Its not just mud tohoku volunteering

It's been a bit weird this last week. I've returned from Ishinomaki-shi and have been sitting in the office.  My spring trip was strange to say the least. Two friends and I traveled from Miyazaki--> Tokyo----->Ishinomaki, Miyagi-ken and then back. First was the plane to Tokyo which had terrible turbulence and arrived in the late afternoon of the first day. We then caught the overnight bus which was super luxurious, but sadly, was still too small for me. No sleep for me..T-T. Met some awesome people going to the same program at the station. Before we came we decided on It's Not Just Mud (INJM) to work with. They have a reliable program and don't make you go to an orientation. We were promptly picked up and taken to the INJM housing. It's cozy and everyone works together to get things done. Then we were rushed off to start work. It was about an hour drive to our place of work and the word of the day was....WAKAME!! It's a kind of seaweed with three parts. A stalk, feather soft pieces, and the swirled root part. First you had to separate the spiraled pieces from the stalk. The spirals were then cut off the short stalk and collected in giant water bins. The stalks and soft pieces are then cooked/steamed until soft and dark green. The final step is cutting and peeling off the softest pieces from the stalk. These parts and worth the most and are the most difficult to get. We did this for TWO days!! It was fun, but my hands and face stung with salt water. We met lots of people who were affected by tsunami and we saw the destruction first hand. In many places you could still see the water lines on the buildings, and where the salt has killed the trees and plants.
Day 3 was gutter shoveling. In Japan gutters and large stones covering tunnels alongside the road. Each block has a small hole to let the water in. We removed the blocks and dug out the tons of mud and stuff that has been lodged in there for years. We founds many things including personal items, garbage, mud, shells, and lots of glass. We dug all day and then moved the bags to our starting place.
Day 4 We were in the same area as before but this time we just scoured the land picking up anything man made. From far away the ground just looks grey and deserted, but up close its a treasure trove of things that shouldn't be there. Foam, glass, roof tiles, toys, debris, shells, and much more. We found jewerly, house doors, electrical lines, and wallets. When they demolished what was left of houses they flattened the group with plows, crushing everything into the dirt. It was our job to remove it all. After work that day Yannick took us on a tour of the worst parts of the city. The first thing is notice is the already sparse housing becomes non-exsisting. Everything is gone and what left is in bad shape. There is a large bridge spanning the river and on both sides of it are giant car grave yards filled with cars that look new and some that are smashed flat. Pressed against the hill was a school that was hit bad by the incoming waves. The water filled this area quickly and smashed cars against the school where they then leaked gasoline. The school then caught fire. There are lots of sad things here, but the town is doing its best to keep up with everyday life. がんばぺ！！
Day5 The last day and we went to temporary housing almost 1.5 hours away. It was a school on a giant hill that HAD been damaged by the tsunami. Even though we drove so long inland, the water had rushed along the river spilling out onto the flat farm lands. Most of the land is now unfarmable due to being salty and sandy. There's no money to fix any of it. At the school we made lots of food for the families and children. We made sanwiches and inari zushi for everyone. Older people were learning how to tie bento boxes while we played with the children. All of the students wanted hugs. I carried a 4 year of girl around who would not let go. She was like a little koala and super sweet. Muqing as usual was chasing the students about while they slung insults at her rapid fire. Including calling her luffy and sanji from onepiece. There were some first grade girls that wanted piggy back rides all day long. We left that day exhausted and happy we could meet so many great people.

Everyday in Ishinomaki we went to a fabulous onsen that was always packed with people. We ended each onsen trip with ice cream and Q10 drinks. Dinner was amazing too! I'm not terrible at cooking, but I make extremely bland food. Always have, but the food here was awesome and super flavorful. I ate too much each night and slept really well even though it was super cold. One night it even snowed. The worst though, was the two earthquakes that happened while we were there. I have only felt one quake in Nichinan but there were two in three days there. The first was 15 seconds and a level 5, the second was a 7 and lasted about a minute. It was scary to be in an area devastated by quakes and just be sitting there enjoying dinner. Everyone just went about their business as usual.

The last day we got the night bus again and I actually slept this time. Our goal was to go to Tsukiji fish market, but we arrived too late. We got in at 5am and decided instead to get some fresh sashimi. from Daiiwa. It had a twenty minute line but we ate the best sushi I have EVER eaten. The tuna was amazing! It didn't even look like fish, and we got a full set for about 30Usd. Caught our plane from Haneda and arrived back in Miyazaki at 12:00.

Busy

hallelujah Sweet jebus, I got the tickets, yes BIGBANG tickets. Sad that my life has been reduced to this? Oh well, I applied to 5 separate concerts and read all the reply emails one by one and each one rejected me until!!!!! Tokyo on the 15th of May in Chiba Tokyo. WOO!! I got my plane ticket, my hotel, and finally we have a full group of six to annoy Japanese fans with. Many of us are tall, or foreign enough that we will be the strangest group speaking half Japanese, and random English. My tallness will be an amazing asset to make sure I can see the best! I've been busy non-stop with school and planning because the Japanese school year ends in March. I'm pretty much on the last leg of visiting my schools for the last time this school year. Several of my schools are merging so I will be teaching at the new and improved Udo chu-gako.
On another note there have been many small earthquakes and the volcano ash has made a reappearance. Its pitch black this time and is great fun while playing jump rope on a windy open area. My journaling is making slow and steady progress and Ive managed to fill two big notebooks. I was scared that my art is declining so I have been drawing two large pics a day for 2 months and my contour drawing have gotten pretty badass. My woodcuts are slow progress. The wood is very expensive but amazing so I'm being very careful carving it for fear I ruin a $100 piece of cedar. I managed to make a comb and 2 small prints but it was un-preped wood and was hell to carve.
Golden week plans are complete!
Kyushu round about trip. Its the Holy grail of kyushu traveling.
1. Nichian leave
2. Beppu and Yuifuin- hot spring town have a sweet ryokan and all the hot water and sand baths we want.
3. Mt. Aso- Biggest volcano is the world. Gonna climb nearby and take the cable car to the top if its not spewing toxic gas
4. Nagasaki- Just hang out super historic and plenty of temples to hit up.
5. Shimabara- old town mostly going here for the car ferry. Giant buddah statue
6. Kumamoto- castel and a perfect mixture of historic and upscale.

Then drag our selves back to Nichinan. I'm driving the whole time which brings to information about my car.
Shakken!! the dreaded word was do this month on the 1st. First estimate of the cost \190000 almost died of a heart attack. Literally fell over. After panicking and getting two more appraisals got it for \70000 about $700. It needed alot of repairs but now its good for two years its basically my insurance. Google shakken for more info cause I hates it. Also with cars I can mention I am taking the driving test at the end of the month. I have about two weeks off because of school break so I'm gonna drag my American ass to the test from hell and try my damndest to not make a fool of myself. Knock on wood.
And just as I type this mayhem breaks out in my office because in Tokyo there was a 6meter tsunami after a 6.5 earthquake. Shit, all my schools are on the coast so the workers are all calling my schools because theres an alert out here.