stalls...sad. The pigs looked like they had been whipped or something...scraped up a little...I felt bad. I pigs squeal is a truly terrible sound...when I hear it, it sends shivers all through my body and I wish I could block it out...

So with 15 pigs in the back of the truck we went started back to home, though a lot slower. We stopped though at a place called Harai to buy food. It was kind of buffet style because you can put whatever you want into plastic containers and they weigh it at the counter. So we got this one fish dish (fried fish soaked in vinegar with vegetables), squid, what looked like sweet and sour shrimp and fried chicken! whoa! Then at noon we finally had our first meal, yum. By then, though, it was raining pretty hard and didn't stop until about an hour ago...it's 11 pm. So after we ate we just relaxed. Watched tv, listened to music. I showed him the movies I'd made of the bike trip and the Appalachian trail and the youtube video of Chelsea Cross and the Rhythm Ryders performing STARSTRUCK by Lady Gaga! haha...he was amused I think.

So it was a rainy and very lazy day. Muto-san went to take a nap at some point in the afternoon and Hitomi (his wife) came in while I was watching a Japanese movie called "Always" based on manga. It takes place in 1955, and she said the that was the time she was born so it brings back memories. Then we talked briefly about worrying moms:) She has a daughter, I think she said she is in her 20s, but she has a kid and is married so she cannot worry anymore. Mom sent me a letter and postcard and they happened to come today! shimpaishteirundesune! (she is worrying, isn't she!) maybe just a little:) and it's okay that she does but I hope she realizes that I'm fine. I'm just fine. It was nice talking to Hitomi, though are conversation is more limited because she doesn't know English at all really, but as she was leaving she did say "see you tomorrow!" with a smile. "Hai, mata ashita!" (yes, see you tomorrow!)

Then it was 5 and I had to go out to the chickens again...rain was still coming down down down. So i put on my work clothes, rain coat, long boots and took an umbrella from the storage room. I stayed dry! When I got to the chicken coup, the rain sounded so much worse pounding on the thin roof than it really was and I was a little worried. However today was the first day I didn't break a single egg! Embarrassing, yes, but I'm finally doing something right. Thank you thank you!

Japanese TV is...crazy though. Yesterday I watched a show that was run by a large man dressed as a woman and another man and they had invited different groups of people. One was Japanese with foreign lovers, the next was families with children who were serious about being actors and actresses (I think) but I"m not, maybe jsut TV models... and the last I didn't understand but something having to do with ages 18 and 55...who knows. 

Today was a music show and two bands that I thought some people might appreciate are JAPAN X (or x Japan...) and AKB48. Japan X is a hard rock group with crazy clothes and hair...AKB48 is a group of all girls that sing and dance, apparently very famous here right now. 

I'm tired though I did nothing today! Good night!

I added a few more pics...see here!

Links to the Photos on facebook

day 5    <- day 5 of the farm, that is.

Kikuchi Gorge and first day at the farm

hanging out with friends:)   <- before the farm

Today was a happy day

I woke up this morning and the sun looked amazing. There was dew on the goldenrod outside my window, and it made it sparkle - dazzling! I got up and washed my face but Muto-san was nowhere to be found. I made breakfast, toast and salad. (I'm very...clumsy. I can't slice very thin or straight and when I push sliced vegetables into a dish from the cutting board using a knife...always, something falls! Try harder I guess...I think Muto-san is used to it by now...) He still wasn't back so I went to collect the eggs. So many today! Yesterday, I got 50 in the morning, I think 13 in the evening. The chickens are crazy. They crowd around the door so much that it is hard to open and I have to push them away with the buckets, but they start to eat out of it! It's fun though, they are my friends:) Every morning, "Ohaiogozaimasu!" and in the evening, "konbanwa!"

