Wednesday night two girls from Tiawan arrived. There was a little miscomunication, which happens frequently I might add, that a boy from Tiawan and girl from America were coming, but that wasn't the case.
Sachikosan is a neighbor who is proably in her 60's or 70's. She comes by twice a week and cooks dinner for the WWHOOfers and in exchange gets to practice her english with them. In Japan you can make a lot of money teaching private english classes, even just talking with people in English and helping them, so this is actually a really good deal. Well, she comes around 4 and then goes back to eat dinner with her husband and comes back at 7. She is very funny and knows quite a bit of english. She claims that when she hit 50 she turned back time, so now she is 17. Can someone do the and tell me how old she is?
The two girls from Tiawan arrived at around 7:30. One girl her name is Alice, has been here twice before already. She is 22. Before she came here she was hosting in Kyoto, doing a lot of babysitting I guess. It was too hard, so she came back here.
The other girl we call Gizen. She is 25 and this is her first time WWHOOFing in Japan.
They will be here for 3 weeks I think. Both of them speak a little english, but their Japanese is better. So when we talk it is a mix of Japanese and english, and an ocassional Chinese word since they speak chinese.
On Thurday we did the usual I think- oh my gosh I already forgot!- we harvested a whole bunch of greens and then we hauled a lot of buckets of manure into one of the rice feilds. We had to measure the feild and place the buckest in percise grid and then dump them all over the feild. This is one of my least forvorite jobs. You get the dirt all over you and inside your boots and its just pain overall. AFter this we went and chopped more wood. I think like this job one of the best. Not exactly sure why, becuase You basically are balancing on the side of a really steep hill covered with slippery leaves and vines with thorns, pushing, sawing and hauling logs all over the place. And then once you finally do get it down the hill you have to drag or carry them to the truck and then load them in. Well, I like it the best of the harder jobs. Harvesting of course is tons of fun and very easy.
After we finished working the two girls from tiawan and I wlked down to the local conviniance store at about 6. We literally walked down, and on the way back we walked up. It takes about 30 minutes. There is a 7-11 and a Lawsons. Alice bought a bus pass, and I bought gum. Gum here isn't very good and its really expensive. I also bought a snack that is basically two panacakes with red bean paste in side. I don't know why but I just love that stuff.
On Friday we did more hauling manure and hauling wood. I really can't remeber exactly. All I know is that when driving to go haul wood, Gizen, who was sitting in the back of the truck with the rest of us girls got wacked by a branch in the eye, and Iyasan got a peice of wood thrown on her. It wasn't very big thankfully, if it was it wouldn't have landed on her neck. Big logs only fly about 2 inches when you throw them and then just land and roll another 2 inches. Oh, ya and the day before Richard, another worker who is 40 accidentaly wacked me in the face with a pile of mulch. Wow, that sounds really bad deosn't it? Well, it wasn't that bad. He was tossing it down just as I was standing up, it barely hurt.
During luch time, Kamitakesan showed up with a cake for Minamisan. It was his 49th birthday. Minamisan works here almost every day. He is really nice, but also an extreme perfectionist. So when we measure the feilds and set out the buckets I think it takes a little longer than maybe it should. : )
Actually we finsihed early for the day, so when we got back to the house he had us empty decomposing backs of who-knows-what rock and soil material, from a pile across the street onto the ground. The pile has been sitting there for 20 years. We got about half way through that. If we don't have another chance to work on it, then it will probably sit there for another 20 years. The reason those rocks were there is that Kamitakesan use to be a geologist- someone who studies and does stuff with rock. Apparently whatever his job was he made a lot of money and then bought this place and started farming.
Sachikosan came at 4 and 7. We talked about the earthquake in New Zealand and about what plan to do with my future..i...don't..know..
She also brought chocolate. Oh ya, I forgot to meantion, she also claims that he is my younger sister. Don't I feel special!
Also, I just finished a book. I managed to find a book that was in english after rumaging throuh a pile of them in the kitchen. It is called Gang Leader for a Day. The author is Sudhir Venkatesh. It is atrue story about gangs in Chicago. I really liked it- but then, I love true stories. If you do decide to read just be prepared for a LOT of swearing!
Also, I wash my clothes every other day. In Japan they either don't have or don't use dryers. So you have to hang all your clothes out to dry. I never was the expert when it came to washing machines, and Japanese washing machines are something entirely different. First off you have to run water into it from a faucet. Then you put your clothes in, detergent, and turn it on. You don't have ot use a lid if you don't want too. The clothes just spins around in the water and doesn't go flying out! I could'nt beleive it, so I managed to find the lid and use it the first time. You wash your clothes twice for 15 minutes each time. Once with detergent, once without. Unless your me and you forget the detergent the first time, and the second time you put too much. Aftr each washing you drain it into the bathtub. Ten you place it in a compartment in the washin machine that spins it ruthlessly for about 5 minutes and gets all of the water out. Then you hang it out to dry. I'm still getting it down, but I made a lot more mistakes then I mentioned.
Today is Saturday. Yesterday was really warm, but today I have been freezing! I feel like I've turned into a big baby all of the sudden. Up to this point I've been like, "No complaining Haven!" Someone asks if this is hard, "this? Hard? I'll tell you whats hard, working on a roof in 115 degree heat!" "Am I tired? Of course not! I'm 18 I don't get tired ever!!!- I just went to bed at 9 beacuse I needed by beauty sleep.." Well, today was a little more difficult. I couldn't hide it as easily, not when I'm flapping my arms around to stay warm and pulling the hood of my coat over my whole face. "Daijobu?" They ask which means: are you ok? Me: "Whhat...(teath chattering) I'm freezing to death!"
Ok, so maybe it isn't that extreme, but that's how I feel about cold.
Lunch time break is almost up! Five more minutes! I gotta go!
Ok, I'm back before dinner. First off I wanted to mention something I noticed the first day of my stay here. When I walked in my bedroom it was fairly warm and when I got in bed I was really warm. I couldn't manage to find out how to turn on the heater and I was terrified that I would freeze at night, but I was just fine! Why? Well, turns out there is some kind of heating system under the floor that heats the floor, which is wood by the way. I figured out that the floor is warmest in one particular corner of the room, so I slid my futon over there.
Ok! So, after lunch today we chopped up potatoes that were especailly bought because they sprout eyes and you plant them to grow other potatos. Then we prepared the feild mith mulch and then Kamitakesan mixed that up witht the tractor and made lines and then we came back worked on that for awhile, getting the paths straighter and stuff and then we had to dip the patatoes, which had been sitting in a mixtre of fungus water, into ash from the fire and then we planted them, sprinkled more ash on them and covered them up.
So, that's it for today! Tommorrow I have the day off and I am going to try and get to church..duh,duh,duh... well, I'm a little nervous.
bye!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Pictures From in China.
This is me and Amy's Younger sister Alice. Her parents and Grandparents call her Mei Mei though. Not exactly sure how to spell that, but its pronounced May May.
We are hanging up Chinese New Year decorations all over the back yard. These are hung up all over the city. Almost every house or buisness has somethng like htis hung up around their place.
This is me bowling in China. I went with Amy and 3 of her guy frinds. Unfortunately I was just getting a fever that morning, so about half way through I starting getting weaker and weaker and my stomach wass killing me, so the ball strating rollin slower and slower and more lopsided. Eventually Ihad ak Ay if we could be done and her parents could pick us up. When we heaed outside my stomach was killing me and thn I threw upin a bush. I was better after that!
The bowling was pretty boring anyways, they were completely uncompetitive, were way too quite and didn't get all excited about strikes and spares like we do. Also, they didn't even know how to keep score or put their names in the screen! And they had played bowling many times befrore.
These are apartment complexes in Chengdu City. These were every where!
Going out to eat with Amy's Godmother and her family. Amy's dad is on the left and Alice is in frnt of him.
Amy is sitting next to me. This is where I ate rabbit stew and it was SO good!
At the fair tgtht had all the blown up sun gods that light up at night. Me, Amy. Alice and their mother are in this picture.
This is me licking a bamboo at the bamboo garden. I just wanted to do it.
Wuth some more of her family friends at the Bamboo garden.
At the bamboo garden. An old Pavillion.
Me doing chinese painting at the house.
\throghout the ciy their ere many structures made out of flowers. These are in little pots stuk all around the structure. This is above the free way.
Noice the sky? It was liket hat the whole time!
Pictures at my First Host Family in Japan
This is me, Ayako, and Michikosan, her mother. We are sitting at the dining table.the livin room is behind us.
This is me with Ayako's Dad and Mom.
This is me helping to teach engish cass!
The lady in the background is Ayako's sister in law. She is SO pretty! And the two boys are her son his friend, Shuma, who is in the yellow shirt. They are 7 and 8 I think. Any ways, Shuma is a really cute kid.
This is another really cute kid! Her reminded me a lot of Thatcher. Anyways, he was just really cute, so I kept taking his picture during caligraphy class.
This is me wth Yokotasan and her pastor after church. As you can see I am holding my bible. Yokotasan is one of the nicest people I ever met!
