I am wwoofing

Since a few days I have become a wwoofer. Sometimes people ask me if I am a student. "Yes, a student of life" I answer. I am also a traveller and a hitchhiker. or "I just am". But right now I am mostly a wwoofer. I am working on a farm at the foot of the Japanese Alps and receive delicious ultra healthy organic food, in huge portions, a warm bed and great company of the young farmers family Akio, Terimu, Wara and Hua and other wwoofers who come and go. I am out all days, see many mountains, animals and I learn a lot.
Last days I was selecting apples for juice, twisting apples for their beautiful red colours, pear picking, smaching dried crops to collect egoma, a spicy kind of sesame and on the picture you see me playing after the rice harvest we did this morning. Some five hundred kilo of rice, enough to feed the family and wwoofers a whole year through!
I also just learned how to add pictures to my blog so for the parts I have not been able to write about yet I give you already some snapshots! The nice layout will come later ...

Some snapshots "back in time"

My working environment near Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture

Onsen or natural Japanese hot spring ... just great watching beautiful coloured leaves slowly finding their way to the ground. One of the great stops during my hitchhiking trips. Go to onsen with your drivers!

I ended up being an amazed spectator of the 33rd Japanese National Lifesaving Championships in Fujisawa.

One of our truck drivers making a next sign in Kanji (Chinese characters). And Brent, one of my travel companions.

A Japanese church ..., no a shrine in Biwa-ko, the biggest lake in Japan near Kyoto.

A great musician and an unexpected homestay

I felt I was living in a dream. Only a few hours after saying goodbye to Carina at a crossroad in Kyoto I found myself in great Japanese company. People I would meet again and whom I get to know better. My first day in Kobe was about David Juritz, I became his photographer and moviemaker and listened several times to his amazing performances. We visited an International School, surprised people in front of a fancy schopping centre and I ended up in astonishment in a small cosy cafe. I could hardly speak. It was beautiful. Between his concerts we talked about life. Please take a look on his website and believe me any support for his charity organisation Musequality will be used in a very good way. In Uganda he supports some young streetchildren who made it from establishing a local brass band to an organisation supporting education for the other disadvantaged children in Kampala. He spoke about children breaking into school early in the mornings to practice. After he left his music accompanied me many times when I was working in Kobe. The unexpected music performance had connected me to Michiko, a woman of 67 who became my Japanese host mother but especially became a very special friend. Someone you know you will keep in touch with. We connected very well. A bit similar maybe? I was smiling. Everyday when I woke up I was so happy to be in that cosy house in the hills of Kobe. I called Michiko`s husband Otosan. Just like everybody called him. Only after staying ten days I found out I was calling him `father`. But he was my Japanese father. The warmth of this great couple is indescribable. I learned, I learned a lot from them. And it was sad to leave. Michiko was very busy, first with being a great help to David Juritz. Through a friend of her daughter, also a great violinist, she became his main contact person in Japan. She was also preparing a charity concert with an old friend of hers from New York and drove many times up to the hospital to take care of her mother. So busy and still she took also great care of me. In a way we met at the right moment because soon it became clear I could help her a lot. I cleaned the `Abesan Temple`, became a gardener and helped with the preparations of the concert. Twice I replaced her as an English teacher for eight children and two mothers which gave me my first Japanese earnings. Sometimes we would talk till late in the night and many times Michiko approached me with great ideas. I learned to slurp again and that walking with the toilet slippers in other parts of the house is simply not done. I was surprised by many Japanese things. Otosan took me to a beef-party. I did not know that Kobe beef is the best in the world. I was truly in heaven that night on his sailing boat surrounded by his great smiling friends, with a beautiful sunset and the beef melting on my tongue. Otosan would also take me for a hike in the botanical garden, for ice creams and lunches. One evening the three of us drove up the mountain in Kobe to wave to Carina. The view on the Osaka-Kobe bay by night was great. I learned so much! I learned about Buddhism, life, Japanese society, some Japanese language, especially from her two grandchildren Otoha and Amane, and even some predictions about my own future! After two great weeks I left the house of the Abesans to make room for Michiko`s daughter and her family who was coming over from Florida. I left on a trip to Shikoku Island to think about what I wanted to do next in Japan.

