Soup fog, 3 hours of dishes, and a new roomy - Sun 29 Apr

No yoga this morning - there was the understanding that if there were lots of guests and no room for us, the plebs would be sent off - better not to get out of bed!

It was a cold and soup-foggy morning.


The troupe of 20 guests were out for the morning eco tour. Just as the tour was concluding, the fog rapidly lifted.


It turned into a warm and beautiful day, the best weather since I arrived in Nagano.

I vacuumed, and picked leaf shoots from a tree that were turned into tempura tonight.

I delivered about 20 pizzas at the restaurant, which was fun. In between pizzas, I watched Mami san's base-making technique, practising on my leg. Hopefully I'll get a chance to make one for workers' grub before I go.

During the break, I went out with Ai for a walk to the post box, and posted some post cards. I was feeling like I hadn't made enough of an effort to get outside and explore a bit.

We walked by this unusual scene on the way.


We walked back via a different route, and came across a gallery. Entry was 800 yen, including a cuppa. The art felt a bit more like an unaffordable lighting and furniture store, with some nice decorating art thrown in in a couple of places.


I learned the Japanese phrase, "There's one too many zeros." There was a broad green view from the cafe out to the mountains. The coffee I had was dreadful, but at least the presentation was interesting.


It was a lovely walk on a beautiful day. We traipsed through this scenic little bit of woods on our way back.


I met Yumi tonight, who I'm now sharing my room with. Tall, a deep voice and very capable, she reminds me a little of Sam Bell from Deloitte. I've had to do some tidying to make room amid my greedy mess.

There was a special guest speaker tonight from India, complete with translator, so the pension is packed and dinner at the restaurant was consequently interestingly hectic. I had an opportunity to work on my fast-forward dish drying skills for three hours. I'm now very, very efficient - a skill I can use always.

One of the dishes for the workers' dinner tonight was Pork Kimchee. Got the recipe for that one too, it was deee-licious!

Saki san went to buy alcohol for us to have a little party from 10, but the gathering in the restaurant would not disperse. They were still at it till 11:30, including an acapella Ave Maria, by which time our party mood had evaporated. We're now hoping for tomorrow night instead.