These are all picturesof the host family that I am at now. The first picture is of the night that I arrived. I got thre about 8 p.m. Okamisan, Kamiakesan's wife, picked me up. I am sitting next to Kamitakesan, and next to him are two girls who are from Tiawan. They left the next day. The other guy next to them, I don't know his name. He is a worker and he will only be around once a month I think. Then there is Okamisan, and then Todd fAmerica. This is in the kitchen that the WWHOOfers use.
The next picture is of some of the workers making mulch to put in bags. They put a mixture in it that has fungus spores in it, and they will grow in the bags for about 4 months. Eventually it will be use for fertelizer.
The last picture is outside the front gate of the house. They have flags of all the WWHOOfers that have been there. When you leave, you get your picture taken with your flag.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday: More mulch, rice feild slush and log throwing
I'm afraid to admit that starting fairly soon here, my blog is going to get a little boring. It seems tht we will be doing very similar things every day, wih only slight variations, and there i only so mch interesting things I can write about tossing logs down a hill.
However, I won't give up! I will try to keep writing entertaining things as long as possible.
So, last night Kmaitakesan gave me an alarm clock, but it didn't work this morning, so I am still trying to figure it out. I woke up at 7 again thankfully.
I ate taost for breakfast. Interetig fact: I haven't eatin a single peice of heathy whole wheat bread since I got to japan, and I'm starting to question if they even have any in Japan. But the interesting fact is this: although bred can be bought in bags of about 10 slices,but most of the time it sold in bags of four. Four slices of big white bread. It doesn't last very long.
I keep forgetting that everthing in Japan is smaller and that includes the packages of bread I guess.
We headed out to a rice feild that doen't have any rice in it. There is a tiny trough made from dirt that runs along the side of the feild. We had to make it deeper by removing a lot of the gunky muddy stuff. We used these things that are kind of like a hoe only a little different, longer and more slanted that you scoop the suff out with. We also had to make the edges of the feild more defined. so we scraped the sides with shovels.
After this we headed back to that manure pile that we had to move off of the road yesteray. We scooped it up with these dustpan like things and then dunped it along the edges of each row of onions in the feild.
After lunch we had to take these bags of leftover grains form a beer factory, out of the truck and then dump them into the main manure pile. Kamitakesan thn goes over it with a tractor and mixes it together. He also gets leftovers from Japan airlines. all of the leftovers of food and things like toothpicks and cups get smashed together and then he goes down there about once a week I think and picks it up tp mix in his mulch.
After this we headed back to the spot where we had cut wood the other day and rolled more logs down a really steep hill. Then we brought them back and stacked them. Now the neighbor Sachikosan is over. She is going to cook dinner and practice her english with us
However, I won't give up! I will try to keep writing entertaining things as long as possible.
So, last night Kmaitakesan gave me an alarm clock, but it didn't work this morning, so I am still trying to figure it out. I woke up at 7 again thankfully.
I ate taost for breakfast. Interetig fact: I haven't eatin a single peice of heathy whole wheat bread since I got to japan, and I'm starting to question if they even have any in Japan. But the interesting fact is this: although bred can be bought in bags of about 10 slices,but most of the time it sold in bags of four. Four slices of big white bread. It doesn't last very long.
I keep forgetting that everthing in Japan is smaller and that includes the packages of bread I guess.
We headed out to a rice feild that doen't have any rice in it. There is a tiny trough made from dirt that runs along the side of the feild. We had to make it deeper by removing a lot of the gunky muddy stuff. We used these things that are kind of like a hoe only a little different, longer and more slanted that you scoop the suff out with. We also had to make the edges of the feild more defined. so we scraped the sides with shovels.
After this we headed back to that manure pile that we had to move off of the road yesteray. We scooped it up with these dustpan like things and then dunped it along the edges of each row of onions in the feild.
After lunch we had to take these bags of leftover grains form a beer factory, out of the truck and then dump them into the main manure pile. Kamitakesan thn goes over it with a tractor and mixes it together. He also gets leftovers from Japan airlines. all of the leftovers of food and things like toothpicks and cups get smashed together and then he goes down there about once a week I think and picks it up tp mix in his mulch.
After this we headed back to the spot where we had cut wood the other day and rolled more logs down a really steep hill. Then we brought them back and stacked them. Now the neighbor Sachikosan is over. She is going to cook dinner and practice her english with us
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tuesday: Making compost and Harvesting
Today I got up at 7. Read my bible, struggled to get out of my nice warm futon. Carefully walked down the sttep stairs, charged for the bathroom, that unfortunately does not have a heated toilet. And then Went into the kitchen to have breakfast. I had cereal, coffee, and a bowl of rice... kinda wierd.
At 8:30 we started work. Todd, another worker and I took one truck to go harvest spinach, and some other kinds of lettuces. We have to go back and fortha few times to drop itoff, bacuase Kamitakesan's wife Okamisan, takes it somewhere, and I'm still notexactly sure where-to sell it I think. Iya went with anther worker to harvest onions. I am still working on getting names down, so I refer to them as workers, but eventually they will have names since most of them work every day here. : )
After this we all went down and moved part of a pile of manure out of the road that had been dumped there to be put in the feilds for fertelizer.
Lunch was at 12:00 and then at 1:30 we headed back out to the chicken coop, manure pile area, and made mulch. The two workers would put rice bran in a machine that stirs it up. They would pour some liquid stuff in it that has mushroom spores or something in it. Tehn we would bag it up so that there was no air in the bag and then put that in a paper bag and then it will be sored for about 4 months until the fungus grows inside. Supposedly it is really good for the soil. We also worked on sifting some piles of coal.
That about sums it up! The two girls from Tiawan left and tomorrow there will be one guy from Tiawan coming and one girl fom America coming. Exciting, exciting!
Now, I am going to go work on organizing my room.
At 8:30 we started work. Todd, another worker and I took one truck to go harvest spinach, and some other kinds of lettuces. We have to go back and fortha few times to drop itoff, bacuase Kamitakesan's wife Okamisan, takes it somewhere, and I'm still notexactly sure where-to sell it I think. Iya went with anther worker to harvest onions. I am still working on getting names down, so I refer to them as workers, but eventually they will have names since most of them work every day here. : )
After this we all went down and moved part of a pile of manure out of the road that had been dumped there to be put in the feilds for fertelizer.
Lunch was at 12:00 and then at 1:30 we headed back out to the chicken coop, manure pile area, and made mulch. The two workers would put rice bran in a machine that stirs it up. They would pour some liquid stuff in it that has mushroom spores or something in it. Tehn we would bag it up so that there was no air in the bag and then put that in a paper bag and then it will be sored for about 4 months until the fungus grows inside. Supposedly it is really good for the soil. We also worked on sifting some piles of coal.
That about sums it up! The two girls from Tiawan left and tomorrow there will be one guy from Tiawan coming and one girl fom America coming. Exciting, exciting!
Now, I am going to go work on organizing my room.
Sunday and Monday 20th and 21st- getting to my next host family
Hi all! Sunday was a very interesting day.
Yokotasan, the lady who had taken me out to sushi, picked me up at 9:15 in the morning to go to her church. I have been having a slight prolem i my baggge. Besides the act hat it is way heavy, becuase it was left in the heat, and made in china, all of the plastic in the indside fell out I didn't think it was that big of a proble until, becuaseit was lacking support, the wheels got jacked up, and now I couldn't pull it. Try carrying a 50 pund bag, and a 25 pound backpack around. Not fun, especailly up all those stairs at the station. I did drag it some, but then it started whereing out the suitcase and making holes. So my suitcase was falling apart.
Back to where we were before, she picked me up and some other women from a nursing home and we went to church. The congragation is about 30 people. All old people except for maybe like 2 people in their 30's or 40's. It was in Japanese, so I didn't understand much, but she wrote sticky notes about what he was saying. It was about Jesus multiplying the loaves. After the service she took me to her house. She is probably one of thenicest people I have ever met. First off, unlike in America it is not as common in Japan to take people to your house. Main reason for this is that their houses are usually super crammed apartments. Hers wasn't, but still. Then she called my next host family and got their address, so that she could ship my bag to their house. Otherwise I would have had to take i with me tHimeji and then to my host families house from there , and all this during rush hour, when the trains are very full. In Japan there is a service thatdoes that, you can ship your bags to prety much anywhere. It is not the mail, it is something diffrent. I had considered using it when mom and I were in Japan, but I didn't becuase our bags werent that big. On top of that she paid for it and fed me lunch. But I think the nicest thing that she did, was give me a new suitcase! She has traveled a lot in the past, so she had a big suitcase. She doesn't travel anymore, so She gave it to me. Then she dropped me off at the station that heads to Himeji. She was very very kind.
On the way to Himeji I got off at the wrong station. Himeji-bassho, not Himeji. Dumb mistake. Then i had to wait forever for the next train, becuase it was a very small station. I met Tomoko, and we hung out for about 3 hours.
