Saturday, September 4, 2010

before summer's completely over -

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!