What's Around the River Bend?

Yesterday I went out for a bikeride. I had no particular destination in mind - just time and some energy. Chose a direction and headed off.

Along the way I found a little shrine inside a bamboo forest. Bamboo is probably the coolest kind of wood. How does it come up looking the so uniform every time?? Within the shrine clearing, there was also a [seemingly] abandoned house. I started snooping around, peering in and opening doors until I realized that someone might actually live there after all. Nevermind all the spiderwebs, dust, and junk lying around. Would an ancient looking house really have modern cooking appliances lying around if it were really abandoned? Shut the kitchen door quietly and skidaddled.

Next I came along a giant patch of flowers. It was about the size of a rice field, set up with rows and everything. Only, the product was beauty rather than food. There was a lovelove couple strolling through the pretties, and some elderly women also making their way through, cameras at the ready. After taking my picture, they had a good time asking all about where I'm from, the stay in Japan, etc. Just around the corner from there was another big patch of pink flowers in bloom.

Not far from there was a pottery shop.

As I went further toward the mountains, I saw one of those big retaining walls up close. Up the side ran a tiny orange ladder. "Imagine climbing that!" I said to myself. After a moment or two of consideration, I did more than just imagine it.

However, I saw a snake right away, had to go through countless webs hosting bright yellow and blue spiders with a body the size of a nickel, and there was no ladder to the second tier. Gave up after that, but it was worth a try, right?

Continued on the road into the mountains, just wanting to see what was around the next bend. The road began to elevate, houses and cars lessened, and the nearly-dry riverbed took on some white water rapid qualities. "If you see a path into the woods, follow it!" Or so I did when I saw one. It led up and up, zigzagging around the side of a really large hill. Just as I was beginning to wonder how much farther it would be, a giant metal structure loomed overhead. It was a nice view, and nice hike.

On my way home I found a GIANT aloe bush, chatted with a fisherman about his odd choice of fishing spot (on top of a canal gate), and ran into the obaachan that has been giving me bagfulls of vegetables and fruit every time I pass by her house.

Got back 4 hours later, tired, hungry, and happy. I was going to title this post "Favorite Part of Japan", but really, you can do this anywhere. Set out and see what you find. Take an open mind and lots of free time.

Thanks for reading!

Food

It seems to be a common notion that singles living alone thrive on cheap, easy-to-prepare food. I got the memo about the first one, but easy-to-prepare? Pssh. I've done way more cooking here than I ever did in the States.

When I first got here, my meals consisted of rice, rice, and, er, rice. I've been experimenting with a lot of flavoring options since then. Garlic, curry, egg, onion, basil/oregano, taco powder, mayo and barbeque sauce, seaweed, peanut butter & jelly, black bean, red bean, soy sauce, brown sugar, and so on. I've already eaten about 28lbs of rice in these 3 months. Who knows what new deliciousness I'll come up with yet? Now, even though rice takes ~30 minutes to make, I don't quite consider it cooking.

Since coming here, I've developed a whole new way of looking at meals. Rather than "eating what you're in the mood for", you eat what's in the fridge. This can vary a lot from week to week depending on who I've been seeing and what kind of gifts they kindly gave. A lot of the vegetables I get (eggplants, onions, radish leaves) would be a chore to eat on their own, so instead I chop and throw them into soups, salads, and the daily dose of scrambled eggs.

Now that I can make 7+ meals out of the contents of my freezer-sized fridge, I really wonder how I was ever able to look at the brimming fridge back home and say "there's nothing to eat!"

Soup: Chicken, carrots, onions, radish leaves, and quinoa

Banana soup, Udon/onion miso, with a dash of sudachi

Zuccini, tomato, egg, and seasoning (aka: cleanout the fridge meal)

Tomato onigiri

Dumpster Diving

It's always been my goal to live as cheaply as possible. Now, just because I'm in a new place and have an ample salary, that doesn't need to change.

Upon arriving, I had just about everything I might need for general living, so there was thankfully quite little to buy. My only great desire was for a chair to put on the balcony and enjoy the view, but this could wait.

However, I discovered a new hobby one evening as I was taking the trash out. I wasn't yet sure which side plastics and burnables went on, so set to inspecting the clear bags in the little garbage shed. It was then that I noticed several bags filled with clothes. "What's this? Free clothes??" Despite lieing next to rotting food waste, they were tucked safely inside their own sealed bag, so I snatched them up and went up to the apartment to dig through the new finds. It was like finding Christmas in the garbage shed! There were several cute sweaters, shirts, and skirts for future use.

After that I've been keeping an eye on garbage piles when I see them. I've since pulled out six more bags of clothes from around town to drag back home and sort through. Some are rightfully placed in the trash, but there are enough good items to make it worth the search. Using this method, there are also a lot of things that simply don't fit (children's clothes), but they can be used as fabric for craft projects in the future.

