Briefly from Koh Chang

First, let me say that the flight from Narita was excellent. Because we were flying with Northwest, who we fly with regularly for the frequent flyer miles, is notorious for their poor service, we were not expecting much. However, their Thailand-Japan route is much much better than their Japan-Detroit route. We had our own TV screens, polite service and quiet neighbors!

We landed in Bangkok around midnight, and took an overpriced taxi downtown to our hotel. The White Orchid is a rather run-down affair in China Town, and we were happy that we were only there for two nights! After spending one full day and two nights in Bangkok, we were happy to board Bangkok Airways for a very pleasant 40 minute flight to Trat airport, and from there to make our way (very conveniently by van and ferry) to the idyllic island of Koh Chang.

Koh Chang was Brian's idea, and I think we stumbled on a gem. After looking at maps and other info, we decided to head to Klong Prao Beach, on the western side of the island. And, though we had initially thought to stay at the Coconut Beach Bungalows, we found upon our arrival that they were booked (Brian and I almost never make reservations ahead of time for this kind of island vacation!). So, we walked down the lane toward the beach, following signs for the Chai Chet Bungalows (click here to see them online). Well - we got lucky again. Not only did they have a bungalow available for the very affordable price of 700 baht per night, but it is even better situated than the Coconut Beach place. As we opted for the cheapest bungalow, we also got the simplest - no TV, no phone, no hot water, nor air con. But a beautiful balcony that looks out onto the ocean. No noisy backpackers, no music blaring late into the night...After the seedy White Orchid Hotel, the hub-bub of hustlers and the rats on the streets in Bangkok we find ourselves in paradise.

Unattractive White Orchid, taken through waves of Bangkok traffic:


Me, relaxing on the balcony of our bungalow in Klong Prau:



Today we walked about 6km to the Klong Plu waterfall:

In the heat and with the convenience of little public taxi/pick-up trucks, we opted for a ride back home.

Merry Christmas to All

Last night, Christmas Eve, Brian and I went out for dinner with some friends at a nice izakaya in Gotemba called Ebisu. It's an awesome, atmospheric little place with great food and good beer.


Here are Brian and Chris, enjoying some Christmas cheer:



And Wendy, enjoying a little Cassis Orange:



And, of course, me:


I shot these in RAW format, and it was a good thing, too - I was able to rescue the first photo from some awful white balance choices!

Today Brian and I are leaving for Thailand; despite wanting to pack light, I am bringing my large Nikon D50, in its own separate bag and all, and I hope it pays off with some good shots of Bangkok and Koh Chang!

We'll do our best to post photos and blog while away.

Winter Vacation

Well, here we are. December 23rd - a national holiday (the Emperor's Birthday) and the first day of our winter vacation.

The official holiday period in Japan is from December 29th to January 3rd or so, and Brian and I are privleged to be working for a company that generously gives us from the 23rd to the 9th off this year.

In case you're wondering, the fact of being on vacation hasn't quite sunk in. Last night we celebrated with a little bubbly but today we went to buy kerosene to further ward off the winter chill.

The winter, however, will chill us no more! On Sunday (Christmas day) we are leaving for Bangkok, and from there to (perhaps)Koh Chang, where the sun is hot and the beer is cold!

Under the Kotatsu

December 21st - the shortest day of the year. This means that our winter evenings as well as the mornings are long, cold and dark. We live in a fairly mild climate, but still, with no central heating, things can be pretty bleak.

But never fear! Brian bought a new kotatsu about two weeks ago (after hearing me complain about not having one anymore!). A kotatsu is like a square coffee table with a heater built in under it (see pics below). Anyway - I spent my entire weekend under the kotatsu, reading books and watching tv. How fabulous! Brian even loves it as we snuggle under the table to watch our rental DVDs.

Winter ain't so bad really.

My kotatsu - the blanket, placed between the table top and the frame, keeps the heat in.



Here is the heater that is part of the table:

Bonenkai

Bonenkai are year-end parties, generally celebrated with colleagues, bosses and sometimes friends. It can be literally translated as "Forget-the-Year Party", and is just another custom that I thrive on here. I mean, who the hell wouldn't want to forget the year?!? But seriously, bonenkai are an important part of company and social bonding, and they usually involve a lot of drinking - the better to put the old year to bed and get ready to start afresh in the New Year. I love that idea - that we can let things go, we can live in the now, and mistakes made can be "forgotton". Everyone welcomes a fresh start, afterall.