Then at 5 I took a train to the town of Hirakata. I got there at about 7:15. I had to call the family and ask them to pick me up. Their english isn't the greatest, so that was fun. Wen I got here they were having dinner. They have 4 WWHOOFers right now. 2 girls from Tiawan who will be leaving in a few days, a lady who is Japanese, and an American guy in his 30's. They also have a lot of workers who come in off and on, so two of them there that night. Hopefully I will actually end up taking pictures when i am here, becuase Kamitakesan takes pictures of everything!!!
Today, Monday we started work at 8:30. Iya from Japan, Todd from America, Kamitakesan, two workers and myself. Frist we went and picked spinach and some other lettuces and stuff at one plot of land. Then we went to another spot and fed the chickens and collected eggs.There is also a huge pile of decomposing horse manure there, and we had to scoop whole bunch of that into buckets.
Todd cooked lunch. Then we headed back to work. We went to the forest in another spot and we packed wood into the back of the truck. Some of it was smaller wood and others big chunks of logs. We brought that back and then returned. We climbed up the side of this mountain and cut down some of the trees and threw the pieces of wood down the mountain. We did this in different spots maybe three times. Then we would bring it back and Kamitakesan would cut it smaller and we would stack it all up.
My favorite part of the day? Riding in the bad of the truck. The truck only has two seats inside. And beleive me there is NOT room for another person in there!
So, us extra people had to ride in the back. I would stand up and hold onto the back of the cab. The roads in this area are TINY! They are smaller then one of our lanes in America, and there are NOT one way streets, they are both way. And they drive crazy.
I was comparing this experince to our church camping trip, wehn Dave drove us down to the river. Well, I totally undertand his driving habits now.aka: driving really fast around curves, no slowing down. So all you people who got to have fun ont that trip, imagine that only on a tiny raod with LOTS of curves and hills. So I don't wanna hear any complaining from any of yu! thats from P90X.
Well, I loved it!
Now it is 5 in the evening. I will write a little bit about what the place is like: First off all of the bedrooms for WWHOOFers are seperate from the house. You have to walk up these REALLY steep metal stairs to get to them. Mom, they are like the stairs at our first hostel, only steeper. Ther are four bedrooms, no shoes allowed, that each have a different picture of a flower on the door. I'm in the sunflower room! I sleep on a futon on the ground. The bathroom is down stairs, outside. It doesn't have any running water. You have to fill a bucket froma sink outside put some disinfectint stuff in it, and then pour it in the back of the toilet. You don't have to do this every time though, just about evry 5 or 6 times. And then you have to wash your hands in a sink outside.
There is a kitchen and, shower and laundry room adjesant the house that all of the workers and WWHOOFers use.
Um... I think that's it for today!
Yokotasan, the lady who had taken me out to sushi, picked me up at 9:15 in the morning to go to her church. I have been having a slight prolem i my baggge. Besides the act hat it is way heavy, becuase it was left in the heat, and made in china, all of the plastic in the indside fell out I didn't think it was that big of a proble until, becuaseit was lacking support, the wheels got jacked up, and now I couldn't pull it. Try carrying a 50 pund bag, and a 25 pound backpack around. Not fun, especailly up all those stairs at the station. I did drag it some, but then it started whereing out the suitcase and making holes. So my suitcase was falling apart.
Back to where we were before, she picked me up and some other women from a nursing home and we went to church. The congragation is about 30 people. All old people except for maybe like 2 people in their 30's or 40's. It was in Japanese, so I didn't understand much, but she wrote sticky notes about what he was saying. It was about Jesus multiplying the loaves. After the service she took me to her house. She is probably one of thenicest people I have ever met. First off, unlike in America it is not as common in Japan to take people to your house. Main reason for this is that their houses are usually super crammed apartments. Hers wasn't, but still. Then she called my next host family and got their address, so that she could ship my bag to their house. Otherwise I would have had to take i with me tHimeji and then to my host families house from there , and all this during rush hour, when the trains are very full. In Japan there is a service thatdoes that, you can ship your bags to prety much anywhere. It is not the mail, it is something diffrent. I had considered using it when mom and I were in Japan, but I didn't becuase our bags werent that big. On top of that she paid for it and fed me lunch. But I think the nicest thing that she did, was give me a new suitcase! She has traveled a lot in the past, so she had a big suitcase. She doesn't travel anymore, so She gave it to me. Then she dropped me off at the station that heads to Himeji. She was very very kind.
On the way to Himeji I got off at the wrong station. Himeji-bassho, not Himeji. Dumb mistake. Then i had to wait forever for the next train, becuase it was a very small station. I met Tomoko, and we hung out for about 3 hours.
Then at 5 I took a train to the town of Hirakata. I got there at about 7:15. I had to call the family and ask them to pick me up. Their english isn't the greatest, so that was fun. Wen I got here they were having dinner. They have 4 WWHOOFers right now. 2 girls from Tiawan who will be leaving in a few days, a lady who is Japanese, and an American guy in his 30's. They also have a lot of workers who come in off and on, so two of them there that night. Hopefully I will actually end up taking pictures when i am here, becuase Kamitakesan takes pictures of everything!!!
Today, Monday we started work at 8:30. Iya from Japan, Todd from America, Kamitakesan, two workers and myself. Frist we went and picked spinach and some other lettuces and stuff at one plot of land. Then we went to another spot and fed the chickens and collected eggs.There is also a huge pile of decomposing horse manure there, and we had to scoop whole bunch of that into buckets.
Todd cooked lunch. Then we headed back to work. We went to the forest in another spot and we packed wood into the back of the truck. Some of it was smaller wood and others big chunks of logs. We brought that back and then returned. We climbed up the side of this mountain and cut down some of the trees and threw the pieces of wood down the mountain. We did this in different spots maybe three times. Then we would bring it back and Kamitakesan would cut it smaller and we would stack it all up.
My favorite part of the day? Riding in the bad of the truck. The truck only has two seats inside. And beleive me there is NOT room for another person in there!
So, us extra people had to ride in the back. I would stand up and hold onto the back of the cab. The roads in this area are TINY! They are smaller then one of our lanes in America, and there are NOT one way streets, they are both way. And they drive crazy.
I was comparing this experince to our church camping trip, wehn Dave drove us down to the river. Well, I totally undertand his driving habits now.aka: driving really fast around curves, no slowing down. So all you people who got to have fun ont that trip, imagine that only on a tiny raod with LOTS of curves and hills. So I don't wanna hear any complaining from any of yu! thats from P90X.
Well, I loved it!
Now it is 5 in the evening. I will write a little bit about what the place is like: First off all of the bedrooms for WWHOOFers are seperate from the house. You have to walk up these REALLY steep metal stairs to get to them. Mom, they are like the stairs at our first hostel, only steeper. Ther are four bedrooms, no shoes allowed, that each have a different picture of a flower on the door. I'm in the sunflower room! I sleep on a futon on the ground. The bathroom is down stairs, outside. It doesn't have any running water. You have to fill a bucket froma sink outside put some disinfectint stuff in it, and then pour it in the back of the toilet. You don't have to do this every time though, just about evry 5 or 6 times. And then you have to wash your hands in a sink outside.
There is a kitchen and, shower and laundry room adjesant the house that all of the workers and WWHOOFers use.
Um... I think that's it for today!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Saturday, caligraphy, miso packing, and yakujinnsan festival.
Today was a lot of fun. In the morning I helped Mariko-san pack pakages of miso into bags and I helped set up the vegtable cart, putting potatoes in bags and stuff.
An interesting senerio happened when i was putting the miso into paper bags. You know how some pper bags are tougher than others and are more like plasic? Well, I went to put only like 2 bags of miso into a paper bag like that and then Mariko-san asked me to put it into another bag. I thought it was bacuase it was a tougher bag that could take more wight, but the real reason is becuase someone had died and at the funeral they had gotten that bag. So they can`t use in it becuase it would be really bad to give that to one of their customers.
Later on in the day I helped mariko-san in her caligraphy class. actually I didn`t help at all, but I practiced caligraphy almost the whole time and then I did it on a hard peice of paper. It is so pretty! Also, mom in case you are wondering, that Asian lipstick or whatever you thought it was that you got me at a yard sale, it isn`t listick, it is used to sign works of art. You stick your stamp with your signature in it and then stamp the paper. I didn`t have a stamp so I carved HS in an eraser and used that.
At almost 7 p.m. Mariko-san, her husband \, their grandaughter who is like 6, and I went to a festival! It is called the Yakusinnsann festival. Basically . there are three unlucky years in a ersons life. for girls it is 19, 33 and 37 and and For boys it is 25,42, and 61. No one is sure where it started, but basically on this day every year around Japan, people those ages and everywhere else go to shrines and pray to the gods that the bad luck will go away. It is also common for people to do it the year before and after their unlucky year. Other people go to, like us. There are vendors all along the way up to the temple. we went to the temple first. We all got a fortune for this year, basically it says whether you will have a lucky year or an unlucky one. It says this on a peice of paper. I was lucky. I didn`t really care, but then I went to tie the paper around a rope, where everyone ties them, and I pulled so hard I ripped my paper in half! I started panicking! Does this mean that my good luck is gone now? I ripped the paper! I`m going to have a bad year! NOOOO!!! But then mariko-san pulled a peice of the rope open and I stuffed my paper in there. Whew!