When I get back he was back and we ate breakfast before heading out. But when I got into the suit and boots, outside there was a van with people. Muto-san introduced me to Maiyu, she was really pretty and very hippie with a nice braid and many smaller braids and even a piece of hair wrapped in thread. I liked her shoes a lot and wonder where I could find ones like that. Then we went to the tree house deck and sat down to chat. There were three others, Mugi, Nabi and Shiori. They were all hippies I think to some extent and all musicians. They were in awe because of the walnuts that had fallen from the tree onto the deck, kurumi, and wondered what they were. When they found out what they were, they were quite excited and later Muto-san brought a hammer to crack them open, walnut! We chatted for a while, they knew a little English. Shiori said he was also half Japanese, "what a miracle it is that we happened to be here at the same time!" He said. Nabi, the other man, looked like a very "classic"Japanese. He had longer hair, the little mustache and light beard, like from Japanese art! Soon Muto-san had to go feed the Mama Pig so I was with them alone, but they brought a guitar from the van and first Nabi played the Beatles, Blackbird. It was very relaxing... it's a wonderful tune...I remember when Dad used to play the guitar a lot when we were younger, he used to play Blackbird. It was when we lived down the street on Elm street and Elijah and I were little...he had a great song book. He used to play all kinds of things! Funny that Nabi happened to play that song...many memories.

Then he played a song in Japanese, but it was a very great tune and Maiyu and Mugi harmonized and Shiori used the kurimi shells as percussion. Next Shiori made up a tune and Maiyu made up words to a song about what was happening at the moment. She started out in English, "Here we are at the peaceful farm, Yamaaimura...sitting in a room with no walls and no roof..." (something like that!). Soon her English ran out and she switched to Japanese, but I appreciated the effort! Muto-san came back, then, with the hammer and Nabi cracked them open while we enjoyed the nut inside. They gathered them together and had to leave because Shiori had to go to work. They were very happy and kind people, and Nabi gave Muto-san a CD that he made, all original songs. They said they would come again and I really hope they do!

I cleaned the eggs and then, already, it was lunch time. Muto-san made somen (cold...noodles, I think rice noodles, but i'm not sure) and I peeled nashi (pear) and kaki (persimmon) - my two favorites! And after that he said, we can go to the rice fields so that I can film Katsu and Hiro (the sons) harvesting since I didn't have my camera the time before. So we hopped into the van and rode the rice field. No one was there! But he knew where they were so we drove to Hitomi's parents' house. There is where the drying machine is kept and we found them, Hiro dumping the bags of rice into the machine, Hitomi and two grandchildren (two very playful boys, about 7) on the bed of the truck. After they had emptied all the bags, Muto-san said I should go with them to the rice field so I can film, so I joined them in the back of the truck while Hiro drove back to rice field. It was kind of nice just in the open air...in America, you hardly ever do that, and especially not with little kids! People here hardly wear seat belts...in the city the driver and passenger do but you don't have to if you are in the back seat.

We got to rice field and Hiro put the empty bags back onto the combine before hopping onto it and continuing on his way back across the field (small field). I filmed... and soon I was done. Luckily, Katsu came soon with his wife and baby girl (she is beautiful, so cute, curious and happy! Her name is Hana, which means flower). He showed me something to do so I wasn't standing awkwardly anymore... we moved bundles of cut rice stalks from the shade into the sun. Then we were done with that too and Hitomi and Muto-san's sister offered my a donut and a drink and to sit in the shade behind the truck. The women wear all kinds of clothing and hats to keep the sun away. They were pants, boots, a long sleeved shirt with arm covers, a scarf (sometimes) and a hat that has cloth around it to cover the sides of face and neck. I'm basically naked just wearing my jumpsuit and hairband to keep my bangs out of my eyes. After a moments rest I felt bad because I said no to working the combine again and so I was just chilling and Katsu had taken over for Hiro so I offered to finish (since there wasn't much left). However, I only know how to go straight, so every time I had to turn he had to come back and do it for me, so i don't know which was easier but he seemed to appreciate it, maybe next time I can learn to turn and straighten up... Soon it was done! Everywhere where the rice is cut when you walk crickets, grasshoppers, little frogs and lizards jump and zip out of the way. The frogs are still in the cute stage, so I didn't mind too much:)
After that, there were the stalks of rice that they had cut by hand lying in heaps around the edge of the field. We had to take those and insert them in to the combine by hand, so the rice went into the bag and someone collected the stalks. Hitomi collected the stalks from the back of the machine and then Muto-san's sister came and bundled and tied them together and set them up straight. She was collecting the rice stalks because somehow you use them to make nato, fermented soy beans (or as some people know it, the incredible stinky thing that looks like beans and...well...snot), and she makes it herself! Oishiii (so delicious)!

The two little boys were crazy! They had a 15 ft rope and the ran around together, tied together at the ankle, basically trying to make the other fall. It looked fun to me:) And Hana the baby girl was fascinated by the truck's licence plate.

