And you win... another bag of rice!

Spent most of the day with Hiro and his father in the rice fields yesterday. I was told that my clothes 'may become dirty,' so I wore an old shirt and some beat up jeans. When I arrived, I was changed into a really old shirt and some old plaid pants you might've been able to spot me in in my middle school days. And like Hiro and his father, I wore a button-down over top.


What's the deal? Why, it's rice-harvesting season! And an Indian summer, meaning it's hot, hot, hot outside.

The three of us spent the better part of the day cutting rice with a rice-cutting machine and a hand-held saw. We loaded filled sacks of rice onto a truck and took them to the dryer where we poured the cut, uncooked, unsheathed rice into a large holding machine to dry. After a few days, the rice will go into another machine to get the outer coverings taken off. We unloaded 45 sacks, weighing just a bit more than I could lift by myself.
Hard work, but satisfying.

After all was done, we went back to Hiro's house where I was granted the first to shower and bathe. I took my shower and then sat in the bath, which is traditional style bathing, and then sat down for dinner. It was a potage, eggplant and shrimp stirfry, some pickled items, a bitter veggie called goya and tofu.

Then, Hiro and I went to Sega Game World and played the new and improved Taiko game, with extra bonus songs and graphics.

I went home with another bag of Hiro's father's rice, which makes three. Big score!