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On Friday I caught a train down south to where the JETs in my prefecture gather for an annual "camping" trip. That's in quotes because we rent out fully-furnished, air-conditioned cabins complete with upstairs tatami rooms bigger than mine. Seriously, if I could trade my apartment for one of those babies, I'd do it in a second.
According to some of the second-year peeps, the rainy season was in full swing last year so it was damp and miserable for the whole time. Not so this year! Friday evening was rain-free and the sun was out aaaaall day Saturday, which made it perfect weather for jumping into a freezing mountain river and drying off on the ginormous rocks:
As my cabin was the nerd cabin, we proceeded to watch "The Fifth Element," get pleasantly drunk, and play a couple inebriated rounds of Munchkin, the tabletop-roleplaying card game where the object is to bribe, swindle, and back-stab your way to level 10. I kind of really want to get the Cthonic version of Munchkin. Maybe a Halloween present to myself? We'll see.
Anyway, most of the good pictures are on other peoples' cameras, so I am still waiting to receive them via the webbernets. The best pictures, of course, are all in my brainspace. It was a lovely super-fantastic weekend with awesome people and scenery that could take your breath away. I feel ready to take on the rest of summer in western Japan - it's going to be sticky, and insect-y, and moldy & gross and generally will do all it can to suck the will to live from me, but I will have the wisdom of Dori to keep me afloat.
I want to know how to make these.
Please get me lost in one of your wee-tiny fishing villages and land me at the home of an obaachan who knows how to weave rice stalks and cloth in this fashion.
Love, Nikki
...AJ and I got to visit the town day-care center today. 4- and 5-year-olds were quite literally screaming for our attention, as they would most likely explode if they couldn't get to tell us their favorite colors & ice cream flavors. After we did a silly dance with them and gave them all high-fives on their way out of the assembly room, the head caregivers brought us to their office for tea and sweets while handfuls of children intermittently escaped from their group rooms to peek at us through the doorway c: We both got a pair of these sandals, which are what reg'lar Japanese folk used to wear way back in the day.
Not quite a photo-dump, but some odds & ends.
I had some heavy cream in the fridge that was gonna expire in a few days, 
so I decided to make some veggie korma couple nights ago. Got everything chopped up, sorted out, had the onions & garlic frying in the skillet, and then I reached for the tomato sauce. Which was totally NOT there. Too late to go to the store, and too late to stop cooking even had it still been open. Sooooo I tossed in a splash of water to disperse the curry powder and the last of my garam masala, and this is what I ended up with. Actually, I think I might prefer this to the version with cream. The snap peas and bell peppers and cashews made for a really pleasing mix of flavors c: It's nice when unexpected set-backs turn into delicious discoveries.
This town takes the usual counter-measures against pigeons and their ungodly mess (and as usual, they fail spectacularly). And yet people here seem to be 
remarkably accommodating towards the swallows, who make just as much of a mess, at least on whatever is directly below their nests. There's a nest above the vent on the front outer wall of the konbini near school, and the store clerks went to the trouble of putting a box beneath it to catch all the droppings. Today I was heading to the school lunch office when I heard a lot of loud chirping very near the student entrance downstairs, and I caught sight of these little guys. Judging by their size, they're nearly ready to strike out on their own, but for now they still snuggle down together while momma's away.
Finally, my latest order from Kawachi came tonight. I...couldn't help myself. But I make no apologies. This sketchbook's paper is just as good as any more "traditional" book's, and I won't brook any intolerant slurs against it.
