(7. December – 12. December 2019)
Because of a taifun in October the tracks of the train had still been out of service. I figured out how get to Takehara without train, after I went to the train station in Onomichi and ask with my Japanese-English mixture. Fortunately the were very friendly and helpful and explained me that I have to take the bus (I always tried to avoid buses as you can never be sure whether you are on the right bus and whether the next station is yours, as the bus drivers usually do not speak very clearly).
I arrived at Takehara station and called my host to pick me up. She came but we did not talk much as we had the language barrier. She is a quite old lady so she could not speak and understand English very well. She showed me my room and interviewed me a bit. After the interview she told me the daily schedule. I was surprised to hear that she ate no breakfast at all and work everyday from 7 am. to 6 pm. I went to bed and as the next morning arrived we started weeding at a big area. After 3 hours of weeding we went home and continued working there. Except the lunch and dinner time, I was working 11 hours on average per day. Very quickly my body reacted to that stressful situation and I got ill. I could not do hard work anymore so I stayed the following 3 days just working at home. I got a little better but the language barrier made it hard for me to communicate my problems.
At the one Sunday my Host went to a temple nearby to practice Zazen. The monk and the other people were really nice! One of them could speak English well and I enjoyed being able to be understood. I have made a new friend there and I could even ring the big temples bell after we finished everything! After 6 days I left Takehara.
My Impression: The language barrier which existed made the days a bit hard and stressful. Unfortunately she declined every activity I wanted to do with her together (e.g. showing me during free time how she made her bread). Unfortunately I felt more like a worker than a person who is taught some culture, language and how to grow organically.
So I went back to Onomichi in the direction of Tokushima where my third Host had been, with no plans what to do the 5 days in between…