Adventures in Kutchan, Hokkaido, Pop. 15000
Hello guys, a brief update on what I've been doing since I left Kyoto on a ferry.
WWOOF: For the next 2 months, I'll basically be wwoofing which means that in exchange for room and board, I work on farms and the like. WWOOF actually stands for worldwide opportunities for organic farming or something like that. I'm actually at a guesthouse/restaurant/activity center right now. My duties have included vacuuming rooms, leaf-raking, veranda-building, gardening and harvesting wild vegetables. Probably not the most attractive sounding of jobs but it's kind of nice just to be outdoors and moving my body. I asked one of the guys I work with why he decided to move to Hokkaido (he used to work for an electricity company and was a maths graduate from some place in northen Honshu) and he said that he felt that living in a city, one's senses get dulled and that was frightening. I also get to see things like this:
So some interesting experiences:
I took that photo while snowboarding on an afternoon off. On that trip, I decided to take the lift up to the advance slope because it was shrouded in clouds and I wanted to be up among them. That turned out to be a rather bad idea because the slope was way to steep and bumpy (the bumps were at least a meter high) but hey, it was an experience haha.
This one is for the law balls. Did you know (Zhenghan voice) that in Japan, if you find something, you're legally entitled to a cut of it even if you pass it to the police and if the owner isn't found, they give you the whole thing? On my off day, I was cycling around and was near the railway tracks when I spotted this really old wallet. So I thought I would check it for money. I found 21000 yen (like 300 sing) but also a whole bunch of credit cards and IDs so I felt bad taking it and decided to pass the wallet to the police. And that was how I found out (good Japanese practice too).
Chiong sua: I went a-picking mountain vegetables and we were looking for the shoots of some spniy tree. The only problem was that the trees are located in the hills so I ended up having to bash and climb up Mt Biang-like slopes. And then I must have waded through too much pollen and not applied enough repellant because I was swarmed by bees and other insects after a while. Luckily the bites were minimal and I made it out alive. I regret to say that I didn't managed to pick a lot of veggies compared to the people I was with.
Sake find: I went to a sake brewery and discovered 活性酒 which basically means live sake. This sake actually bubbles like champagne so here I am, typing this post while enjoying a glass of it.
Last of all, I have a newfound respect for all the immigrant workers of the world. I'm terrible at taking instructions in Japanese. I can talk about politics and religion in Japanese but I haven't a clue what set the table or rake the field in Japanese is. So the next time someone has trouble with your orders, give them a break please.
Until the next time, take care.
WWOOF: For the next 2 months, I'll basically be wwoofing which means that in exchange for room and board, I work on farms and the like. WWOOF actually stands for worldwide opportunities for organic farming or something like that. I'm actually at a guesthouse/restaurant/activity center right now. My duties have included vacuuming rooms, leaf-raking, veranda-building, gardening and harvesting wild vegetables. Probably not the most attractive sounding of jobs but it's kind of nice just to be outdoors and moving my body. I asked one of the guys I work with why he decided to move to Hokkaido (he used to work for an electricity company and was a maths graduate from some place in northen Honshu) and he said that he felt that living in a city, one's senses get dulled and that was frightening. I also get to see things like this:
So some interesting experiences:
I took that photo while snowboarding on an afternoon off. On that trip, I decided to take the lift up to the advance slope because it was shrouded in clouds and I wanted to be up among them. That turned out to be a rather bad idea because the slope was way to steep and bumpy (the bumps were at least a meter high) but hey, it was an experience haha.
This one is for the law balls. Did you know (Zhenghan voice) that in Japan, if you find something, you're legally entitled to a cut of it even if you pass it to the police and if the owner isn't found, they give you the whole thing? On my off day, I was cycling around and was near the railway tracks when I spotted this really old wallet. So I thought I would check it for money. I found 21000 yen (like 300 sing) but also a whole bunch of credit cards and IDs so I felt bad taking it and decided to pass the wallet to the police. And that was how I found out (good Japanese practice too).
Chiong sua: I went a-picking mountain vegetables and we were looking for the shoots of some spniy tree. The only problem was that the trees are located in the hills so I ended up having to bash and climb up Mt Biang-like slopes. And then I must have waded through too much pollen and not applied enough repellant because I was swarmed by bees and other insects after a while. Luckily the bites were minimal and I made it out alive. I regret to say that I didn't managed to pick a lot of veggies compared to the people I was with.
Sake find: I went to a sake brewery and discovered 活性酒 which basically means live sake. This sake actually bubbles like champagne so here I am, typing this post while enjoying a glass of it.
Last of all, I have a newfound respect for all the immigrant workers of the world. I'm terrible at taking instructions in Japanese. I can talk about politics and religion in Japanese but I haven't a clue what set the table or rake the field in Japanese is. So the next time someone has trouble with your orders, give them a break please.
Until the next time, take care.
posted by OOP @ 3:48 PM
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