Hisashiburi! Long time, no post!

If you've never been to San Antonio during the Christmas season, check out my friend's photoblog! It's really nice to walk down by the river when it's all lit up.

The weekend before last, we went out to Minamata to help Nahoko's family harvest a small crop of oranges. It's a bit early in the year for them, but apparently there is a market for sour mikans. They fed us well, welcoming us as if we were family, and the work was lots of fun with us climbing up like monkeys into the trees. And of course the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.
The following day was spent at an onsen (hotspring), the Minamata Museum, and a small celebration in the middle of vast strawberry fields that were ridiculously packed with some type of crane. I bought a small souvenir, watched a random aerial battle between two hawks and a murder of crows, and listened happily to the taiko performers, though I thought the background music was superfluous to that wonderful drumming. The drive through the mountains back home was long, and yet not quite long enough.

Ciao for now.