Last night, met a couple in their 50s from norway going on a world tour! They were from Grimstad and knew the current cycling world champions, who is also from the same town! Horimoto san joined in the chat later. Then, another Londoner guy came, in his 40s or 50s and he had just been wwoofing like me recently at a cafe and a farm. He shared his totally two extreme experiences. We all chat till 12am for 3 hours plus.
Went to the station this morning and realized the 752am train was from Oita station instead, where I need to transfer to another line. So I had to wait for the next one at 831am. Luckily it was only an hour ride from Oita Eki and I wasn't late.
I waited for Yuhei san t
o pick me at Ogata eki. He was 50years old but looked young. After a 10min ride, we reached his place. Didn't know what to expect, I just followed him around to see if there was anything to help. He was packing up the room for me. And my first task was to clean the toilet!! Luckily it was just sweeping the floor. The toilet was not the norm u would imagine. Yuhei-san removed the cover to reveal a bin of shit and urine. He carried it and found a place to bury them. Washed the bin and the cover! Maybe next time I need to do it before I go.
After that we did some formalities and exchanged information. Yuhei-san has a wife, Aiko-san, eldest son, Gen-chan (15 years old), 2nd son Ryo-chan (12 years old) and a youngest daughter, Chika-san (10 years old). And a dog named Shiryus. She likes to jumped on you when you play with her. He has been to Tanzania, Africa for 4 years to share agriculture experience and research rice plantation. Not learn agriculture, as I understood wrongly initially. His farm was at Tokyo before he came here 12 years ago. His elder son is a long distance runner,
while the others played volleyball! Yuhei-san explained that the harvesting had just finished not long ago in October. He will not start sowing again until June. Seeding usually starts in May, and when it’s grown, they are planted on the field in June. Interestingly, the Amigo ducks he had (about 200 of them) were not for the eggs but used in the rice field to make the soil better!! He also has a goat for the same reason but he said the goat was so far not very obedient. He also plant different vegetables.
After lunch, I was assigned my first real task! To separate the good Kabosu (lemon like fruit) from the bad ones. The 3 baskets took me the rest of the day. Met a couple of worms and kept thinking about dinner after the 2nd basket. To sum up the day, Yuhei-san brought me to his vegetable farm to help out pulling wild grasses that are competing nutrition with his vegetables. He did one row, and I tried the other. I couldn’t catch up. He picked up some of the radish and off we went to feed the goat and the ducks. The radish for the goat and there were this one big pile of harvested rice remains. These were for the ducks.
Yuhei-san then drove a few bags of rice to sell them off. I dozed off and waited for dinner. Before that I met his wife and elder son. At 7pm, I met his obasan (grandmother) as well. She was 75 years old and drove for more than 100km from her house at Kumamoto alone to come here. I wonder why the elder here are so healthy. Dinner was great. Simple but great. A piece of soba fish and miso soup each and some vegetable, bean, and potato for sharing. I felt weird, sitting with the family, like a stranger sharing table in a restaurant. I blamed myself again for not doing my Japanese homework enough. I would probably be able to communicate with them more and don’t felt that odd. After dinner, Yuhei-san showed me how to use the shower. I quickly excused myself to get cleaned. Very Japanese, like those in onsen where you sit on a stool throughout the session. After shower, I bid the rest good night. Yuhei-san was very nice and worried that I would be cold. He brought me an extra blanket. Then, dig out an old heater, which he wasn’t quite satisfied. I said “it’s ok. Daijobu (ok) desu” but he insisted and climbed up and down to set up a heater table for me. It’s a small table where you can slot in your legs underneath where the heater is. He said, “takai desu” (expensive). After setting up, he repeated “takai desu”. I felt bad. Perhaps, I should had said “hontoni (really) daijobu desu”. He said good night and went back to his hut. I settled down my stuffs. The environment was so quite, I can hear my own breathing. Occasionally, the fridge would cough, and the dog complained but only very occasionally. Perfect mood for some Zee Avi’s music and the songs from “V for Vendetta”.