We bought lots of food and brought it home to eat. We bought tacoyaki. mom, remember that? Octopus rolls? Taco in japanese means Octopus. a very easy word to remeber. They roll chunks of octopus in dough, cook it in round balls and then you eat it. Its pretty good. we got some other food too. Aoi, their grandaughter, bought an airsoft gun for her brother. Now we are back home and I have to go pack. ug.. I`m tired I just want to sleep!!!
An interesting senerio happened when i was putting the miso into paper bags. You know how some pper bags are tougher than others and are more like plasic? Well, I went to put only like 2 bags of miso into a paper bag like that and then Mariko-san asked me to put it into another bag. I thought it was bacuase it was a tougher bag that could take more wight, but the real reason is becuase someone had died and at the funeral they had gotten that bag. So they can`t use in it becuase it would be really bad to give that to one of their customers.
Later on in the day I helped mariko-san in her caligraphy class. actually I didn`t help at all, but I practiced caligraphy almost the whole time and then I did it on a hard peice of paper. It is so pretty! Also, mom in case you are wondering, that Asian lipstick or whatever you thought it was that you got me at a yard sale, it isn`t listick, it is used to sign works of art. You stick your stamp with your signature in it and then stamp the paper. I didn`t have a stamp so I carved HS in an eraser and used that.
At almost 7 p.m. Mariko-san, her husband \, their grandaughter who is like 6, and I went to a festival! It is called the Yakusinnsann festival. Basically . there are three unlucky years in a ersons life. for girls it is 19, 33 and 37 and and For boys it is 25,42, and 61. No one is sure where it started, but basically on this day every year around Japan, people those ages and everywhere else go to shrines and pray to the gods that the bad luck will go away. It is also common for people to do it the year before and after their unlucky year. Other people go to, like us. There are vendors all along the way up to the temple. we went to the temple first. We all got a fortune for this year, basically it says whether you will have a lucky year or an unlucky one. It says this on a peice of paper. I was lucky. I didn`t really care, but then I went to tie the paper around a rope, where everyone ties them, and I pulled so hard I ripped my paper in half! I started panicking! Does this mean that my good luck is gone now? I ripped the paper! I`m going to have a bad year! NOOOO!!! But then mariko-san pulled a peice of the rope open and I stuffed my paper in there. Whew!
We bought lots of food and brought it home to eat. We bought tacoyaki. mom, remember that? Octopus rolls? Taco in japanese means Octopus. a very easy word to remeber. They roll chunks of octopus in dough, cook it in round balls and then you eat it. Its pretty good. we got some other food too. Aoi, their grandaughter, bought an airsoft gun for her brother. Now we are back home and I have to go pack. ug.. I`m tired I just want to sleep!!!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, Boohoo, only one more day here!
Hi all!
I am happy to announce that my japanese is in fact improving and that I am memorizing 5 words a day... sort of. I learned the word saori. It means to weave. On Tuesday I think, Ayako asked if there wer any words that I had learned in japanese since I had come to japan. I answered "saori!" becuase it was the first thing that came to my mind. she thought that was funny and mentioned how I don`t need to know that word becuase I would never use it.
Well, the next day, I was outside hacking at weeds and a lady came by who gardens a peice of land in one of their fields. Maybe she was looking for one of the Ito`s (who had all gone out) or maybe she just wanted to practice her english, but for some reason she was listing the different things that the Ito family does: farming, caligraphy, english classes, and um....saori. She didn`t know it in english. But hahahaha I knew what she was saying!!! In case your wondering it is not very often that I can pick up a word and just rember it forever. There is a reason I know Saori. For those of you who have read the Manga Naruto, there is a character in it named Saori, He is a bad guy and his weapon is working with puppets that he creates. You can actually learn quite a bit of Japanese from Manga and anime. Most of the names of towns and people are japanese words.
So, today was pretty "normal" I worked on weeds for a while. I drilled more wholes in logs and stuffed mushroom things in them that will eventually grow into shitake mushrooms. We had lunch and then I worked more on weeds. I also helped ayako a little bit with her preparing some english exam stuff.
Sorry, that sounds kind of boring. Um... I also washed my clothes and took a shower.
If you have any questions feel free to ask!
I am happy to announce that my japanese is in fact improving and that I am memorizing 5 words a day... sort of. I learned the word saori. It means to weave. On Tuesday I think, Ayako asked if there wer any words that I had learned in japanese since I had come to japan. I answered "saori!" becuase it was the first thing that came to my mind. she thought that was funny and mentioned how I don`t need to know that word becuase I would never use it.
Well, the next day, I was outside hacking at weeds and a lady came by who gardens a peice of land in one of their fields. Maybe she was looking for one of the Ito`s (who had all gone out) or maybe she just wanted to practice her english, but for some reason she was listing the different things that the Ito family does: farming, caligraphy, english classes, and um....saori. She didn`t know it in english. But hahahaha I knew what she was saying!!! In case your wondering it is not very often that I can pick up a word and just rember it forever. There is a reason I know Saori. For those of you who have read the Manga Naruto, there is a character in it named Saori, He is a bad guy and his weapon is working with puppets that he creates. You can actually learn quite a bit of Japanese from Manga and anime. Most of the names of towns and people are japanese words.
So, today was pretty "normal" I worked on weeds for a while. I drilled more wholes in logs and stuffed mushroom things in them that will eventually grow into shitake mushrooms. We had lunch and then I worked more on weeds. I also helped ayako a little bit with her preparing some english exam stuff.
Sorry, that sounds kind of boring. Um... I also washed my clothes and took a shower.
If you have any questions feel free to ask!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thursday: The Ocean, Shrine, wooden bench, weeds, more weeds, mushroom log, um...what else?
So, today I headed out to do weeds at 9:15. after hacking for about an hour, Ayako`s dad came up and wrote on his note pad (he had cancer in his throat that had to be removed so he lost his voice): "is there Ocean near Arizona?" "um, no." more writing "go to ocean and shrine. Shopping. Need to buy wood." "Ima?" I asked. So, I ran and changed from my rubber boots, thank god I bought those, into my fake leather, I bought them at in the kids section in Target for 12 dollars boots, and then I got in the car. So we drove to this Shinto Shrine. We got out, made the offering. You throw some change in this box thing. Clp your hands twice make a wish, ring the bell. Then went over to the water trough and wash your hands. Then we headed down to the ocean. It was beautiful. We (just me and the dad in case you are wondering) walked around for about 10 minutes, and then we headed back to the car. We drove to a place sort of like home depot only smaller and bought some wood, and then headed back. My next job was staining a wooden bench. After that. Mariko-san got home and she brought bento box lunches. We ate, and then at 2:00 headed back to work. I restained the bench again, and then helped her dad put a table together. Then I drilled holes ina log of wood and stuffed these little spore things in them that will eventually grow into shitakke mushrooms. After that, her dad and I pulled weeds in the yard. I just finished making brownies. They don`t have an oven, but you use a toaster oven that is also an oven. Now we are waiting for dinner to finish cooking and that will be it for today!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Wednesday Night Eating Sushi
So, Yesterday at 6:30 Yokotasan picked me up to go eat Kaiten Sushi. If you don`t know what Kaiten Sushi is I will explain. The American`s call it Convayer belt sushi and in Japan when they say it in America they call it Sushi-go-around. Basically when you go into the resturant you sit at a sushi bar. In front of you is a convayer belt with different kinds of sushi on little plates. The price is determined by the quality of the fish and the kind of fish. You can know the price by what kind of plate you pick up. Different kinds of plates are different prices. So, you grab your plate of sushi that you want off of the belt as it goes past. You can keep eating till you are full and when you are done they will count your plates and tally up the price. The sushi in these resturants is not the best quality so your not going to have to pay a ton of money like if you went to a really nice returant. Each plate of sushi is like 105￥ which is about a little over a dollar per plate. I had maybe 9 plates. Normally I don`t eat 18 peices of nigiri, but she kept taking them off and giving them to me. We also ate ice cream. I thought she was in her 60`s but she told me she was 71. She loves bible history and has travelled to Israel. She traveled the whole route that the Israelites took from out of Egypt. She has been to Egypt, Turkey, Greece and a few other countries around that area I think. On Sunday I am going to go to her Church instead of the one I went to before. She will pick me up and drop me off at the station. I`m really thankful for this, becuase it was going to be really difficult to get o and from Church on Sunday if I went to Kobe Union Church.
She talked some about how Christianity is decreasing in Japan and Islam is growing. It is getting more popular here. The Church she goes to is reformed. They beleive a lot of Calvin stuff.
After we ate, at about 8, we drove to a spot that over looks the Ocean . You can see Akashi Bridge which changes color. The bridge is huge and it conects to an Island on the other side called Awaji.
Then she dropped me off at around 9.
She talked some about how Christianity is decreasing in Japan and Islam is growing. It is getting more popular here. The Church she goes to is reformed. They beleive a lot of Calvin stuff.
