So I do have more written in a draft for this blog - but I'd been working on it late at night, and when I read what's there during the day, like right now, it sounds like drunken nonsense. Heavy editing needed!
I was too busy most of the time during the last couple of weeks or more to really write anything, and since getting back to Boston I've been spending all my time looking for a place to live - I've tried as much as I can not to forget too many details, but it's impossible to keep everything in after so much time concentrating on other things. I finally signed a lease, though, and will be able to move in soon - this weekend or on Wednesday at the latest. While I go over my photos and try to remember more, the Nou En blog has some great posts with photos and videos from the time that I was there. There should be a link on this page - look for Nou En Sasayama.
I've also been having frequent bouts of Japan withdrawal despite being so busy trying to get back into things here - I've been looking at websites recently for schools in Osaka that teach month-long Japanese language courses... already thinking about next summer!
If I look back to the last post written about day to day events back at Tsuji, I think I dropped off around the time we had all those kids stay at the house for the first day camp event. It was a lot of fun, but by the time that video on Nou En was taken, where Hanno and Faye are playing and singing while all the kids walk around on their futons, I was half passed out in the next room. I remember listening to them singing but just couldn't get up to join the fun. Why I was so tired, I can't remember.
From what I was told, most of the kids aren't from that area - they live in much more densely populated towns like Sanda, and so didn't really have any experience doing fun stuff like swimming in a mountain stream, picking tomatoes, chasing frogs, or lighting fireworks in a pitch black field at night. It was a great time for everyone, Tsuji has held similar events at least a few more times since then, and the day camp idea is continuing to evolve over there as a potential way to make Tsuji, the house full of WWOOFers in Sasayama, self sufficient - as it is, the host family has to pay out of pocket for most of the expenses, because we work for food and stuff like soap and towels, not money - but the house is rented and there are electricity, internet, and water bills to pay, in addition to other things. If they can figure out how to balance out income with expenses and get the house to basically run itself, they plan on trying to open more houses in the future. I really hope they can figure out how to make it happen, and I'm hoping to go back next year and help out on my next trip.
Next - when I'm on my laptop and have uploading access to my photos - the return trip to that shrine we found when we got lost!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
sasayama photos - click on the picture
I'm going to try to upload all the good ones here, onto picasa - there are lots of blurry and doubled ones to sort through though, so I'm adding them in small batches
Thursday, August 19, 2010
where the hell am I?
I am really disoriented! It's like being in two places at once, but then not really being in either. the trip back was dragged out by another day, first because the flight out of Narita was delayed 5 hours, and then because I had to sleep in Toronto because I'd missed the connecting flight. They did put us up in hotels, at least.
My brain's been completely scrambled since about 3-4 hours into the wait wandering around in Narita, trying not to get bored during my last hours in Japan. There's a small shopping mall full of restaurants in the airport, so there was a lot to see when you've got 7 hours to kill, but it was still difficult, physically and psychologically. The trip itself was pretty rough, as well. Got back into Boston yesterday morning, felt drunk and stupid all day. My ankles had swelled up like balloons, and I could not think straight at all. I slept terribly last night, drifting in and out of confused dreams mostly in Japan, and whenever I woke up enough to remember where I was, this splitting headache would force me back under. My first Dunkin Donuts coffee in over a month is good, but not quite as good as I expected it to be, if you know what I mean.
I really want to write about and relive more of the things that happened on the trip, but right now just trying to reground myself in Boston is taking a lot of focus. I'm going to head out to the office at MIT and try to catch up on what's going on there to try to give myself some sense of the old routine, and hopefully start to get my balance back again. I'm so happy I went, but of course now I'm also sad that what has become a really meaningful place in my life is on the other side of the world and not easy to go back to whenever I feel like it. No doubt, though, I'll be working on my language skills and heading back there whenever I can save enough money and repress enough of my fear of airplanes to make it happen. Sasayama definitely started to feel like a second home, and on top of that I have friends that live all over the damn world now - after just living and working in Boston for over 15 years, this has been a seriously valuable experience!
My brain's been completely scrambled since about 3-4 hours into the wait wandering around in Narita, trying not to get bored during my last hours in Japan. There's a small shopping mall full of restaurants in the airport, so there was a lot to see when you've got 7 hours to kill, but it was still difficult, physically and psychologically. The trip itself was pretty rough, as well. Got back into Boston yesterday morning, felt drunk and stupid all day. My ankles had swelled up like balloons, and I could not think straight at all. I slept terribly last night, drifting in and out of confused dreams mostly in Japan, and whenever I woke up enough to remember where I was, this splitting headache would force me back under. My first Dunkin Donuts coffee in over a month is good, but not quite as good as I expected it to be, if you know what I mean.
