Well the chef showed up for work today
and made bacon, eggs and cheese sandwiches for the kids and hash,
eggs, onions and cheese with hash browns for Alice and I .
After breakfast Alice and I went to the produce guy that
only comes for a couple hours on Saturday. We got some SHITAKE
mushrooms and some other little tiny white kind of mushrooms and
some bananas.
I don't know if I have mentioned this yet but
some of the old ladies that live here and have lived here all of
their lives walk around bent over like an upside-down U. Alice's brother's wife says
that this is from working the rice fields all of their lives. It was
very unusual and you really have to see it to believe it. (Unfortunately of all the 1000 + photos we took we did
not get one to show this.)
This generation
of ladies are the last of their kind and when they are gone
there will be no more. Technology has taken over and there is no
need for people to work the fields all day long. We even saw older
people getting around in powered wheel chairs which the government
will provide for certain people.
Whenever we had the camera
out we would never come across any of these farm ladies and if we
didn't have the camera out we would see several of them. Oh well it
will just have to be a memory.
With the fading of old school
farming and the new technology that is in place, a lot of the hand
made gardening tools will also no longer be available. I should have
bought a garden sickle (sp?) to bring home as well.
Time to
go play some golf so I am off for 9 holes and I guess Matt is just
going to sleep so I am going solo.
As I was on hole #6
Alice's brother's wife showed up with Alice and informed me that we could go to the
fire
station and meet the guys. So after
having my best round so far (32) and almost getting a hole in one, I
ran home and got all cleaned up. I even shaved my goatee that had
been growing since we left. I wanted to look my best.
The
visit was very, very good and the guys that showed us around were
very nice. I am not even going to try and say their names as first I
couldn't even pronounce them and second I can't remember American
names let alone Japanese ones that I couldn't even understand what
they said when they said them anyway. Hope your not confused.
Alice's brother's wife was the interpreter and we got to see the ambulance
and the fire
engine which was about a
1/3 of the size of the fire engine I ride on in Florida.
The
medical field here is very limited and they can only do basic
skills. They are not allowed to use any types of medications even in
life threatening situations. They are working on getting more leeway
but it will be a battle with the government and hard to do.
J (13yr nephew) got to put on some breathing
equipment and an air pack.
After checking out all the
equipment we were treated to some genuine green tea and pickled
plums. The rookie (new guy) had to do everything and this is
something that is done in America as well. The new guy has to do
most of the busy work while the senior guys sit around and be waited
on. They joke with the new guy but he took it well.
After
the refreshments we were given gifts to boot. I was given a nice T-
shirt that funnily enough was written in English. I was also given a
badge from one of the guys and then another and another. I will put
the badges up on our wall at my fire station in Florida. I am going
to mail the guys some stuff (which I still need to do.) I have the
stuff in a box but I just have not packaged it up and mailed it to
Alice's brother's wife to give to them.
At the end of the tour we took some
group
photos and said good
bye. Arrigato ( thank you) and we were on our way.
Did I
mention the treatment we got on the way here at the gas station? Man
you talk about full service. We pulled into the station and we had
4 girls
and 1 boy all washing,
fueling and checking the van. I took video and some photos. I was
impressed. And they all had smiles on their faces. They truly love
to serve here.
Upon returning home I started on the chicken
stir fry and sushi/sashimi dinner. We ended up having enough to have
the Sillavans over
for dinner and it
was very good if I do say so myself. With dinner and the clean up
done we sent Maddie home with the Sillavans and we started to watch
the movie LIAR, LIAR again. I made it 1/2 way and went to bed. Night
Night