After we ate, at about 8, we drove to a spot that over looks the Ocean . You can see Akashi Bridge which changes color. The bridge is huge and it conects to an Island on the other side called Awaji.
Then she dropped me off at around 9.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Tuesday Night and Wednesday morning (15-16th) English class and weeding.
Yesterday after we had measured the farm and had lunch, Ayako had to teach english classes. So I helped her. How do I help her, you may ask. Its actually not that difficult. I speak english! Ok, I do more than that, but mostly she just wants me to talk with the students and answer questions, so that they can practice hearing and speaking english. First she tought a class of three older women. TWo were christians. Somehow Convayer Belt Sushi, known in Japan as Kaiten-zushi came up and one of the ladies invited to take me out to eat there. So tonight we will be going to a Kaiten-zushi resturant. She will pick me up at 6:30. I`m excited!
Her next class was of four 8 year old kids. One of the boys was SO cute! I took his picture. I helped them play some games. For example, they had to give me money and I would give them stickers to put in their books with different foods on them.
Then there was a private class with one lady. We basically talked the whole time in english.
Then lastly a class of four 10 year old girls, who loved to clap about everything. They asked me questions about what was my favorite this or that, and also we worked on finding places on the map.I would ask `` where is Mexico?`` or something like that and they would have to find it and say `` Mexico is here``.
This morning I did some weeding. You take a hoe and wack the weeds. Right now it is about 1:15 and I am going to go out and do more soon. The Mom and Dad are going to Himeji to give a talk about how to do Organic farming, so they will be gone for the rest of the day. Ayako has to go teach english classes somewhere else so she will be gone too.
Sometimes I talk to the mother, her name is Mariko-san, at meal times. She is quite funny sometimes. She tells me about other WWOOFers they have had. Some from Hong Kong were telling her about how their houe is the size of the Ito families living room. It is about the same size as ours. The only people who come and do WWOOFing who have big families are from Hong Kong and Tiawan. Both of them had 7 and 8 siblings and lived in the house the size of our living room.
Mariko-san also gave me a kimono that a WWOOFer had bought and given to her to give to another WWHOOFer. So, of course I am very happy about that.
Well, I think that`s all for today! I am going to go hoe somemore weeds.
jya matane!
Her next class was of four 8 year old kids. One of the boys was SO cute! I took his picture. I helped them play some games. For example, they had to give me money and I would give them stickers to put in their books with different foods on them.
Then there was a private class with one lady. We basically talked the whole time in english.
Then lastly a class of four 10 year old girls, who loved to clap about everything. They asked me questions about what was my favorite this or that, and also we worked on finding places on the map.I would ask `` where is Mexico?`` or something like that and they would have to find it and say `` Mexico is here``.
This morning I did some weeding. You take a hoe and wack the weeds. Right now it is about 1:15 and I am going to go out and do more soon. The Mom and Dad are going to Himeji to give a talk about how to do Organic farming, so they will be gone for the rest of the day. Ayako has to go teach english classes somewhere else so she will be gone too.
Sometimes I talk to the mother, her name is Mariko-san, at meal times. She is quite funny sometimes. She tells me about other WWOOFers they have had. Some from Hong Kong were telling her about how their houe is the size of the Ito families living room. It is about the same size as ours. The only people who come and do WWOOFing who have big families are from Hong Kong and Tiawan. Both of them had 7 and 8 siblings and lived in the house the size of our living room.
Mariko-san also gave me a kimono that a WWOOFer had bought and given to her to give to another WWHOOFer. So, of course I am very happy about that.
Well, I think that`s all for today! I am going to go hoe somemore weeds.
jya matane!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday in Japan. Ｍｙ ｄａｙ ｉｎ Ａｋａｓｈｉ ａｎｄ Ｓａｎｎｏｍｉｙａ．And the death of my....
Well, I had the day off on Monday. So I could do whatever I wante. I didn`t have a clue what to do. So using my VERY handy itouch (pay close attention to that very) I looked up places to go around here becuase I didn`t want to go somewhere too far. So I goton the bus at 9:04 and then took a train to Akashi station which is about 15 minuted away. It was there thata not at all suprising event happened. The death of my itouch and me almost losing my sanity becuase of it. I had grown quite attatched. Ok, so I dropped it in a toilet. A traditioanl Japanese toilet. Mom you know what that looks like. Unlike my cell phone, which I dropped in water about 4 or 5 times, this itouch didn`t even give me a chance, it died immediatly. I was destitute. I went across the street to my destination: Akashi Koen. Or Akashi Park, which was absolutely gorgeous and has the remains of a castle in it, but unfortunetaly, I was so upset about killing my itouch that I had a little bit of trouble enjoying it. I had just lost my source or time, alarm, intenet, translator, weather, music, pictures, that I loved to show people, and everything else. So, after wandering around for a little while in a daze, thinking about all the things I had panned to use my itouch for going up into smoke, I finally snapped out of it, took some pitures and decided to take a train to Sannomiya where I knew I could find a store without much trouble to buy a watch at.
It had already began snowing and by the time I got to Sannomiya, around 12 I think, it was coming down harder. I think that was my first time walking in the snow. At first it was very nice, but when I headed home, I didn`t like it anymore. So at Sannomiya, I got this craving for cofee, which is very rare, so I went to a coffee shop in the mall. I talked to a guy with his 4 month old baby there for awhile, wrote up about the differences between China and Japan in my diary, and then went and bought envelopes to send things home in, a watch and a pair of earings. Then I wandered around the bookstore, looked at ice skating magazines (in case you didn`t know I think ice skating is one of the most beautiful things ever) and then I headed back to Uozumion the WRONG train, thinking to myself how I never really do things by myself and I didn`t really like it that much. So, I took the wrong train, passed my destination, which I knew meant I had just missed the hourly bus back home, Oh Great. I took another train back. Went to ANOTHER coffee shop (what`s with me and coffee lately-too much tea, that`s what it is) watched as the snow fell harder and harder. Then went over to the ticket people, who happened to all be ladies, and badgered them for about ten minutes on bus information, sat down freezing to death. Went downstairs, and out of the station to the bathroom, came back up, and sat down freezing again. Went down again. Annoyed a lady next to me about if this was the right bus. Got on the RIGHT bus, and headed back to the house.Walked from the bus to the house in the snow. Ran to my room, turned on the heater, made some tea, sat on the toilet bacause it has a heated seat for a little bit, and then went in my room and attempted to study Japanese for the next 2 hours. I also talked to myself. Beleive it or not that was the first time I had done that- talking to myself for a period longer than 2 minutes. This was about 20 minutes. I should record how many times I do that till I get home. It`s not that I don`t talk to anyone, its just that I have to talk really slow and only about easy to understand, things they would be interested in stuff. Actually, a funny thing is, that when I went to the church everyone there can speak english and many people it is a first language. I talked to a lady who isfrom the carribian, here teaching english, she has a difficult accent to understand. I realized about half way through talking with her that I was still talking really slow and clear. But it was beacause I had trouble understanding her. She could understand me just fine if I talked fast!
Ok, so back to me in my room. Um... that`s it. We had gyoza for dinner. Very good. Just like at East Wind resturant. They talked about how all their WWOOFers gain weight when they come here and I was like, ``No, no no! I want to lose weight! Put me to work please, stop feeding me!!!`` Oh, well, I`m still confident that I will lose wight, even if I have to use mental power to do it.
They have been hosting WWOOFers for 2 years now. They said that they get about 5 request a day from people wanting to stay at their place. I said that was becuase they are the only ones in this area with pictures, and they have really high ratings.
Today, we went down to a feild that they are going to be using about ten minutes drive away and we measured it and put stakes everywhere. They are going to divided it into plots of land that they rent out to people to garden.
Now, I am back at the house with Ayako. She is going to teach an english class soon, and I am going to help. I`m using her laptop now since I .... I almost want to cry thinkning about it. Now I can`t sit in bed and blog for you all, I have to come out HERE and do it! boo hoo. I`m sorry dad. You`ll have to wait 2 months to buy me a new itouch. If you want you can buy me a laptop, if it makes you feel better know ing that when I return I will be a wee bit extra excited to see you knowing you have gotten me a return gift. Well, its just an idea.
That`s it for today. I really do love to write once I get going!!
Japanese words of the day are
tabun: Maybe
itai! : ouch!
aida: between
and
atamagaii: clever, or smart.
