Sayuri's Reports for the first week
July 30, Wednesday (Rain)
As we flew above the clouds, the Rocky mountains looked like
islands surrounded by an ocean.
Yesterday, we left Yamanashi-ken and 16 hours later we arrived in
Georgia. As we approached Atlanta the flight was very rough and I became sick to my
stomach. Georgia has a reputation for being humid and hot, but this time the rainy
weather was cool. We arrived at Joe's house in Dahlonega about 10PM. From the
terrace at the back of Joe's house a few lightning bugs shown in the foggy air. I was
tired to the bone and I slept like a rock.
July 31, Friday (Sunny)
After breakfast, we went to town. On our way we saw a field of exceptionally tall corn. Giant Corn! Nearby, we met a nice lady named Nell. When our conversation moved to my surprise seeing the Giant Corn, Nell told us that if corn is planted on the new moon it grows tall, and if on the full moon it grows short. There was also a few horses standing in a pasture near the corn field. I thought to myself, that even now talking about nature is important.
Before I came to Georgia, I
found the Dahlonega Georgia homepage using a search engine. At that time I saw the
golden roof of one of the buildings at North Georgia College in Dahlonega. I also
learned that Dahlonega was the site of America's first gold rush and that
"Dahlonega" actually meant "gold" in the Cherokee Indian language. The Cherokees were one tribe of American Indians. The picture of the golden roof on the
Dahlonega homepage looked as if it were painted so it was hard for me to believe it was
real. But now that I have seen it, I can say that it is real and looks the same as the
picture. The roof must symbolize the town of Dahlonega. I also discovered that
reddish-orange background of a Georgia homepage is the same color as the soil here.
When we visited a used clothing store in town, we met a group of four elderly women who were working in the store. An 81 year old woman in the group told us about her Cherokee Indian ancestry and her family's pride in these roots.
A neighborhood
boy named Aaron who I had heard about was even brighter than I had imagined. The four
of us, Joe, Masa, Aaron, and I took a walk around the land and the Etowah river. I felt
that I was walking in a forest near the Ojiro-gawa in Yamanashi-ken. I saw many
different plants and trees on a trail that Joe made when he was sixteen years old. Joe
guided us as he cut branches along the trail. We saw many lovely flowers: pink, purple,
"Queen Anne's Lace," and Black-eyed Susan. I was most surprised to see the
blueberry bushes drooping heavily with berries. I had never seen a place with so many
berries and I have never tasted such a mellow sweetness. We also found blackberries.
The river looked like it was still recovering from the recent rain. 
Tonight was clear too and there were endless stars. The Milky Way
looked like long, thin strips of clouds. It had been a long time since I had seen so
many stars, as if they were coming out of the sky like rain. After watching the stars
for a long time, I saw two shooting stars. The air was cold and clear and I did not see
any fireflies.
August 1, Friday (Clear)
I heard that Joe began building this house when he was sixteen years old. I saw some pictures before coming, but being here I can appreciate the house even more. There is a lot of wood in the the house. The first floor is about 30 tatami mats square. The second floor (loft) is about 6 mats square. It would be nice if other people could come and see this house. The sun shines in the house a lot and the view is good all around. Joe calls the house a cabin, so I had an image of some kind of survival shelter, but the house is actually very easy too live in.
Today we picked the blueberries we discovered yesterday. I have never
picked so much fruit. The berries I picked with Masa filled a big basket. There are
still many berries that are not quite ripe, so we will continue to have fun picking.
I
hope we can make some blueberry jam. Joe says he planted these blueberries seven years
ago. He said that you can cut the branches of these blueberries and stick them directly
into the ground to make more bushes.
I spoke with Shoji by internet phone. Using software like CU-See-Me, you can use the computer like a television-phone. To be able to use the computer to do something like this is great. Japan is thirteen hours different from Georgia, so Shoji's face looked sleepy at 11PM Japan time.
At 7 PM here, it was still very light and seemed like it was 5 or 6PM in Yamanashi.