Brian and I had a very small bonenkai this year - just four of us all told, and we just went to our local izakaya. It was great - the people we work with are good, intelligent, competent folks, and personable to boot. But still - the four of us work side-by-side, day-in and day-out, year after year...You see what I'm getting at. A bonenkai was definitely in order!

The evening started innocently enough:



But shortly turned into something like this:




It was a great night, and a great way to tie up business and personal affairs. The evening finally ended with two Japanese businessmen joining our table for a chat - for me, the best part of the evening. A rare chance to just talk to regular, local folks who were themselves having a bonenkai.

Future Me

Have you ever wanted to remember what you thought, how you felt, and what your dreams were years ago?

Now you can remind yourself with this free "Send an email to myself in the future" website called FutureMe.org

Boing Boing, a great and greatly popular blog, picked it up more than a year ago, but Yahoo reported it just today - read more here.

Akihabara!

We spent a great weekend in Tokyo, probably our last for a while. We'll be going through again on our way to Bangkok soon, but being unhurried and having two days really is a completely different experience than visiting a favorite restaurant or shop on the way to the airport.

My goal on Saturday was to 'get an estimate' from a vein specialist, but that will be a post for another day. The plan for Sunday was to eat a huge breakfast and spend the day walking it off among the crowds in Akihabara, which is Tokyo's 'Electric Town'. This has long been the realm of audiophiles and East-bloc agents searching for replacement vacuum tubes, but it has grown to be the realm of legions of nerds and geeks looking for the latest in gadget/gizmo technology.

I happened to be considering a replacement pc for myself, and possibly establishing another wireless network at the 'other place'. I knew local sources for both of those needs, though, so mostly we were there for the fun of it. We found loads of digital cameras (digicam) of the newest variety, plus even more of last-years models hugely discounted. Same with notebook pc's, digital audio players, electronic dictionaries, portable navigation systems, computer gaming hardware and software... whew!

Here is an example of some of the more mainstream wares:



Yes, those are toilet seats (washlets) that warm, rinse, massage, and even air-dry the user. Those prices are right, too, at $500-800!

Here is a scooter (autobai) with at least its own satellite navigation system, among surely loads of other gadgets:



Also increasing with the influx of geeks is the number of girls encouraging the kinks of the guys hopelesly lost in fantasy games. One shop was hosting some 'maid' theme of costume play (cosplay), and beyond the organized event, girls dressing and behaving as 'maids' could be found everywhere. Here is one taking her task seriously in a random spot of a department store, complete with sudsy sponge:



Anyway it was all a great time and surely we only scratched the surface of this tiny corner of Tokyo. Watch this space for our love hotel expose, coming soon!

Hush Puppies

There was a time, not so long ago, when I though Hush Puppies shoes were for old folks or people with no (or at least very little) style. I say this knowing fully how my father always loved his Hush Puppies - there was simply no other shoe for him.

A few month ago, in need of some decent shoes that could be worn as either business or casual, I went shopping, and found myself inside a Hush Puppy store. Inside, I found my new shoes - a pair of simple black leather loafers.

Brian and I spent this weekend walking (and walking and walking and walking and...) around Tokyo - Roppongi, Shinjuku, and Ebisu on Saturday; Akihabara (fashionably called Akiba) on Sunday. I made it through the whole weekend, even carrying a few extra kilos in my backpack, with not a single blister! Now I can truly say, "I love my Hush Puppies - there is no other shoe for me".

Stay tuned til tomorrow when we report on the excitement our love hotel and of hot electronics in Akiba.

Tokyo Bound

Saturday - finally. I bright, sunny and cool day - perfect for spending time in the big city.

Tokyo is not so far from us, really - just logistically impossible to get there by car, painful by local train and expensive by express train. All this means we don't go as often as other people might, and we enjoy it more when we do go, I think.

We're catching the Romance Car (not the bullet train) this morning at 10:40, and will arrive in Shinjuku at 12:30. Not bad, really. From there, we're going to head to Roppongi (the so-called sleaze capital of Tokyo!), and then maybe a pit-stop in Akihabara (a.k.a. electric town)

And - for my favourite geek - I will try to get some photos!