It had already began snowing and by the time I got to Sannomiya, around 12 I think, it was coming down harder. I think that was my first time walking in the snow. At first it was very nice, but when I headed home, I didn`t like it anymore. So at Sannomiya, I got this craving for cofee, which is very rare, so I went to a coffee shop in the mall. I talked to a guy with his 4 month old baby there for awhile, wrote up about the differences between China and Japan in my diary, and then went and bought envelopes to send things home in, a watch and a pair of earings. Then I wandered around the bookstore, looked at ice skating magazines (in case you didn`t know I think ice skating is one of the most beautiful things ever) and then I headed back to Uozumion the WRONG train, thinking to myself how I never really do things by myself and I didn`t really like it that much. So, I took the wrong train, passed my destination, which I knew meant I had just missed the hourly bus back home, Oh Great. I took another train back. Went to ANOTHER coffee shop (what`s with me and coffee lately-too much tea, that`s what it is) watched as the snow fell harder and harder. Then went over to the ticket people, who happened to all be ladies, and badgered them for about ten minutes on bus information, sat down freezing to death. Went downstairs, and out of the station to the bathroom, came back up, and sat down freezing again. Went down again. Annoyed a lady next to me about if this was the right bus. Got on the RIGHT bus, and headed back to the house.Walked from the bus to the house in the snow. Ran to my room, turned on the heater, made some tea, sat on the toilet bacause it has a heated seat for a little bit, and then went in my room and attempted to study Japanese for the next 2 hours. I also talked to myself. Beleive it or not that was the first time I had done that- talking to myself for a period longer than 2 minutes. This was about 20 minutes. I should record how many times I do that till I get home. It`s not that I don`t talk to anyone, its just that I have to talk really slow and only about easy to understand, things they would be interested in stuff. Actually, a funny thing is, that when I went to the church everyone there can speak english and many people it is a first language. I talked to a lady who isfrom the carribian, here teaching english, she has a difficult accent to understand. I realized about half way through talking with her that I was still talking really slow and clear. But it was beacause I had trouble understanding her. She could understand me just fine if I talked fast!
Ok, so back to me in my room. Um... that`s it. We had gyoza for dinner. Very good. Just like at East Wind resturant. They talked about how all their WWOOFers gain weight when they come here and I was like, ``No, no no! I want to lose weight! Put me to work please, stop feeding me!!!`` Oh, well, I`m still confident that I will lose wight, even if I have to use mental power to do it.
They have been hosting WWOOFers for 2 years now. They said that they get about 5 request a day from people wanting to stay at their place. I said that was becuase they are the only ones in this area with pictures, and they have really high ratings.
Today, we went down to a feild that they are going to be using about ten minutes drive away and we measured it and put stakes everywhere. They are going to divided it into plots of land that they rent out to people to garden.
Now, I am back at the house with Ayako. She is going to teach an english class soon, and I am going to help. I`m using her laptop now since I .... I almost want to cry thinkning about it. Now I can`t sit in bed and blog for you all, I have to come out HERE and do it! boo hoo. I`m sorry dad. You`ll have to wait 2 months to buy me a new itouch. If you want you can buy me a laptop, if it makes you feel better know ing that when I return I will be a wee bit extra excited to see you knowing you have gotten me a return gift. Well, its just an idea.
That`s it for today. I really do love to write once I get going!!
Japanese words of the day are
tabun: Maybe
itai! : ouch!
aida: between
and
atamagaii: clever, or smart.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Trying to get to church on Sunday
Sorry if this blog is really annoying with all the times and stuff.
Ok, here goes!
So, Sunday morning I took the bus at 8:04. It only leaves from their station once every hour. They are station number ten and the picture on the signs in this area is a mermaid. In nearby parts of the town they have fish On their signs and other things like that. So I took the bus to the station. I took the train at 8:33 and I didn't get to Rokko station until 9:15. the free pickup shuttle comes at 9. I guessed that I would miss it, but I didn't really come up with a back up plan. So after too much time I managed to get ona bus that goes near the church. It dropped me off and then I tried to find the church using the map they gave me at the station. Actually I decided to be smart and instead of fruit for the next ten or twenty I just decided to go to the convenience store and ask. I'm glad I did, but I still got lost. I ended up walking up this really steep hill in a neighborhood looking for the church. I walked for bout twenty minutes up hill till I reached it. Think like the hill in whisper of the heart that they ride up on the boys bike. So I get there AFTER the service is over bit o well I just figured I'd stay for the bible study. So I did. That and the potluck. The people were really nice and very amazed that I actually hiked up the whole hill. Um, as I I had a choice. I just took a train 40 minutes to get here, I wasn't about to just go back!so I got a tide back to he station and then after that I missed the bus back to their house and was going to have to wait 50 minutes so they picked me up. I called on a pay phone. I can actually use those you know! So now they Are finishing upa pottery class. I helpf out do some things and we are goingt to have dinner soon. That's it for today!
Ok, here goes!
So, Sunday morning I took the bus at 8:04. It only leaves from their station once every hour. They are station number ten and the picture on the signs in this area is a mermaid. In nearby parts of the town they have fish On their signs and other things like that. So I took the bus to the station. I took the train at 8:33 and I didn't get to Rokko station until 9:15. the free pickup shuttle comes at 9. I guessed that I would miss it, but I didn't really come up with a back up plan. So after too much time I managed to get ona bus that goes near the church. It dropped me off and then I tried to find the church using the map they gave me at the station. Actually I decided to be smart and instead of fruit for the next ten or twenty I just decided to go to the convenience store and ask. I'm glad I did, but I still got lost. I ended up walking up this really steep hill in a neighborhood looking for the church. I walked for bout twenty minutes up hill till I reached it. Think like the hill in whisper of the heart that they ride up on the boys bike. So I get there AFTER the service is over bit o well I just figured I'd stay for the bible study. So I did. That and the potluck. The people were really nice and very amazed that I actually hiked up the whole hill. Um, as I I had a choice. I just took a train 40 minutes to get here, I wasn't about to just go back!so I got a tide back to he station and then after that I missed the bus back to their house and was going to have to wait 50 minutes so they picked me up. I called on a pay phone. I can actually use those you know! So now they Are finishing upa pottery class. I helpf out do some things and we are goingt to have dinner soon. That's it for today!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Leaving for japan and Saturday in japan
Well, I leave tomorrow for Japan. I have to wake up at 5.
Today we went shopping some more and I bought traditional clothes.
Cheyanne, I just wanted to let you know that all the girls I showed a picture of Felicity too, thought she was a boy! One reason they say is becuase she doesn't have any hair.
Well, I am really tired now!
Amy's mom and I bought matching jackets.
Well, right now it is 1:30 in the afternoon. I am in japan and I am so happy! I have been helping Ayako. She is the daughter. The parents took the grandkids to go buy some other land or something and to go to a hot springs but they should be back soon. I haven't met them yet. In the morning we went out and picked broccoli cauliflower and lettuce. Then we put them in a cart. We put a covering up and left the cart out on the driveway. There are tin cans that say 100 yen on them and people can just come by and buy whenever they like. Then I helped her do some English stuff for her English class that she teaches. And I also put stickers on binders. We just had lunch and I am taking a break. I Want to work more though wahaha!
Today we went shopping some more and I bought traditional clothes.
Cheyanne, I just wanted to let you know that all the girls I showed a picture of Felicity too, thought she was a boy! One reason they say is becuase she doesn't have any hair.
Well, I am really tired now!
Amy's mom and I bought matching jackets.
Well, right now it is 1:30 in the afternoon. I am in japan and I am so happy! I have been helping Ayako. She is the daughter. The parents took the grandkids to go buy some other land or something and to go to a hot springs but they should be back soon. I haven't met them yet. In the morning we went out and picked broccoli cauliflower and lettuce. Then we put them in a cart. We put a covering up and left the cart out on the driveway. There are tin cans that say 100 yen on them and people can just come by and buy whenever they like. Then I helped her do some English stuff for her English class that she teaches. And I also put stickers on binders. We just had lunch and I am taking a break. I Want to work more though wahaha!
Tuesday in china
Yesterday was Tuesday. We stayed at home most of the mornign. I videoed the house Tearah.
Then we went to a huge shopping mall and went shopping. I got more presents. I just need to get Jordan a present and myself a traditional dress.
Today Amy has to go to school. I will probably just stay home all day with her mom and sister. Her mom might teach me to weave. We'll see.
I've still been getting stomach aches. It stinks.
I hope you all in my family are feeling better.
I think mom you would have liked shopping in China more than in Japan, since you like the cinese style more and there is lots of it. It is easy to buy presents for you!
Then we went to a huge shopping mall and went shopping. I got more presents. I just need to get Jordan a present and myself a traditional dress.
Today Amy has to go to school. I will probably just stay home all day with her mom and sister. Her mom might teach me to weave. We'll see.
I've still been getting stomach aches. It stinks.
I hope you all in my family are feeling better.
I think mom you would have liked shopping in China more than in Japan, since you like the cinese style more and there is lots of it. It is easy to buy presents for you!
Monday in china
Yesterday was Monday.
I leave for Japan in less than 4 days!
Amy has been having a fever off and on too.
And Cheyanne, I think Thatcher gave it to me. He was sick before I left.
Also, I have thrown up twice just a little. I get stomach aches a lot. I 'm not sure why. The food just gives me stomach aches. It is getting much better now though.
Yesterday we went to a temple fair. We met one of her friends there. Another guy. I guess it shouldn't be suprising that she would have a lot of guy friends, cuz there are so many guys in China. We basically hung out there and shopped from about 2 till 8. Her parents and sister came at 7 and bought some street snacks. I got a corn on the cob. Mom, you remeber when we bought corn from those Mexicans and it was really chewy? Well, Amy says there are two kinds of corn. This kind is cheeper and the good stuff is more expensive. So, it was really chewy. I didn't really like it, but they did
I leave for Japan in less than 4 days!
