Tuesday 24 April 2007

Eco tour guiding, massage-by-foot, and croquettes - Tue 24 Apr

There was no yoga at 6am, because it's Tuesday (I haven't quite worked out the system here yet..) so I got to sleep in for a 7am start on the eco tour with three guests. Being our third tour, Usui san has begun to ask us to do some of the explaining of various features of the farm's approach instead of himself. This meant that, as Usui san usually asks the guests a sharp-edged question about each feature, the guests got an easier go of things today.

I was asked to explain the significance of the tempura-engine-oil car to the guests on the tour. It came out something like, "Please look here. This is a very special car. There is tempura oil inside. It is much better than other cars." :D Not quite the elegant expression Usui san uses.

Later, explaining permaculture and the relevance of spiral rock gardens went something like, "Permaculture means a permanent culture. Please look at this area. There is a low spot. Water and leaves gather. You pick up the gathered things and put them here, and higher areas are made. This is a spiral rock garden. Over to you, Usui san."

I took a picture today of the device that Usui san referred to yesterday on the eco tour as a "chicken tractor" - without turning the soil or weeding, the chickens loosen the ground and remove all weeds. In the background, you can see Usui san's hand-made palaces - the pension (left), the shop (the little dark-roofed building, and the restaurant (a flowering cherry tree in front starting to drop its blossoms, left of the white-faced tall building that is the next-door neighbour's).


After brekky, a new dad joke was coined - the Japanese word for cloth, i.e. for wiping tables, is 'fukin', so I've taken to asking Nobi, who has spent some years in English speaking countries, "Where's the fucken fukin?" Too easy.

I was earmarked for more high-thing-wiping this morning.

Yoga was taught after all, at 10:30am, by Usui san's wife Tomoko san. Yoga opened with some Shanti Shanti singalong, but it was too much for me to expect to keep up with and maintain any serenity, so I just observed that bit. It was hoping for something from Madonna's Shanti song to come along, but it didn't. The body of the class was identical to the 6am one, taught by Kimi, but a little slower paced. The class concluded with nostril-blocking breath control, left then right, right then left, like I've done a few times in classes back home.

After the yoga finished, we paired up and were taken step by step through massaging a partner using our feet, called Rakkenhou. It was great, a very different kind of massage. We only got to legs and arms due to the limited time - I'd love to have a step-on back massage!

Afterwards, work. I cleaned out an extremely dusty food storage cupboard with Yama chan, while broadcasting a bit of gyspy strings from my Pocket PC to get us in the russian cleaning woman mood. We then cleaned the people mover, as always using only water, a cloth and elbow juice. No cleaning products here at all, except for getting oil off your hands in the kitchen, and some liquid body soap and shampoo in the bathroom. Hot water and a cloth washes dishes, the floor, windows, I believe the toilet (still haven't landed that to date), pretty much anything.

There was a bloody big bee-like insect (possibly because it was a bee, who knows), which was of interest. What do you know, a day of cleaning feels a little less spectacularly full of news when you've been hopping towns for four weeks.


After lunch, I got started on some of my backlog of postcards bought on earlier travels. If you haven't got a postcard from me yet and want one, leave a comment with your name and postal address and I'll see what I can do!

I helped make mashed potato and boiled vegie croquette patties tonight for dinner. The masher was not of the modern kind. It looked like a weapon. The croquettes turned out delicious! I'm hoping to grab some more recipes from Mami san, for the croquettes and tonight's side dishes again, before bed.


I'm off for a bath. It's only 9:30, but I'm ready for bed :P Strangely enough, without wearing antiperspirant while I'm here, and all this vegan food, my armpits have stopped smelling like B.O. and started smelling distinctly of a nice curry. Please explain? I found it very hard to believe myself.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all of the funny comments! Not sure about the arm pits thing??! Why no deo?

Anonymous said...

The no antiperspirant is part forgetfulness, part laziness.

I have to remember to take each piece of toiletry from the restaurant building, where we sleep, across to the pension, where the bathroom is.

Also, I got used to having forgotten, and seeing as no-one in particular will be sniffing me, and I'm not on a packed train with my armpit in someone's face, I can afford to be lazy, and let my skin get by without the smothering for a little while!

turkiyaki said...

You do wield good stick, sir. It'd hold good position in your current collection, I reckon :)