A lot of Green Tea has passed my lips since I last posted.  Thank you to everyone who checked in to see if I was still Green Tea Dreaming.  Indeed I have been dreaming.  I have no excuse for not blogging for the past six weeks or so, unless laziness is a valid excuse (and I know it isn’t).  Also, some folks have emailed to see if we are okay with all of the rains and flooding in Kyushu.  We are among the lucky.  Our area is one of the very few that was out of the danger zone.  We had heavy rains but nothing like the 30 plus inches some areas had in just a few days.  The storms was devastating and even deadly for many.  More than 20 people were killed by mudslides and flooding and more than 200,000 people were forced to evacuate there homes.  Our schedules and lives were barely affected but our umbrellas got abundant use.

Before I get back into the swing of blogging about just one topic again, I thought I would bore you some of the highlights of what I have been up to.

•  I had an insert, advertising a few English classes I wanted to teach for kids, placed in the newspaper.  It worked.  I now have a full slate of work.  The ads landed me not only some kids English classes but two adult classes as well.  A big bonus was that a few friends from my previous stay in Japan tracked me down after seeing the flyer as well.
• In addition, I now have two Yoga classes each week at Buddhist Temples.  They average about 10 people.  I loved it and I think it is forcing my Japanese to improve as well.
• Satomi and I went to see fireflies just before the rainy season started.  We went to a park just outside of our town that is along a river.  It has a quarter mile long concrete path so it is easy walking even in the dark.  We were the only ones there and were treated to an awesome display of natural light.  The river is lined with tall trees and the fireflies looked like eyes peeking out from the dark.  If I had forgotten the magic of nature I have been set straight.
• I planted one tomato plant and one cucumber plant and we have too many of each.  Our bounty is multiplied by the vegetables that are given to us by Satomi’s mom, our neighbors and sometimes even my students.  Last week we even received a watermelon from one of my student’s families.  No to be outdone, somebody gave us a  big bag of green tea as well.  Life is good!
• We’ve been enduring the rainy season but it hasn’t been nearly as brutal as I remembered.  So far, only one night that I had trouble sleeping because of the heat and humidity.  That’s probably about to change but we’ll survive.
• The mosquitoes have been feasting on Satomi. For the first time in Japan they are making a meal out of me as well.  Maybe I’ve eaten enough brown rice and miso to taste Japanese.
• I now know what is meant by the saying “grows like a bamboo shoot.”  The stuff can grow many feet in one day.  You cut it and the next day it has sprouted up in a dozen more places.  Japanese farmers have it rough keeping pace with it.
• Satomi’s parents still have me banned from the weed eater.  Even though I grew up using one, they say it’s too dangerous.  I gave up trying to change them and bought a long handled sickle for twenty bucks.  It works pretty well and without an engine the work is peaceful and perfect for contemplation.  People do stare a lot though.  I saw one elderly woman who had it worse than me though.  She was cutting the grass on the berm around a rice field with pruning shears.  It took her all day. I guess her family doesn’t trust her with power tools either.
• The frogs in the rice fields and the cicadas in the trees make for pleasantly noisy nights.  Sometimes they are louder than the train that passes less than 100 yards from our house.
•  I was asked to sing BINGO and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with my preschool students at their school festival.  Despite my singing prowess I did it and it was fun but they would have been a lot cuter without me.  They did a great job, by the way.

So much more has happened as well but I’ll leave those tales for another day or maybe I just won’t burden you with them at all.  More blogs soon. I promise.  I’ll also put a gallery of pictures up in the next few days.  And, not to be overshadowed, Famish the cat will be guest blogging about whatever he feels like form time to time.

Take care.  I’ll be thinking of you all and wishing you the best.

-The Green Tea Dreamer