4/9 - Peemen and rotten soy beans

Seriously, how many times have YOU gotten up at 5.30 to pick bell peppers? This was my first, but the reason for doing it is that you can endure the heat at this time.
People often stop by or we meet them on our way somewhere, and they always chat. It’s kinda nice, and I’m always told how good my Japanese is (pera-pera, Japanese onopatopeia for fluent speech), and although it’s only to be polite, it’s nice to be told. Also, either I’ve actually gotten better, shaken off a little of my fear of making mistakes or just because the locals are good at rephrasing themselves I’m not sure, but it feels less strained to speak to people.
Oh yes, today was also the day for me to try the rumoured natto, which is fermented soy beans. Check them out at youtube – they’re really special! I’ve heard that they taste aweful, and I’ll admit that they SMELL bad (I remember a lesson from JapanesePod101, where one of the people in the dialogue thought it smelled like feet, and well… they do.) They were surprisingly tasteless though. Previous foreign visitors had apparently disliked them, and I think I was the first/only one to actually like them. Strange…

Obaa-chan is really, really nice; they all are, but I really like obaa-chan. Today she gave me a warm beanie that she had knitted herself – that made me feel really welcome ^^
In the evening, the girls and mother went shopping. I went along with the father a little later, and rode with the girls back home. Got to talk a little with especially the youngest, Michika. I think she’s interested, but I feel like a bother when I don’t understand what she says. At first she mumbled quite a lot and used the Ooita dialect, but she’s gotten a lot better at speaking clear and slow, separating each word like I was an idiot, but that’s ok. That way I don’t have to constantly ask for her to repeat herself, so it’s all good. Getting a little better with Norika and Ayaka too, although Michika is the one I talk to.