October 18, 2004

• back from the Chiiori Project in the Iya Valley

  
  

  it was good.  so pretty!  the weather was possibly the nicest weather ever.  highly recommend that.  there were some other ppl there too.  another JET from Kochi who came by herself and a group of 4 Aussies.  a young couple and their moms or something.  if you are in this neck of the woods (read the entire island of shikoku) you should come.  its small and homey and off the beaten path.  they do different activities on different weekends.  HIKED up to the top of some mountain.  saw a ton of little grannies doing the hike too and putting me to definite shame.  went to the VINE BRIDGES.  so cool, they are really steel cables with vines on there to look cool, but it worked man!  and then went to an awesome ONSEN to soak the hike away.  the outdoor pool was perfect temperature where i didnt flee for my life.  mountain breeze + hot tub= totally SWEET.

  
  

  there was a dog whose name was jackie to which they add -kun or -chyan.   however, this comes out sounding like JACKIE CHAN so for a while i thought that was his name since we were talking in english when one of the employees, a brit, said this is jackie chan.  weird.  i didnt do much research, nick had sent me the link since its in my ken, but amy had been there before so she headed up the plan posse.  when we got there i didnt know if they would have running water or indoor plumbing but they had both and electicity too.  all those amenities are kind of new tho and the look of the hut would not lead you to expect as much.  there was no hot shower tho, but onsen took care of that. 

  
  

  LOST IN JAPAN by Alex Kerr: if you have read this book, there is a whole chapter about thatch roofing and the chiiori house and restoring it and stuff.  interesting.  i read that part while we were there.  there need to thatch the roof again but it takes so much thatch that you have to harvest for many years leading up to actually replacing the roof.  you can stay there with free room and board for harvest season for a month.  it would be really cool, but who can do that??  weird gypsies and post grad drifters?  anyway, the roof has moss, grass and little seedling growing out of it and its not a good idea to touch it because it will basically disintergrate.  the weekend was a little more than i would expect but we paid for two nights and we really only stayed for one whole day.  we got there late on friday leaving right after work and just going to bed without a dinner being supplied.  but since bfast and lunch and dinner the next day was all there, it was certainly worth it.  and theres no way we could have skipped the night and gotten there by 7 am on saturday.  leaving at 4am just wouldnt have put me in a hiking mood. 

  
  

  the british girl who works there, genevre (sp?), used to be a JET too and studies the koto so she gave us a concert.  cool!  and her japanese is nice, but shes kind of illiterate.  i wonder if this is more the way to go since kanji is such a pain.  but that would really be a sacrifice.  and i really like kanji for some weird masochistic reason.  and thats such a cool name.  genevre. 

  
  

  the JETs from the westernmost rural tokushima towns dropped by too by coincidence.  i totally would have called them if we hadnt left in such as rush on fri afternoon.  they came with a japanese guy who is the exBF of some other kochi JET.  then i had a WEIRD DREAM about that japanese guy.  i barely met him.  he had a shaved head, but in the dream he had weird jpop long hair and he made a teasing comment about girls making the mistake of cutting their hair short.  i think its really my mom's influence coming through my subconscious since she hates me with short hair, but i think it might be a sign to grow it.  ive been contemplating the salon lately.  deep man, groovy. anyway, he was kind of cute too and has moved from that valley area where he was LUMBERJACK!!  to the city where he does some office job.  he might be into amy tho.  shes blond and she lives in the city.  given dating a JET in the past, he probably has a fetish for blond white girls (she says as she rationalizes a guy not wanting to talk to her,...hmph your loss TAKU!)

  
  

  speaking of LUMBERJACKS: the thatched house where we stayed was on a little shelf overlooking the valley and there was a line of trees blocking the view.  on sunday morning, some old lumberjack dudes -all over 60 were cutting down those trees!  i got a little video of it.  im working on pictures, I SWEAR!!  i have a few more worth it now from that trip. 

  
  

  PUMPKIN TUNA SALAD: one of the things we did for food for the hike was make our own onigiri, which was fun.  but we also made pumpkin tuna salad.  WEIRD!  so basically tuna salad with pumpkin mixed in.  but it was good and i m going to try to make it at home since it uses the microwave to cook the pumpkin really easily.

  
  

  ACK! im itchy!  i got no bites out in the valley or hiking or sleeping with the doors to the hut open.  all we saw were spiders and moths.  but absurdly, waiting in the car for amy to run up and get some videos for me when i dropped her off last night, i was bitten by one cruel mosquito about 5 times in the worst spots.  the heel of my hand, my forearm, my neck, my elbow, the crook of my arm.  following the bites that just went away on the bottom of my foot and the back of my upper thigh (so it looks like im scratching my butt), thats some pretty sucky chance. 

  
  

  the girl from KOCHI via texas, Roshin, was totally cool.  i went to college with a high school friend of hers.  she knows GiGi 04.  COOL! small world.  and she came with us to see a little art exhibition before heading back the other way to Kochi.  we got a little lost, but the dude was telling us non-existent directions.  in fact he hurt our chance of finding the place.  he used weird ropes and things from another old house that he lives in now in the Iya Valley and made lamps out of them with japanese paper and other nature stuff.  pretty cool, useful, not too out there that you couldnt have it in your house. 

  
  

  DAVINCI CODE: im borrowing a copy from someone so i will not have to fake it at the little gathering we re having at the end of the month.  hope its good.  yay!

  
  

  THIS AFTERNOON: theres badminton practice, but theres english club too.  and i really should be going to that of all things.  but never fear, im going to english club for an hour then since badminton is crazy long, ill go to that for an hour.  my legs still hurt from hiking on saturday, and i had the class thats on the 5th floor today AIIIEEE!  but its all good, then i have to pick up the davinci code and hopefully manage to go to the theater to see ALIEN: the director's cut too.  wow.  i finally have a day with stuff!  and im not afraid to drive around anymore thanks to my trusty map!! 

  • 1:33 am
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