Stories of Japan (part one)

I am seated in a cosy place that acts as the central office of a youth hostel in Yokohama. I just found out that it is the second biggest city of Japan but nevertheless I liked the name. Behind me are some eight people sitting, some in suits, others are casually dressed women. One men is speaking most of the time and occasionally an older women adds some clarifications to his English. Government, justice, prison, money, privacy, clans, organisations, crime, social workers and safety are some of the words out of their conversation. The topic is related to maffia and breaking the cycle of crime. Only after a while they ask themselves in what place they are: the lobby of the youth hostel. One of the foreigners (US) is staying here. With curiosity they ask where I am from.
Maffia is definitely an actual topic here in Japan. The sound of police sirenes attracts with some fear in the eyes, the company behind me. The third time I come accross this topic, every time in very unexpected circumstances. Those men with one missing finger have been seen before also by a lifesaver from New Zealand and a priest from Signapore that I met on my way in Japan.
The sirene comes from the fire brigade. Someone was cooking fish. The Italian guy next to me refers to suchimi ...raw fish.

I just arrived this morning here in Yokohama where I said "have a good trip" to my friend Brent. He is flying back to New Zealand. His plane is right now on the way to its `right` altitude to fly for 11 hours to Auckland. I find myself in the middle of Japan which also means all options are accessible. A nice feeling when nothing is decided yet. I could go to Tokyo to meet Sam, my former neighbour, I could go to Gifu where Ciera my American sister used to live for two years, back to Kobe for a party with the friends of the Peace Forest or maybe I head towards Hokkaido. The future again is something I can not talk about. I have no plans. The only thing I can say is that I became a member of Wwoof Japan and read today about possible places to work for food and accomodation. I have always liked moments and places that have doors to many opportunities. I often saw my studies like that, as wide as possible ...

So back to the past. The first glimpse I have of Japan are forests and mountains. Already from the boat I saw that these are `new` forests. Just different then any I saw before. The big bamboo trees continue to surprise me untill today. Japan has almost 75% of land covered with forest and mountains. The huge population of over 127 million people lives very packed on the resting 25% mostly along the coast. The cities are big, the houses stand so close to one another that when your neighbour opens the door you think he is standing next to your bed. Trains run sometimes just two meter from the kitchen windows of the small and modest houses that I would stamp with an seventies or eighties character. The building materials are ugly and useful wins over beauty. Something that can not be said about the people and the food. I find Japanese people to be very beautiful and I like the clothing style. Boots stiffed with lam wool though don`t seem to be very useful when it is 30 degrees! And the food mmmmm ... probably impossible to write about but in terms of beauty Japanese food ranks the highest so far! And yes also in terms of tasty or "o-ishee" it is top class. Just imagine a very big smile on my face because the tastes are heavenly! Unfortunately I do not know what I have eaten. I forget the difficult names which results in trying new things all the time because I do not manage to order my favourites. I have been eating in great and beautiful restaurants, on my knees, without shoes, in small rooms, with two people and with 15 people ...the culinary experience is for sure a great part of travelling. Mmmm indeed what have I been doing one month in Japan? Eating a lot. The few kilo`s I lost on my way here have been added again. My chopsticks skills have improved and surprised many Japanese. A bony fish is almost no problem and when offered a fork and spoon I ask for the chopsticks ...feels easier ..mmm.

I met Carina in the end of September in Kobe where she joined me for a charity concert in a beautiful wooden Sake Brewery. Present where many people I knew like two beautiful Japanese children that I gave a bath the evening before and a man that had a typed letter for me about his research on working on a farm in Hokkaido. She asked me how it all started. I realised it is a long story but one that still amazes me a lot.

