2025年11月 – Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning

If not rainy, I need to do many things in my garden.

Time is limited. Since Niigata gets a lot of rain, sleet, and eventually snow in the seasons of late autumn and early winter, time that I can work in my field decrease day by day.

Today, the weather has been fine. I worked in my field 2 hours in the morning, and 2 hours in the afternoon. What I did was to make places to plant a tree of fig. The fig fruit doesn’t last long. You need to eat a fig in the same day as you harvest it if you want to eat fresh. For this difficulty, it is very rare to see figs on the shelves of supermarket. So, if you want to eat fresh fig, you need to grow fig tree yourself. I have already planted some trees of Japanese native figs (though I still haven’t got fruits from those trees). Now I am going to plant fig trees of three different types. Probably it will take two to three years until I got fruits of figs from those trees.

It was just four hours that I worked in my field today, but I got exhausted. I started practicing piano at 4 p.m., and played Hanon No.1, but I felt sleepy, went to my room, and slept a little in “Kotatsu” by the time for cooking supper. Now today is going to end when I upload this post. Four months have already passed since I came back Japan. Any single day is precious for me. I have to make efforts for many things. And now I have to work in my field as much as I can before winter comes.

This photo is not of today but taken 9 days ago, though I don’t think there is someone who cares about such tiny thing.

Sushi and Sashimi for Supper Tonight

I don’t have much to write tonight.

It’s the First Time for me to grow Pea in my garden

This year, I have tried growing pea. This is the first time for me. I actually have some experiences to grow other type of beans, though most of the time I failed to grow them well. When I came back Japan in the summer, I was just looking for vegetable seeds that can be planted in August and September. Then I found seeds of pea on the shelves of DIY shop. I bought the seeds and planted them on my garden.

Beans like soils whose PH is slightly acidic to neutral soil. As for peas, they like more alkaline soil. So, I had mixed a lot of oyster shell lime with the soil in my garden.

When a pea has grown up this size, I pick and cook it. But I have a little problem with this pea. There is a fiber on upper edge of the shell. The fiber needs to be removed at cooking because it cannot be soft by chewing. Removing the fibers from the shell takes some minutes in cooking. Next time I plant pea in my garden, I want to get seeds that has been improved not to have fibers so that I can save the time for cooking.

I went to a Town next to my Village to see a Doctor for my skin problem

I have atopic dermatitis. And now my face is itchy. While I had been living in the foreign country until July, my symptoms were stable. But since I came back Japan at the end of July, my skin’s condition has gradually gotten worse. And now, ointments I have is almost running out. So today, I went to see a dermatologist who runs a clinic in a town next to my village. When I got to the clinic, few patients were there. I was called soon. And then I talked to the doctor, received ointment, paid money, and got out of the clinic. It was very quickly done.

When I was waiting for a local train for way back, I saw the advertisement board from the platform. The board introduces two schools for driver’s license. She is saying “Come to take (a driver’s license)” with smile and jumping. But I’d say, it might not be a pleasant experience to learn driving there, because there usually are some scary instructors. You may be shouted during driving training on the course or roads.

This train is not for me because it’s going to Niigata

This train is being operated by one driver without a conductor. So, no one is in the driver’s section at the end of trains.

Countermeasures against some passengers

Part of Iide Mountain was covered with cloud, but I could see the mountain has already become white.

Chrysanthemum flower and other, Photos I took Yesterday

I didn’t take a care of them well this year. So, there are not much chrysanthemum flowers in my garden.

If I could, I will plant more chrysanthemum in coming year so that my garden can be more colorful in November.

These two are the very last persimmons. It is said that part of persimmons should be left on the tree so that birds can eat. But I think persimmons will soon fall onto the ground. Probably I will eat them.

This fig will not be able to ripen before winter comes. All the figs had fallen because of drought in summer. This one came out after that.

This citrus tree is standing by the road where many elementary and junior high school students walk to their schools. Last year, the only one citrus on the tree was stolen. This year too, there is only one citrus on the tree. I expect that a junior high student will steal it again, though I will not get angry so much.

Seven Radishes (Daikon) are kept under the Ground for Preservation

This morning, I buried seven radishes in the soil in order to keep them fresh. Although cutting all the green leaves of radish is better for preservation, I cut them so that 5 centimeters (2 inches) of green leaves would remain. It is because I think I can find a radish easily by green leaves on the ground as a mark, especially when they are covered with snow.

They are only seven. I thought I should have planted more radish in August. If one radish lasts 3 days, 7 radishes could last only 21 days. Winter continues three months. Vegetables available in winter are precious.

From the seven radishes, I could also get a lot of green leaves. Before cooking supper tonight, I washed them, boiled several minutes, and put them in three Tupperware. I think now three Tupperware have cooled down, so I am going to put the three in freezer after I upload this post.

A long time ago, when I was living in US, one day I was going to buy a radish in a supermarket. A lady working at the cashier called the radish “Daikon”. I was a little surprised because “Daikon” was a Japanese “大根”.

The last persimmon in this Autumn

I have eaten the last persimmon “KOYO(TM)” at the supper just before. It was the last for eating raw. Still two KOYOs remain hanging under the roof to be dried persimmons. But anyway, I have harvested 29 KOYOs this autumn. It is a good variety of persimmon with trade mark, which is a popular bitter persimmon in Japan. I want to make the tree bigger in next year so that I will be able to get more.

What I thought, taking a look at a photo of ten years ago

This photo was taken ten years ago. Ten years are not short period of time. I have experienced a lot of things; went to vocational training, worked in a company as a translator, studied so many things to be a Japanese teacher, and worked at a foreign university. Pandemic of corona virus was also a big thing that happened during these ten years.

And now I am in my home that was inherited from my deceased father. I have no job to earn money right now. Perhaps my life as a working person might have ended. And I feel like memories of these ten years are going to disappear like memories of things twenty years ago.

Two mountains’ peaks are there in the photo. The left peak is round and the right peak is sharp. My father’s family had lived at the foot of the left mountain, and my mother’s family had lived at the foot of the right mountain.

Swans were taking rest in Rice Field of Niigata, Northern JAPAN

Today, I went to a DIY shop in this afternoon. The shop is located in rice fields. I needed to walk 3 kilometers (one-way) to get to there.

When I crossed the railway from residential area to rice fields, I found “white creatures” on the fields.

Coming from Siberia, they were taking a rest on the rice field. I wondered if there were anything to eat there. I thought that if I had got closer to them, they would have run away from me. But they were staying there as if they didn’t care of me.