Day 68. NO PICS YET.

Today i was angry with myself right in the morning. Weather forecast was rain and clouds as always and since past days were like that, i even didn't doubt it, so i just enjoyed my sleep and staid in bed until 12 oclock (i staid up late last night!!), but when i woke up and opened my eyes i saw that blue sky and sun!! And i was sooo angry with myself, then i went to facebook and saw friend's messages on my wall like "fuck, wake up!" and i was angry even more... But luckily she logged into facebook again and we decided to meet - it's a girl i met in Sasayama while wwoofing. She's lovely and she reminds me of one person... 

We went to Imperial Palace and took a walk, ate my home-made onigiri and just chatted... We met in Tokyo station and i could praise my intuition once again! Last year i stayed out of Tokyo station by all means, but this year i couldn't avoid it and now i understand why subconsciously i didn't wanna go there - it's a mess there. It's not as big as Shinjuku for example, but it's really spacious and there's not much of directions and maps, so basically you have arrows pointing this and that, but when you arrive the arrows disappear, so you're left with guessing. Did not like it!  

Imperial Palace is a big park after all... It's nice for walking around, i might come back again! I liked it.

After that we went to Mitaka and just walked around. It's a nice district. Mitaka and Kichijoji - there i can go quite often. It's a little bit further away from the center of Tokyo, so it's a big relieve to be out there... 

In the evening i met Cody and Reiko - two people also from Sasayama wwoofing. They are extremely lovely people and one of those who make my going back to Europe harder. Leaving all those people here is heartbreaking. Even though i DID miss my friends back at home, i really did...

Tomorrow i'm going to Ainu Matsuri and gonna be surrounded by nature - totally looking forward to it. 

Today was sunny, but actually cold and i'm worried i caught a cold, but i'm a tough girl - i won't let any illness bring me down on my journey in Japan. 

Day 13.

TIRED!!!

Since i'm the only one here, i'm working a lot... Not because she gives me more tasks (well today she did actually), but mostly because i'm alone, so i just do my work. I don't chat and fool around with other wwoofers... Doing that, i finish faster, which means i get a new task. Today i walked the dog, baked breads, cleaned the wwoofers' house, worked in the kitchen a bit, picked apples and aubergines, did some gardening (weeding and watering)... I dared to eat some more grapes today, because i was weeding just right next to them. Oh, boy are they delicious!

Sometimes i am still surprised by the size of Clare's garden and by the variety of things growing there - from nicest rose till dill, from apples till aubergines. You can find there many sorts of herbs and i'm not even starting to talk about flowers. It's really beautiful. The garden needs way more weeding though, than it's done, but if you manage to ignore the mess, then you can enjoy it. It's nice to wake up in the morning and pick some blueberries for breakfast and afterwards make some fresh mint tea for brunch and maybe bake an apple pie and pick some basil leaves for salads in the evening. Anyway, it's lots of work. I know now... Today after doing all those things i was sooo happy that she let me go 15 minutes earlier! I took a long refreshing shower and just relaxed doing nothing but lying on the bed.

It might sound strange, but i'm preparing to sleep soon, even though it's just around 21.oo o'clock. I wanna be energetic tomorrow not like today. I was planning to go sunbathe a little bit on my lunch break, because the weather was sooo lovely (not like on my days off... Both days off were cloudy), but after lunch i came to check my facebook and laid down on the bed, so it all ended in me, sleeping through the whole break. Tomorrow i'm really going to sunbathe a little bit, because that white back is really funny.

I'm noticing my growing appetite, since i'm on my pms and that worries me a little bit. I will have to work on the first day of my period and that's not good, because normally i'm in sucha big pain, i barely can move a finger. But we'll see. I have some pain killers in my bag, so i'll be probably popping the pills like candies. That's not all that's bothering me... My feet still itch like hell!!! And it's not getting better. I don't have any medicine that could help relieve it, so it's really pain in the ass (feet and ass! Yeah!). But i'll survive! I hope...

After talking to my mom yesterday i feel the urge to make one thing clear. It's not so bad here as it might look like from my blogs. It's just that i'm telling more about bad things, than good ones. Well, yeah it is true, that there are not so many good sides, but in general it's not bad. I get food (or i cook by myself, but i get ingredients), i get bed and shower, they talk to me and i can have my own time after work. Of course, there are things (quite a few...) that are ruining the whole stay, but it's doable here. So don't worry about me too much. I'm still young, i care about it way less than you do.

Tomorrow by the way, one more wwoofer is coming - a guy from Taiwan, so i'm not gonna be alone. However, he is a guy, so he's gonna be working with our host-dad and not with me... Pity. Today one girl had to come (also from Taiwan), but she hasn't arrived yet, nor did she send any message, so she's either not coming at all, or arriving out of the blue. I have 5 more days here and then i'm off to Sasayama! I really wish it wouldn't be worse than this one, because that would be probably too much for me. I'm looking forward to it! And for those coming 5 days i'll keep on ignoring host-momma's moodiness and stupid remarks, keep on enjoying good weather and taking pictures of everything around me.