When we were done and the combine was loaded into the "big" truck we were just relaxing a little. The little boys asked Hiro to use the rope and tie them up so they could break loose, a game. So I watched a little nervously as Hiro tied them up. So when he let go they stood there, unable to move really, and then they toppled over towards the edge of the hill. I jumped heroically to save them but they were fine (of course) and one of them had gotten their arm loose and was trying to untie the knot. (When Hiro was tying the knot one of the boys said, "make it really tight, because if the knot is loose, it is no fun!"). Then I got a lift from Katsu in the big truck back to the farm. His wife sent with him a can of Sparkling Cider for me, I drank it after I cleaned up, very refreshing:)

I collected the eggs and fed the chickens for the evening and showered. I learned to shower as soon as I could, because it gets chilly at night and in Japan to save water you are supposed to turn on and off the shower between rinsing and soap and shampoo etc...So when it is later in the night it's a little too cold for comfort.

It was fun being around the family. I got to talk to Hitomi a little which was nice, because I hadn't yet.
Overall A+ day, definitely. I think harvesting rice is also a social thing, but I don't know for sure... definitely great, though.

day three is done, tomorrow is a new day!

I think I'm basically settled in. Wow, that was fast. I've decided I will try to stay a month, unless it will be more convenient for me to go back earlier to Hiroko and Keichan's house before Yuka's wedding. However, I think it will be fine...

Today was an eventful and feel-good day! I have an internal clock that seems to be working to wake me up a little before 8 in the morning. Last night though, I think I heard wild boar run by my window! I was a tad nervous at first, but I just fell asleep afterwards and was fine.

This morning, I finally finished my entire meal! Usually there is  a part of the meal I can't finish, there is always so much food. And it isn't " light food" like normal Japanese meals...but thick slices of home made bread with garlic spread, melted cheese or eggs on it. Thick, strong country food! :)  But I finished my entire breakfast and my entire dinner today! (Mom will be a little freaked if she reads this, but I'm eating around...3 or 4 eggs a day...oh no cholesterol!) So after breakfast I hurried into my work jumper and rubber boots. I got the bucket of chicken feed from the barn and the basket for eggs. Walked to the coup and tried not to crush any of the chickens as I came in, they are all so excited, breakfast! There were a lot of eggs today it seemed, maybe because a few of the cubbies had 6 or 7 eggs in them. There are actually two coups, one for the young chickens and one for the old gals. The poor roosters have a lot of their feathers on their chest pecked off...abuse.

I walked to the building where they store the eggs, some vegetables, milk formula and what not. There are two sinks inside, I wash all the eggs using a little scrubby- one by one- and an egg if it's really yucky can take me a few minutes. Then dried each one with a towel and set them in the crate with a slip paper that has the date on it. Tomorrow I'll count them, I have no idea right now how many there are. After that I finished weeding the half row of carrots I didn't get to yesterday then waited for Muto-san. I kind of helped (he basically did it all...) load the rice combine onto the Japanese "big" truck. Let's just say it is double the size of a normal truck here, and a normal truck is the size of the little trucks that the Oberlin College grounds crew uses (it might be the same exact thing). The combine is small too (in comparison to US combines you see in the fields, wow!) so it works out. Then we drove down the little mountain road, crossed the main road and back on to the mountain road (yama michi?). It was so windy and narrow and he was going so fast I wondered a few times how come we didn't tip over! There were a lot more little farms and gardens and also a nice bamboo grove surrounding a boulder littered stream that looked really beautiful...maybe I'll take a walk there on the weekend. But there were a lot of "kuri" trees (chestnut) and it looked like they had already shelled them and left the prickly outer coat in piles to burn. There were also other rice fields (tanbo) around. It is all mountainous so all of it is terraced and sectioned off into these patches of rice fields or other vegetables, and it almost looks like a gigantic quilt...finally we reached his rice field. Hiro (Muto-san's son), Hitomi (his wife) and his eldest sister and grandson were there already, waiting for us to come so they could go get lunch. They had already started cutting the rice down by hand, leaving it in nice little piles. It looks so beautiful and natural, it makes me feel peaceful seeing it... but we brought the combine in so that it would be faster. I had never really seen any combine work before, I assume they are all similar, but it is quite incredible how it cuts it then uses a conveyor belt thing to bring it up into somewhere I couldn't exactly see and BAM there are the grains- magic. It spit out the rice into large sacks that we had to carry away when they were full. He did the first few times around the rice field (it is not very large, maybe...20 meters by 15 or something? I'm horrible at estimating but you get the idea...). I watched, picked mini flowers and made mini bouquets, and brought the full bags to where I was sitting. Then eventually he let me try! The front of the combine has three points about 10 inches apart. You can cut down two rows of rice at a time, and the points go between the rows as a guide so you can stay straight. I guess it wasn't that hard, but I can see how it might be tiring. It was fun though and I couldn't help smiling a little. Now when I see the many farmers busy at their harvesting rice I can say, hey, I did that! Then Hiro, Hitomi, grandson and older sister came back from lunch and we went to ours. I wasn't hungry yet, just thirsty. Everyone thinks I drink so much water, but I feel dehydrated! :( I wonder how they manage!
Instead of making lunch we drove to a convenient store, bought obentos and went to sit by the river. It is the same river that runs through Kikuchi gorge and for a moment I grew sad thinking about how I had been there just before with Mom, Michael and Keichan...but I pushed it out of my mind and enjoyed the cold water and lunch. There was a family at the same spot enjoying a barbecue lunch themselves. The three children were wading in the water and laughing...
Last night there was a girl at the farm with her mom looking around. She was very cute and when I was trying to pet the goat she came up to me and asked what I was doing. I tried to tell her, but I ended up just saying my Japanese is very bad so I don't what I'm doing! She seemed amused by that and soon her mother came. I was holding two eggs, one I had cracked a little on accident and the other was a mini egg, without a yolk... Her mother knew a little English and apparently the little girl did as well and her mother said if you speak English with this American you can tell your teacher and she will be very proud! But she was too shy:) We talked a little bit more and then her mother saw I was holding eggs, "a! mi-te, tamago!" (oh, look, eggs!) I showed the girl the small one and said she could have it, explaining though that it had no yolk. Her mother said that's perfect because she doesn't like the yolk! I was happy then and glad she had come over to me and asked me what I was doing...I feel bad that I didn't even ask her name though...maybe she will come again.

