Twenty One

Yesterday I celebrated my annual recognition as a creature of this earth. I met my host family who I will be spending the next 3 weeks with, volunteering at a soccer camp and helping around their home in Nagoya (6 hrs from Tokyo by bus).  I got to the station nearest to them at around 7am the Dad picked me up in an electric blue van. ELECTRIC BLUE IS MY FAVOURITE COLOUR. I was feeling a mix of overwhelming excitement, tired and still being a bit backed up...(if you know what I mean...) So I was literally worried I’d explode.

Any nerves I felt were gone by the time we got to the house and I was introduced to their goat. He looked so happy and I was so happy and the home is so cute and rural and  I hadn’t slept much on the bus. It was my birthday. It was all so full of life. I managed fine keeping myself together.

They’re a young couple with 2 beautiful little girls and 3 dogs. Yoshi and Canna , kids and dogs names I’m still getting used to...We had breakfast and I met another “work away er” Yaree from Netherlands. It is the first work away experience for all of us! Which is really cool. I heard about work away from a friend I met in Bali. It is basically a site you subscribe to that connects travellers to volunteer experiences worldwide.

It is so nice to experience the suburban/country side of Japan. Tokyo is busy and fascinating but to be there for one month I think I would a bit much.  Nagoya is the 3^rd largest city in Japan and they live about 30 minutes by train to the city centre. It’s really refreshing here! We went for a walk with the dogs to a really big lake, the dogs played in the water, Yaree and Yoshi threw sticks for them to chase and I sat and played in the mud with the oldest of the two girls.

It’s interesting because she doesn’t speak any English. And the other girl is just a baby. They are so so so cute. I told her it is my birthday so she made a mud cake with candles and sang me happy birthday. I almost cried. It was the most precious moment of my life.

I’m helping with English as well as trying to learn a bit of Japanese. 2 things that are pretty well know are konnichiwa and sayonara. Hello and Goodbye.

I learned to introduce myself,

Hajimemashite “ha ji may ma she tay”- Nice to meet you

Watashi no namae wa Raisha, Kanada kara kimashita.- my name is Raisha I am from Canada!

Also important is (I’m not sure about spelling ) “E ta daki Mass”  which is a little grace said before meals.

Arigatou – thank you and I forget you’re welcome but “oshi” I use a lot it means delicious!

At the soccer club the kids are aged 6-13.  Most of them are better than me. Actually all of them are better than me. Like it’s incredible! Thank goodness for Yaree he is like 8 ft tall and athletic, so I don’t feel so bad that I’m not the best coach. I might be better helping Yoshi update his website!

So I’ve adjusted well and I think Japan is heaven on earth.

LIKE RIGHT NOW THIS JUST IN- I’m sitting on my little balcony and I hear Yoshi say “Raisha look” and he’s on the hill in the yard with the goat. Just chilling. awe man. THIS IS WHAT LIFE IS ABOUT.

With this new burst of life and love and mini existentialism I have had a lot of my mind. One huge thing being that this life I am living doesn’t have to be an escape. And second aside from sending mail, writing this blog or posting to other social media’s. I NEED to share this with as many people as possible.

I’ve finally harvested a crop to reap all this sown adventure into.

I am working on organising an exhibit to launch I return home.

Stay tuned.