The jackpot of this project was when I was lurking around the International Student D

orm one night and discovered a heap of goods on the side of the road. It's the end of the semester, so a lot of these internationals are heading home. Where else for their stuff to go than in the trash? My car of course! When I saw this, I rushed home to drive back and load up a carful of junk. I got a table, bookshelf, tv stand, manga set, griddle, a bunch of kitchen stuff, a zillion hangers, and, after all, a chair for my balcony. I made a real racket out there piling pots, pans, and tables into my tiny car. A few people popped their heads out the door to see what was going on, only to find a fellow foreigner hard at work in carting away their things.

What'll be waiting in the next wastebin?!

Recent Events

It's been a long time, blogging world! It seems that just when I have plenty of things to write about, I haven't been on lately. So, I'll give you a quick update on my general doings of late.

Last weekend was, a 4 day weekend. I won the lottery when it comes to national holidays + school holidays. The science school (Kagiko) had their Culture Festival on Saturday. Because it isn't my base school, I was able to go as a spectator, sample all the food stands with koroke (fried mashed potatoes), negiyaki (fried leek), and Frankfurts (hotdogs). Because this is a vocational school, I also got to see many of the things that the students have made, like benches, children's slides, and even a cardboard teahouse!

Also that afternoon was an English speech contest. I had been coaching a couple of the

students all week beforehand, so it was great to finally see them perform. And even take 2nd place, mind you.

There is an IT teacher at school who happens to

have a bluegrass band on the side. He invited me to a concert this weekend, with just about all of the Bluegrass musicians on Shikoku in attendance! It was great to hear songs that I could completely understand. Some of the English was heavily accented, but others sounded just like their US counterparts.

Among other news, I went hiking again with another group of foreigners. We didn't see any other hikers on this trail, though didn't reach the top either. It was a lovely way to spend the holiday. The next day I had my bike impounded and had to walk the ~45 trek to an abandoned schoolbuilding to retrieve it.

Also bought a dougi, karate uniform for the Aikido 'tournament' this weekend. I've been going to the Aikido club at my school every Tuesday morning for lessons. There are usually only 3 students on any given day. The other ALT at the school is also in the club, but goes on Wednesdays instead. We've had extra practices this week in preparation for the Enbutaikai this weekend, though, and I finally got to practice with Zandra. We had the match this morning. Certainly made plenty of mistakes, but overall had fun. There was a mixture of tiny kids in white belts and old men in their umpteenth degree black belt. Even got to see our sensei's sensei! He is the kind of man that would inspire George Lucas to create Yoda.

Choose Your Own Adventure

What do you do when a little grandma (obaachan) gestures to you, *House, My, Come*? Why, you smile and nod, of course!

Or at least, that`s what I did this Sunday after church. We started talking last week, working through the many communication barriers that can arise between one English speaking foreigner, and a deaf lady who uses Japanese Sign Language. I had my car with me this week, so afterward we went out to it and got in. "Where is this going to go?" I wondered, but knew that whatever we ended up doing, I had all afternoon.

Our first stop was Fujiguran, the local mall, so she directed me there simply by pointing. On her cell phone she typed out kaimono, shopping. We parked and went in to the grocery store there, roaming all the fresh food aisles and picking up much more variety and expense than I ever did while shopping alone. At first I was thinking that we were buying lunch for ourselves - some fruit, bread, and dessert - but by the end I knew there was no way we could eat all this alone.

A neighborhood street, much like Funoshiki-san`s

We finished shopping and got back in the car, and she directed me to her house. It was nice to not worry about making smalltalk in the car for once! I was quite relieved I realized she lived somewhere I was already familiar with. It would make the return drive much easier. Before we went in, she warned me about her dog and how he likes to bite, showing a gash on her hand. She opened the door very slowly, only to reveal a mini 4lb dog. He was really friendly when not being "affectionately" bopped by her slippers.

Once inside, I learned something new. We weren`t alone! Her husband was there and they started chatting - he seemed to be deaf as well, but somehow much easier to understand. You could tell that he was the socialite of the two. They gestured things about eating, so I thought that we would then have the lunch we picked up. Instead, the led me back outside. "Maybe we are going to a neighbor`s to eat?" I thought, as we walked up some steep stairs to a place a few doors down. Instead, it turned out to be a restaurant. And a fancy one at that!

We sat down, a pair of cute, short , gesturing ojii/obaachans, and their young foreign friend, about 1.5ft taller than them, acting as interpreter to the bewildered waitresses. After all the ordering was sorted out, the meal went really well. We shared food, told stories with our hands and eyes, and left full and happy.

Back at the house, we talked some more, this time using the assistance of pen, paper, and dictionary to further conversation. When they found out that I was going dancing that night in a couple hours, though, they shooed me out to go get ready, seeing that 4 hours had passed already. But before I left, they packed a whole bag full of bread, sudachi (lemon/lime fruit), sweets, and a plant.

The whole day was like a little mystery, never knowing what would happen next. This was the first time that I could fully appreciate how much can be communicated between people by simply using your hands and a smile.