Amy has been having a fever off and on too.
And Cheyanne, I think Thatcher gave it to me. He was sick before I left.
Also, I have thrown up twice just a little. I get stomach aches a lot. I 'm not sure why. The food just gives me stomach aches. It is getting much better now though.
Yesterday we went to a temple fair. We met one of her friends there. Another guy. I guess it shouldn't be suprising that she would have a lot of guy friends, cuz there are so many guys in China. We basically hung out there and shopped from about 2 till 8. Her parents and sister came at 7 and bought some street snacks. I got a corn on the cob. Mom, you remeber when we bought corn from those Mexicans and it was really chewy? Well, Amy says there are two kinds of corn. This kind is cheeper and the good stuff is more expensive. So, it was really chewy. I didn't really like it, but they did
Extra things about china
Ok, about the house:
Basement: tv room
1st floor: living room, bathroom, guest bedroom.
2nd floor: kitchen and dinign room.
3rd floor: grandparents bedroom
4th floor: Amy's and her sisters room and her parents room
5th floor: extra bedroom and balcony.
Ok, so that's only 6 floors then.
I have seen some kids walking around with little white baby rabbits in little cages that they bought. Amy said when she was younger she had bought one, but it got away.
Mah jong is a chinese game that you play with four people. They are tile blcks with different picture numbers on them and you have to make pairs of 123, or 222.
About putting the red envelope undder your pillow:
IN ancient stories there are monster gohst things that try to eat children. So on the new year if you put the red envelope under your pillow they will not come near you becuase they do not like red.
They do not go shopping on the first day bacouse if you go outside you may spend your money and that means that during the whole year you will spend a lot of money. So you want to start the new year saving money not spending money.
Basement: tv room
1st floor: living room, bathroom, guest bedroom.
2nd floor: kitchen and dinign room.
3rd floor: grandparents bedroom
4th floor: Amy's and her sisters room and her parents room
5th floor: extra bedroom and balcony.
Ok, so that's only 6 floors then.
I have seen some kids walking around with little white baby rabbits in little cages that they bought. Amy said when she was younger she had bought one, but it got away.
Mah jong is a chinese game that you play with four people. They are tile blcks with different picture numbers on them and you have to make pairs of 123, or 222.
About putting the red envelope undder your pillow:
IN ancient stories there are monster gohst things that try to eat children. So on the new year if you put the red envelope under your pillow they will not come near you becuase they do not like red.
They do not go shopping on the first day bacouse if you go outside you may spend your money and that means that during the whole year you will spend a lot of money. So you want to start the new year saving money not spending money.
The next few days in china
2 days ago, we went to the panda zoo. It was about a half hour drive out of town.
There were lots of baby pandas and they were so cute! I got to watch one of them poop, some of them play fight and one of them even made panda noises. Unfotunately when we were walking up a hill, my stomach was hurting really bad and so I threw up. After that i felt better though.
After the pandas we went out for lunch. Tghe first place we went to only served a chicken meal. But Amy and I are not suppose to eat chicken becuase we have a cough and they say it makes your cough worse. So we went to anothwer resturant.
After eating we went to this HUGE temple that is really famous in China. It was beautiful. Her mom wanted to find an english guide so that I could know about it, but there was only chinese. So they lady told Amy and Amy told me. There were MANY satues of Buddah. In one room there were over 200. You are suppose to pick one that you like and then count your age from there and wahtevr one you land on will have a number. Then you go outside and you get a fortune. Amy's was funny becuase it said that she needed to study hard and that she couldn't have a boyfrind for the next year. Her parents were happy about that.
After this we went to IKEA. In China IKEA is very popular and the store is huge. It has a resturant in it too. It is American food.
Then we went to the mall and looked for the lid to a pan that her grandfather had accidentaly broken. There was a DDR game and Amy and I watched some kids do it. I"m never trying again. There were some girls who where maybe 10 or 11 who were doing it almost perfect, and they were dancing too!
Yesterday we went out to lunch with some of her parents freinds. One of the parent's daughter is one of the girls who came to our house when they were in America. We ate Hot POt. As usual, I wasn't hungry, and this time they didn't force me to eat, so I think I felt the best Yesterday that I have the whole time. Some of the things that they put into the hot pot are sausage, vegtables, cow brain, and intestines, and other things that I have no clue what they are.
After this we went to my favorite place yet. A bamboo garden. It was also probably the cleanest. We walked around for a long time, and then we went over to this are were there were a lot of people sitting at tables and we sat down. We drank tea, and they ate nuts. They would just spit the shells onto the ground and around some peoples tables there were really big piles of shells. After awahile. One of her mom's freinds, one of the dad's and Amy and I played Amy Jong. I won almost every time!!!
After this we wenty to another resturant where you can have your own room with a table.
Then after dinner we went home.
Also, I have gotten red envelopes from all of the parents, so so far I have only spent maybe 30 of my own money. All together I have gotten maybe 100 worth from red envelopes.
Her mother is very queenly and her dad is really priestly. He is super easy going and laid back. She is the opposite. She does all the bargaining, and whenever we are not sure which direction we need to go she is always right. Sometinmes they will argue abiout it a little and then she will just take off walking. And of course she is right!
There were lots of baby pandas and they were so cute! I got to watch one of them poop, some of them play fight and one of them even made panda noises. Unfotunately when we were walking up a hill, my stomach was hurting really bad and so I threw up. After that i felt better though.
After the pandas we went out for lunch. Tghe first place we went to only served a chicken meal. But Amy and I are not suppose to eat chicken becuase we have a cough and they say it makes your cough worse. So we went to anothwer resturant.
After eating we went to this HUGE temple that is really famous in China. It was beautiful. Her mom wanted to find an english guide so that I could know about it, but there was only chinese. So they lady told Amy and Amy told me. There were MANY satues of Buddah. In one room there were over 200. You are suppose to pick one that you like and then count your age from there and wahtevr one you land on will have a number. Then you go outside and you get a fortune. Amy's was funny becuase it said that she needed to study hard and that she couldn't have a boyfrind for the next year. Her parents were happy about that.
After this we went to IKEA. In China IKEA is very popular and the store is huge. It has a resturant in it too. It is American food.
Then we went to the mall and looked for the lid to a pan that her grandfather had accidentaly broken. There was a DDR game and Amy and I watched some kids do it. I"m never trying again. There were some girls who where maybe 10 or 11 who were doing it almost perfect, and they were dancing too!
Yesterday we went out to lunch with some of her parents freinds. One of the parent's daughter is one of the girls who came to our house when they were in America. We ate Hot POt. As usual, I wasn't hungry, and this time they didn't force me to eat, so I think I felt the best Yesterday that I have the whole time. Some of the things that they put into the hot pot are sausage, vegtables, cow brain, and intestines, and other things that I have no clue what they are.
After this we went to my favorite place yet. A bamboo garden. It was also probably the cleanest. We walked around for a long time, and then we went over to this are were there were a lot of people sitting at tables and we sat down. We drank tea, and they ate nuts. They would just spit the shells onto the ground and around some peoples tables there were really big piles of shells. After awahile. One of her mom's freinds, one of the dad's and Amy and I played Amy Jong. I won almost every time!!!
After this we wenty to another resturant where you can have your own room with a table.
Then after dinner we went home.
Also, I have gotten red envelopes from all of the parents, so so far I have only spent maybe 30 of my own money. All together I have gotten maybe 100 worth from red envelopes.
Her mother is very queenly and her dad is really priestly. He is super easy going and laid back. She is the opposite. She does all the bargaining, and whenever we are not sure which direction we need to go she is always right. Sometinmes they will argue abiout it a little and then she will just take off walking. And of course she is right!
New years eve in china
I'm doing much better now! No more fever or stomach ache. Srill have a terrible cough though.
I talked to Amy about here sister, She said that when she was 8 years old her mom asked her if she wanted a sister and then she got one. Her parents had to pay a whole bunch of money when she was born though.
On Wednesday night it was New years Eve. It was amazing! We went out on one of the balconys and there were fire works all around. Then we went down and did fire crackers and a whole bunch of other things like that. Her parents also gave me some presents and money in a red envelope. Parents give the red envelope to their kids or other young people. You are suppose to put it under your pillow when you sleep.
On Thursday we stayed at home most the day, becuase it is bbad luck to go out becuase you might end up buying something, and if youo buy something then you wont stop!
We played mahjong and I am not sure exactly who won.
We ended up going out to a department store anyways though.
Today was great! We went to visit her godmother who is her mom's best friend. Then we went with them to a resturant . The food was cooked in a pan in front of you and it is like a stew that you add things too. It had rabbit meat and it was SO good!!
Then we went to this famous place where they had all these blown up electric statue things of CHinese gods and then of different cultures sun gods, and other structures. At night they light up and it was really pretty.
We saw the excavation sight of a whole munch of 3000 year old chinese artifacts. It was really neat. Mom you would have liked it. Amy said that her mom use to want to be an archiologist, but she couldn't choose her major and so had to do accounting.
