Great Expectations

Lately, I've started to get frustrated with all the little things in my life and my children's lives that I am working toward but to which I never seem to be getting any closer. I decided to make a list of things I wanted accomplished by the time we wrap up 2014. I figured a little over 3 months is a perfect amount of time to clear up some of these little things and get some larger things in motion.

Personally, there are a ton of things I would like get better about by the new year but at the top of the list is blogging more often, setting a consistent and committed schedule for studying Japanese, being more consistent and dedicated about my exercise regimen, and to begin teaching myself to play the ukulele. Basically all of this revolves around finding more time in my life and not about lack of motivation or desire. I am still working on finding a solution to balancing all of the things I wish to do in the tiny scraps of time that are left over between caring for the children, the house, and working. I don't really do extremely structured routines and time slots, but it almost seems that I will have to start adopting some kind of strict daily planning to fit what I want to in my life.

Though my personal expectations are usually on hyper drive, I am definitely no Tiger Mother. I think my expectations of the kids are fairly realistic but sometimes I am overwhelmed by the sheer amount of life skills that I need to teach them before the can possibly be confident and capable human beings. For the time being, William and Rosie are the lucky ones since I don't really have any grand expectations of them at all. At least not anything that I have felt like I am slacking off as a parent about. William is speaking a lot more now, in both English and Japanese, not that I really had any control over that anyway, and Rosie is finally starting to sleep consistently through the night with very minimal effort on my part to put her to sleep. Both of them eat fairly well and healthily and William has been potty trained for over a year and Rosie is too young to start. Nothing to do for the time being but to watch them grow.

Meanwhile, Theo's English reading ability is still pretty shaky. We usually try to fit in 15 minutes of English reading/writing practice into the evening on weekdays but some days he just has so much Japanese and math homework (sometimes over an hour of work in first grade!) that his attention span is just shot by the end without tacking on any extra. Also, Dustin has decided he doesn't have the patience to teach him and signed off on the whole endeavor which means that nothing happens on evenings that I am working. I really wish that someone could just take this cup from me, but seeing as Theo gets no English in school that is not an option. In the past few weeks he has been improving significantly so I am pretty hopeful that in the next three months he will be off and running and reading independently. I really can't wait until he discovers how magical and wonderful the world of books really is!

Theo's homework stack

Another thing on Theo's list was teaching him to ride his bike without training wheels. Theo and I put in a lot of bike riding time over the last half of summer break, going on one hour bike rides each day, but I never got around to actually taking the training wheels off until two days ago. It doesn't help that Theo is the size of an average 9 year old here, so on our bike rides we would often get some person giving him a strange look and one old man even told me to take his training wheels off already. Sigh. On Monday we heading to our neighbourhood park sans training wheels and on his first try he kept his balance and cruised around the park with no problems at all. He was absolutely brimming with pride and self accomplishment and kept singing Queen's "Bicycle" at the top of his lungs.


I'll let you know how many of my personal goals I actually crossed off my list by the new year!

Summer in the City

Time has slipped away on me again with three weeks seeming to vanish into thin air. While I write an actual post about our lives, here are some photos of what our summer has looked like so far.

On July 1st we celebrated our third Canada Day in Japan. I made poutine and the boys tried it for the first time. Theo seemed to really like it, but as always with anything containing potatoes, William was not too excited.

Rosie was happiest of all with her piece of barbecued corn on the cob.

Even though we barbecue A LOT in the summer, we occasionally head over to the local 100 yen sushi restaurant to change things up a bit. The boys decided that during this meal they would be sushi zombies. 

Rosie, who can never be left out of their shenanigans, tried her hardest to be a sushi zombie too.

We've also been working on removing the training wheels from Theo's bicycle. He has been wanting us to do this for a while, but his balance still needs a little work. Here he is taking a popsicle break on one of our biking trips.

Summer time at our house means trying to avoid using the air conditioner as much as possible. Instead I boot the kids outside and let them splash around in the kiddie pool if they get sweaty.

