Behind the scenes, sort of

August 5 

We have Mondays off, so we've decided to give you a behind-the-scenes recap of our trip. This is the Uchinada Bible Church, which graciously hosts the Noto Help effort. Apparently there's no church big enough in the Noto Peninsula that can house this operation and its staff and volunteers. Although it takes 2.5 hours to travel to the disaster site by car, it nonetheless works.

When we arrived, the display indicated the number of volunteers who've served from around the world with the Noto Help effort. By the time we leave on Thursday, this number should be significantly past 3000.

Our accommodations are basic, but it works. I mentioned previously I had trouble sleeping on the floor, they provided an air mattress for me. We've limited access to the shower since that's on the other side of the building housing female volunteers, but between that and the local hot springs, we've managed. The men's room is down a flight of stairs. Most importantly, this room is air conditioned (!), which makes it comfortable at night.
One difference since our last trip in 2019 is more vendors will take Visa, before that wasn't always the case. Even some vending machines will take credit cards.
We went to a local ramen bar where we viewed the Olympics for a few minutes. The Japanese coverage is clearly different than what we see in the States, there's no athlete profiles offered and the sportscasters don't appear to be celebrities. There's a bit more focus on the Japanese athletes, but all of the competitors get camera time.
Speaking of ramen, we occasionally take a break from the convenience stores. It was a good meal that was very affordable.

We did take part of the day over the weekend to visit family in Fukui, which is the adjacent prefecture to Ishikawa. It's the first time seeing family in a dozen years. The city of Mihama, surrounded by lakes and the Sea of Japan, is my parents' home town. The views are spectacular!

Back to HQ and preparing for another visit to the Noto Peninsula. Thanks for reading, please stay tuned!

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