Ichigo Ichie

The days are just flying by. I spend 6 hours a day working in the garden, which mainly is weeding since everything has been planted already. The rainy season was very late this year so of course every day says "rain" but that's not always the case. So far I got to meet two Canadian Wwoofers and we made signs out of tree branches from Kusunoki, the giant tree the farm is named after. Mariko really liked them and wants to use them for her next event. It took a little bit of teamwork, but it was fun.

Also, Emily, from my last host has arrived! It's been nice to talk to someone while we work and sometimes there is a lot of laughing going on. We plan on going to the beach this weekend but if it rains, then we will go to down town Kobe. I'm secretly hoping for the beach though. 

One experience I don't want to forget was on the day I was making signs with the two wwoofers (who have since left) and during this time, Mariko had gardeners in the garage for a planting event. One of the customers came with a friend and when she found out I was from America, asked if she could take me out for a chat. Of course! So we went to a cafe just as the rain cleared up, and it was also a ridiculously charming place. Oyama-san is a tiny little lady who must be past her fifties but is learning English and her friend Fuyaso, is an English teacher to foreigners. The main topic they were curious about was how I studied Japanese and how I became so good. Hopefully, she wanted to use that to help her students learn. We had a wonderful conversation and a lot of smiles and laughs. It was about 50/50 in English and Japanese but that's because all of us want to practice something different. : ) I learned a saying at the cafe that I really like from them, "ichi go, iche" (i-chi-go-i-chi-eh) which at first I thought, "strawberry?" Since 'ichigo' is strawberry in Japanese, but 'ichi go' is different, go figure. It means "one meeting one chance" so possibly similar to "one chance to make a first impression" or something along those lines. Fuyaso explained it as "one in a million" and I agree. It was a wonderful meeting I won't forget. Today they are coming back for another visit and we will use the store/classroom outside. Oyama-san is bringing a homemade cake, and part of learning a new culture is trying new food so I suppose I must try a piece!

Otherwise, my days are visiting with billions of tiny frogs, toads, and tree frogs while I pluck grass out of the ground, saying hello to their gardeners, then followed by wonderful dinners with the family. It's a nice way to close each day, not to mention falling asleep in the quiet air conditioning after sweating through two sets of clothes while gardening. Now insert a good, loud Minnesotan "OOHFDA".