Noodle making, strange gifts and endless rain.

A few days ago I was lucky enough to head deep into the hills of Fukushima with a few friends to learn how to make Soba noodles. It was amazingly simple and the whole process (from soba flour to steaming bowl) took around half an hour. They tasted pretty amazing too! After the soba workshop we walked a little ways down the hill to a little village named Ōuchijuku (大内宿). It was pretty amazing with it's old buildings and thatched roofs. As I am mindful of both my finances and baggage limits I was disciplined enough to only purchase a few postcards and some Mochi.
A few days ago we parted ways with our snowboards, it was a tough thing to do considering how much we got for them. Alas to ship them to canada would have cost us almost their original price, oh well. We also shipped a couple of big boxes of gear which should arrive in B.C. about the same time as we do. We were both really nervous about them becasue they were very large and heavy and we couldn't be sure that they'd take them at all! In the end (after a mini-drama or two) they did agree to ship them and it was quite cheap. Not only that but the little post-office man even gave Marika and I gifts of hand-towels, a pink one and a green one. Go figure, Japan at it's strangest.
Well, finally i'll get back to watching the rain. There is a typhoon moving up the country and although it was quite serious down south (2 people killed) up our way it has just meant steady, relentless rain.