For those, who are in Japan, you are more than welcome to visit us in Hino at Clare Home & Garden to have a nibble on some home-made bread.

Day 12.

An absolutely quiet day with lots of cicadas outside. They're getting louder and louder every day... My second day off has ended and i'm already getting ready for tomorrow. There was no sun today again, so i couldn't turn into a normal person - i couldn't get some sun on my back side and still am half white/half brown. Today i mostly spent my time in my room, reading a recipe book that i found (and stealing recipes), watching some anime and television. Because of time difference, most of my friends are sleeping when i'm awake and i'm going to sleep, when they come to facebook or skype, so it's also a bit weird not being able to buzz someone just during the day (my day). Also, i miss one particular person and i even don't know if i get to see Him even when i'm back in Europe. Our relationship with my bf is totally unstable at the moment and it feels like he's backing off. Probably because of all those practical problems he has. It does feel unfair, since i'm ready to face His problems, but it seems He's drifting apart slowly, which hurts and leaves me in confusion. I don't know what's happening, i don't know if we're heading somewhere, i don't know if we are still we.

In the evening we went to eat to a nice restaurant and talked for quite a while. I heard some complaints from Kazuko again about the boys. How James borrowed some money and didn't pay back or how Robert took/stole the slippers... But i just listen to her, sometimes comment and that's it. I already got a task for tomorrow, which is cleaning wwoofers' house. That's so unfair! They made a big mess and left it and since i'm the only one here now, i'm gonna clean it. But probably that's way better than weeding in the sun (or rain). I get to work quietly and on my own pace, also i get to decide where to put what and i do like cleaning, so it's not a bad task after all. Besides, i promised Kathi to make some pictures of wwoof house, so i'll have the chance!

It's strange now when everyone's left. Adam was supposed to stay, but he decided to leave today as well. It's more about not wanting to be here with Kazuko (our host), than because of his swollen thumb, which wasn't that much swollen, i think, but the official reason is that he cannot work any longer because of his accident last week. Fair enough... It's his call anyway. Of course i miss all of them already, but maybe it's good that Adam left. Why? Personal reasons. It's better for me now to be alone, because it might have gotten tricky with just two of us here.

In the afternoon some warm sun rays kept on falling down, so i took my camera and made some pictures in Clare's garden, take a look:

Day 5.

Today we took a quiet walk in Sankeien - a beautiful park in Yokohama. It's indeed a gorgeous place, so if you're in Yokohama, go visit that one (get off at Negishi Station and take a bus to Honmoku or Sakuramichi). You want to take at least 2-3 hours for a walk, but you might spend as well more time... We were a little bit in a rush today, so we couldn't stay as long as we wanted, but that was not as bad as i thought, since on our way back home we met bride and broom in traditional japanese outfits, so i took a picture of them too!

The park is really spacious, so you can just relax and enjoy the view. It has a huge lotus and water lily pond, but water lilies weren't blooming yet. Also, it has some events through out the year, but you should take a look at their time-table.

You also shouldn't be lazy and climb up the mountain, where you find an observation station and three story pagoda, brought all the way from Kyoto.

You have quite a few guides there (volunteering ones, so their services don't cost anything), however they all speak just japanese, so foreigners should explore the park on their own.

After the park we went to planetarium. Well, it's actually a pretty big science museum with the planetarium as one of the facilities. We were surrounded by kids all the time, but we still enjoyed it. Planetarium was really nice, it was really different from planetariums i've seen as a child in Lithuania, so i was impressed. It was a pleasure to watch everything above our heads... It was not just stars and planets on the "screen", but a beautiful movie with all kind of beauties. I was totally tired and it got so quiet, chilly and dark, and the music was so nice, so i fell asleep and skipped 10 minutes. I was upset a little bit, but maybe next year i'm going to the same planetarium once more!

We also visited Natsuko's grandparents today. They are already old, but really kind people. Her grandfather is learning german, so i had to talk to him a little bit, but he grabbed his japanese all the time and, to be honest, i wasn't upset with that, since i had to improve my japanese skills as well. Natsuko's grandmother kept on giving me gifts and i started feeling i couldn't accept that much, but i was told, that giving gifts is almost her hobby, so i just accepted everything. She is a little bit similar to lithuanian old ladies, though, because they are also all so kind and like giving things. Sometimes i feel that lithuanian culture has so many similarities to japanese!!!

It was an overall quiet day, but i think i needed it, because i feel somehow tired. I'm wondering if i got a delayed jet-lag, but it wouldn't make much sense to get that after 5 days. I'm enjoying my vacation right now, because from the 28th day i'm gonna work until 25th of August, then have 5 more vacation days and work for another 3 weeks. I already know that i won't wanna leave Japan, just like the last time, so it's gonna be again painful to land in Germany and again, i'm gonna crave for Japan so badly and again i'm gonna dream about it in the night, but that's the way it is. Maybe one day i'll fly to Europe just for visiting and "go back home" will refer to going to Japan.