Deer Sighting and My Singlespeed

My first thought this morning as I headed out on my Rig in the pre-dawn light was, "Damn, it's cold!". Frost covered the fields and crunched under my tires as I made my way up into the mountains of little Susono city; and as I climbed steadily higher, I began to feel warm. Whether the warmth was the result of my exertion, or of the hedonistic joy of being - simply being - alone, in the semi-darkness, on a frozen morning, I won't say. But I felt warm. Brian, sleeping still, peaceful and beautiful, may have felt the same warmth.

I established a rhythm - breathe in, push down, breathe out, push down - pedalling up the hill to my final destination

Finally - there it was. The Incinerator, the end of the road (quite literally - this little mountain round was blazed strictly for access to the local dump!). The Incinerator is up in the hills, isolated, along on non-trafficked route; frankly, the perfect morning ride. And there, at the top of the hill, in the field that skirts the wood that surrounds The Incinerator, were two lovely deer. They didn't bolt - just watched warily as I tucked in my shirt, perhaps they noted my regret at not having brought my camera - and then we were off; I headed back down the hill, and they back to their woods.

I have to say - I fully credit the stealth of my Singlespeed (no derailleur thumps, no chain slap) for the pleasure of having been able to see the deer, and share a minute or two with them, at The Incinerator.

Chillier Mornings and Sunnier Weekends

We are beginning to remember why we always sleep more during the winter here - the mornings are rather cold, hovering around or just below zero, and, worse, they are dark. The sky doesn't get light now until 6 a.m. or so, and it is dark again before 5 p.m. This means that morning rides are shorter, and evening rides are pretty much non-existant.

The reward, however, is that we are nearly gauranteed dry, clear weather every day; and once the sun rises, its warmth can be felt for the whole day. Other seasons here are generally overcast and/or rainy; winter, on the other hand, in winter we can plan long weekend rides which are not too hot or too cold.

Oh - right - and we really don't get snow here.

Flat Stanley Departs

Another momentous event that I forgot to mention - Flat Stanley, who came for a visit in October, has gone back home.

Brian and I thoroughly enjoyed Stan's visit, and we got to see some places we might not have bothered to visit had we not had Stanley to show around!

ni-qyu - done!

So, I've been pretty busy recently; work's been hectic, and I've also been studying for the big Japanese test, level two (ni qyu) , which I wrote yesterday (Sunday). How did it go? Well, I learned a lot, certainly, and I hope to have done well, but...

A nd I am so glad to be done! I feel so...free. No doubt, in a few months, without a concrete goal in mind, I will feel bereft, but for now, so FREE. In fact, Brian and I are going to celebrate this freedom by spending next weekend in Tokyo.

Brian himself has ulterior motives for going to the Big Toe, but I'll let him explain that...

Oseibo!

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted for a while, but I am still here! The job is keeping me exhausted but the end of this year is in sight, with the promise of a winter holiday to recover...

The year-end in Japan is special on a few levels, and one custom for this season is "Oseibo", or the giving of gifts to our acquaintences, usually on a household to household scale. This probably originated from the sharing of crops at the end of the harvest, so today still many of the common gifts are really staples, for example large packs of coffee, beer, detergent, etc. I was humored recently by this department store's catalog ad for a gift package of ham:












Yep, those are $50 & $60 pairs of ham and bacon. The funny thing, more than the price, is that immediately above the ad is this picture...












assuring us that the source of the bacon is from two terrified pigs trapped on an island, next to nature's perfect smokehouse! Mmmmm.

Luckily I received Oseibo today in the form of a bag of apples ;)

Self-Identifying and Coming Out

Yes, it is time for me to come out of the closet. I have acknowledged who I am, and feel the time is now for me to declare it, to friends and family (and, in fact, whoever in cyberspace trips across this blog).

My name is Tracy. And I am an introvert.

There. I said it.

So what has dragged me out of the closet, you ask (or, more likely, you don't ask). I stumbled across a very well-written article by Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic Online titled, "Caring for Your Introvert". Rauch declares himself an introvert, and, while humourously discussing the research done regarding introverts vs. extroverts, he has some sound advice for introverts' loved ones:

" 'How can I let the introvert in my life know that I support him and respect his choice?' First, recognize that it's not a choice. It's not a lifestyle. It's an orientation.

Second, when you see an introvert lost in thought, don't say "What's the matter?" or "Are you all right?"

Third, don't say anything else, either. "

So there you have it. If you have an introvert on your hands, that's how you deal with him.