Went to the station this morning and realized the 752am train was from Oita station instead, where I need to transfer to another line. So I had to wait for the next one at 831am. Luckily it was only an hour ride from Oita Eki and I wasn't late.
I waited for Yuhei san t
o pick me at Ogata eki. He was 50years old but looked young. After a 10min ride, we reached his place. Didn't know what to expect, I just followed him around to see if there was anything to help. He was packing up the room for me. And my first task was to clean the toilet!! Luckily it was just sweeping the floor. The toilet was not the norm u would imagine. Yuhei-san removed the cover to reveal a bin of shit and urine. He carried it and found a place to bury them. Washed the bin and the cover! Maybe next time I need to do it before I go.After that we did some formalities and exchanged information. Yuhei-san has a wife, Aiko-san, eldest son, Gen-chan (15 years old), 2nd son Ryo-chan (12 years old) and a youngest daughter, Chika-san (10 years old). And a dog named Shiryus. She likes to jumped on you when you play with her. He has been to Tanzania, Africa for 4 years to share agriculture experience and research rice plantation. Not learn agriculture, as I understood wrongly initially. His farm was at Tokyo before he came here 12 years ago. His elder son is a long distance runner,
while the others played volleyball! Yuhei-san explained that the harvesting had just finished not long ago in October. He will not start sowing again until June. Seeding usually starts in May, and when it’s grown, they are planted on the field in June. Interestingly, the Amigo ducks he had (about 200 of them) were not for the eggs but used in the rice field to make the soil better!! He also has a goat for the same reason but he said the goat was so far not very obedient. He also plant different vegetables.After lunch, I was assigned my first real task! To separate the good Kabosu (lemon like fruit) from the bad ones. The 3 baskets took me the rest of the day. Met a couple of worms and kept thinking about dinner after the 2nd basket. To sum up the day, Yuhei-san brought me to his vegetable farm to help out pulling wild grasses that are competing nutrition with his vegetables. He did one row, and I tried the other. I couldn’t catch up. He picked up some of the radish and off we went to feed the goat and the ducks. The radish for the goat and there were this one big pile of harvested rice remains. These were for the ducks.
Yuhei-san then drove a few bags of rice to sell them off. I dozed off and waited for dinner. Before that I met his wife and elder son. At 7pm, I met his obasan (grandmother) as well. She was 75 years old and drove for more than 100km from her house at Kumamoto alone to come here. I wonder why the elder here are so healthy. Dinner was great. Simple but great. A piece of soba fish and miso soup each and some vegetable, bean, and potato for sharing. I felt weird, sitting with the family, like a stranger sharing table in a restaurant. I blamed myself again for not doing my Japanese homework enough. I would probably be able to communicate with them more and don’t felt that odd. After dinner, Yuhei-san showed me how to use the shower. I quickly excused myself to get cleaned. Very Japanese, like those in onsen where you sit on a stool throughout the session. After shower, I bid the rest good night. Yuhei-san was very nice and worried that I would be cold. He brought me an extra blanket. Then, dig out an old heater, which he wasn’t quite satisfied. I said “it’s ok. Daijobu (ok) desu” but he insisted and climbed up and down to set up a heater table for me. It’s a small table where you can slot in your legs underneath where the heater is. He said, “takai desu” (expensive). After setting up, he repeated “takai desu”. I felt bad. Perhaps, I should had said “hontoni (really) daijobu desu”. He said good night and went back to his hut. I settled down my stuffs. The environment was so quite, I can hear my own breathing. Occasionally, the fridge would cough, and the dog complained but only very occasionally. Perfect mood for some Zee Avi’s music and the songs from “V for Vendetta”.
I think I should start reading from here because I have been reading it backwards... Sounds like a great day to start a farm day! Well done, koh.xx
ReplyDeletep/s: Home is in Kuala Lumpur. Not Singapore ne. :P