Day 1,2,3,4

Well, the last few days have been quite interesting. The day after I arrived (Saturday the 17th) was nice. After a nice breakfast with Richard and his wife Jackie, Richard and I headed out on our bikes with Nappa (the dog) so I could see where and how to walk the dog. The island is real pretty during the day, green everywhere. It reminds me of Canada and Germany----maybe a bit more humid. We went on what Richard called "loop one", which meant that it was the first typical route for walking Nappa. I'm not sure if I should say that Nappa is walked though, we both got on bikes and rode behind Nappa as she bolted ahead. Along the way, we found a tree bearing a fruit I had never seen before ( If forgot the name), but the fruits were incredible. They are these little orange things about the size of an avocado core; very juicy and sweet. After a few more hills and encounters with local rice farmers who were less than enthusiastic about Nappa running though their rice fields, we returned home and and chilled for a few hours before heading out again in the evening, this time to a traditional restaurant, where I was treated to a wide variety of Japanese cuisine. Among the tasties: Yakisoba (Japanese fried noodles), Okonomiyaki (Savory pancakes with different vegetables, meat and fish inside) and the most interesting---Takoyaki, which is a fried dumpling with octopus inside. It was all great. Afterwards we headed back to the house and pretty much went to bed. Jackie and Richard were leaving the next day, so I got some more information about my responsibilities around the house.

(pictures from top to bottom: The house, Nappa (who is finally warming up to me) and me posing together, and the Japanese food (flat pancake thing-Okonomiyaki, balls-Takoyaki, noodles-Yakisoba, The Sunset on Awaji)

The first day having the house to myself was a bit eerie--it was very quiet, but the constant buzzing of nature all around was nice, and much preferable to the background noise of the city. During the day, I pretty much just relaxed and set up my things. I got a call from Derek (the older Englishman) around 1, inviting me to dinner and a viewing of the first fireflies of the season. I happily accepted, and headed down to his beautiful seaside house a few hours later. Unfortunately, it had started raining right before I left, so I took an umbrella and headed down. We met with some other people who would be coming with us (including a first grader who was the grandson of one of Derek's friends who was obsessed with trying his English out on me), and left about fifteen minutes later. We drove about 30 minutes to another part of the island, but we had bad luck finding a restaurant that still had space for a big group like ours. We did eventually find a place though. I ordered an eel dish, and we all sat and talked for awhile before heading off again to see the fireflies. We drove through a winding pass up a mountain and stopped at the end of a long driveway overlooking a river. Although it was a bit chilly, it was cool seeing the fireflies serenely strobing in the air.

(pictures from top to bottom: My room with Japanese futon, and one of the cats, Boogie, overloading my cute-o-meter by sleeping on the spare futons in the closet)

The next day, I was picked up around 11 by Derek to go and pick up my car from his house. I had left it there the night before (Derek offered to let me park it there overnight, I was pretty wiped out by the time we got back to Tsushi) Anyway, as I was backing out, the back of the car bumped against a telephone pole. Thankfully, the car was fine, but I decided to take it to the local gas/service station (I had been introduced to a father-son duo who work there) to get it checked out anyway. They took a loot at it, said it was OK, and then I was offered coffee and cookies by the owner (the dad). He also offered to show me his new LCD TV he had just bought. Later, I was talking with his son (Atsushi) and found out he played soccer. Atsushi invited me on Thursday to play with him and some of his friends in another part of the island. We also decided to meet on Wednesday in the evening and just hang out. Overall, it was a successful day.

Rice fields: they are EVERYWHERE

Wednesday, I pretty much just hung around and cleaned up the house a bit before Atsushi and his friends showed up. Atsushi ended up bringing two friends with him, Makoto and Matsuri, when he arrived at 8:30. We just played some music and talked for a few hours, before they headed home. It was cool to meet some Japanese people who were a little closer to me in age.
I got invited to a going away party on Saturday for one of Atsushi's friends who lives in Osaka, but I'm not sure if I'll go because he said it;ll be an all-nighter and I'm having dinner with Derek, his wife and some of their friends on Sunday. We'll see....