(I am a faithful subscriber to The Atlantic, an always well-written magazine. I have full access to their online archives, etc... and while I can't link to this article, I CAN email to people. So if you want to read the full article, let me know and I will email it to you ASAP!).

Nostalgia

Just a brief post today - I wanted to talk about nostalgia, that phenomenon of memories frequently triggered by scents and sounds.

When we think of nostalgia, we think we can only feel nostalgic for things long past; well, I have to say, that is not so. The other night, while cooking dinner and sipping red wine, I heard the "fire truck" go by outside; most people here (including me) use kerosene heaters in the winter, and the fire truck is just a small truck with a loud speaker and a bell that drives around the neighborhood at night issuing warnings to be careful of fire. When I heard the bells I was struck unexpectedly with a bout of nostalgia - just a nice, warm feeling that caused me to remember being warm and comfortable indoors and made me look forward to the coming winter.

Horai Bashi and more praise for Nikon Japan

The weekend was hectic, involving a BBQ party, a short visit to a famous bridge, and a few hours of work. Altogether, I'd have to say it was a great weekend. We had fantastic weather for the BBQ and the food was good. After the BBQ we stayed in Shimada city and took a trip to the Horai Bashi, the longest wooden pedestrian bridge at 892 meters.

Horai Bashi (photo by Brian with the D50 and a polarizing filter)


Not only am I satisfied with the photo quality of the D50, but let me once again congratulate Nikon Japan on their great service. Since I had bought the camera here in Japan, the owner's manual that came with the camera was of course in Japanese. So, I called Nikon and asked whether I could get an English manual. Easy - the helpful customer service representative gave me an address and told me to mail my Japanese manual back and Nikon would send me an English one. So, I dropped my manual in the mail on Friday afternoon, and on Tuesday I recieved a brand-new English version of the manual. How awesome is that?

Front and Back with the D50

The air has been clear, providing good views of Mount Fuji from my front balcony:



The view from the back balcony is not quite as nice, but the sunrise sure helps:




And today Brian and I are off to a Fall BBQ party, so hopefully more opportunity to practice witht the new camera!

The Ordinary and A Recipe for Takikomi Gohan

Autumn is fully here now, having followed through on its promise of shorter days and colder nights. In honour of the season, I cooked the popular autumn dish, takikomi gohan (or, mixed rice). The smell of the steaming seasoned rice, the heat cast by the simmering miso soup that took some of the chill off the room - I knew that these were nothing special. Why, then, do I want to recapture the moment?

Here's my recipe for takikomi gohan:

Ingredients
2 cups rice
1 small carrot
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
80 grams chicken thigh
1 tsp cooking sake (for seasoning the chicken)
1 cup stock
1/2 cup of water left from soaking the mushrooms
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsps sake
1 1/2 soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt.

1. Wash the rice.
2. remove the fat from the chicken, cut into small peices, sprinkle the sake on and let stand for about 10 mins.; cut the carrot into very thing julienne strips. Soak the shiitake in 1/2 water.
3. Pour the stock, mushroom-water, and the ingredients from #2 above into a pot and heat. When it begins to boil, add the sugar and sake, and continue to simmer for about 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and salt, and continue to simmer briefly.
4. Prepare a sieve with a bowl underneath to catch the liquid. Transfer the ingredients of the pot into the sieve.
5. Pace the rice in the simmering liquid (in the bowl). If you need, you can add some water. Add the solid ingredients from the sieve and mix evenly. Put everything in the rice cooker and turn it on (or put everything in a pot if you don't have a cooker and begin cooking the rice as per usual).
6. When the cooking is done, mix everything well and eat.
6.

Great Service and the Nikon D50

In the wonderful after-glow of having sold four bicycles and two frames between us, Brian and I bought a new camera - the Nikon D50, an entry-level DSLR. This camera was released earlier this year, and received rave reviews from PC Magazine and DP Review (which you can read here and here). I can now add my own opinions to these professioanl reviewers: This camera rocks! It is a good size with a nice grip, and I love the way it feels in my hand; it fires up very quickly and there is no noticeable shutter lag when snapping photos. It is also loaded with functions, allowing plenty of control. As for picture quality - I will load up some photos soon!