Carina and I arrived on September the third in Shimonoseki. I hear voices at the crossroads "please wait" Carina translates. I pass a thing called Pachinko which is present even in the smallest village in Japan ..the game-places that make a tremendous noice, full of machines and screens that are obviously unhealty for eyes and brains and filled with different kinds of people you would not immediately associate with such places. Parking lots are crowded and people wait even early in the morning for the opening doors. Crazy, simply crazy! Soon I also touch the `new` trees and happily visit a temple that has not turned into a tourist attraction. Hitching in Japan went easily and Carina and I camped with fire at a beach north of Shimonoseki. At night the jellyfish in the Japanese sea gave me a still lasting obsession with these spooky animals. I remember seeing very very big ones from the boat to Japan and just would not like to feel their stings again. Japan is a country of golf. I didn`t know and smiled at a man who was playing golf with the sea (or with someone in Chine) on a pier. Driving in Japan you often pass places that look like huge birdcages and are heavily lighted in the evening. On several floors people practice their golf skills. Real golf courses you hardly see.
The next day we end up in Kyoto. There is no particular reason. It is late and the temple where we are dropped is closed. We found a great spot in a park to sleep. Public toilets are everywhere in Japan and they are almost 95% equipped with toilet paper, sometimes even folded in a triangle like in luxury hotels ...great for travellers like me. I like it. In the morning I am surprised by the clean water that runs through the park in small rivers. I can`t remember seeing such clean streams in any European city. It was our last morning together. Around 13.00 Carina hitches alone to Osaka to the place she will be living for four months. And me ...I walk on my way ... Next to eating always comes the question of sleeping, sometimes this question arises late but that afternoon on the September the 5th was different. I was about to start a `relatively long term` stay in Japan ...I would work somewhere as life is expensive. I had 30.000 Yen (about 180 euro) and kind of thought I should be able to live from this in Japan, meaning all other necessary cash would need to be earned. So I find my way to international community houses to collect too many papers; information about hostels, work, volunteers teaching English. I explained to the friendly staff: " I want to find a home, a job and actually first of all I would like to find an intensive language course". The summercourses are over ... I take a bus to another International house for more detailed information on language courses. I ended up in Kyoto and not knowing anything about Japan there was no reason to choose any particular `other` place to start my new life. I walk and when I approach the place in a nice and quiet area I hear music. A violin. I see tables and chairs outside on the square in front of the big building I intended to enter. I never did. Two Japanese ladies invite me to sit down. I place in silence my backpack against the wall and take a seat in the front. I smile. It sounds beautiful. I receive a press release telling me more about the man playing barefooted on his violin. David Juritz, an international violinist who left his work for a trip around the world. Busking for the support of music projects. After the concert, of which I only heared the last 10 minutes ...what if I had arrived 15 minutes later ... I talk to the company and introduce myself as a collegue, but only for the travelling part. I buy the cd. One of the ladies speaks fluent English and invites me to come along ..I did not have any concrete plans, no booking for a youth hostel ...nothing planned so I say: "Yes, I would love to". Soon I find myself listening to David`s next concert and Michiko, the Japanese lady, invited me to go with her to Kobe after we had a great Japanese dinner. She could host me.

This cosy place where some girls are talking on the background is about to close. I realise the Japanese sounds already very familiar to me, like Estonian or Russian did ... I enjoy the sounds.

no news is good news

I am already more than a month in the land of the rising sun, I have seen sunsets, sunrises, whales, waves, rice and raw fish ... many impressions and stories have remained untold and unshared ... I feel I would need some time, a lot of time to write things down properly ...but life goes on and it is so interesting ...I haven't managed to find access to a computer on the right moment ...so for those curious what I have been up to ...hold on ...

Life is treating me very well, I am healthy, happy and I find every evening a roof ...so far I slept one time in a hostel, many times in my tent and in several Japanese houses... I do not know where I will be the coming days ... but

I am alive and kicking ...

I suppose the same goes for all of you ..no news is good news ...though I truly enjoy your writings and stories. Thanks a lot!

greetings from Fujisawa ...yep, I see mount Fuji ...