I really want to write about and relive more of the things that happened on the trip, but right now just trying to reground myself in Boston is taking a lot of focus. I'm going to head out to the office at MIT and try to catch up on what's going on there to try to give myself some sense of the old routine, and hopefully start to get my balance back again. I'm so happy I went, but of course now I'm also sad that what has become a really meaningful place in my life is on the other side of the world and not easy to go back to whenever I feel like it. No doubt, though, I'll be working on my language skills and heading back there whenever I can save enough money and repress enough of my fear of airplanes to make it happen. Sasayama definitely started to feel like a second home, and on top of that I have friends that live all over the damn world now - after just living and working in Boston for over 15 years, this has been a seriously valuable experience!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
I'm very aware of the fact that as time goes by, more and more details slip from my memory- like the smell and sound of the woods up the dirt path by the swimming hole - the million different kinds of sound the cicadas make, the unending stream of bad puns that flows from Toby's Aussie mouth - unfortunately, for me to sit down and really write a lot, I'd need to monopolize the only computer here in addition to having to remove myself from all the activity. So, now that the end is coming I should soon have more time to concentrate, and hopefully the 1500 plus photos I've taken so far will help keep my memories pretty fresh until then. I need to do this for myself as well as for all of you, and all of the new friends I've made here who have been sharing the same amazing experiences. It's pretty heartbreaking to think that we're all just passing through, and will never all be here or in any one place at the same time again.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Happy/sad/yakuza ja nai!
Photos are torture to try to upload from the computer here, otherwise I'd be posting a lot more! Did half a day of weeding for a farmer this morning (the bean field photos are from today)- he and his wife then took us to Sasayama city for lunch and then to an onsen after stopping at the train station to say goodbye to our resident translator and all around good shit, Hanno. I got kicked out of the baths when someone finally noticed the towel I never took off. The farmer, whose name I really need to learn, then bought us all bowls of soft fresh made tofu with ponzu (...that you can get right next to an ice cream stand...) at the onsen's shops -I think he felt bad because he could tell I felt awful about getting booted from the baths- they were really over the top generous to us today for some reason! Then we came back and worked for a little longer at Tsuji, I touched some hellfire flower pollen or something while tying tomatoes and my inner elbows got insanely itchy, we went to a Kendo lesson taught by a friend of Gen-san's, made asses out of ourselves, tore our pansy gaijin feet to bits on the maple gym floor, then went to another festival on the way home. Phew. And now, work at 6 again tomorrow! Need to plan my last week -Soon-
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
I know I've been slacking a bit on basic everyday stuff, so here's a quick rundown of the typical day.
When I first got here the schedule was a little different, but except for the first few days, it's been get on the bikes to work at 6, short break at about 8, usually with cold tea and store bought snacks, stop at 10 for lunch, then back out at 2 or 3 and work 3 more hours with another short break somewhere in the middle. There aren't enough working bikes for everyone all the time, so if there are a lot of people staying here, we'll split up and do a couple of different things on the same day. There are fields down the street where we grow our own food that always need work, and there's a community garden we maintain that supports the house. We do also get food in lieu of payment from the farmers, so there's always more than we can actually eat. Some of the farmers are just up the street, but others are a bike ride and then a quick car ride on top of that. If we're working at a farm that's too far to ride bikes to, we usually stay at their house for lunch and then start work again earlier than 3. The long lunch break is an attempt to avoid some of the hottest hours of the day, and it works to an extent, but I like getting back out and finishing early a lot more. The farmers in this area are almost all all older people - 65-80 at least, I'd guess. They're tough as hell, though, and you can walk down the street any time in the morning and see some 80-something year old farmer, permanently bent in half from working in fields for so many years, patiently weeding in the sun in what must be a 90-95 degree day, by 7 AM. They're often out in their fields with us, working alongside. I can't talk to them much since my Japanese is so spotty, so the few wwoofers who can actually hold a full conversation usually go over the work we're to do and answer most of their questions. I try sometimes to jump in, and I can understand more than I can contribute, but for the most part I just can't say much.