Now, anyone out there who reads photo magazines, etc... will have heard that there was a world-wide recall on the batteries that are in the D50. I surfed over to the Nikon page (here in English and here in Japanese) and checked out the recall codes, and sure enough, my battery was one of the ones being recalled. So, I called up the phone number provided on the Japanese page, where I spoke to A PERSON (not a computer!) at about 5 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon. Very politely I was asked for my address, and told that a new battery would be sent to me. On Tuesday evening, a delivery service arrived at my door, prepared to make the swap - he gave me the new battery, I gave him my old battery - no questions asked.

Now, I'm not criticizing Western society, but I have to say, I have never received such good service as I do here. And I love my Nikon D50!

Flattery and Feel Goods

I was looking a bit more into NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), an area that explores techniques of interpersonal communication and self-improvement that has a very new-age feel to it. It's really about positive thinking, I suppose, and how we can use language to help others (and ourselves) develop positive feelings. Just let's be careful not to slip into flattery!


To get a little flattery yourself, click here(after you click, just enter your name in the little pop-up window).

Skype

Is anyone out there using Skype? If not, perhaps you should be.

Skype is a free program that uses VOIP to allow users to talk from PC to PC. It's like windows Messanger, but the voice is crisper and there is less interference. More news - Skype has made such a splash that it was recently acquired by E-Bay.

I have been using Skype for about a year and a half, and I recently convinced my mother to download it. This morning I saw that she was online, so I hit the old dial button on Skype. My niece and nephew happened to be visiting (which explains why the "phone" was answered - my mom still hasn't quite figured the whole thing out yet). So, for no cost at all, I got to talk to my niece, nephew and mother back in Montreal; way cool.

Also, for a very very small price, you can make long distance phone calls around the world (to telephones, that is). So, if your loved ones haven't quite gotten the hang of modern technology, just phone them the old fashioned way!

Skype is still free, and can be downloaded here, at www.skype.com .

Spam

There is SPAM, the canned luncheon meat. It's fairly harmless and I don't hate it; I used to eat it once in a while back in Canada, and I even liked it sometimes. Spam is also sold in Japan, but mainly in specialty food shops, not regular supermarkets. It isn't cheap, either, selling for roughly 600 yen a can. While I wouldn't pay 600 yen for a tin of fake meat, I can understand the people who do - I recognize that it is the price of the familiar in a new and strange world.

And then there is spam - those annoying, obnoxious, uneducated advertisements that I receive daily. The spam comes in many disguises, promising to make my body thinner, my hair thicker and my penis bigger. Naturally, I have yet to actually be taken in by these numerous promises!

The term spam in reference to bulk email advertisements has its origin in the Monty Python SPAM skit in The Flying Circus. The skit features a couple who go into a cafe that only has SPAM (the meat) on the menu, and a group of vikings who burst into song everytime the word SPAM is uttered. Classic Monty Python humour.

Humourous though its roots, spam is not so funny when it forces bloggers to turn off commenting on their blogs, forcing us to admit that, in some small way, we are allowing spam into our lives.

29ers and Singlespeeds...

Brian and I have, officially, found our niche in mountain biking. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you will know that we were already into singlespeeding.

Singlespeeds are bicycles that have only one gear - one ring in the front and one cog in the rear - so we can't (don't want to!) shift to a faster/harder, slower/easier gear. Brian had converted his Cannondale more than a year ago, and I followed suit not long after. Of course, a "converted" singlespeed is not the same as a real singlespeed - a bike made with either special drop-outs to let you move the wheel/cog back and forth to get the right chain tension, or an eccentric bottom bracket, which allows you to adjust the bottom bracket to get the right chain tension. Enter the Gary Fisher Rig, which Brian in February, and I in August.

Not only is the Rig a singlespeed (with an eccentric bottom bracket), it is also a 29er, and we are wholly in love with it. A 29er is a bicycle that has 29 inch tires instead of 26 inch tires. What does this mean? For Brian, who is a tall person, it mean he finally has a bicycle that is proportionate. For me, a rather "vertically challenged" person (only 156cm, or 5'1"), it means that my bike looks like it is all tire! 29ers also provide a lot more traction, and more momentum once you get started. There are hills I can roll up now that I couldn't conquer on my 26" bike.

We are solidly into 29ers and singlespeeds (in the Rig we have both!), and we don't even want to ride our geared 26" bikes anymore. So - we are selling them. My Rockhopper FSR and Brian's Yeti AS-R are now up for auction at Yahoo Japan. To get a look at my Rockhopper, click here and to get a look at Brian's Yeti, click here .