Time to go to Japan

Cars, especially in Russia were shaking us sometimes to all sides but living 42 hours on a big boat made me walk the Japanese soil for two more days moving unnecessarily from left to right and feeling a bit dizzy. I was surprised how such a big boat can be so much influenced by the waves. Surrounded by sea and after exploring all corners of the ship Carina and I had lots of time to talk and have tea. Probably we could have spent even more time like this: running around, bathing in a big bathroom with a huge warm bath and 10 showers or just watching the sea and wonder. The time to reflect and read our diaries to one another was a beautiful gift before we would arrive to the land of the Rising Sun and live a different life then the past two months. Many people asked me about our companionship. We lived 24 hours together for two months, sharing food from one plate and sleeping sometimes really close to each other. Something I have never done with anybody before. But our companionship was truly great and with a lot of joy. When in September 2006 we said: `next year we will go together` it was a deep feeling in me that told me Carina was the right person to travel with. The joy of sharing experiences with somebody is indescribable as well is having really a lot of time to get to know somebody very valuable.
When entering China I had a Lonely Planet with at least 80 pages of compact history, written from a Western perspective, in my backpack. But when moving towards Japan I consciously had not searched for any information or travel guide. I must admit that long time ago I developed this prejudice of not liking Japan at all. It did not say me anything; I did not feel like visiting this island. I don’t know why or when this prejudice was formed but I am grateful for Carina who dragged me along to the East. Especially during this travel I have been thinking a lot about how my prejudices came into being and how they proved to be incorrect. My idea of not liking Japan was very much out of place. I liked this country from the moment I was stepping on its soil. I am also extremely happy to experience this place, its culture and nature like a child, without any previous knowledge. So actually I also want to say to those readers who would like to travel like this and enjoy the joy of amazement and discovering, maybe you should not continue. The first things about Japan I learned on the boat. Carina and I are standing on the upper deck when she says: `that guy is Japanese`. I ask `how do you know`. `By the way he walks` she says. I laugh. She explains that this `way` results from sitting on the knees. Second thing I learn are that slippers are very important and that walking with shoes in certain places is simply NOT done! The third thing I learnt was the Japanese way of bathing. The bath is shared. My host mother would later say: `We Japanese, we don’t make the water dirty`. You shower and wash and only then you go into the bath, a small hot swimming pool. We would be sitting there in the middle of the night and would be cleaner then ever.
But what is maybe one of the very present and visible characteristics of Japanese people became visible straight after passing the Chinese border in Qingdao port. A sign told me the ethics of the staff of the port. Things like not to discriminate, be polite, don’t say unfriendly words　etc.; which we in Europe of course also expect from staff were just clearly stated. So far I also haven’t seen any Japanese neglecting those rules of courtesy. Sometimes this friendliness would really surprise us, like when we sneaked into the cafeteria of the boat and ate our own food at the table in the corner and the staff, who were preparing the place to open it, would say `Thank you very much` to us.
And so step by step I learn about Japan. I look with my eyes wide open. I received a stamp in my passport stating I am a temporary visitor who has the right to stay till the 2nd of December. Never since the start of our journey had I felt so much freedom. We reached Japan in time for Carina to start her research at the Japanese Foundation for which she got a scholarship. No more `have to be somewhere`s` and for the first time my passport gives me the right to stay in one country for more then 30 days! Japan would be very different for us. Carina`s life would be certain for four months. She has a roof for every night, she has a clear task to accomplish, and she has money and food. I entered Japan without any knowledge, except from the map of Japan I got from Carina in Qingdao, and without any plan. I felt so free and was filled with indescribable joy. Carina could not help it to worry about me or feel guilty that she is walking towards a luxurious life and that I did not know where to go. And of course a certain feeling of sadness was coming over us. Reaching Japan meant we would separate soon. We did not feel tired of traveling together at all.

Many feelings about China

For the first time I had time to read my previous post. Mmm, so little I have written. It feels almost unjust to give China so few words. My mind has been a bit uneasy about this overload of impressions and stories which remained untold. But what to do? Life was too interesting to look into the past or like I did not want to close my eyes when travelling. So much to wonder about! But now I take some time to catch up a bit with China!

China was hot, so hot that the sweat sticks to the skin like a layer of Vaseline. And there was no escape. We would often say `Banya-effect gone`, referring to the clean feeling we had after Russian Banya followed by sweating again and feeling dirty like before. But compared to sauna’s where you can escape into cold water, snow or just fresh air, the Chinese weather was there just to bare it. And so we did. I realise that by now I don’t mind the heat anymore. One friend told me about how you can get used to things or create new habits when you hold on for 21 days. Maybe it is true because just to mention some I got used to chopsticks, heat, uncertainty, mosquito bites and a 20 kilo backpack. The same by the way holds true when you want to get rid of bad habits like being angry, jealous or when you complain a lot.

