Action Packed

This week has been action packed! Wednesday was our community event day. Last month we went on a picnic and viewed the cherry blossoms. This month it was the volunteer's turn to plan the day of fun and community building for everyone. In the morning we split everyone into four teams and competed in what we called ARI Olympics. We used the ordinary tasks we carry out daily and made games out of them.

There was a race with pig feed in the wheelbarrows. Then we had a race packing feed and rolling blue barrels out of the mixing room. After that it was off to the field where we weeded beds and each team used the weeds to make art.

Elephant 

Weed Farmer

Mt. Fuji

 The chickens hid eggs around campus for everyone to find.

At the back of the kitchen we held a relay race carrying water and eventually pouring it into the serving containers we use for hot water every day.

The African women had the advantage here.

In the afternoon we went to a park where we played football, painted our faces, and slid down a big hill!

On Friday, Jenny and I skipped Foodlife work and hopped on a train to Sendai where we met our friend and fellow YASCer, Katie Young! We stayed with her for the weekend.



We sat in on a few of the Japanese classes she's involved in facilitating. She can't exactly teach them yet (though her Japanese is way better than ours!) but she does help behind the scenes by taking care of the students' kids. They are mostly teaching house wives from the Philippines who were affected by the earthquake that shook that region in 2011. I've been feeling ill this week, luckily a doctor was able to fix me right up.

Oisha-san deska?

Katie took us to some areas along the coast where towns were simply washed away.

In this area there were hundreds of these trees but this one was the only one that survived the tsunami. It is a symbol of hope and perseverance for the people.

This ship was washed ashore and now sits right next to the highway. 

On Sunday, we cheered Katie and her friends from her office on as they ran a half-marathon.

and celebrated afterward!

Katie, Jenny, and I were able to skype with our mother's on their special day, even though we were thousands of miles away. Happy Mothers day to everyone! We miss you more than blogs can tell, Wendy and Kathryn!

Weather is getting warmer. I am very excited to tell you all that Kimberly, my one and only sister, is coming to visit us for a few weeks. We'll go pick her from the airport as soon as June 9th! Other things we are looking forward to: Zen Buddhist meditation with Nishi, celebration of job well done with Takashi, and Jenny's Birthday on the 31st!

All's well that is well. 

Love to all,

Doug and Jenny Knight