During lunch Muto-san asked if there is bamboo in Ohio and we went on from there to talk about trees, though it was difficult since I don't know many tree names (though I should...!). Then he asked a question that I found quite amusing, are there any mountains in Ohio? Thinking of Oberlin, I said no, because it is very flat...very very flat. But I told him there were large hills in Southern Ohio.

I'm fortunate to have had the opportunities to travel to so many places...Netherlands, England, Italy, Scotland, Mexico, Japan...Muto-san watches the TV channel that has a show of visiting different areas around the world and has a DVD of different famous cities around the world. He says his dream is to travel all around the world. I hope he gets to do that someday, at least visit Spain, because he really wants to... I can't really imagine being in Ohio and not knowing what it is like anywhere else... I think that's really why he started being a WWOOF host, because it was a way to bring the rest of the world to him.

After lunch we came back to the farm and he asked me to weed some more. I thought...oh...no...
We walked up the terrace that had lettuce and at the end I could see asparagus. He was impressed I knew that is was asparagus (Thank you Locke's!!!!) and so I was happy but I wasn't happy after I got a good look at how many weeds there were. Totally overgrown. There were two rows, so between the rows it was weedy and the outside too. I had my cool little tool with me (I don't know what it is called and I haven't seen it in America but it is kind of like a mini hoe but the blade looks more like leaf and it is set perpendicular to the handle and then bent a little away...I will just take a photo and post it later...ha) so once I started I was on a mission and it felt great. It was actually a lot easier than the carrots because the weeds were bigger and they came out easier (minus the bamboo which I struggled with a little). And soon...I was done! I felt so accomplished (and hot and sweaty and covered in dirt and bits of plants...) and carrying the weeds to the weed pile and watching it grow I was very happy. Alright, I'm good...:) Then I looked at where the sun was behind the mountain (it had just disappeared behind the mountain) so I knew it was almost 5 so since I was done I went to feed the chickens again and collected about 10 more eggs. While I was washing them Hiro and Katsu (the two sons, Katsu is 30, Hiro must be a little younger) came back from somewhere with the big truck full of pigs, maybe seven. I asked where the pigs were going...though I kind of guessed...and I was right. Tomorrow they will die...
It must be a sad business, especially since this is free range and you can watch the pigs grow and feed them everyday and see them running around being happy and cute in the mud. Some are born here, so you can watch them grow since they day they are born and one day you know they are going to butcher and that's that...
There is a cat here, Katsu said her name is Miki. She is very cute but not exactly loving (not like Taka, Neko and Kitty...I miss my babies!). I was trying to get her to let me pet her by making those silly kissy noises and making my voice high and friendly so she will not feel threatened...but it didn't work. Hiro saw me struggling and I think he told me to move my finger in a circle towards her face (but I don't know if he knows my Japanese is not good because he said a bunch of stuff I didn't know and quickly too) I just did what his body language told me to do. For a moment it worked and Miki seemed to come closer than she realized I was truly a stranger and she would not be fooled!
After that Katsu was leaving and he said "thank you for working on the farm" and I was a little confused because they are giving me shelter and food and experience in return, all of which are very valuable and I said "Thank you for letting me live here!" I hope they don't look at me pitifully because I'm being "worked hard" or something. I'd much rather they just be comfortable with me being there and think of me as just another worker, not the poor foreigner... maybe when we get a chance to talk more they will change the idea a little. Everyntime I see Hiro he says "otsukaresamadesu!" which is like"thank you for your help" or "acknowledging someone's efforts" (I just looked it up...I'd heard mom say it but didn't know exactly what it meant...) but I'd rather he just say hi! That would be nice...