China was not a developing country if I would make a mathematical conclusion of the China I saw. But of course I saw only a little.
China is soooo big. A population of 1.3 billion living on an area of 9.6 million sq km. Some comparisons: Mongolia has only 2.5 million people on an area of 1.5 million sq km and Russia has 144.5 million people on 17 million sq km. China also clearly has more roads and is not like Siberia. But how to grasp these feelings you get about population density. For example I remember that Tuva republic in Russia has 300 thousand inhabitants but over two million of cattle are running around. To me China did feel `full` after Russia and Mongolia. Maybe this feeling was strengthened by some words of Russian drivers about a forthcoming war in 2008 between China and Russia on land issues. In China this was sometimes confirmed or replied with `Oh, this war is already going on`. And Russia indeed has many unsettled border agreements. China is developing so quickly that indeed it’s need for land, water and energy are increasing rapidly. The population is still growing despite the `one child policy` that was introduced in the end of the seventies. It remains a point of discussion if this policy has helped or not. We were of course curious and found out that this policy is not as simple as it seems. In many areas like the country side where workforce is hardly needed to remain self sufficient more children are allowed. In the urban areas you can buy more children, meaning you pay a lot of money and then you are allowed to have more! Other options to circumvent this policy are giving birth abroad (also costly) or abandon your child. We did not get any precise information on a relation between the policy and the number of orphans.
But back to China’s state as a developing country. Of course I saw poverty, I saw many people living with basics, sharing a toilet with several alleys of the hutongs, sleeping on the streets, collecting bottles or living in a house made of some fabric and a bicycle. Almost one fourth of Beijing’s citizens live in old dwellings in the hutongs and I do not know if I can really say so, but I was lucky to see them. In the center (tourist) area of Beijing there are only a few left. Beijing (who that really is I do not know, some city officials maybe, some businessmen?) wants to be a modern city and as such the hutongs, which feel to me like the real China, are swept aside. Some of them to be rebuild on Beijing’s outskirts. With an area of 16.800 sq km (more than half of Belgium) and a population of 12 million you can start to imagine how far away people are forced to live from their `home`. Every year some 10.000 dwellings are ruthlessly bulldozed and with the Olympics coming in 2008 they might almost completely disappear. Of course I ask: `aren’t there any protest movements?` The answer: `what can you do when you get murdered when you protest!` I wonder if this is the China that I like. How can it be so stupid and sad. What is it to live in a country where you have to be silent? I also think about us as foreigners, what can we do? This feeling of wanting to do something leaves me quickly,... too late, too big enemy to fight ...? But the sad feeling that arose from observing such money-minded inhuman projects remains for a long time with me.
Though from the outside China might look modern, we definitely got a glimpse on some issues like the vast hold Chinese leaders have on the people and the country not being free. The Olympics are all over China. People trying to sell shirts to us: `Souvenir, souvenir, different colours, buy, buy`, many flyers, flags and big advertisements. Many food-products carry the logo while slogans and newspapers proudly announce that with the Olympics China will show its rich culture for the first time to the world. All Chinese are called to be part of it (in a socialist Mao-manner). The concrete marathon and modernisation speed are too visible and hurt my eye. I wonder who wants to see this modern China and what about the experience of so many other countries organising the Olympics and going bankrupt?
But again back to `development`. China is doing very well in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It is maybe even the world leader in poverty alleviation. From 490 million people living below poverty line in 1990 it counted only 88 million in 2001. These figures still make me so dizzy, especially when I think of the richness I saw. We traveled for example in amazingly luxurious cars and saw many fancy shops. Unfortunately China is also the country known for the biggest gap between rich and poor. Further away from Beijing and many times when being on the road I did see real poverty and it made me feel very confused to see this from windows of expensive cars, driving on very good roads. In an article of the China Daily I read about how the new UNDP head for China tries to develop a plan to reach the MDGs aligned with the XiaoKang Vision that promotes a society in which people are moderately well off and middle class. At first sight it seems a long way to go! More info on XiaoKang: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaokang.
