The Gokiburi are back

[from Serenity]

I remember the first time I heard Will scream. We were staying in a cozy little guesthouse in the town of Tamarindo, Costa Rica. We were on our honeymoon, and had been taking turns getting ill for the last few days.

As I lay in bed, staring at the large wooden flying frog dangling from one corner of the room, I heard Will shout out a few uncertain, albeit uncomfortable screams from the shower. He was being joined in the small rock-wall shower by more than one almost palm-sized cockroach.


When we moved here to our lovely apartment in a rice paddy town in Japan, we had new suprises awaiting us, mostly in the kitchen. That was August.

Now it's March, and I heard Will let out a trembling "eeeeww!!!!!" the other day from the kitchen.

Oh, the cockroaches are coming back.

Video is here! - snow day.

Here is our first posted video, taken on the snow day we had a few weeks ago! The videos are based from YouTube.com, and you can either play them right from the blog by hitting the play button on the bottom left corner, or you can click anywhere in the picture and go to the YouTube site to watch the video at a slightly bigger size.

Also, check out the link to all our YouTube videos under "Links" in the sidebar to your right.

Snow in Tachiarai-machi

Somehow, the same place that was unbearably hot and humid in August...
looks like this on Groundhog Day.

This is the view from our porch looking across the street.

Here's Serenity heading off to work. I felt slightly guilty, so...

I headed out on my bike to get photos of one of the bigger local shrines.

The shrines here are kind of like parks. There was actually a swingset just to the left. This is a Shinto shrine, and while it's a bit bigger than most in Tachiarai, there are little shrines everywhere.

The deal is you go up to the steps, ring the bell by yanking on the rope, clap once, keep your hands together, bow and pray. No one here today...I wonder why. It was freezing.

Then I headed over to the river behind our house.

The skies were starting to clear, but as I write this it's dark and starting to snow again.

From our front door.

Why couldn't we be working in Okinawa?

Tachiarai Shogakko Mochi Festival

We made a quick trip to Tachiarai Elementary School today, and caught the last of their Mochi Festival. Will got a taste of the swarming children I am graced with every Friday, and we both tried our hands at pounding the rice and water mixture...

Here we are!

Pretty fun stuff! The mochi was good - chewy, but tasty.

The Other Side of the Valley

We headed out on our bikes again to explore the surrounding valley yesterday, and decided to ride to the "other hills". Yes, the ones on the other side of our valley!

Luckily, the sun shone for most of the day, and the weather was just perfect for bike riding. The first picture we came across was the sun beaming down onto some greenhouses, as we neared our mountainous goal.


We also came across this old canoe in a small tributary of the Chikugo River. We thought it looked particularly Asian.


We crossed this pedestrian bridge, over the Chikugo River.


And when we arrived in a tiny little neighborhood at the base of the lovely mountains, we came across lost of pomegranite orchards!


Hey, those rock walls look a little familiar! This orchard was set among rows and rows of rock walls going up a hillside. It was really a wonderful spot.


I think...

Someone had been working there that day.


We also came across some beehives near the orchard, set against the fall colors.


And a stalk of bamboo caught our eye.


Yes, the leaves are changing.


And they're particularly interesting with small shrines amid the leaves!


We also came upon more Sego Palms -- they grow so easily here!

And so, our bike ride to the mountains made a great Saturday outing, once again.

Akiyoshi in Style

We have purchased our first couch!
Yes, the new Morat/Clerk family member is a wonderfully red sofa! It's love-seat size, which is just right. We even threw in matching pillows and curtains! What a difference it can make on our evenings, our Sunday afternoons....



Here it is in the widest view we could get with the camera. Along with putting up the inner doors between the two tatami rooms, and the green walls, it's looking pretty cool in our place. We even discovered, with the help of our Japanese friends, that the table has an electric heater underneath its top! We just need an electrical cord ... who knows what that will take.

And so, life is moving along just fine. Our first Japanese autumn is just beautiful. The air is crisp, and there's this perfect combination of warm sun and cool breeze, EVERYday! --- I never want it to end! What's so great is that the season is quite long this year. The leaves haven't really begun to change around here, but they should be anytime now.

As for me, school is getting more interesting. I had quite a lull there for awhile, but I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable, and so am also able to approach the teachers easier, and am starting to try and gauge what sorts of activities might work, and what sorts might not. I haven't started going to any club activities after school with the kids... mostly out of selfishness for wanting all my after-work time to myself! One of these days, though... one of these days. I'll show up at a Kendo class, or Judo class, or even tennis or volleyball, and try and go once or twice a week. But until then, I have a lovely couch to come home to!

Will and I went out to dinner with two of my teachers last weekend and had a nice time - they showed us around a small town nearby, with some antique shops that had all kinds of things we'd never see in the States. Old dolls, kimonos, tea sets, books... and lots of stuff that I have no idea what they were. Then we all went out to a Shabu-shabu restaurant, and what a treat!

Shabu-shabu is this:
A large pot in the middle of the table, over an internal gas burner, filled with a light dashi-stock (a few pieces of seaweed and maybe some bonito flake stock).
A large plate of fresh cabbage, carrots, greens, rice patties (can't remember their name), and tofu.
Also, a large plate of extremely thin slices of raw pork.
We each make a little sauce in our dishes -- soy sauce and vinegar, or a sesame-based sauce, with sliced green onions and a spicy red paste. Then, the shabu-shabu begins. With our chopsticks, we dip a piece of raw pork into the now-boiling water, and after a few seconds it turns white. Then we dip it in our sauce, and then into our mouths, and there you have it! A delicious, mouth-watering meal! We also dip the veggies, or sometimes just put a bunch of them into the water at once. Soooooooo good. My mouth is watering just writing about it!