Tokyo International Cycle Show 2005

Yesterday we caught the early express train to Shinjuku (in Tokyo) and from there we made our way to the Tokyo International Cycle Show, being held at Tokyo Big Site near Kokusai-tenjijo station. It was not nearly as crowded as the Auto Show that we went to a few years ago, but there were a lot of great displays of new product line-ups, as well as exihibitions from lesser known bicycle parts manufacturers. Great new forks by Rockshox and Manitou, mouth-watering bicycles from Giant and Surly, and some excellent lights by Cateye. We've marked out a Cateye Heart Rate monitor that Brian will likely buy when it is released in December.

Always on the lookout for 29er products, we found these tires by WTB:



Hodaka, a bicycle manufacturer we hadn't heard of before (except in association with motorcycles) had this cool display:



And finally, this advertisement says it all:

"Oh my God, I thought you were dead!"

Ok, my mother didn't say that EXACTLY. But after ignoring my cell phone (of COURSE I didn't know it was my mother!), I actually answered my land-line, only to hear my mother's distraught voice on the other end, "Oh, my God. Tracy. Are you OK? Your web thing was old. The last date was October 30th". Shaken, but relieved to actually hear my voice, she continued, "I was so WORRIED!"

So there you have it - the eleventh commandment: Thou Shalt Not Be Tardy in Blogging!

The Week in Review

Time passes - today is Friday, November 4th, the close of another week. This week went by quickly, the result of being busy (but productive) and of a national holiday falling on Thursday.

Yesterday, Brian and I did some impromtu shopping (1GB SD cards for only 4,800 yen); then we spontaneously stopped at the Komakado Kazaana lava cave. It is just a few kilometers up the road from here, but we'd never gotten around to going, so when we were driving past it on a nice day, with no tour buses lined up, we decided to pull into the parking lot, pay our 200 yen and spend some time wandering around the cave. Very cool, really. Here is a picture taken inside the cave:



And now the weekend is upon us again. Tomorrow we are going to the Tokyo International Cycle Show, where we hope to get an insider look at some of the newest cyling technology and products. We'll be sure to take lots of pics!

And then it will be Monday again. Time passes - the harder we try to grip it, wrestle with it, hold onto it, the more quickly it slips through our fingers and we find the future enclosing on us, sometimes with great fury, sometimes with slow suffocation. But the future is now; the past is now, too. Kabat-Zinn, a professor and sometime-guru of modern alternative medicine and meditative techniques, titled one of his books very appropriately - Wherever You Go, There You Are (2004). What a catchy title and how important to remember that, indeed, we (and the past and the future) are embodied in this moment alone. Let's enjoy today.

Some Photos

The past few weeks have been good - the JALT conference, a couple of staff meetings, and some great dinner parties with friends and co-workers.

Also - some fun taking photos. People photos is not my forte, so you won't see any here:-)


A Buddha statue at Arigatayama in Gotemba:



And this is the Tokino Sumika hotel at night (taken with slow shutter speed):

For Everything, A Season

That little saying holds especially true for Japan – more true, perhaps, than in Western society. Japanese are very much aware of the passing seasons and the immanence of things. Style, food, activities, festivities, and new beginnings –they are all determined by the season. The spring and autumn equinox, in fact, are both so significant a day as to have been declared national holidays. The autumn equinox was on September 23, and so a full month has passed and October is now reaching its maximum autumnal glory – the days are much shorter and cooler, the rice has been harvested, and even here in mild Susono the leaves are changing colour.

One of the most obvious markers of the changing seasons is, oddly enough, the supermarket. Japanese food is mild and flavorful, and its true art can be found in the presentation and, of course, seasonality. Therefore, as summer turns to autumn, our local supermarket changes its food displays (yes, we display food here!). Gone are the luscious melons, sliced and set out to temp us; here are the kaki (Japanese Persimmons) and the matsutake mushrooms.

We are enjoying autumn, and appreciating all it has to offer while it is here. We, too, understand that before long, autumn will be a memory replaced by the colder months of winter.

Are you off your Blogger?

No, we are not off our blog, though the infrequent posting may indicate such. Just preoccupied!

