I’m going to begin with something very random. We all know that Asian countries have many meals centered around rice. In fact it’s no big deal for a native Japanese citizen to have some form of rice for all three meals:
breakfast: rice and miso soup
lunch: bento (packaged lunch) of some form of rice, meat, pickled vegetables, etc.
supper: bowl of rice, fish, some kind of soup, and a small salad
After I leave this country, I probably won’t eat rice for a very, very long time. (The same thing happened when I went to Mexico. My host mother served us some form of avocado for darn near EVERY meal. I have nothing against avocados, but I never want to eat another one. To this day, I have not had an avocado since I left Mexico.) Anyway…..I don’t know that I’ve told this before, but I always thought that it was funny how even meals are named after rice, gohan, in Japanese. For example, breakfast is asa gohan. Morning rice. I’ve heard lunch be referred to as just gohan. Rice. A couple of times last year, this really tripped me up. If my supervisor asked me about gohan (referring to lunch), I would be like huh? What? Rice? What brought this up, you might ask. Yesterday the office lady, Ms. Higashi, provided the teachers with a mid-morning snack of grapes and pears. Her, the librarian, vice principal, and myself all had a nice little break time and were discussing a few things. I was telling them how grapes here are so expensive and how I never buy them, (the cheapest is about $3 for a TINY bundle) but in the States grapes are one of the cheapest and most common fruits. Ms. Higashi mentioned some of the fruits and breakfast foods that she ate while traveling around Europe and kept referring to breakfast as asa gohan. It made me giggle on the inside! 
Wednesday night after work I rode my bike to Hitoyoshi. That’s a 30 km journey that was a pretty good ride! We had planned to meet our friends in Hitoyoshi on Wednesday night for ice cream, and Ian worked in Nishiki that afternoon. Instead of him coming all the way back to Yunomae, I told him that I’d just meet him in Hitoyoshi. I had two choices: take the train or ride my bike. Some of you might say that it would have been smarter to take the train, but I say that it was CHEAPER and MORE CHALLENGING to ride my bike. 
I got off of work around 5PM and was on the trail at 5:15PM. I only stopped a few times, and it took me about two hours.
I stopped once in Asagiri, which is about halfway, for a ten minute break. I was sitting there minding my own business and listening to music when I see a figure to the side of me. It was an old lady, and I could see her toothless mouth flapping, so I knew she was saying something. I took out my headphones, and could understand a few things from her: Is this your bicycle? Where did you ride from? Where are you going? However, she had SUCH a thick Kuma-bend accent. (It’s kind of like the redneck accent of Japan. Imagine someone with a hard core deep southern accent trying to speak with a foreigner who doesn’t know English very well.) I couldn’t understand ANY of the words coming out of her mouth, so I told her I couldn’t understand, but she continued to speak to me. I once again politely told her that I couldn’t understand, and she STILL continued to speak. Therefore, I took this as a cue to exit.
On down the road a bit I ran over a crab. 
We have fresh water crabs here, and they’re about the size of a half dollar. I saw one on the pathway and steered away from it successfully with my front tire, but rode over it with my back one. I heard it crack and everything. Ugh, I felt sooooooooo bad!!!
The final stretch of roadway I rode in darkness. Even though I tried my hardest to pedal quickly, it gets dark here around 7PM now (no daylight savings time in Japan). For the most part, the headlights from cars would light my way. I was never so happy to see the lights of Hitoyoshi or that beautiful pink and blue Baskin Robbins sign. 
Despite the fact that I rode all that way, I was still the first person to arrive, so I waited outside Baskin Robbins like a hobo. Melissa B. and Ian didn’t get there until about 8PM because Mollee got lost, and they had to pick her up. I was starving, and Melissa and Ian had brought dinner for the three of us. We weren’t sure if they would allow us to eat our food inside, so like hobos, we sat in the parking lot eating our Mos Burger dinner while Mollee, Margo, and David went inside for ice cream.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again: the Japanese work ethic is ridiculous. They work ALL. THE. TIME. Here’s the latest and greatest example of this: Ian and I live in the middle of rice paddies. The rice will probably be harvested in the next 1-1.5 months. Therefore, the farmers are currently diligently spraying their crop to rid it of any pests with remote control helicopters (see below). The past couple of mornings, I woke up at 6:30AM to the buzzing propellers flying around the fields near our house. That’s right…..6:30AM!! Ugh! Who the heck is farming at 6:30????
Yesterday I was fortunate to have a good break time. I went to the library like normal, but the boys in there were being stupid and loud, so I left and wandered around for some friends to play with. I caught up with a group of second grade girls, and we played cards. Hurray! I haven’t played cards with anyone in a while, so it was nice. The only downside is that whenever I ask them was game they want to play, the response is always the same: babanuki (old maid). Although, one girl kept calling it “grandmother.” I can understand how old maid could mean the same thing as grandmother….kind of. I wanted to teach them spoons today, but break time was cut short for….some reason. Maybe next week! Every other group who I’ve taught spoons to LOVED it, and it’s one of my all time favorite card games.
In other news, I got a new eikaiwa student! Hurray! She is twenty-two, from Yunomae, pretty well traveled, and speaks English fairly well. I’m excited about my growing adult half of eikaiwa. We get to have normal adult conversations instead of silly things like: Hello. My name is Melissa. I like strawberries. Nice to meet you! Last night we discussed everything from the ridiculousness of curling as an Olympic sport to how freaking expensive it is to go to Switzerland. After class, Ian said, “We should get her number and start inviting her to things.” I agree! We totally should!
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’m pretty excited about it being the weekend! This weekend is also really bittersweet for me. This is the second year of my life that I’m not going to the St. John Picnic. Other than last year, I’ve gone to my parish’s picnic (also known as the “biggest little picnic in western Kentucky”) every year of my life. To miss it greatly saddens me. I love going, working the booths, eating funnel cake and BBQ sandwiches, and catching up with people I haven’t seen in a while. Alas. Maybe next year! This weekend is pretty exciting for us, though, since we’re heading to the beach! It’s the annual Ashikita beach party…..hurray!
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