If you ask most people what their favorite day of the week is, I’d place bets and say that it’s either Friday or Saturday. Although I do love those days for probably the same reasons, I find Sundays to be my most favorite day, particularly Sunday mornings. I am not religious, so I don’t like Sundays for that reason. Sundays just have a special place in my heart because it’s associated with so many fond memories and experiences that I am continually making as I speak. To me, Sundays mean nice long runs in the morning, yummy brunch/breakfast foods (pancakes!!), lazing around on my bed, getting my chores done, or doing some awesome activity that I really enjoy. Also, I find that Sundays have the best weather. :)

Today was just another AWESOME Sunday I’d like to share with you. I woke up early with the sniffles, but still excited for the day. My self-proclaimed Kibichuo parents Tosuke-san and his wife Miyoko came to pick me up for a hike in Soja. The morning weather was just so beautiful. They soon found out that I was a little under the weather (yet still surprisingly cheerful) so they decided to change the route of our hike to be a shorter, easier one. It also was for the best since it started to get cloudy and a bit rainy. After a nice dash to the local Zag Zag drug store, Tosuke-san and Miyoko-san treated me to some アメリカcoffee at a local coffee house while we waited for Gavin to arrive at the local train station. After picking Gavin up, we went to this cool hiking route called 機能所(Kinoujo Hiking Path, which literally means “yesterday castle”). It started raining, then snowing, then it got sunny, and then cloudy and windy. We pretty much got all 4 seasons within 10 minutes. We had a mini lunch up at the top of the hill. Miyoko-san was such a darling to me, always asking me if I was okay and concerned about my cold. Many a 大丈夫 (daijoubu or “I’m okay) were said. Gav and I did some play umbrella sword fighting and a bamboo whacking picture pose! Shortly after, we were finished with our hike and went to a very nice onsen in Soja.

Afterwards, I decided that since we had some extra time in the day, we should scoot our way to Yakage so Gav and I could make dinner for Tosuke-san and Miyoko-san for their gracious generosity in taking us to hike all the time. Gav and I made a western-style dinner for them that consisted of his cheesy sauce fresh pasta dish, butter/parsley baguette toast, and my salad with apples, crunchy shreds, and cherry tomatoes. I didn’t take any pictures because I was just hungry and devoured it all. Both Miyoko-san and Tosuke-san were so incredibly impressed at how fast we churned out dinner. They thought the food looked classy and sleek (not sure which one they meant, but they were trying to convey to us that it looked elegant). They seemed to like the food very much. Afterwards, we cut up slices of the Baum dense/sponge cake thingy and topped it with whipped cream, strawberries and a side of vanilla ice cream. We also had mochi and red wine! We all had a great time chatting away the evening.

As we were leaving, we gazed up at the radiant sky filled with glistening stars. We saw the Big Dipper and Orion. It made me appreciate living out in the inaka so much more and realize how amazingly lucky I am to be living in Japan surrounded by such lovely people.

This was surely a nice ending to a productive weekend. Did I mention that I love Sundays?

Warmly and sniffly,

M

P.S. Pictures to come soon.