i did promise i'd be back with something resembling a post, rather than just the dirty cop-out that was the last one... i mean, seriously, i know that no-one was satisfied... least of all me. i've been trying to establish a routine and a factor of that routine is regular blog updates. i'm getting there, slowly it would seem. i'm ok with that.
life is for living, right?
well... today, i went rice planting! the event was arranged by the lovely mamy (i'm not sure if she runs the kobayashi international centre or if she's just heavily involved?) and hosted by the extremely welcoming and hospitable tommy (think "really difficult japanese name" say "tommy")
i picked up miki at 8am (on a sunday!) and we headed off to kobayashi to meet up with mamy and a couple of the alts who work there (jono and ellen).
we headed off into the countryside (of which there is an abundance around these parts) to meet up with everyone else. i estimate there was about 20 of us? anyways. a fun day was planned for us and thankfully, a fun day was had by all!
we started off with some cold ocha and then had a welcome circle (apparently these are wicked popular here) where we each introduced ourselves and said a little something about our hopes or expectations for today! i managed to butcher the japanese language sufficiently for everyone to smile (i think i introduced myself informally, which seemed to go over ok. when theres like 213489 different levels of formality based on the person you're talking to, you can expect to miss the mark now and then) gave the circle a hearty "ganbatte!" and we were on our way to the rice field.
it was big. like. a big rice field. with no rice in it. and a group of really clean people standing at the edge. nervously.
however, it should be noted that our field wasn't as big as the field next to it which had already been planted... small mercies, eh?
now, i think a few folk know this about me, maybe not... i'm slightly mysophobic and fairly OCD when it comes to my hands and their state of cleanliness... today was a challenge. asides from the massive cultural exchange and immersion, today was about facing a fear. i mean, c'mon, i've emigrated 5000 miles out of my comfort zone... what's a little dirt? O_o
the first plunge was the hardest. let me tell you that much.
we were all lined up in the field, pretty much knee high in muck and dirty brown water. there were twigs that felt like snakes. i hope they were twigs. there were these white spiders skating on the water. to be honest, i have no idea how i enjoyed myself so much today - i've just described what hell will be like for me...
we were given a planting demonstration and set to task. off we went, this little row of muddy workers, shoving three stems of rice into the murky water. it was systematic and routine and uniform which is probably what kept me sane through the most of it.
i was working between two older japanese people - i don't speak japanese and they don't speak english. we got on like a house on fire. my towel kept dunking into the water, i almost lost my balance (a lot) and i smiled through the whole thing. they became my friends. i know this because they made sure i got plenty of melon to munch on after lunch. there were knowing nods, we were rice field comrades and even though we couldn't tell each other, we really loved each other. i'd take a rice bomb for those folk.
after we were hosed down (i'm not kidding, two of the little kids who were there decided that rice planting was for losers, old folk and stupid foreigners who don't know better decided to frolic in the field, head to toe mud. it was awesome if you can stomach that sort of thing) we headed back for entertainment and hard-earned food!
there was traditional samurai dancing (very cool) and we made mochi from scratch which was ace - you pound rice with hammers until it turns into a rubbery jelly, you wrap it around red bean paste and eat! delicious! i helped pound the rice for a bit (after tommy cautiously asked me not to hit him with the mallet - he was responsible for turning the rice as it gets mashed up)
we then had a massive lunch, like seriously these japanese folk can eat. there was easily enough food for three times the amount of people. we ate and we ate. and we ate. then, it was dessert. we had ice cream with home made mulberry preserve, ice cream with green plum jam and two different kinds of melon.
melons, as i've told a few folk, are super expensive here so i was a bit shocked to see so much melon offered up to us. i was plied with the stuff by my comrades and forced, yes forced, to eat three slices. i asked a few of my friends and we think there was about £100 worth of melon on the table. easily.
so, full and tired and still a little muddy round the edges, we headed for home (after the goodbye circle - see "welcome circle" above and do it in reverse. i may have butchered the japanese language earlier but this time i gutted it and made sure it was dead. they still smiled. my work there was done)
we were treated to some omiyage (gifts/souvenirs) of the day: rice which had been harvested from the field we'd just re-planted, some flower bulbs (which i gave to miki to give to her father as i don't have a garden), mochi we had made and a map/pamphlet thing of the local area which is now proudly on my wall. i feel very lucky. very lucky indeed.
now, i'm tired and sunburnt (i covered everywhere but my legs in sunblock... i'm from scotland, we share a latitude with russia, this sunshine all the time thing is new to me but i'm learning) and ready for bed.
a good day.
peace.
photos of the day.
proof that i got my hands dirty.
i helped make that happen.
obasan (old lady) hands. they're mine, but its amazing what hard work will do.
samurai dancing. our host, tommy, is on the right.
so cool.
mochi making. the photographer guy lived in nyc for years and was really lovely.
mochi all stuffed with bean paste and ready for us to devour.
miki-chan pounding the mochi into submission.
enjoying the rice violence a little too much...
mamy-san turning her hands to rice violence.
pretty flowers.
lunch. oishii ne?
close-up lunch.
two different kinds of melon. talk about feasting like kings. tasted so good.
my spoils: a bag of rice which came from the field we just replanted, some of the mochi i made and a map of the area. i'm a very lucky boy.
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