Making Pizza at a Cooperative Farm & Goofing Around

Yesterday we had a lot of fun doing what I think we both love most about living in Hokkaido, meeting new people and enjoying the great natural beauty of the island.  Now that the snow has melted we have limitless options in terms of hiking and adventure and we are trying to pack in as much as we can before we leave.  After an intense game of Monopoly on Friday night (which was interrupted by our friend Jim who crashed at our house after a night of drinking in town [more on that later]) we got up early and went to a cooperative farm to make pizza.

All of the ingredients we used had been harvested on the farm, even the flour for the dough and the sausage and bacon topping.  These guys even dug clay out of the ground and made there own clay oven.  It was a really cool place and it was difficult to get Chrissy to leave.  After making and devouring a million pizza pies we took a tour of their farm and saw their pigs, chickens, and goats.  Pigs really are kinda cute, I can't say I have much affection for chickens though, and one goat wouldn't stop smiling at us.  We played with our friend Alaina's children which made us miss Gianna and Marco even more than we already do.  We can't wait to get home and see everyone!!!

After the farm we took a drive through the mountains where we saw a fox that looked like he was spawned from hell.  Creepy looking animal, all grey and muddy with these dead grey eyes... kinda unnerved us a bit.

Then we wondered over to our buddy Jim's house where we helped him discover the "tattoos" Christine wrote on him when he was passed out drunk on our living room floor the night before.  Thankfully he wasn't too mad!  We took Jim along on the last part of our journey and goofed around in a campground near his house.  We are excited to camp there when the season starts because it's on the top of a high bluff overlooking Jim's town and the ocean.  It is clean, close, and beautiful.  We snapped a bunch of fun pictures there and even practiced some sword fighting.  We have a great shot of Christine that should be the poster for the next Karate kid movie.

Okinawa In Pics!!!

We really had a great time visiting Okinawa and we were really lucky to be able to go.  This year has really been amazing!!  As you can see, even though the weather wasn't great we did find some sunshine.  Okinawa is really beautiful and the water was the most amazing color of blue I have ever seen.  The snorkeling was awesome - we saw a sea turtle!!   The island itself was pretty densely populated and the cities thriving.  They were a little tourist trappy though, with store after store selling the same cheap souvenir stuff, but there was a great pottery district in Naha that had some beautiful stuff inspired by local traditions and customs.  Here are the pictures Christine promised.  Oh, and the aquarium was crazy!  I want to be the guy who scubas down in there and feeds all the animals.  Dream job.

Spring!?

We're back from out trip to Okinawa and settling back in to our routines. We had fun in Japan's southernmost prefecture, though the weather didn't exactly cooperate. Lot's of pics and videos coming soon! It was a pleasant surprise to come home to significantly less snow, although some mounds are being stubborn. We did some spring cleaning and are making some plans for the rest of our time here. Only 4 months left!!! There are still so many things we want to see, and there's a week of holidays coming up (I know, it's like we're on a year-long vacation) during which we might drive to the south of Hokkaido to see cherry blossoms. We're also trying to decide what to do about jobs and housing when we get back. On top of that, I have some fun knitting/felting projects going on. I'm planning on making more brooches like the one in the picture, to sell at a flea market in June. And I'm drinking 3 cups of coffee a day.

left: flower brooch I made for my mother; center: cherry branches from an orchard in Mashike; right: Fuji-san (Mount Fuji) peeking out above the clouds on our plane ride back to Hokkaido