I Me Me Amami
Please note that this post was written the day before yesterday, but the internet was being picky so I didn't post it.
Woah, I am dead tired. Also, hungry, but I'm always hungry. I woke up at 7 am today, which was unfortunate. I couldn't eat much at breakfast, just managed down some rice and miso (soup). My host only buys fish when it goes on sale, so we eat beans n rice for protein. Luckily, I brought my B-12 spray...just not calcium chews. When I get back to civilization, I am going to gorge myself on raw fish. Anyway, we started the day by picking peppers. I was given some sharp shears and told to go harvest some peppers; my co-WOOFer got the small ones (Alix), and I got the big ones. I recall once doing Habitat for Humanity through some camp program or some such thing, and the man in charge wouldn't let the women use the big sharp, power tools. Still pisses me off today, considering what my mother used to ask for Hannukah ("oo a jigsaw would be nice"). So, I left unsupervised with a sharp thing for two hours. Yay! Afterwards, Alix and I packed them into bags and sealed them. They're going to Kobe (a large city on the mainland, Honshu)*. Following that, we were sent outside to weed the herb garden for a good four hours.
Around 4 pm it started to rain (oh hey, we're having sashimi for dinner tonight. YUM.); that cut off our weeding. It's supposed to pour the next couple of days as there's a typhoon in the Indian Ocean or some other "weathery" thing. So, Alix and I decided to go to the beach. It's literally a five minute walk. I could hear the waves as I pull weeds. Surfers come here often because it's quiet, secluded, clean despite some mild trash wash-up, and has great waves. Santa Monica and Venice Beach, the ones closest to me, are filthy, oily, and over-crowded. I am technically on the other side of the same ocean, I think. The water here was surprisingly warm, so the two of us came back to change into our bathing suits (aka a pair of boys trunks I got on sale at the thrift store ahahah) and went back out there. The waves were great, and my fingers are still wrinkly. It rained the whole time, but it's not like you notice when you're wet. We swam into the tide got too strong and I began to worry about being sucked out to sea. My lungs are so tired, I can't take a deep breath! I probably haven't been in the ocean since the last time I was in Florida. I'm all showered and clean now, yay.
Funny thing, I want to add: there are these teacups here that I keep dropping. I've spilled tea four times today alone, the last time on his computer...luckily he thought it was hilarious and there wasn't any damage. Do not let me handle small cups.
Anyway, no more "thuds" so far. I bet I'll sleep well tonight!
*I realized that most of family doesn't know how to pronounce Japanese words. It's pretty easy: All letters are pronounced in sets of two, except for "n" which is by itself. Vowels: a as in "ah", e in "eh", o as in "oh", u as in "oo", and i as in "ih". If you see "ou", it's "oh" held for two counts instead of one. So, Kobe is "Koh-be", and Honshu is "ho-n-shu". Neat fact: tori, toori, and torii are three different things (bird, street, and entrance to a Shinto shrine).