China is so enormous, so complex and mysterious. My time there was an incentive for further investigation. Maybe its history is more attractive to me then its future. I also liked it more to watch a movie like `To Live` (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_live) in an apartment in Beijing on the 21st floor with some real Chinese food then to visit the Summer palace as a tourist. I enjoyed to read sayings of Lao Tse and to get a silk skirt made by a lady on the streets. Observing communism today, its consequences, ruins and deeply rooted structures in very different places like Russia, Mongolia and China gave me lot of `food` for thinking. Reading the book Animal Farm of George Orwell for example while sleeping in the meeting hall of a Chinese police station with `watching` portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping are just too different from reading the same book in Antwerp. And maybe just to be clear, we did not do anything wrong to get into that police station near Jining (Shangdong province). We kindly asked to put our tent n their garden but got a meeting hall and a dinner instead. The next morning they arranged a ride for us with a bus to Qingdao (a six hour ride for free). That was maybe also a not too usual ride!
With our initial difficulties of hitchhiking in our mind and after flipping a coin we travelled from Beijing to Xi-an (one of the seven `once capital` cities of China) by train. Also an experience! Frightened by people’s reactions and stories we were prepared for the worst. We bought the cheapest tickets, which means `standing tickets` for 150 Yuan. Already in the bus to the train, standing for one hour was painful, we were about to `stand` for 12 hours! Then it happened to us that we spent 1.5 hour in a Chinese post office to send some packages home and as such we missed our train by 10 minutes. Aaarghhh we think again of worst case scenarios and wait the long ticket line for new ones. Before we realize it we have a ticket for the train two hours later without paying anything. Amazingly easy and our luck does not stop! Standing did not mean to be squeezed like pigs in a wagon without windows; we were simply put in between the seats. I was even more lucky and got on an empty seat. Carina was sitting on her backpack and except from standing up for passengers and food carriages every 5 minutes during the first hours the ride was quite comfortable. Maybe even too comfortable. After our reflections and doubts about this way of traveling, because we also ended up in a youth hostel in Xi-an, we decide to hit the road again. And it went very well, we slept again somewhere in the field/forest along the road and discover the quality of Chinese highway restaurants and facilities. The communication with the drivers goes well enough and two times we end up in a local bus, once when a family takes us with good intentions into the center of Lankou and once when for almost one hour we are surrounded by 60 curious people in the center of Heze where we tried to hitchhike. Places like this where almost no foreigners come were very nice experiences. Also here for example you can eat for 3 Yuan and see true Chinese life. After five people telling us to take a bus we check out how to go to Jining from Heze. 20 Yuan people on the street told us, so we are surprised when the lady at the counter says 75. We say it is too much and leave to check the city map. Before we understand what is happening the lady talks to the bus driver and gives us two tickets for 20 Yuan each. A half-hitchhiked bus? That day was so full, I smiled and enjoyed the views along local small roads.
We arrived sooner then expected in Qingdao where we buy our ticket for Japan. And yes, the boat was called UTOPIA 2. The ladies of the Japanese desk of the travel agency (based in an extremely posh hotel) call a very cheap family hostel mentioned but not recommended by Lonely Planet so we also soon had a roof in this very very western (German) city. We stayed several days here due to health problems. Probably it was the air-conditioning or whatever but first Carina got a severe cold and the second day in Qingdao I got ill as well. With high temperature and great help of our host and neighbours I visit the hospital to treat my flu. The lady of our really small hostel continues to take care of us with healthy porridge, tea, massage and kindness. The hospital though is one of the places where you would stamp China as a developing country but the English speaking nurse took great care of me and also Carina became a nurse. One night at 4 am Carina tells me that the date on our tickets is wrong. We knew the ship was leaving on Thursday but the date showed 30th of　August and according to us it should be 31st. We try to calculate but we remain uncertain about the date. The next morning we find out that it is Thursday already. We simply would have missed the boat. Instead of packing Carina went to change the tickets to Saturday 1st so I would be healthier. Though we had to be at the port at 15.30 the ship left only at 1.00 am the 2nd of September. It remained a question to us why the people had to board so soon. By entering a Japanese boat we left China behind us, both with a feeling of returning one day. With 70 rides and 4 trains we reached Qingdao, it took us 40 days!