The weather is actually pretty nice out here at 6 am, which makes it a lot more pleasant to work despite the early hour. At this time of year, the work is mostly weeding/mulching. The plants seem to have a mild but irritating defense mechanism that we've been noticing lately - the backs of my hands are on fire right now. It's like touching a stinging nettle, but not nearly as severe, or else it would be impossible to tolerate. We're almost always working in fields somewhere, but some of the guys will also stick around the house when the occasional deer comes in - wild animals are a problem and shooting deer is always legal around here - so when a farmer gets one, they bring it to the house, and a couple of the wwoofers will clean the thing and freeze the meat. The freezers are all full of deer meat right now, but there are so many vegetables at this time of year, meat usually seems like an afterthought in a majority of the cooking.
So anyway, as far as the work goes at the moment, we have also recently been staking all the bean plants and running wire along the rows because the coming typhoon season will blow them all flat if they're not supported. We hammer metal and bamboo stakes into the rows at the ends and at different intervals depending on the farmer's preference, and then string this plastic wire down them to hold the plants up from the side. It's too bad I won't get to see typhoon winds in action, though I'm sure the house shakes and rattles like crazy when it does. There was a slight breeze last night, which hasn't really happened since I've been here, and although it felt great, it made the house rattle surprisingly often. The houses are wide open and the transition from outside to inside is nothing like houses in Boston. When you ride up the street, you can see right into people's living rooms through the genkan because people leave things open all the time, at least when they're home. It really is an extraordinarily 'safe' place. Oh yeah, speaking of safe, we did go hitchhiking over our weekend. More on that soon. So either over the crazy-long lunch break or after work at 5-6, we always go up to the swimming hole in the river, which is AWESOME, then come back and cook. There was a while when we had about 15 people here, and the kitchen was a circus around dinner time - but now there are only about 6 people here and so it's easier, but quiet and kind of lonely after all that. Even though most people only stay here for 2 or 3 weeks on their way to another host, we all spend a lot of time working and talking together and getting to know each other pretty well considering the time period, and it's always sad when people you've just gotten to know and really like take off. This is one instance where I keep thinking 'thank god for Facebook!'. So even though it's really hectic with 15 people staying here, it's certainly not preferable to see it dwindle down to 6 or 7.
In addition to the hitchhiking race and the day-camp thing with all those kids last week, we also went to a festival that was held at a local shrine - I think it was about a 10-15 minute ride east- not far at all! I got some great, though blurry, photos. There are a few more festivals coming up in Sasayama and in Sanda that I'm going to miss, and I'm pretty bummed about it - but it's always interesting here, even on a Tuesday afternoon.
It's getting closer to the end of the trip now, and I need to start deciding where I'm going to go before I have to fly back on the 17th. I assumed I'd try staying in Osaka for a day or two and then go back to Tokyo for a couple of days, but I'm trying to think of other options before it gets too late to plan. Amanohashidate was great, and not difficult to get to at all, and I'm sure there are a million other places I could stay at if I'm a little more creative than just assuming the big cities are the only things to choose from.
When I first got here the schedule was a little different, but except for the first few days, it's been get on the bikes to work at 6, short break at about 8, usually with cold tea and store bought snacks, stop at 10 for lunch, then back out at 2 or 3 and work 3 more hours with another short break somewhere in the middle. There aren't enough working bikes for everyone all the time, so if there are a lot of people staying here, we'll split up and do a couple of different things on the same day. There are fields down the street where we grow our own food that always need work, and there's a community garden we maintain that supports the house. We do also get food in lieu of payment from the farmers, so there's always more than we can actually eat. Some of the farmers are just up the street, but others are a bike ride and then a quick car ride on top of that. If we're working at a farm that's too far to ride bikes to, we usually stay at their house for lunch and then start work again earlier than 3. The long lunch break is an attempt to avoid some of the hottest hours of the day, and it works to an extent, but I like getting back out and finishing early a lot more. The farmers in this area are almost all all older people - 65-80 at least, I'd guess. They're tough as hell, though, and you can walk down the street any time in the morning and see some 80-something year old farmer, permanently bent in half from working in fields for so many years, patiently weeding in the sun in what must be a 90-95 degree day, by 7 AM. They're often out in their fields with us, working alongside. I can't talk to them much since my Japanese is so spotty, so the few wwoofers who can actually hold a full conversation usually go over the work we're to do and answer most of their questions. I try sometimes to jump in, and I can understand more than I can contribute, but for the most part I just can't say much.
