Golden Week - Part Four

Well, Golden Week is finishing up, and so we went to a farm today, by Hina’s request.

By entering the farm, I did not expect to be punched in the face by homesickness, but it happened nonetheless. I’ve been pretty good with homesickness (not really having it at all except for short bursts during the holidays and such) but I did not realize how much I missed being on the farm.

I may have sniffled when I saw this

The first, and most important, stop of the day was to see the donkeys. You could buy food and feed them. It was all very nostalgic—I used to have a goat, you see, and there is very little difference between a goat and a donkey’s manners, especially when it comes to food. It was kinda sad to see the small pen all of the animals were enclosed in, though, and even sadder to see that I was the only one attempting to pet the poor creatures instead of just throwing bread crusts at them (to be fair, these were extremely rude and violent donkeys, but still!). The entire (rather small for so many creatures) pen was covered in filth with nothing green in the court or the manger. Some of the poor donkeys were caked with their own filth and it saddened me. The rabbit cages were nicer, but I still am worrying about those unsheared sheep that were panting in corner.

Despite the rather pitiful cages of the sheep and donkeys, the rabbits' burrow looked pretty nice, if small

Then we went on a walk, where I nearly had tears over the smell of fresh dirt and greenery combined with the different bird and frog calls. It was very unnerving to see myself reduced as such, but the sun was shining, it was gorgeous weather, and I soon got over it.

Turtles!

The traditional Japanese farmhouse

This is "takenoko" or baby bamboo

CHICKENS!

And then we returned home and I did homework.

Golden Week - Part Three

The weather was great today—that’s why we went out on a picnic with Okaasan’s family! The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and we managed to find a wonderful place to settle down and eat some packed bento (from the store).

From the store, but still delicious!

Ojiisan (Okaasan’s father) was also a camera geek, like myself, but preferred film cameras to digital (and, as it turns out, he was a professional photographer for many a year). As I also enjoy film cameras, we, well just me, cooed over the other’s cameras.

It was a pretty lazy day. Hina caught a cabbage moth, and I attempted to lecture on the evils of the cabbage moth (as only a farm girl can do) in Japanese. I think I may have failed.

Here's me teasing Hina-chan. She kept throwing her shoes away from the picnic blanket, so I went and picked them up. Then she would reclaim them and throw them again, so I started playing keep-away. We both had fun.

But that’s okay. I meandered around the pond with Okaasan and Hina, learned that the Japanese have a word for the color of fresh, green leaves (萌義理　もえぎりmoegiri), and managed to sunburn my face again (despite all the sunscreen I slathered on).

Lookit the cute inchworm!

I made a daisy crown! How nostalgic.

After Hina-chan abandoned her crown, Okaasan tried it on for size.

I feel that everyone had a great time. I had a good time as well! But, aaagh, finals are coming up and I just do not want to study. Wish me luck!

Golden Week - Part Two

Today we started out early, eating a delicious breakfast, taking more pictures, and checking out from the bungalow.

There were tadpoles!

Chieko, Kanna, Hina, Otousan, Okaasan, Me

Then we drove for a short while until we came upon a hiking path. Words cannot describe how gorgeous it was. Pictures pale in comparison as well. While it felt somewhat treacherous at times, the view was great and there were so many waterfalls!

The prettiest shade of blue water I've ever seen

Hey, Mom--a wild hosta!

Please pardon the choppiness, but I wanted to get the whole perspective in

After hiking, we went for a soak in another onsen which was nice, though I find it a pain that everyone worries about me because after soaking, I always look like I’m going to faint—this is because I have skin so pale it’s practically reflective which also turns pink rather quickly and makes me redder than a lobster in the summer if I forget to coat myself in sunscreen.

After that we went out to lunch and then headed back home while I promptly fell asleep in the car.

Sushi wrapped in persimmon leaf

Delicious

Golden Week - Part One

And so Golden Week starts and the family and I went off to a little bungalow in the mountains of Nara where we met two of Otousan’s eleven siblings, Chieko and Kenji, plus one of his nieces, Kana. And what great fun we had!

Otousan, Chieko, Kanna, and Kenji

On the way there, we noticed some of the giant landslides that had occurred earlier in the year—yikes! But we were at a safe spot, so there was no need to worry. The bungalow was pretty nice and for those of you who know me, reminded me greatly of The Coach House with a small kitchen on the bottom floor and a great big loft on the top where all of us slept.

Yikes

As you all know, I am very enamored of mountains and the mountains here were beautiful with little tufts of clouds residing on the peaks, just like fluffy, torn up cotton balls or something.

It took quite a bit of driving to get to our destination, so once we got there it was well past noon, so we settled into a lazy day. There was a river running right past and it was the most beautiful blue-green I have ever seen.  It also had some awesome boulders lying around, which I promptly used for photo taking.

Our bungalow

The handy window linking the kitchen to the cooking fire--plus Okaasan!

Then we went to a nearby onsen and soaked our troubles away. It was gorgeous—there was an outdoor bath with a view of the mountain with a waterfall. I wish I could have taken a picture, it was so beautiful!

When we returned, we started up a fire in the fire pit table thing, and then started roasting up an early dinner. We then would brave the heat to grab our delicious morsel using chopsticks.

 

After that, I also taught the way of the s’more to the huddled masses. It was a smashing success—they were fans of both the regular “cookie graham” s’mores as well as the ginger biscuit s’mores using dark chocolate. Mmmmmm, mmmmm!

As it got darker, we took some fun pictures and then we pulled out the fireworks! Hina had insisted on them when we stopped for charcoal (and they sell it as logs in boxes—not as coals in bags, what a surprise!)

Hina had a blast. I did too.

Then Hina and I went to go stare at the neighboring cabins’ dogs.  It eventually led us over to another firework party where the generous adults gave Hina a whole pack of fireworks!

They were absolute strangers, but so generous. I’m not sure if this would happen in the US…maybe a small town, but the city? I don’t know, but the delight on Hina’s face made me smile.

We went kind of early to bed, after socializing (read: drinking) a bit and telling funny stories.