WWOOF - Miyagi

Tuesday -
We got up today about 7.30am and sorted through some firewood before breakfast. Luckily, Chieko is interested in cooking and likes diverse types of food so we get some variety unlike at the last wwoof host. Then Chieko's brother came over and we helped build a drying rack. I think I hindered rather than helped but Ed seemed to do ok.
In the afternoon we started to clear an overgrown field with scythes. I had a lot of fun wielding a scythe, Ed won't come near me after deeming me too dangerous and mental. I had fun though.
In the evening, Chieko's English friend Gavin and his family came over. Gavin has a Japanese wife and 3 kids, though I don't really understand what language they speak. I don't think they do either. They speak to them in both English and Japanese and switch between them randomly. We had a fun dinner drinking beer and talking about Japan and we offered to come and build a self-sustainable house with him on Thursday.

Wednesday -
Today, I started by helping Chieko cook breakfast. We had some sort of fish-bread and pancakes with figs that her neighbour had brought round. After, we finished clearing the field (my wrists and shoulders ache a lot now) and then we helped install a sink in her bathroom (a pedestal on bricks with a metal bowl on top). Chieko has an old style bathroom and toilet which means recycling bathwater for a few days and the dreaded hole in the floor. I like the idea of hot spring baths where the water constantly pumps through but an ofuro (a tub filled with water and then reused between people for a few days) is not so exotic. Mostly just gross.
In the evening, we went to the nearest supermarket to pick up Chieko's shopping and then had dinner with some of her friends. Her friends were really nice and seem to have an infatuation with earthenware bells, which they unleashed from a bag and let us choose our favourites as souvenirs which was nice of them.
At 8.30pm we finally got some free time. Im a little concerned because although the work is fun, it's meant to be for 6 hours a day with a day off. We seem to be on the go from 8 til 8. Im glad that we have a lot to do though as it makes the day go by fast, Im just pretty knackered!

Thursday -
Today we went to Gavin's place to help buid his ecofriendly house. It was mostly shovelling gravel around but the landslides made it fun. In the evening Gavin invited us over for some thank-you drinks. We had a few too many and stumbled home in the dark.

Friday -
Today Ed was not so well after drinking too much. Luckily, Shiinasan didn't mind and he lied in while I helped out, not feeling my best though. Lunchtime was really difficult though. Shiinasan's neighbour had brought over an entire squid for me to eat. It was a looong rubbery hangover lunch. In the evening we went over to her artist friend's house and we started looking in her design books and chatting. She played crystal ball sound effects as we went to sleep. I didn't find them especially relaxing but it made her happy.

Saturday -
Today we helped the artist in her field which was nice. Shiinasan seems a bit lazy when it comes to other peoples farms, we all sat down on the riverside for 20 minutes when we were meant to be helping. Not that I cared! She also took us to her studio which her and her friends built. It was really amazing.

Sunday -
Today was community-work day! In the morning, everyone gathered together to do the gardening and cleaning along the Marumori roadsides. It was fun and everyone was really friendly. Everybody was rewarded with a bottle of cold green-tea to drink afterwards, I'm a little fed up of that stuff though, you get overfed it at farm hosts and cheap Japanese diners. However, in the afternoon Shiinasan took us to her friend's ramen shop for a really nice lunch. Her friend played Sakura Sakura on the koto (some instrument) as we ate, it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we helped Gavin again with his house. We met a Japanese woman who spoke English. Her baby really took to Ed for some reason and spent a worryingly long amount of time in his wheelbarrow of gravel

Monday -
Our last day here we definitely didnt get a break, even though it was raining. We were cleaning windows the cheap non-chemical way. I think they were cleaner before we started. Afterwards, I was not so impressed, as Shiinasan made me sharpen her lifetime collection of pencils, then asked me to arrange them by colour and then arrange them in a box beautifully. Not exactly thrilling. We also spent a lot of the day making a curry for a curry party Shiinasan decided to have. The party was a lot of fun. I was a little dismayed to see Shiinasan let a toddler play with all the pencils I had sorted and dump them on the floor. But I wasn't asked to resort them so I didn't care too much. When everyone left, Shiinasan gave us a gift - a pretty dishcloth. A strange present but it meant a lot as she didn't have a lot of money.