Dartboard

Saturday I went to Hifumidaki, a waterfall in Arikawa, with Masami and her family. It was a great afternoon with her two nieces who I just fell in love with, and after some warming up—they loved me too.

The waterfall is named Hifumidaki, but the kanji is　一ニ三滝　so it looks like it reads 1-2-3 Waterfall. Catching fish in the river, dragonflies in nets and eating yamamomo berries right off the bushes reminded me so much of Oregon, I had to call the place 1-2-3 Oregon.

We ate lunch at a small community temple in Arikawa. I love how this picture turned out—the girls are just a silohouette in front of the torii.

Masami’s little belly! It’s either a girl or a shy little boy inside!!

The girls had soroban practice for an hour (they still learn the abacus here!) and Masami’s husband got off work at 3 p.m. and we all went to the waterfall together. Moe, the youngest, wanted a ride in my “cool car” so I drove them separately.

The girls in front of the waterfall…just a drizzle, but the water was cold and felt so nice.

Me and the girls, catching dragonflies and other bugs.

Now, doesn’t this remind you of Oregon?

Searching for bugs. Masami’s husband, Kazuya helps.

The cold river felt so good to play in on this hot day.

Picking yamamomo berries.

We used to have one of these trees in our front yard in California. The little pink puffs sure bring back memories!

Moe loved my super cool sunglasses. She loved Kuro kuma-kun too.

I also had dinner with the family. This is Masami’s mom who hiked Mt. Fuji about 15 years ago—in two left shoes! She somehow brought two left shoes, but had to hike anyway! I’ll be sure not to do that this summer! I feel like such a huge beast next to Japanese people. Why am I so big???

This is the hiking stick she used for Fuji. I guess you can buy a stick and get stamps burned into it as you reach certain stations/heights. It’s so cool I want to do it too!

Also want to include a picture of my eikaiwa students in Aokata from last week. They consistently bring me dinner—here I have potato salad, watermelon and slow-rise yeast bread (which was the best bread I’ve ever had in Japan, and maybe top 5 in my lifetime). Damn good bread. Thanks Mizorogi-san!

I always have such interesting conversations with this group. I don’t have to plan anything—we can get away with just talking about life. I try to write key words and draw pictures on the board for those few students who can’t always follow the conversation. But always, it’s guaranteed fun!!

Love, Sierra

The rain comes.