It is tricky indeed to use the internet here, but the reason i’m merging my posts is not the lack of internet at all. It’s just that i don’t have the need anymore to just rot at the computer. I just wanna enjoy different things, get to know other wwoofers, listen to them, talk to them, laugh, laugh, laugh with them and at them and just have great time...
I feel really good here! I wasn’t working at first, so i could relax really well on our days off - our weekend in the mid-week. I’m totally losing track of time, it’s hard to remember which day it is and i mostly don’t know the exact time. But i don’t need that anymore as well... I just feel completely relaxed and i’m just existing here and enjoying the stay... The landscape here is amazing, the air’s fresh, since the city is a bit further, it’s really quiet. All the wwoofers are mostly together, just spending time together... Our house is big and we’re all staying here except couple of people, who live in the other house just across the street, so basically they’re also hanging around with us.
Wednesday or Day 21 was our “saturday” and since the weather was quite ok, we went to the river. It was around hour long drive and then we’re arriving at this beautiful valley in between the mountains, covered with pine trees. It sounds rather casual and simple (valley, pine trees...), cause i cannot exactly describe it, but it was just more than awesome!!! Barbecuing at the river and swimming in the cool, clear water, enjoying the view and the sun... It was unbelievable. I felt as if i’m in a dream, i’ve seen those kinda rocky rivers in mountains just in the movies, to he honest and i was totally excited to be able to experience that by myself. It really feels like a dream every once in a while and i’m worried i’m gonna wake up in Germany, but at least this is a nice dream, huh? Sometimes i do think about things back in Germany and shudder even from the thought of it. Being at this place i get the feeling often, that i just wanna stay, simply be here, work, never leave. Thinking about my real life makes my smile go away for a while. But there will be time i’ll have to go back to my real life and this will stay behind as a sensational memory.
On Wednesday’s evening after dinner, one guy came, that has a local band here and visits us often, even though he’s not a wwoofer. It was a really nice evening - we just played guitars on the street outside the house and sang along... Couple of us had fun with small fireworks. We had quite a few good singers and players, so i totally enjoyed the music around me. Everyone seemed so at ease, relaxed, happy - it’s almost the total opposite from what we had at the previous host. After that we watched movies, i haven’t finished both of them, because i fell asleep in the middle of the first one and was totally dozing off during the second one, so i just decided to go to the bed. Anyhow, the second movie was just a blast! People who like alternative movies, should definitely put this one on the list and watch it as soon as possible - no kidding. It’s a really good australian movie called “Bad Boy Bobby”, it is pretty disturbing since the main character is mentally ill and he’s doing things you wouldn’t normally think about, but it is by all means worth watching.
Also, we had some new wwoofers arrive - in the morning we had a dutch couple and in the evening two more guys. Those two dutch people really arrived on good time - they even couldn’t unpack their things, just went straight to the river, so they had a nice introduction in who, how and what we are, they had the chance to get to know us in a relaxed atmosphere, which was really good. In the evening we had another australian guy and an italian, so our family is getting bigger and bigger every day. I was welcomed really warmly and just accepted to this family, which makes me really grateful. All the new guys think i’m here at least for 3-4 months (asked all of them...), but i’m here just for couple of days!!! It is weird even for me, but i feel as if i lived with these guys for ages. They are all different people, so it’s amazing that we have more or less a balanced family.
It might be because of the fact, that everyone here is a wwoofer which gives us all something in common. We have though some guys from Tokyo who are probably having difficult time here, because just imagine growing up in sucha huge metropolis like Tokyo. They probably see vegetable fields for the first time, they’ve never did weeding and definitely never cooked for over 20 people at once! So it is quite a drastic experience for them. And even though they don’t quite know what, when and how to do, they fit in and do their best.
Yesterday it was raining from the early morning. We were waiting for a typhoon actually, but it never hit us. Some of us just ignored that completely, some of us were actually waiting for it, some of it weren’t happy about that kinda weather forecast, but we never had the typhoon. Rain in Japan is mostly really nice, i already enjoyed rain last year, while working in Tokyo, so being here, in the middle of the nowhere, surrounded by mountains was even nicer than before. Since we have subtropical climate here, the rain is warm and calm (when it’s not a typhoon or tsunami). In the morning when most of the wwoofers left to the city, i stayed in the house and enjoyed the silence of here and the calming music of rain. I grabbed a cup of tea and just went outside to the back yard, meditated a little tiny bit. It felt so right and peace was coming back to me.
Most of the times it’s so hard to run away from your routine even if you understand that it’s not good for you, so all you need to do is be in a situation where you don’t have the chance to get back to your routine. I’m actually living perfectly fine even without having internet, cell phone or skype. Of course, i would like to have it every once in a while, chat to my friends, but it’s not the end of the world that i don’t have it. If i stayed here longer than planned, maybe i would be able to write again (?).
In the evening i had an opportunity to do something that i’ve been waiting for for a long long time. I got to practice Kendo!!! It was my first time, i probably sucked a lot, but it was so much fun. I didn’t get sore arm muscles, nor did i get blisters on my palms and foot that everyone experienced, so i was lucky. I guess i’m just naive to think like that, but maybe the fact that i enjoyed it so much is kind of a sign, that i should continue Kendo back in Europe. I still don’t understand how can you become good at it, because it seems nearly impossible to win a fight, but maybe after years of hard work it’s doable. Next week i’m gonna go practice it again! We have one (also new) japanese guy, who has been doing Kendo for 15 years, so maybe he can teach me things back at home on our breaks and days off.
And today was my first working day. I didn’t have any problems with waking up early in the morning (5:15 oclock), although it felt strange having breakfast that early! We had to work with wheat grains in the morning and after lunch break we went to the fields, did some weeding. It wasn’t as difficult as i expected, so i feel relieved. I thought i’m gonna be totally stressed out after the working day, but i felt well, except the leg muscle that was aching from the morning. It’s different from my previous host, because here you feel like you’re a part of the family, just doing things, but also getting something in return, when at my previous host it just felt that you’re an unpaid labor, which isn’t quite right.
During the lunch break another 2 wwoofers (again a couple) arrived, so our big family turned into a huge one! We have 21 people right now. I take pleasure in meeting all those different people, they all have their own reasons in coming to Japan, wwoofing here, wwoofing at all, they all have different backgrounds, they all can tell me different things - it’s a treasure we have here! Anyway, with so many people our balance is starting to crash a little bit. We had to decide where to accommodate the new guys and they got the room with the mosquito net and everyone freaked out, that some new guys are getting the mosquito net! We have just 4 of them and everyone wants it, so we almost ended up in a fight, but thanx god we managed to settle it down... But even after doing that, the stress was lingering around me and left just in the night after talking about it with Toby.
In the evening we had an interesting seminar on acupuncture. A doctor from Kyoto came to us and explained some things, also did couple of sessions. I was one of the lucky guys, who got to feel the needles in the body by themselves! I don’t know if i’m just a sensitive type, but i actually felt pain, even though everyone said it’s just like a small tapping or pinching and not an actual pain. It was however really interesting and i would like to continue that in the future. I pointed out my muscle pain, so the doctor worked on that: put some needles in me, stretched me, cracked my spine (that was really freaky!). He said that i grew up too fast, because it seemed like a nerve problem and it should start earliest with 30 years old, so i’m 10 years too fast. Which actually makes sense... After the session it actually hurt more than before, but i hope it’s gonna be better the next day.
I’m having lots of new experiences, i can improve myself personally and that’s something i was seeking for. I’m leaving end of this month, but i don’t wanna even think about it. At least not now...
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