こじゃんとおいしいき！

スイカ！

It’s HOT!! I think it’s about 32°C outside today. Fortunately my room has an AC (－V－)

I don’t like summer at all. In fact I hate it. But summer here is great! Festivals, firework, watermelon, Yosakoi, the green rice fields and the blue sky with fluffy white clouds (I forgot if we have fluffy white clouds in Holland…), the rivers and the sound of the insects! A lot of Japanese people can’t stand the sound of the cicadas because they’re really noisy, but I love it!

You can also hear the sound of the crows very often here (not only in summer), and it really sounds like they’re saying “ahou” all the time XD

So it’s now summer holidays. I actually have club activities every day, but took the day off today because I just got back from camping in Umajimura yesterday and also had Yosakoi practice in the evening (outside with a lot of mosquitos =\).

Camping was really fun! Umajimura is located in the mountains in the eastern part of Kochi prefecture and about a 2 hour car drive from Kochi-shi. Throughout the country Umajimura is famous for their Yuzu Gokkun! Yuzu gokkun is a drink made of yuzu, a Japanese fruit a little bit similar to lemon but smaller. In summer, and especially for Kochi people, it’s a must! And I agree because it’s sooo nice, refreshing and cheap! I love it how the texts on the Yuzu Gokkun bottle is in Tosa-ben which is really countryside.

So we went together with the family of my hostmom and the family of my hostmom’s sister in law, in total with 6 kids from 3 to 10 years old. We met at the supermarket where we did some food shopping. It’s funny how everyone reacts the same when they hear I’m an exchange student and how they don’t believe it at all. Hm.. maybe I should talk Japanese with a Dutch accent to they’ll believe it.

We went straight to the river (Umajigawa) when we arrived in Umajimura, set up the sunscreens/parasols. We swam a bit in the river and just chilling. It was sooo nice and relaxing. The river was COLD but nice because it was so hot that day. Although there was a heavy rainfall in the afternoon and became cold all of sudden. But fortunately it was only short. Mountain weather is always unpredictable and sudden rainfalls are very common.

It was so nice to just float on the river and look up at the blue sky with fluffy white clouds and being surrounded by mountains and the sounds of cicadas.

In the evening we went to our lodge which had a view over the river. Had a BBQ which was delicious of course. There was also this very delicious (and expensive!!) beef, the part with a lot of fat! Aaah it was the most delicious beef ever!!! (=v=) After the BBQ we did some fireworks. But only the small ones, like a stick that blasts out a lot of fire and sparks for a 1 minute.

And then it was onsen time! As always very relaxing. I always wondered btw why they even have the buckets while there’s a shower. There’s also a bucket here at home. The answer is, Japanese people love their old customs. Some people only use the bucket, some both shower and bucket or only shower. The older generation (that didn’t have a shower) grew up with it so they still like to keep their old customs. At home, it’s common to use the bucket to use the leftover water in the bath to rinse your body. And after that you take a shower of course, because the bath water isn’t that clean :P But it’s a good thing, because you won’t waste the bath water. Japanese people hate wasting stuff.

I love it how Japan is a very high tech and modern country, but at the same time still keep their old traditions and customs dear.

After the onsen I shared the Dutch snacks I brought with everyone. Oh right, I received these snacks from home in a box, but the Japanese customs opened it, and they just opened one of the chips bags that was in it!! They closed it with a tape that says that this product was opened by the Japanese customs office blabla… I bet they’ve been snacking from it! ><

I slept together with two of the kids in one room on a futon. All the kids were so cute and fun!! I already knew 3 of them. And like the two girls of 7-8 years old got a liking to me, even though I couldn’t properly talk to them. And the 9 years old boy, my hostmom’s nephew, would just talk and talk to me even though I didn’t understand most of the things he said and only answered with　あーそうか、すごい！and such.

I woke up the next morning by the sound from the town’s announcement speakers that was playing Greensleeves. It was like 6 o’clock or something and I hear Greensleeves,  so random. In Japan, all the small towns and villages have their announcement speakers for announcing time or important news.

Had breakfast, packed up everything and then rode a train. Well, not a real train. It was like an amusement park attraction for kids and like really slow. It only made 2 rounds for about 10 minutes, but it was in the mountains and you could see water streaming downhill to the river.

Also rode the “Incline” which was like a cable car but not on a cable but a railway going straight upward to the top of the mountain. This incline though doesn’t work on electricity but gravity. To get the car to the summit, a tank at the summit of the mountain, connected to the car, will be filled with water so it’ll become heavy and slowly moves down and at the same time pulls the car up. And to get the car back down, the tank with water will be emptied and the car’s tank will be filled with water. It’s a very impressive and smart way because it doesn’t use electricity at all. Very eco. Or echo, which was written on the car :P The view at the summit was AMAZING!!!

We also went to the river again, and did suikawari (watermelon smashing). If you don’t know it, suikawari is a MUST activity in the summer (at least I think should do it) and is kind of like piñata, person gets blindfolded and needs to hit the watermelon with a stick. Unfortunately I didn’t hit the watermelon at all xD

In the afternoon we went to the Yuzu Gokkun factory, which is the only factory in the whole country! The Yuzu Gokkun factory is open and free to everyone and you can see how they make the stuff there. Unfortunately that day the visitors road through the factory was under construction so we couldn’t see it. But we got free Yuzu Gokkun! Visitors will always get one free bottle. Yummm… Their toilet btw was really awesome. When you wash your hands there are 4 steps you need to follow: 1 Use soap. 2 Rinse. 3 Dry. 4 Disinfect. Every step had a sticker with a number on it. BUT if you forget to complete step 4, Disinfect, the door won’t open! Oh and it was all automatic, no buttons or something. Water sensor, soap sensor, disinfect sensor, dry sensor.

Bought some souvenirs and that’s about it.

A lot of other stuff happened lately. Went to THE udon prefecture, visited the biggest Konpira-san in Japan, had a YFU cycling trip with the other Shikoku exchange students, went to Wanukesama matsuri, have been exploring Kochi a lot, had the 2-day class match at school and so much more. But I’ll tell that in another post because I’m going out for a stroll right now ^^

Oh and to everyone who’s sending me letters and e-mails, thanks a lot!! :D They always make me happy (not that I’m never happy or something…). It won’t be immediatly but I’ll reply them!! ;)