I wonder what I will do tomorrow!

Going to Kikuchi: wwoof farm

Today is the sixth of October.
I wonder what is happening in town. My friends are going to collegw, taking tests and studying and making other friends. My dad is working and taking care of the boys with an occasional meet up with friends. Elijah is going to school, studying, going to soccer...marching band is still going on maybe? I can't remember how high school works!

Today is a start to a very different chapter of my life.

We've spent time at Mom's friends house, Keichan and Hiroko-bachan. Shinchan their son lives there but their daughter Yuka moved to Fukuoka with her husband. They told me come back whenever, you are always welcome. Many people have said that and it is very kind of them, I feel fortunate that mom has such wondeful friends that will open their homes and hearts to me...

I am kind of in a daze. I am going to admit that it STILL hasn't completely sunk in that I am here for seven months. It's been two weeks! Something in my mind is too stubborn to make that connection of new place and long time.

This morning we went to the discount store called " Super Kids" near their house and got some last minute items for the farm. Mouth wash, tooth paste, muck boots (we called and they said that I would need them), chocolate:) and that sort of thing. We went back to their house and Keichan started filling a jar with Umeboshi. I said, no you don't need to! But they all know how much I love umeboshi (sour plum). He said you will go through this in a week and in soon we are going to get more. They drive to Amakusa where his parents live because his mother is the one who makes them. I took them gladly and thanked them.

Then we got into the car and we drove to Kikuchi, the area where the farm is, but we drove to the gorge that is there. It was stunningly beautiful. I couldn't get enough of it. I used to write stories when I was younger, that was my hobby since I didn't have many friends when I was younger, I'd write and when I could use the computer I would type them out. One time I lost one that was almont 200 pages long (at least that is what I remember it being)..I cried for a while.
But they were always but people who lived in the wild, eating berries and bathing in streams. Maybe run away children hiding out in the woods, whatever it was they always took place in the most beautiful places in my mind. Places where the stones were covered in moss and there were ferns and fallen trees. Where there were clear fresh water streams and caves for people to hide in. Well, that is basically all I saw today, but in real life. Gigantic boulders covered in mosses, different ferns and this grass like plant. The river was a clear blue, from the minerals in it apparently. And though we always draw it to be blue, it seldom ever actually is. The trees were tall and mossed covered, some dated back to the Edo period. The trail was fun because it was rocky and scattered, not a clean cut path. It was mystical with the river bank made of rock and the rock covered in a thick bladed grass that all lay the same way and peppered with pink flowers. The sunlight was also perfect and made everything glow. It was so peaceful and we sat in fron of a waterfall on a large boulder and enjoyed a picnic lunch of onigiri and pickles.

These are my last moments with my mom for almost seven months. These are my last moments with Michael for...almost a year since he leaves for the PCT before i return. This is it. I'm about to be alone for the first time, stranded with my pathetic Japanese. But still, seven months is just an imaginary length of time at this point.

