The farmer of the farm on which we would be working had a little cottage where we would be staying. There would be a housekeeper there who would be looking after us on the side. He was not really a housekeeper per se, but he was an environmental/ecology university graduate doing some research. He picked us up from the station in a red pickup and then we reached the cottage where we did some unpacking. At first we thought of living in two separate rooms but it was freezing and the girls decided that we could conserve more body heat. The farmer came to visit and to say hi and let us know what time he would pick us up the next day for work. In the evening, we found out that there was a hot springs / public bath near by and were very relieved as we suspected (correctly) that there would not be much hot water in our wooden rickety cottage.

The hot springs was great, being primarily a sort of small clubhouse with separate facilities for the males and females. There was a place where people could relax and order some snacks and watch television. (Our cottage did not have a television.) Then there were the public baths. It was not exactly my first time at one (I have been to one in Hong Kong) but it was certainly the first time at one in Japan. Of course, all the people, like everyone else in the village, were over 50. Haha. But it was very comfortable to be able to take a bath with all the hot water you want, and then soak in the hot springs. Especially the one outdoors. You could feel the nip of the snowy weather and yet be wonderfully warm.

After a breakfast of ham and eggs, we were picked up by the farmer. Turns out the farm was not near at all, but about 30 minutes drive away. I always thought that farmers stay ON the farms, but apparently that is not the case. So we reached the farm, which were actually more like fields and fields of snow, and we see 6 greenhouse frames there. We were to be working on the greenhouse frames, to start preparing it for the spring to plant tomatoes. The funny thing was, we were working knee deep and at some times, waist deep in snow. And it was freezing. Our boots being made for wet conditions and not snow, we soon had snow in our boots which numbed our feet. The snow would slowly melt, leaving us with freezing toes in cold cold water. After work, we were always able to turn our boots upside down to unload about a litre of water ! Gross.

We would work about 2 hours in the morning, before going off for lunch with the farmer. After about an hour's lunch, we would go back to work for another 3 hours or so. Then he would drive us back. We would usually rest for a while before going off to the hot springs for our bath. We only went after 5 pm because it was half priced entry then ! Haha. After we come back from our bath at around 8, we would take our time to cook dinner. Exhausted, we would retire to the room at 9, to rest, play some Monopoly Deal, and fall asleep by 10. Really quite a healthy lifestyle to be getting so much sleep. We slept on the floor on tatamis, and I still find it funny to say, usually buried under mountains of blankets. There being no heater, it was very cold. To make matters worse, the floor to ceiling sliding window, was a very thin barrier against the snow outside, and being wooden, there were lots of holes and uneven places where the wind blew in. Brrr..

That was our main schedule for the week, and we worked for four days, as we arrived on Monday, and left on Saturday morning. By that time, we felt really exhausted of working on a farm and could not wait to leave for the start of our real holiday !