The weather is actually pretty nice out here at 6 am, which makes it a lot more pleasant to work despite the early hour. At this time of year, the work is mostly weeding/mulching. The plants seem to have a mild but irritating defense mechanism that we've been noticing lately - the backs of my hands are on fire right now. It's like touching a stinging nettle, but not nearly as severe, or else it would be impossible to tolerate. We're almost always working in fields somewhere, but some of the guys will also stick around the house when the occasional deer comes in - wild animals are a problem and shooting deer is always legal around here - so when a farmer gets one, they bring it to the house, and a couple of the wwoofers will clean the thing and freeze the meat. The freezers are all full of deer meat right now, but there are so many vegetables at this time of year, meat usually seems like an afterthought in a majority of the cooking.
So anyway, as far as the work goes at the moment, we have also recently been staking all the bean plants and running wire along the rows because the coming typhoon season will blow them all flat if they're not supported. We hammer metal and bamboo stakes into the rows at the ends and at different intervals depending on the farmer's preference, and then string this plastic wire down them to hold the plants up from the side. It's too bad I won't get to see typhoon winds in action, though I'm sure the house shakes and rattles like crazy when it does. There was a slight breeze last night, which hasn't really happened since I've been here, and although it felt great, it made the house rattle surprisingly often. The houses are wide open and the transition from outside to inside is nothing like houses in Boston. When you ride up the street, you can see right into people's living rooms through the genkan because people leave things open all the time, at least when they're home. It really is an extraordinarily 'safe' place. Oh yeah, speaking of safe, we did go hitchhiking over our weekend. More on that soon. So either over the crazy-long lunch break or after work at 5-6, we always go up to the swimming hole in the river, which is AWESOME, then come back and cook. There was a while when we had about 15 people here, and the kitchen was a circus around dinner time - but now there are only about 6 people here and so it's easier, but quiet and kind of lonely after all that. Even though most people only stay here for 2 or 3 weeks on their way to another host, we all spend a lot of time working and talking together and getting to know each other pretty well considering the time period, and it's always sad when people you've just gotten to know and really like take off. This is one instance where I keep thinking 'thank god for Facebook!'. So even though it's really hectic with 15 people staying here, it's certainly not preferable to see it dwindle down to 6 or 7.
In addition to the hitchhiking race and the day-camp thing with all those kids last week, we also went to a festival that was held at a local shrine - I think it was about a 10-15 minute ride east- not far at all! I got some great, though blurry, photos. There are a few more festivals coming up in Sasayama and in Sanda that I'm going to miss, and I'm pretty bummed about it - but it's always interesting here, even on a Tuesday afternoon.
It's getting closer to the end of the trip now, and I need to start deciding where I'm going to go before I have to fly back on the 17th. I assumed I'd try staying in Osaka for a day or two and then go back to Tokyo for a couple of days, but I'm trying to think of other options before it gets too late to plan. Amanohashidate was great, and not difficult to get to at all, and I'm sure there are a million other places I could stay at if I'm a little more creative than just assuming the big cities are the only things to choose from.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Whoa
So right now there are about 12 kids from 5 to 12 years old getting ready to go to sleep in the main rooms here- they spent the day at the farm doing sort of a day camp thing with us- it was a great idea but right now I'm so tired I can barely see straight. In addition to all this, I made a stupid rookie move last night, and had a few beers and a little sake when I was a lot more dehydrated than I realized, and so instead of getting a good night's sleep under my new mosquito net, I spent 5 hours face down on the kitchen floor feeling like I was about to die any moment. So it's not even 9 PM yet, but I'm going to sleep! I'll try to catch up again tomorrow when they've all gone home. With photos.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Thursday, July 22, 2010
We drove east for about an hour to go to this river in Miyama yesterday - Gen-san says he stopped going to the beach because this place is so much better - it is probably the nicest spot to swim in that I have ever been to. That photo in the middle is a deep spot - the water there has to be 7 or 8 feet deep, and you can see right to the bottom. The water temperature was perfect and it was ridiculously clean - you cant really see from the photos how deep it is because its perfectly clear. The current is a little strong in some places, but not dangerous - made it more fun to swim in. The last photo is a holy tree/shrine right across the street from the nearest convenience store.
Sorry about the lack of apostrophes - I cant find them on this keyboard!
Sorry about the lack of apostrophes - I cant find them on this keyboard!
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