Mom bought us grilled corn on a stick at the end of the trail and we knawed on it (so sweet and juicy) before climbing into the car and heading to Yamaimura, my WWOOF farm. When we got there we were surprised by it. We saw pigs, cows, a pony, chickens and goats here and there as we drove up to the house. Soon we met Muto-san, the owner of the farm. He told us he works with his two sons and his wife, one son lives with them and one commutes from Kikuchi. First we had tea in a tree house deck that had a table and even a kichenette. It does not have a cover but I think you can string up a tarp. He chatted with Mom, Keichan and Michael for a while. I wondered a little if since I came with wwoof he disapproved of me having many people drop me off, but he was nice enough and seemed to enjoy their company. Then I worried how boring I would be in contrast, be alone and with "amari jiyozujiyanai" (not very good) Japanese. Mom kept saying please do this and teach her this, I hope he doesn't think I'm a baby still.

We walked together around all the areas where he keeps his pigs. He keeps 15 pigs in each fenced off area and he has 130 pigs total. I've never seen a pig run as fast as I saw them run today! When we walked up to them they got a little frightened and scampered off, like a stampede! It was very impressive. The biggest ones weight 103 kg I think he said...that is crazy! The area is very pretty with all the mountains and flowers. Then we went to the chicken coup, and he said I would be collecting eggs and feeding the chickens, 100 chickens. Sounds good to me. Then he showed us my room, a large enough room for two people, with a carpet, two chairs, a table and sliding doors facing the "natural garden" (overgrown area). I am staying in the guest house, though i thought we would all be in a house together the family including his parents live a kilometer down the road he said. Then I had to say good bye. Mom cried and I really wanted to but knew I needed to stay strong and not frighten Muto-san or make mom worry. Somehow, I don't know how, maybe because I was in shock I managed not cry as I watched them drive away.

So, here I am. He showed me where the bedding was and I made my bed. He told me today I would relax and then he said he would come and get me when either A, dinner was ready or B, when they were done eating. I wasn't sure which one it was but I have some snacks if it was B. So I set up my futon and struggled with sheets a little. Hanging in my room is a work clothes jumpsuit type of thing. It's blue. When he saw me he said oh wow your big! but we have big clothes so that is ok. That must the jumpsuit...it looks huge! Hopefully I am not really that large...

I set out my things and went out to take pictures a moment before coming back to write this.
I washed some dishes that were in the sink, including the tea cups we used earlier...I hope he doesn't mind and I did it right.
Tomorrow he said I start work. I get to do the chickens then work with the vegetables with his wife. He said maybe I could feed the pigs with his sons.

This is going to be very interesting, I hope we get along and that they don't mind me. I really hope so.


10.8.11

Today was my first day at the farm where I had to work. First thing in the morning Keichin and I had breakfast. He is a good cook but he gives me a lot and it is quite rich. This morning was bacon with an egg on top of fresh baked bread along with another piece of garlic bread (and these slices of bread are not like American slices they are about the size of my hand when I stretch out my fingers, even larger!) with salad (that I had to make). I wished I had paid attention watching mom and her friends clice cabbage so it was in tiny little strips, cut so fine! Mine was chunky and so were my carrots that I sliced...bad cook me. I could only eat on the the slices and saved the next for lunch. Then he asked me try on the work clothes that were in my room. It is basically I jumpsuit. I tried it on and it was waaay to big, but eventually he gave me one that fit okay. My books are also a little big for when it gets cold I can put a lot of socks on and it will still fit. Then he took me to the chick coup and I fed them and collected their brown eggs. Some had none, some had one or two  and than others had 5 or 6! Then he showed me how to wash them all and after I washed them I had to dry them and place them in a crate with the date taped onto it. After I did that, he showed me to the barn where they keep pregnant pigs and pigs with their babies still needing milk. One just had babies last night and there were so many! Some were already a good size while others were runts and tiny, just skin and bone and little fuzz. He put the smallest one in my hand and it fit in my palm...it made me feel sad though knowing it would soon die. After we set it back in its area with the mama pig it walked very unsurely over near the heatlamp and lay down. It wasn't even trying to eat...

Then there was a mother who was sick so Keishin had to make the milk formula and put it in a dish for the piglets to drink up. There were only 5 left, but they were so cute and excited, like puppies. Soon after that it was already lunch! I told him he didn't have to cook anything fancy, that I don't mind simple and often times at home I like to eat rice and umeboshi. He was surprised I think and we settled for ochazuke (tea rice). But we ate the umeboshi with it as well and of course, my leftover garlic bread. Then we watched tv (Japanese TV is the most crazy...you don't have to know Japanese to be in awe and to be interested). Then at two he showed me to where the carrots are and I did my favorite job ever! Chuck knows:) I weeded! I had a handy dandy little tool but three hours later my back was aching from squatting for so long. I kept thinking, Leah, stay strong and positive (that's what mom told me to be...positive), it's just the first day. This is someone's life, you can do this.
It worked a little but I was glad when he came to tell me I was done, just so I could stand up straight for a while. Tomorrow is a new day.