"I yam wot I yam and that's all wot I yam!"

Rosie enjoying taking a stroll around the block.

Inspecting a large caterpillar we found on the bike shelter. 

The Japanese star festival, Tanabata, is held on July 7th. People write wishes on coloured strips of paper and hang them along with paper cut into pretty shapes and designs on a young bamboo tree. Here are the boys posing in front of a Tanabata tree we found at a local department store.

Some people also go star gazing on the evening of the 7th, but since it was pouring rain it was kind of out of the question. With all this rain we've been having, I got to see a gorgeous double rainbow.

Another way we enjoy summer is with one of our favourite traditional Mennonite meals, rollkuchen and watermelon. It is quick to make and really light but best of all there are never any complaints no matter how many times we have it in a week.

And that's a little glimpse into our world these past few weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to get a real post up soon! 

Death Traps

Japan really has some amazing ways of collecting, draining, and channeling water. Considering the amount of water that pours out of the sky during the rainy season or a typhoon, it is necessary to be a little inventive when it comes to water control within the city. Nearly every street has an open concrete ditch running beside it which can be anywhere from 40 cm wide and fairly shallow to a meter or more in width and depth. When you go into the countryside, the canal systems get even more elaborate so that farmers can divert water from reservoirs, rivers, or lakes to flood their rice fields.

Judging by all the little rice fields tucked here and there between houses and buildings, I always get the feeling that Fukuyama is just a country town that happened to get big. Houses in the older central neighbourhoods like ours seem to be built around the existing channels bringing water from the Ashida River to farmer's fields. There just happen to be way less of those fields now! 

How do these ditches have any influence on our daily lives, you might ask? Well, firstly you must always pay attention to them when you are biking, especially when Theo is riding his bike. I have visions of him flying over the edge of one of the deeper, wetter ones and breaking his bike and landing himself in the hospital while he's at it. Theo has skinned his knee and lost two water bottles to the ditches on his way home from school. The streets in our neighbourhood are notoriously badly lit at night and I am surprised I haven't walked or ridden into one accidentally myself. With streets so insanely narrow, virtually no shoulder, and a 50 cm drop off on either side of the road, can you blame me for being a little hesitant about driving a car in Japan? 

Secondly, the little piece of the street and the ditch that wraps around our house is considered our responsibility to keep clean and free of debris. I feel like every high schooler passing by decides this is the prime place to throw their empty drink boxes and ice cream wrappers and every smoker seems to think our ditch looks like an ideal ashtray. I also have to clean up leaves and toys that the boys throw over the fence, but I just don't have the same animosity toward our children as I do strangers littering in front of our house. Lowering myself down into a narrow, mossy, slick ditch to scrape up leaves, mud, and cigarette butts is very rarely my idea of a good time. Maybe that is why our ditch doesn't look as sparklingly clean and pristine as most of the obaasan's do? 

Lastly, the deeper ditches that have at least some water all year long are wonderful for watering plants. You don't need to waste water or money by filling up watering cans with a hose when you can just collect some of the water from the ditch next door. The water is not contaminated in any way, I wouldn't exactly brush my teeth with it, but it is more than okay to use it for plant watering. Since it is mostly rain and river water I think it is probably better for your plants than using the treated water from our taps. I was lucky enough to find and old but useable long handled dipper in the space underneath our house which came in really handy when we still had our community garden plot! 

A Stranger in a Strange Land.

This morning we woke up to snow on the ground. For my friends and family who have had more than enough of the white stuff already this winter they are probably saying "so what!" However, for us in Fukuyama snow on the ground is a big deal. I did not realize how big a deal this was though until I began my usual commute to work by bicycle. I was halfway over the bridge when I heard a distinct "chakka chakka" sound coming up from behind me, and as I looked over my shoulder I was shocked. A van had snow chains on its tires. SNOW CHAINS!? Now, when I say we had snow on the ground what I mean to say is the ground had a light half centimeter dusting of snow. And this guy had snow chains on. Sorry, I am still in disbelief.