And, this weekend, we had our friends over -- a woman from my Eikaiwa and her husband -- and we had a blast. Plenty of beer and shochu, with big salads with blue cheese (I found it!) and avocado, then a veggie stir fry I made... and lots of laughs and a great time. :) Oh. Shochu is a (around here, anyway), sweet-potato based light liquor. Similar to taste with whiskey, but much easier to drink. Too easy sometimes. Drunk hot or cold, we had ours in a small teapot over a fondue stove in the living room, thanks to our guests!

Oh yeah, and I got a haircut -- found a nice guy in Fukuoka who speaks lots of English, and was fun to go to.... on a particularly decent hair day just shortly after, I handed Will the camera just for you blog-readers!

Love to you all!!

-Serenity

October in Tachiarai

It's October in Tachiarai (and the rest of the world, of course), and the rice fields are no longer bright green. The weather is wonderful -- a cool breeze with sunshine most days, and clouds in the afternoons. In the mornings, we usually see someone out in their field, harvesting the rice, mostly by small tractor, but there's always others in the field, picking up... really I don't know what all goes into it. Anyway, here's a photo of the rice, as of today.

And here is where we catch the train into the world outside Tachiarai. Some autumn flowers made for a pleasant wait, for about a week.

Amagi City on a Sunday afternoon

We hopped on the bikes last weekend and rode out towards Amagi City, and decided to head up one of the valleys to see what was there. On the way, we stopped to eat our PB&J sandwiches and bananas on a small bridge. It was a beautiful day! We actually arrived, as Serenity continued to say the neverending chant "just a little further....", at a quaint town, Akizuki, where there were castle ruins, a tree-lined walkway with lots of little shops, and a creek running through the town. We were tired and sweaty when we got there, and had failed to bring any money at all, so we have vowed to return to the place when the leaves are really changing, and make a day of it. We promise to take photos that time. But, here are two we took on our bike-ride day...

Serenity and banana on bridge.


The creek flowing through Akizuki. And a good ol' palm tree. Reminds us of home. :)

Eikaiwa night out!

Here is a photo of Serenity in her Eikaiwa girls (before Will arrived) at an Izakaya in Kurume -- fun time!

Morning Quake

Well, we felt our first Japanese earthquake this morning! It measured 5.2 on the Richter scale, and its epicenter was somewhere about 70 meters below the ocean floor in the sea between Kyushu and Shikoku. It woke Will up this morning, and I shook on the computer stool as I checked my email. (Here's a link to the quick story.) Cool!!! :)

~Serenity

Serenity-sensei

The vice principal at the junior high school took some photos of Serenity last week as she introduced herself to two 8th grade classes!


Here she is trying to draw Japan on the blackboard. They always laugh.


Come on kids! RAISE YOUR HANDS!!


Poor kid. He murmered something in English, and the American came over to try and hear what he said. (They're so quiet!!!)

So there you have some photos of Serenity-sensei.

Typhoon Fun!

Hey. How cool is this? I know, I know. It's just our names. But when the lights went out during the last typhoon (Typhoon Ju-San (13)), the flashlights and my camera were all we had to entertain ourselves! (After a few rounds of tile rummy).

Pretty good, huh? Come on. EIGHT letters! And a CROSSED T!

Around our town...

It takes about 30 minutes to leisurely ride our bikes to the nearest hills/mountains - a town called Amagi. There is a nice park at the base of the hills.

The creativity of the park designers...nothing like a jungle gym with dragons.

This is looking down on the park and pond from a picnic area up on the first hill.

Here you can see the picnic area from a look-out on the top of the hill...this is facing north towards the mountains and forest...not much for towns back here...lots of thick forest.

Here's a trail to the top of one of the mountains...very thick and beautiful semi-tropical jungle.

After hiking about 2 km to the top of the 1,200 foot mountain, Will wrung his t-shirt out on the deck. I kid you not...this puddle is sweat just from my t-shirt...it's damn humid.

Here's a view looking southwest from the 1,200 ft mountain...this is the valley we live in.


And the valley looking northwest.

Beautiful butterflies are all over this area...not just in the mountains, but near our home also.

And...the huge purple earthworm thing. It was longer until I touched it, and like earthworms do, shortened himself and started wriggling around.
I've never seen an earthworm even close to this big. Bright purple and as thick as my finger...
we thought it was a snake at first.

Here's Serenity walking up the mountain. Very beautiful forest...and this day it was much cooler..perfect for hiking.

Here's me, same trail.


And here are some leftover pics from Fukuoka City...

Serenity went shopping one day and took this...this is the bay, probably the Sea of Japan out there.

This is a clock...and a fountain. There are rows of little fountains, and certain fountains spray more water than others so from across the street you can tell the time. It was, in fact, 1:03 p.m.!
(and yes, those are statues of little kids peeing in the fountain!)

This is the moat guarding an old castle (no longer really there) in Fukuoka. Covered in big lillies.)

It was raining that day, and the lillies would catch the drizzle. When enough gathered, the lilly leaf would tilt and the water would drain off. Sometimes it would drain from one leaf onto another, onto another, etc...causing a chain reaction. Very cool.

Another wonder Japanese sign...no need to be fluent. Just watch out for turtles that want to drown you in the moat.

Ruins of the old Fukuoka Castle...dated to 1600s.