I am homesick now, though, and very suddenly and very horribly too. I think it is because, of course, Mom and Michael are gone now. And I am alone with people that I don't know so well in a very, very new and interesting place. I hope I can make friends with Keishin's sons and maybe some of the part timers here but everyone is so busy and since they don't live in this house I think it will be difficult. Though Keishin said one of the sons likes badminton, and that maybe sometime we can play. That would be nice I think.
Saturday he said is only a half day and Sunday is no work. I wonder what I will do then, maybe I can go to town and get my fix of being around more people... I don't know.

I'm a little sad but I knew this would happen: stay strong.

So much beauty!

We have been doing so much again. Tuesday night we went to Yuka, Hiroko and Keichan's daughters, cabin in Amakusa. It belonged to her husband's parents, but now it belongs to them. It was nestled in between two mountains near the water. We went fishing together to get fish for dinner, managing to get little guys called "aji" and slightly larger ones called "kuro". Then we went back and had a BBQ! We had the fish, peppers, cabbage, egg plant, mushrooms, ribs, beef and chicken! Then the men (Michael and Keichan) went night fishing while us girls (Mom, Hiroko, Yuka and I) stayed back at the cabin, chatted, stretched, listened to music while Mom tried to show us some yoga...not so good for me so I read my book, Sons, by Pearl Buck (the first book, The Good Earth, was GREAT I highly recommend them). I slept right through the men returning and again through them leaving for morning fishing. I don't have that kind of patience! Fishing? Smishing... :p (Though I did catch two things the afternoon before!)

Then in the morning we ate rice  balls and anpan (sweet bread stuffed with chocolate and sweet beans). Then we went to see if we could ride in the glass bottom boat but since the weather was bad, the water was not clear. But  we were allowed to go on the docked boat and look through the glass. We could see some fish but I actually liked to look at the side where you could see nothing but pure blue...so beautiful. It's just a whole different world down there...

Then we drove towards home (it's a three hour drive). But we stopped for lunch at a chyonpon restaurant, which is a seafood noodle soup. yum!
Then we stopped around dinner time for even more food at Hiroko's parent's house. I had not seen her in several years, the mother, but she was as happy and exciting as I remember:) She had made all kinds of food, and in total, Michael counted that we each had twelve different little dishes (since the Japanese have a different dish for everything...). It was incredible, there was even chestnut mash that she made from scratch!

Then today we had several adventures. The first for me was chatting with my friends online. We spent most of the time trying to set up video chat on google plus or something so we didn't as much time to "hang out" as I would have liked, but it was nice just to see their faces and hear their voices:) I talked to Dad last night and Elijah too! I miss everyone but not so badly yet that it hurts...but it has only been two weeks.

Then we drove out and visited a Cosmos Festival, and saw a beautiful, vast field of cosmos flowers, all pink and charming in the sunlight. What a sight! Then we drove to a natural spring that I had gone to before and wanted to go again, this spring is near Aso, the volcano, and pumps out 60 tons of water per minute, and it is stunning how clear it looks and how crisp and green it tastes. I collected it in my water bottle and got to enjoy it for the rest of the day. Soon after that we went to a crazy restaurant where there was a fire pit filled with ash in front of us with a border that we used as a table. Then they brought hot coals and stuck sticks of different foods into the ash so it would cook and also a grill so we could grill more food. But it was sad because there were two fish on sticks and they were still alive....and they moved less and less as they got cooked...I have mixed feelings about that...
However, all the food was great. Mom said she went there with Ojiichan about 25 years ago.

Then we went to Aso! We walked 2 miles to get there, it was beautiful with all the mountains surrounding us. And when we got to the crater I started taking video and pictures and suddenly I became sickly and my throat and chest hurt so I left the crater quickly. If the wind is toward us, it pushes poisonous gases towards the people, which it was doing. If you have health problems you are supposed to stay away but I didn't know...it scared me a little at first. But it was incredibly beautiful.

We had a great dinner and now I have to go take a bath! hurryhurry

Photos!

Album 1

Album 2


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