Volunteer Weekend and Fun with 'Mac!

5/13/2017

The weekend after I got back from my vacation with Tye, A couple of my friends from Fukushima City came to town to help out with the Odaka Volunteering day that month. It was raining cats and dogs all day! The rain was relentless and there was no respite from it. We all wore plastic ponchos to try and keep ourselves dry, although it didn’t work for most of us.

On that day we helped clear land on an old woman’s property. She was so sweet and nice, she brought out snacks and tea for us to eat and drink while we were clearing her lawn. We didn’t really do all that much, but you could tell that she was grateful for it all the same. We only cut her overgrown grass and cut down two flowering trees that she didn’t want anymore. We then cleared all the grass and put them into piles so that people could gather it and dispose of it the next day.

Before and after to the left.

Before and after to the right.

We still had time until our volunteering ended, so we continued onto a nearby cemetery and started cutting down trees that the city wanted gone. I once again was able to cut trees apart with a hand saw. I find this activity really fun. It makes me feel tough!

Olga caught a frog at nearly ever volunteering event!

While cleaning up the cemetery we found this snake in a bush!

I didn’t take any pictures that day because I didn’t want to risk damaging my phone with the relentless rain. But at the end of the day we did take one group photo, and I later received some photos from my friends who did take pictures. I was a mess. I was soaked through from the rain and grass, and I was dirty from stomping around in the mud all day and hauling trees and logs to and fro.

But then ‘Mac surprised me with a big muddy hand print across my face! I wore it with pride and took my one and only photograph of the day.

5/14/2017

The next day Cormac, Felipe and I went back to Fukushima City and went to a soccer game. We watched a match between Fukushima United and the Akita Blue Thunder (or something like that.)  It was fun to see so many of my friends and to hang out with everyone, but the game itself was pretty boring.

Here is a photograph of all of us having fun.

After the game ended people started dispersing and going out to dinner and stuff, but I went back home to Minamisoma for… reasons. Sadly it ended up being an early night for me.