January 1, 2006, Morning Hike
We woke up early. Early. I had slept under two hours. It was 5am, well, 5:10 or so. My host dad walked in after my second alarm and turned on my light saying "get up get up", so I did. Well, after he left, of course. We headed up to the local parking lot, greeted by three burning barrells and around 80 people all ready for the morning hike.
We led the way up to the golf course on top of the mountain. Looking back as we hiked were 50 sum bobbing flashlights. We got to lead! We stopped at the camp base (some summer camp?) and people had their smokes and went to the toilets. Then we hiked further to the golf course. Waiting for the golfcourse to open, sitting on a frozen pipe, host dad's ears were dreadfully cold.
Ken-san (first photo - family's student from last year, China) insisted it was completely uncool and he finally undid the scarf.
Dawn broke, and the leaders broke out the sake. There's something about Japan and old men drinking and smoking after hikes.
My host dad thought this photo could use editing. The guy in the middle says "sunrise!" and his friend to the left says "really??" in Osaka-dialect.
The problem was with the clouds. The sun rose, but we couldn't see it! Ken insisted we wait till it came up. It broke the clouds as we walked on from the lake. Before it broke, we had seen its rays rising over the trees.
December 31, 2005, The Previous Night
After my bath I was told to put my jeans back on, as pajamas would be cold when I went to the temple. So I did. We went and rang the bell, and rang and rang...
I made a face 'cause the striker would shake after striking the bell.
Host sister and bell, then host brother and bell.
Then we piled into the pickup and drove home. The two other boys aren't shown yet...
There they are! We ate instant noodles and drank when we came home. I don't know if anyone actually had sake, but we went through a few cans of chu-hai (centre of table).
December 30, 2005, Making Mochi
Mochi is rice, but beaten to death. The rice had been soaking for a day or so, then my host mom's brother in law cooked it over fire in the back yard. I discovered we have an orange tree. There's two jobs in the beating - swinging the hammer, and adjusting the rice-dough. They go together quite quickly by the talented. We're not talented. Well, host dad and auntie got it going pretty good. When the rice first comes out of the pot, it's all hot and you have to smear it around and mush it before you can start pounding it into the dough-like mochi.
Here's my first strike with the first view of my host grandma in the background! Then, me scaring Ken!
Host parents working quickly.
Once made, the mochi must be broken into little balls, pretty ones. I got to roll them, with the other girls, yay. Notice everyone wears aprons?
December 23 to 27, 2005, Fukuyama
View from the loft where I slept - see the Christmas tree?
We burnt shortbread cookies. This is Hillary whom I met on the plane to Japan.
Me (in apron 'cause we were baking) and the South African from Hillary's church. We were having pumpkin pie with dandilions on top. They were disgusting, but the pies were wonderful. It was like real pumpkin pie!
end.