Motomiya on a rainy day

It's springtime in Fukushima-ken, meaning farmers are often out in the fields tending to their crops. Motomiya is the proud of home of rice fields galore. We're dubbed the "smallest" city in Fukushima, but there's no denying that I live in the countryside. Although I've had to adapt quite a bit, I've grown to love this place.

The following list will seem like a list of complaints; but these little things have transported me to a different way of life, where I've had to learn to change some of my ways, ha. Here are a few "Only in the Boonies"-moments that I'd like to share:
- I once had a little frog in my genkan (front entrance). That was pretty gross.
- The other day, I stepped out of my apartment and was pretty close to stepping on a snake. I yelled. It was gross.
- I tried to drive alongside the rice paddies this week, in an effort to get to my Board of Education. (Usually, I take the main arterial road). With my infamous lack of navigation skills, I got lost amidst the rice paddies. I still don't know how to successfully drive around rice paddies.
- I don't drive with road names in mind anymore; I rely on landmarks like the 7/11. To get to Soph's house, she told me to pass the "hip hop store on the left." Ha.
- I can't go to the konbini (convenience store) or local shopping areas without running into my students, their parents or my fellow teachers. Everyone is always all up in your grill. My fellow teachers will roll down their windows, and holler at me when I'm walking around the neighbourhood.
- I was a couple minutes late for work recently. My short commute is really only one-minute by car. But one day, I got stuck behind a grandpa who was driving his tractor; and the next day, another grandpa was blocking myshort cut with his trolley full of vegetables.
- My kids are expected to bike to and from school every day. But sometimes, they score a car ride from their family. A lot of them get picked up in short, white trucks with big flatbeds - these are usually used by farmers.
- A truck has started making its rounds in my neighbourhood, playing a loud song peddling "yaki imo" (roasted sweet potato). Go on Youtube, and look up the "Yaki imo" truck. You'll understand why I don't like the song. But I do like roasted sweet potatoes.
- Frogs serenade me to sleep. They're all really noisy, now that the weather's swell and the rice fields are flooded.