Oh, ya. Her Dad works for pepsi Co.
I talked to Amy about here sister, She said that when she was 8 years old her mom asked her if she wanted a sister and then she got one. Her parents had to pay a whole bunch of money when she was born though.
On Wednesday night it was New years Eve. It was amazing! We went out on one of the balconys and there were fire works all around. Then we went down and did fire crackers and a whole bunch of other things like that. Her parents also gave me some presents and money in a red envelope. Parents give the red envelope to their kids or other young people. You are suppose to put it under your pillow when you sleep.
On Thursday we stayed at home most the day, becuase it is bbad luck to go out becuase you might end up buying something, and if youo buy something then you wont stop!
We played mahjong and I am not sure exactly who won.
We ended up going out to a department store anyways though.
Today was great! We went to visit her godmother who is her mom's best friend. Then we went with them to a resturant . The food was cooked in a pan in front of you and it is like a stew that you add things too. It had rabbit meat and it was SO good!!
Then we went to this famous place where they had all these blown up electric statue things of CHinese gods and then of different cultures sun gods, and other structures. At night they light up and it was really pretty.
We saw the excavation sight of a whole munch of 3000 year old chinese artifacts. It was really neat. Mom you would have liked it. Amy said that her mom use to want to be an archiologist, but she couldn't choose her major and so had to do accounting.
Oh, ya. Her Dad works for pepsi Co.
First off My cough is getting better. Unfortunately on Tuesday I got very sick with a really high fever. I did tings anyways and then of course it got worse. Then I got a stomach ache ans threw up some ont eh side of the street. All day yesterday her parents were trying to get me to go to the hospital, but of course I didn't want to. Ive been taking a TON of medicine. Amy is convinced that I got a fever becuase I wore my clothes to bed. Apaarently if you were a lot of colthes then when you get up you will be really cold becuase you can't put on more clothes to get warmer. So that is her reason for why I had a fever.
Anyways , last night her mom came and checked on me and took my temperature a few times. At five o clock she took it and it was really high and I was feeling dizzy and sick, so guess what? I went to a place that I haven't been since I was what, 2?So, her mom(her name is Yang juan) woke up Amy and off we drove to the hospital. I hate the hospital.
They did an X-ray to check if I had Psnamonia, and a check up and then They drew my blood and then I went in thisa other room and they lade me in a bed and stuck a needle in my hand and started putting who knows what into me. Well, I didn't feel any better after that. The fever was mostly gone but my stomach was killing me. I've been sleeping almost all day, and every time I eat I feel sick. I think I am getting better though, becuase we went out to eat at a resturant and I actually managed to eat and not feel that bad. I can't eat very much though, so they are very concerned.
The house is in a gated community and it is BEUTIFUL! It has seven floors. One is a basement, and then the other floors each have one or two bed rooms witha balcany. In China they build up not out.
The instrament she plays is called guzheng. It is like a chinese harp.
Yes, they have a heater in every room , they just don't use them. Except in my room now!
Everyone just wears a lot of clothes. Since I get really cold, I wear the dad's jacket bnow. It is HUGe, but really really warm. I feel like a snowman, no actually I LOOK like a snow man!
Breakfast is warm milk and dumplings.
Ok, so the wirdest thing I ate was a rabbits head. It really grosed me out and I can't believe i actually did it! We were hanging out with some of Amy's friends, walking around an area with street shops, and there was a glass container with rabbit skulls in it. So I bought it., One of the boys bought one too. We went up stairs in the resturant and her parents and sister met us there.
basically you eat 2 peices off the side of the skull then you grab the jaws and crack it in half. Then you peel out the tongue and the roof of the mouth and eat tjhat. The next part I couldn't do. You bite open the skull and eat the brain. They all think it is very tastly.
We also went bowling. I was feeling sick, so I got weak and did a really bad job.
Anyways , last night her mom came and checked on me and took my temperature a few times. At five o clock she took it and it was really high and I was feeling dizzy and sick, so guess what? I went to a place that I haven't been since I was what, 2?So, her mom(her name is Yang juan) woke up Amy and off we drove to the hospital. I hate the hospital.
They did an X-ray to check if I had Psnamonia, and a check up and then They drew my blood and then I went in thisa other room and they lade me in a bed and stuck a needle in my hand and started putting who knows what into me. Well, I didn't feel any better after that. The fever was mostly gone but my stomach was killing me. I've been sleeping almost all day, and every time I eat I feel sick. I think I am getting better though, becuase we went out to eat at a resturant and I actually managed to eat and not feel that bad. I can't eat very much though, so they are very concerned.
The house is in a gated community and it is BEUTIFUL! It has seven floors. One is a basement, and then the other floors each have one or two bed rooms witha balcany. In China they build up not out.
The instrament she plays is called guzheng. It is like a chinese harp.
Yes, they have a heater in every room , they just don't use them. Except in my room now!
Everyone just wears a lot of clothes. Since I get really cold, I wear the dad's jacket bnow. It is HUGe, but really really warm. I feel like a snowman, no actually I LOOK like a snow man!
Breakfast is warm milk and dumplings.
Ok, so the wirdest thing I ate was a rabbits head. It really grosed me out and I can't believe i actually did it! We were hanging out with some of Amy's friends, walking around an area with street shops, and there was a glass container with rabbit skulls in it. So I bought it., One of the boys bought one too. We went up stairs in the resturant and her parents and sister met us there.
basically you eat 2 peices off the side of the skull then you grab the jaws and crack it in half. Then you peel out the tongue and the roof of the mouth and eat tjhat. The next part I couldn't do. You bite open the skull and eat the brain. They all think it is very tastly.
We also went bowling. I was feeling sick, so I got weak and did a really bad job.
Monday in china
Today has been a lot of fun. Amy had a final test, so she wasn't here most of the day. I slept till 9. Also, I have a REALLy bad cough. It startedon the plane and has gotten worse. Part of the reason is that there house is really cold. Amy had mentioned how she really hated winter and now i know why. It is like 50 degrees or less in most of the house. Right now I am wearing 2 long sleeved shirts a jacket and one of their warmer jackets over that. Also her mom gave me I think they are woolen underpants, so yes Amy really did mean that when she said I should bring some. Well, we donn't have any in Arizona. Any ways. They are really warm and make the world of a differnce. I've been drinking a lot of hot water. She was shocked when at first I wanted cold water, but now, tell Val this, I have been converted, warm water is anmazing. Buut that is probably just becuase it is so cold. Her Momand I went over to the neighbors house for a little bit. I played ping pong with their son. He is 20 and he speeks pretty good english. Her dad also came over and pklayed poing pong to. He wasn't very nice about it and kept hitting the ball really hard! :)
Her mom, sister and I drove to get some cuagh medicine. So I have been taking that.Her little sister Alice and I put together paper lantern decorations and and then we all went outsuide and hung them out in the yard.
I took a nap becuase my coughing was getting so bad.
The best part I think was when amy got home. She played her instrament up stairs and it wasd AMAZIng!
I videod it on my camera, and yes Dad I did the whole thing!
Her mom, sister and I drove to get some cuagh medicine. So I have been taking that.Her little sister Alice and I put together paper lantern decorations and and then we all went outsuide and hung them out in the yard.
I took a nap becuase my coughing was getting so bad.
The best part I think was when amy got home. She played her instrament up stairs and it wasd AMAZIng!
I videod it on my camera, and yes Dad I did the whole thing!
Getting to china
I'm in China now and I am about to finally go to bed. It is 2:42 in the morning here. My flight from Bejiing to Chengdu was delayed so I didn't get to Chengdu till 12:30. Everyone is reallty nice, and already embarrasing me. Like making me some food and then watching me eat. I have my own room. The house is beautiful!
Aslo, my plane flights were good but changing flights was crazy. I would like to announce that dad I did sit in 1st class and I already talked to a Chinese Christian.
On my flight to sanfransisco it was delayed a little and I only had a 1 hour layover. So I taklked to the guy sitting next to me and he helped me out a lot. He had flown to china a lot and knew where to go in the airport. He said That I should also ask the stewardess lady if I could get a seat closer to the front, since there were a lot of empty seats. So I got moved up as close as you can get in economy and then on the last ten minutes I was moved to the seat closest to the front in 1st class!
Thank God, cuz I barely made it on time. I was totally lost and i ran into that guy again and he told me were to go.
That's all for now! I am dead tired need to sleep!
Talk to you later!
Aslo, my plane flights were good but changing flights was crazy. I would like to announce that dad I did sit in 1st class and I already talked to a Chinese Christian.
On my flight to sanfransisco it was delayed a little and I only had a 1 hour layover. So I taklked to the guy sitting next to me and he helped me out a lot. He had flown to china a lot and knew where to go in the airport. He said That I should also ask the stewardess lady if I could get a seat closer to the front, since there were a lot of empty seats. So I got moved up as close as you can get in economy and then on the last ten minutes I was moved to the seat closest to the front in 1st class!
Thank God, cuz I barely made it on time. I was totally lost and i ran into that guy again and he told me were to go.
That's all for now! I am dead tired need to sleep!
Talk to you later!
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