Who in the world would have thought that when I said "I don't know when I'll get to be able to post," I really meant it? Here I am, with only three more weeks on the farm left (and two weeks of traveling), sitting in a delightful internet cafe an hour away from home, having come with my even more delightful host-slash-host-mom to the "big city" for her doctor appointment. I have no idea where to begin, where to start describing the incredible time i've been having, but i'll try--in pictures!
Welcome to Beautiful Japan
Denver-San Francisco-Osaka-Tokushima-Ikeda! I MADE IT!
I don't think we have mountains like this in the States

The entrance to the Goat House
My milking suit!
The view from outside my door
Kimono-wearing for a party we went to about a month ago
The inside of the restaurant where I work!
The pizza house/bakery where we sell the sweets and breads

"Some-chan's Cheesecake" (Some-chan is the name of the first goat they got)
Hana-chan (white) and Sumi-chan (all black, who I named) as puppies! They've both gotten so much bigger!!
Taking babygoat to the festival we had at the restaurant
Me and Sumi-chan!!!
Me and Ushi-san, my goat boyfriend. Oh my god, I loved him so much--we were just keeping him for a friend and I almost cried when we had to take him back. He was SO cute and nice and good-smelling.
"I love you, Mr. Ushi!"
Day Trip to Iya Valley!
The day we brought Ushi-san back to his owner, we also went to the famous Iya Valley in the middle of Tokushima prefecture. The most famous tourist attraction is a vine bridge (Kazura Bashi) that was first built by the fleeing Heike clan after being defeated by the Genji clan some hundreds of years ago. The bridge isn't that old--it's actually cut down and re-built every two years, to preserve the art of vine-bridge making--but it's pretty cool. There IS something I'd like to point out, though. Every person who's ever been to Shikoku and crossed this talks about how lame it is, and how blahblah Japanese people are dumb and it's not scary and just dumb Macho Gaijin stuff. Now, the five dollar charge to cross is a little steep, but holy crap, it was one of the most freaked-out i've ever been in my life--not only was it somewhat high up, but the planks were built freakishly far apart, making every step mind-jabberingly scary.

"I love my life, this is so cool, hey let's cross this bridge guyz!"
Ten steps later...
"I do not feel good about this anymore."
Picnic lunch on the side of the road! Dutch Will, Mieko-san (my host), Malaysian Bibi

A famous Iya sight
Alex Kerr's Chiiori!!!
The mountains seen from the top of Konpira Mountain in Kagawa prefecture. Delete the city and don't the mountains look so mystical? Like a scene from "The Land Before Time" or something.
My first "ema" (prayer board) written in Japanese! Just guess who it's about?
Taken from a mountain around the restaurant. The mountains go on forever--it's unreal.
The Sumi-chan Rescue Adventure!
About two weeks ago, Hiroko (a Japanese WWOOFer who's been at the place as long as I have, and will stay on til Christmas) and I were folding laundry in one of the empty bedrooms when we started hearing a terrible whimpering sound coming from below the house. It was an awful, devastated kind of cry--immediately we started looking for Sumi-chan, the puppy, and when she didn't come when we called we realized it was her voice. We searched for holes and openings all around the house but couldn't find anything, and so we went to Mieko for help. She was cooking dinner and talking to Mr. Hama, a friend of Sensei's, who was staying for dinner, and when we told her about the cries she seemed very unconcerned. Hiroko and I were freaking out but Mieko kept saying she knew what to do, so we all sat down to dinner (very uncomfortably, as the howls and cries reached the kitchen easily). After about ten minutes, Mr. Hama put down his chopsticks, and Mieko and his eyes met. They got up and we followed. What we learned was that in all very old Japanese houses, there's a very large, deep hole built under the middle of the house for the special storage of sweet potatoes. Sumi-chan had crept under the house and fallen into the house, and as it's about *seven feet deep*, she was trapped and unable to get out. This had apparently happened to both of the other dogs who live at the house, and Mieko knew exactly what to do.
Lifting up the tatami mats...
The descent...
The rescue...(please note the look of utter shame on Sumi-chan's face)

Hama-san's head...
I would also like to note that before we found the entrance to the hole in the wooden floor, I was walking around one of the thin areas of the floor and *fell through waist-deep*. If there hadn't been a plank in the way I would have fallen through the entire way. Needless to say, there is a Lucy-size hole in the wooden floor of the Ueda house, and it had to be one of THEE most hilarious things that has ever happened to me. Mieko literally cried, she was laughing so hard.

The ever-changing family! Mieko, Ayako from Kyushu (who only was able to work for three days), Sensei, and Hiroko
"Iya Heike Clan Festival"


Samurai = coolest thing, ever
More goats!
Sanchou-san, the scary male goat who was staying on the farm since it's mating season. He's gone now and good riddance--he was veerrryyy smelly, and goat mating isn't really very nice to see.
Urara and Sumi-chan getting a drink of milk
I haef a frog hat.
Possibly the most delicious meal ever--rice, hand-rolled soba that you boiled yourself, radish and carrot pickle salad, and turnip pickles.
Waiting for ice cream after work. So happy!

Grilling eel!

Mmmm.

Selling bread and mochi (rice cakes) at a neighborhood temple festival

Shingon Buddhism is where it's at in temple finery
The ascent up the mountain
The milking tank!
Who's next?

"I HAVE STOLEN AN EGG FROM YOU!" Ducks are very loud and smellier than goats.
Giving...

...and receiving.

The house, as seen from the Goat Shed

Beautiful Sumi-chan!

Carsten from Germany
Goat milk ice cream!!!
it's delicious!
I wish I could post more--I have so much to say and have had some many revelations about Japan, my career, and my future goals, but Mieko has just phoned me and she'll be her in ten minutes, so I'll need to wait! I'll be able to post a non-picture blog easily from the computer at home, so stay tuned! I'm having an amazing time, and can't wait to tell everyone all about it.
Thanks so much for reading!
-Rushi
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