This photo shows the shore directly in front of the dorm while the waves were still about 1.5 m swells (we had 3 m last night and are in for 4 m tonight). One of the students has told me that tomorrow's forecast is for bigger waves still. It is likely that we will be forced to throw in the towel and not complete sampling within this tide window and so be forced to return here in December. Nothing like ice-covered slippery rocks to crawl over at midnight.
At least I brought a lot of reading to do while here so I have been able to keep busy. The sky and sea are grey and the wind is cold and I find myself missing a crackling fire and a comfy couch right now. The chairs in the cafeteria (that is the only place to sit) are terribly uncomfortable and there are no couches or beds. I braved the wind and rain today and went for a walk to clear my head. I spent yesterday morning on the phone (via internet) in the wet lab next to the dorms. The lab is pretty thick with salt, fish and formaldehyde smells so I need some fresh air. I had a nice chance to chat with friends and family and at least for the first part of the conversations, the students were still in bed so I had a small bit of privacy (a luxury of late).
I am in Donan with three other students this trip and we were all starting to get a touch of cabin fever. At least there is a TV in the cafeteria and one of the students talked me through watching my first sumo match. I have to say that it is one of the least attractive sports I have ever seen, and if there wouldn't have been someone watching with me and explaining what was going on, I would not have had any interest in continuing to watch. The student who I watched with was right into it and that helped me to find the stomach to continue watching.
Later, the same student patiently taught me to cook a Japanese staple – Okonomiyaki. Basically it is pancake batter with shredded cabbage and carrots mixed in. The pancake is topped with whatever you want (for us: more cabbage, bacon, shrimp and cheese), then fried and flipped. It is served smothered in mayo and a sweet BBQ sauce. It is a heart-stopper, but it is tasty (and contained no trace of eyeballs or other fish parts that were difficult to place). Here are a couple of pics of the students cooking Okonomiyaki. They got a kick out of making me make and flip one for them but I cheated and made it small and easy to handle.
We will head back tomorrow (Monday here) then I will have one day to get laundry washed and re-pack my bags for a short trip to Tokyo. I am going there for a meeting of the JSPS funded scholars from around Japan (JSPS is the agency who has provided my research funding for this work in Japan). I will get half a day of meeting time in before Shawn arrives to meet me there. Once he arrives, I don't think that I will have very much interest in listening to difficult english (most of the other foreign scholars are from Asia) and lectures on "how to interact with your Japanese host". I guess I'll see if I am “feeling very sick” and need to leave the meeting early *wink*.