Once at work I began to relate this, what seemed to me, hilarious story and discovered that I was the odd man out. One teacher had woken up at 5:30 am in order to change over all four tires on his car to winter tires. Another teacher walked to work because, while her husband's car had ice tires on it, hers did not and so he prohibited her from driving out of concern for her safety. WHAT!? Sorry, again with the disbelief.

The whole situation reminded me of a time back in Manitoba: We were about halfway through one of our wonderful 6 month winters, complete with an average of 2 meters of snow, when the city of Toronto got a few centimeters of the fluffy white stuff. In typical over the top Toronto fashion, a state of emergency was declared and the military was called in for assistance.

Here is an example of a winter road where snow chains are probably not needed... and a fairly close approximation of what the roads looked like this morning.

Here is an example of a situation in which snow chains or at the very least ice tires might be a good idea. This was not what the roads looked like this morning.

Cycling the Shimanami Kaido

This is a post I have been meaning to write for a few days and have continued to put off for one ridiculous reason or another. However, even though it is several weeks too late I will now regale you with my tale of cycling the Shimanami Kaido. {side note: this will be a personal narrative, if you are looking for detailed information on taking this trip yourself I suggest you go here or here or here.}

Final bridge connecting Shikoku to Honshu.

My story probably starts closer to the beginning of our time in Japan when I first heard about the Shimanami Kaido  which links Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, with Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. It's a 60 kilometer-long toll highway exclusively for automobiles that links the islands of the Seto Inland Sea with nine individual bridges. Each bridge consists of a road way and a cycle/pedestrian corridor. In addition to the bridges the wonderful folks behind the Shimanami Kaido also designed and incorporated a complete cycle route with access ramps and signs that guide you the entire way. On top that, they even painted a blue line on the highway all the way from Onomichi to Imabari city centre. In other words if you get lost, well you probably deserved it. 

The cycle route is slightly longer at about 70kms

But I digress, when I first heard about it another teacher from my school suggested we cycle it sometime, however when plans were finally made we only ended up driving his car to certain points and cycling around them... also it rained and we got completely soaked. At this point I can not stress enough, if you are going to attempt this trip be aware of the weather. Not only does cycling in the rain suck, but the wind on some of the bridges can become down right dangerous if not given a healthy amount of respect. 

Fast forward to very recently, October 20th to be exact. A second attempt had been planned with the addition of one more to the party and coinciding with me getting a new road bicycle the week before. So with high hopes that the weather would hold two of us set from the starting point of the ferry terminus on Mukaishima, the first of the islands we would have to cross. On the other side of the island we met up with my fellow teacher and tackled the first bridge.

My new bike is the one on the right.
The Trek belonged to the other member of our group
and is a significantly more expensive bike then mine. :(

The first bridge we had to overcome and the only one where
the cycle path is actually below the cars on second level.

The weather held and we could not have asked for a more perfect day for cycling. Once we reached Oshima island the teacher from my school called it a day and turned around in order to return to his car, while the remaining two of us continued on. Just outside of Imabari City my other companion also turned around, so that he could make it back home before dark. I had intended to to finish the entire route so I continued on alone. When I finally reached Imabari at around 2:00 in the afternoon I was tired and hungry but happy that I had finally completed something I had been wanting to do for some time. I was also rewarded at the end of my trip with a bonafide Giant store, which if you know me is second only to discovering an Apple store. :) 

I highly recommend that if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods and have a day to spare that you spend it cycling the Shimanami Kaido. 

Attempting to not be the tallest one out. Walker-sensei (L)

One of the longer bridges we encountered.

Walker-sensei (L) Fujita-sensei (R)

Fantastic signs that show the effort put into making this one of premier cycle routes in Japan.

Restaurant where I ate my much needed victory meal.

Imabari speciality: Rice, fried pork and two sunny side up eggs.

If you know me you would realize how giddy this made me.
 And the fact that I asked one of the girls working at the shop to take this picture really made her day.

