A Day in the Life of ARI

We begin each morning at 6:30 with morning exercise (aka stretching to funny music with a Japanese announcer man telling you what to do or so I think... I just follow everyone else), which means that I wake up at 6:25 ;)

Then it's time for cleaning. I am assigned to the tool repair shop until October, but there are a lot of us there and never that many things to do so I usually just end up sweeping. I have learned how to repair bicycles and hoes.

After that, it's food life time (one of my favorite times of the day)! For the first 2 weeks I was in the kitchen for food life and work, which meant that I helped to prepare 3 meals a day for at least 60 people each time! It also meant that I didn't get to be outside very much, but since it was raining almost everyday, I didn't mind that part so much. Now I'm in Crops and Vegetables for food life, which means I get to do all sorts of fun things like harvest vegetables, weed, string up beans and other plants, help with the compost, make fermented sawdust to feed the ducks and chickens (it's quite a process, but very cool), prepare new beds, and sow seeds. Tuesday and Friday are my favorite days because we harvest tons of things and then during work time, I get to weigh, wash, sort, and cook everything that we harvested. I'm in a group with 3 women from Japan, 1 man from the Philippines, 1 man from Sri Lanka, 1 woman from Myanmar, 1 man from Liberia, 1 man from Indonesia, and 1 man from the Solomon Islands. It's so fun getting to talk to them while we work and hear about agriculture in their countries. They tell me so many stories about their homes and the culture there. It's such a great community!

Breakfast is next and it's always very oishi ("delicious" in Japanese)! The yogurt is my favorite! It's incredible! You can eat it plain or add jams and soybean powder. It's so good!!! We eat a full meal for breakfast so we have rice, vegetables, eggs, etc. unlike in the U.S. where we only have a light breakfast. It took a little getting used to, but I actually enjoy eating rice for breakfast now.

Morning work is next, which means we are in the kitchen preparing lunch. I've learned so many things about cooking! Most of the people here are incredible cooks and can just whip up delicious dishes without any effort. I've prepared a few dishes by myself, like pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, some other soups, eggs, and a few other vegetable dishes. There are always so many vegetables and I love it! The women that work in the kitchen with me are all so incredible. My roommate, Pia, from Spain is amazing, of course. Then there's Myar from Myanmar, Ishi-san from Japan (she's a very cute older woman that comes to help each day), Jeen Hae (a wonderful Korean woman who is very sweet), and Gocchan who is the one officially in charge of meal services. She has a great smile and laugh. We all have a lot of fun together! My favorite part is "tea time," when we take a break to have a cup of cold tea (thank goodness since it's usually very hot in the kitchen) and sometimes a sweet that Ishi-san brings us. The only bad thing about the kitchen is the crazy number of flies that make it inside and buzz around everywhere, but we hung some sticky strips up last week so they have started to disappear a little bit.

Then it's lunch time when everyone comes back from class and the fields to rest and eat for an hour or so.

1:30-5 is afternoon work, which is much more relaxed than morning work since we don't have to prepare a meal. Some days we clean or process vegetables. My favorite days are the breadmaking days when we experiment with making different breads. Gocchan is getting married in January and wants to make bread for her wedding reception so we have lots of practicing to do.

5-6 is food life again.

Usually there's time for a quick shower before dinner so we can wash off all of the dirt. Dinner is always fun because we get to talk about our daily adventures. After dinner there's usually a few people that serenade us with old James Taylor, Beatles, and Bob Dylan songs. It reminds of Singing on the Porch at Camp Glisson! Everyone just sits around and sings and talks. Sometimes we have meetings, lectures, classes like Martial Arts or Yoga (or the Dance/English Class that I'm about to start), or we watch movies or ride into town to go to the supermarket. My favorite thing to do is get ice cream! The ice cream here is so good!! They have green tea and sweet red bean flavors, which are my favorites!!

Life at ARI is so incredible! I really feel like I utilize my entire day. We work hard, but we play hard too so it makes it all balanced in the end. We eat so many vegetables and healthy organic foods that I actually feel healthier. It's such a cool feeling to be able to work for your food and see it through the entire process from seed to plant to fruit to a meal. I have already learned so many things about farming and about so many countries and cultures. I feel truly blessed to be a part of such an amazing community.