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!

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.

A Wonderful Day in the Rain...

I have been looking forward to getting out and exploring parts of Japan that aren't Fukuyama. Not that I don't love my city, because I do. However, when another teacher at my school asked if I would like to bike part of the Shimanami Kaido with him I jumped at the chance. The Shimanami Kaido is actually an expressway that connects Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture to Imabari City in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. Alongside the expressway is an incredibly well developed cycling route with rest stops, bike rental places, and intense infrastructure all put in place to enjoy the Seto inland sea by bicycle. The forecast called for rain today but we didn't let that dampen our spirits. At ten o' clock we loaded our bikes into his car and started out for our first stop the Kurushima-kaikyo bridge, which is about 6.4 km, and is the final bridge connecting the island of Oshima to the main part of Shikoku.

Kurushima-kaikyo bridge as seen from Imabari City

We had nice ride across the bridge in which I blew through the toll gate not knowing that cyclists have to pay a small toll of ¥200 and had to sheepishly come back and throw my change into the box when I noticed my teacher no longer behind me. Once we got to the other side he kindly bought me lunch at a wonderful little restaurant with a fantastic view and equally fantastic food. It seems everything on the menu comes in little dutch ovens and served with a side of warm bread and a salad with vinaigrette made from locally produced citrus that is to die for.

Deliciously warm melted cheese, vegetables and meat
all simmered in a Dutch Oven.

 After lunch we headed back to the other side, loaded up our bikes and drove to Hakatajima Island where we unloaded our bikes again and proceeded to ride the entire circumference of the  island. During this portion of our ride it began to rain... a lot! We were soaked to the bone by the time we got all the way around the island, that being said I still had a lot of fun and I think he did too. Once we were completely around the island and the rain had subsided, he headed to the car and I continued by bike through a shipyard where they were christening a new ship and finally over one more bridge to Omishima Island and the Tatara Shimanami Koen (Park). There we packed up our bikes and headed over to the Tatara Shimanami Onsen for a much deserved soak in the those soothing hotwaters. All in all a wonderful day.

Ship building as seen from the Kurushima-kaikyo.

Some of the amazing infrastructure build solely for cyclists.

Hakatajima IC bike parking and tourist center.

The incoming rain on Hakatajima.

My fellow teacher at a little rest stop on Hakatajima where we
enjoyed some delicious snacks that Laura sent along with me...
...just the energy boost we needed to keep cycling in the rain.

Ship christening on Hakatajima.

Approach pathway to Omishima Bashi Bridge.

Omishima Bashi Arch Bridge.

Tatara Onsen where we spent some time relaxing after a hard day cycling in the rain.

The Way We Roll

A very patriotic view of our stroller

When Dustin's predecessor left Japan, he was nice enough to leave his mountain bike behind and Dustin has been able to bike the 25 minutes to and from work everyday. Meanwhile, the kids and I have been stuck walking everywhere, which actually hasn't been that bad since we brought a sit and stand stroller with us from Canada. For those who have never seen a contraption like this (they certainly don't have them in Japan), it has a normal reclining seat in the front for a younger child, and a jump seat and standing platform in the back for an older child. It is great for those times when the walk is just too far for Theo to manage on his own two feet, or if you are in a hurry and need to walk a little bit faster than Theo's usual stop-and-check-out-every-bug-and-flower walking speed. It is not as monstrous as a double stroller, so we are able to stash it away at our little apartment pretty easily. We live within walking distance of virtually everything that we need on a daily basis, so this stroller has seen a lot of use since we have been in Japan.  

The biggest problem we have found with walking everywhere is the time it takes to get from one place to another. Every Sunday, we go to a small church that is a few neighbourhoods south of us. It is only about 3.5 km one way, but it takes us just under an hour to walk there. Sure, the exercise is great, but just getting to and fro steals almost 2 hours out of our day. If I need to do any sort of shopping or bring Theo to a park, it becomes a huge excursion in which I need to prepare the kids for multiple hours in which we will be away from home. So, Dustin and I finally bit the bullet and invested in some family transportation.

William and I out for a ride.
Caption reads mamachari (source)

Everyone seems to ride a bike in Japan. I see old people that I swear must be in their 90's slowly making their way down the street, business men in suits, parents with kids, and everyone in between. It seems that people aren't quite as caught up in certain status symbols, like how large and expensive of a car you have, compared with the West. It also helps that, unlike Manitoba, you can bike all year round without having to worry about ice, snow, and -30 degree winter days.

The typical bike that you see people riding on in Japan is the mamachari. The name comes from mama, of course, and "chari", a slang term for bicycle. They are actually ridden by just about everyone, but are super handy for stay at home mothers because you can put your kids into one or two kid's seats attached to your bike and run all your errands. Typically, they only have about 3 gears, upright handlebars, chain cover, basket, a bike stand, built in wheel lock, and light. 

The double child bike, for much more well
 balanced (or daring) mothers

Dustin and I have been scoping out the mamachari scene since we arrived and finally settled on getting two bikes, one with a older child seat on the back and one with an infant seat on the front. Quite a few mothers here have both child seats mounted on the same bike. I am really impressed that they manage to get around comfortably with a child at each end, but I am pretty sure one, or all of us, would die if I tried to do that. I really don't feel comfortable with my ability to balance me and my brood moving at high speeds. In our situation, at least on evenings, weekends and holidays we can all bike together as a family. I can also bike with William while Theo is at kindergarten, making my life a whole lot more productive.

One great aspect of my bike is the brand name. In my English thinking brain, I scanned the name and thought it said "Firecrackers", which I thought was kind of cute. The next day when I looked again, I realized that my brain was just adding letters to the nonsensical actual brand name, which is "Frackers". It sounds like such a completely vulgar expletive that I have to laugh every time I see it. Maybe I have just watched too much Battlestar Galactica. 

The kids ready to be off on an adventure

One surprise for me was the cost of it all though. All told, these two bikes cost us about 82,000 yen, or just over $1,000 Canadian. There certainly were much more expensive mamachari, but we bought the two cheapest ones we could. This is pretty crazy considering that if we really looked around, we could probably find someone trying to get rid of a car for cheaper. Actually, quite a few English teachers who are moving back home are so desperate to get rid of their car that they either give it away or sell it for a few hundred dollars. At the moment, we have almost no need for a car and I really hope that it stays that way for many, many years. There have been so many benefits to no longer owning a car: our life has been so much simpler, a lot of little (and not so little) costs have disappeared, we get tons of exercise, know the neighbours so much better, and aren't as guilty about our contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.   We are very content with our decision to invest in bicycles that support our lifestyle, regardless of the cost.