Free Wheelin'

For a while now, Dustin and I have been trying to figure out the right time to get Theo his first bike. We wanted to make sure that his coordination, interest levels, and strength all reached the right point. What made up our minds to finally go and buy him one was his ever increasing weight being hauled around on the child's seat behind Dustin's bike. He is getting to a weight where it is downright unwieldily to try and bike with him. Dustin manages all right, but I have a hard time feeling balanced and stable with 21 kilos sitting on my back tire. The seat is supposed to work for children up to 6 years old but I don't think they were taking into consideration our fairly large (by Japanese standards) child.

We brought Theo down to the bike shop and let him pick which colour of bike he wanted. It was no surprise to us that he chose red, since that has been his favorite colour for about 6 months now. Since then we have been letting him ride around the neighbourhood as much as possible trying to build up his biking muscles, control, and ability to brake at appropriate times. It seems that they don't sell children's bikes with a back pedal brake anymore, or at least not in Japan. This was the first bike that I learned to ride and I find takes way less coordination than trying to teach a four year old how to use double hand brakes.

The only concerns I have when he rides his bike (other than the cars that never seem to stop at a stop line) are the water channels and ditches beside the roads.  These ditches are actually concrete channels to collect rain and water run off and direct it to the canals.  In our neighbourhood they are open and anywhere between 30 cm to 1.5 meters deep. It turns out, after scouring through all of my photos, that I have never taken a photo of them. That will have to be a post for another day. I am surprised that he hasn't swerved his bike into one of them yet, but I am sure it will happen sooner or later. Truthfully, I am surprised that I haven't swerved my bike into one of them yet. I am also impressed that he hasn't careened into one of the little rice paddies that are scattered all over the place. These usually have at least a 1.5 meter drop off with nothing preventing an easily distractible kid from ploughing over the edge. Needless to say, I hover within arms reach whenever he goes on bike excursions. Hopefully he can learn to ride safely by himself by the time he has truly maxed out the weight on the child's seat on Dustin's bike.

Untimely Endings

Over the holidays, two important electronic devices in my life met with an untimely end. Right before Christmas, our camera effectively stopped working. Since I take photos on a daily basis, as a hobby but also for this blog, I found it extremely annoying and inconvenient. We resorted to taking photos with our cell phones which was a shame since I would have liked to get good pictures of Christmas, New Year's, and Dustin and Theo's birthday. Dustin and I had been planning on getting a new camera in the spring, but the sudden malfunction of our old camera made us reconsider our timing. After sifting through our options and doing a bit of research, we finally settled on a camera that suits our needs. It arrived last week and I am extremely pleased with the shots it takes. Now the only excuse for crappy pictures on the blog is my own picture taking ability! Here are a couple of pictures we took from a bike ride on Monday:

View from Tomonoura harbour

Daffodils in January!?

Reporting for duty!

At a riverside park

Tomonoura

The other device that came to a sudden demise was my Kindle. I was reading a book and was obviously pretty engrossed in it when Theo lunged at me, landing with both of his knees on the screen. I heard a loud snap like a twig breaking and about 3 seconds later, the screen looked like this: 

At that moment, I actually found myself stating something my mother said many times during my childhood: "I can't have nice things". Theo was really remorseful and quite empathetic because he offered to take me to a playground and buy me ice cream to make me feel better. I almost took him up on the offer. Fortunately, only the screen is broken, not all of the other electronic bits, and Dustin, being the capable person that he is, ordered a used screen and claims that he can make it as good as new. Meanwhile, after wingeing for a few days about having to stop reading my book at a really gripping part, we decided to get a second Kindle. We had been intending on getting one for Dustin at some point, but since mine is out of commission for the time being, it seemed like the right time. We got a different (cheaper) model than the last one and it is pretty nice. I was able to finally finish my book and have been fueling my daily need for reading ever since. Hopefully we won't have any more mishaps in the next few months. Replacing two electronic devices in a few weeks is about as much as we can handle!

Our two e-book readers side by side