We've got a lot of blogging topics ready to go, but for today, at least, I'd like to share a little humour - a video clip showing a Japanese couple, supposedly discussing the restaurant business overseas. Definitely worth a look, so just click here to watch or download the video (1.6 mb). (thanks, Lyn, for the clip! And if enyone knows the origin or who I can credit, please let me know).

A List of Things...

Ok - so I wrote a short post about some of the things that I occasionally missed from Montreal. But actually, the list of things that both of us will miss when (if?) we leave Japan is much longer; this is a good thing - we both really love our adopted country and the lifestyle we have here.

Things we'll miss:

• Onsen - these are wonderful hot springs where you take long, hot baths (indoors and outdoors) with other people who are also there to relax.
• Japanese baths - even in our apartment, we have a Japanese style bath, which is much more comfortable to us than the Western style. The bath room here does not include the toilet (thank god) and is completely water-proof; to take a bath, we first sit on a little stool and wash, then get in the tub for a clean soak.
• Good service in shops - I cannot even begin to compare. The service here is excellent, always, even if all you are buying is a pack of gum.
• The landscape - the Pacific ocean, Mt. Fuji, and numerous mountain ranges. What else can I say?
• Easy access to beer - not the healthiest thing, but when we are thirsty, beer can be found at 7-Eleven, the supermarket, or a vending machine!
• etc...

Seriously - the list goes on. Even when we go away on a holiday, we begin to talk about getting back home to enjoy those things.

Rainy Sunday

While rain is not usually welcome, we rather enjoyed the enforced relaxation that came with today's weather.

Brian worked on numerous projects (such as packing up my newly sold bikes into boxes!), and I've been learning my way around Adobe Photoshop Elements (much, much more user-friendly than the full Photoshop). Using Elements, I did some fun creative editing (like putting a frog on Brian's shoulder), and I also put together another small web album which includes this photo:




Pop Quiz: Do you know what this is and where it can be found? (Hint: you can see it in context in the album, here).

Sold!

My two auctions ended today. There was some heated bidding just in the last few minutes, and I got more than I hoped to get for an old bike and an old frame - my beautiful Cannondale sold for 82, 000 yen and my Foes went for 20, 500 yen.

Just for a memento, Brian got a screenshot of the Cannondale in its last minute:



I have already sent email to the buyers, and now all that's left is to await payment, and send the packages!

It was good fun being a seller on the auction, and I actually enjoyed the language challenge, though the Q&A, writing and deciphering email, and the sheer excitement of watching the auction has left me pretty tired. So, tonight I will reward my efforts with a nice bottle of Merlot and a gourmet pizza!

BTW - I put some close-ups of the Cannondale on the web for the bidders to get a better look at what they were buying. Click here to check them out yourself.

Yahoo Japan Auction

A few years ago, when E-Bay took the internet auction to a new level in the U.S. and Cananda, Yahoo was making great progress here in Japan, and is now the most popular internet auction.

While we have been buying from the auction for about three years, we had never tried to sell anything. Until now, that is. I finally decided that I could handle the Q&A, etc... in Japanese well enough to take the chance. I put my Cannondale up for auction as well as my old Foes frame, and they have both received bids; the auction will end tomorrow afternoon.

I have to say, I am pretty excited. I haven't really even looked at the Cannondale since I bought my Rig back in August, and the Foes frame has been gathering dust since the derailleur hanger broke and I bought the Santa Cruz Bullit instead, so I started the bidding pretty low, as I would be happy just to sell the things and make more room in the aparment, but the bidding has already gone up!

I think I am selling at the right time; a few years ago, people were still a little reluctant to buy from the auction, so it was a buyers' market; now, everyone wants a deal, and it has become a sellers' market for sure.

If you are interested in following the auction with me, Click here to see my Foes on the auction and here to see my Cannondale!

Better Photos

While I've been busy studying for the Japanese level test (about an hour a day!), I've also decided to start a new project - a photo "course".

I am not a Photographer, just an average photo-taker. However, the more photos I was taking, the more I wanted to learn about what it was that I was doing, and how to do it better. I found an site called Better Photo, which has a lot of tips, tutorials, reviews and links. It also offers a whole series of online courses (for a fee). These courses are just for fun (no certificate or anything), and run for eight weeks. After sifting through all the beginner to upper-beginner courses, I opted to take the one called "The Joy of Digital Photography".

I am currently in week two of this course, and I have already learned to see more clearly. Seriously - even a month ago, I wouldn't have noticed my crooked horizon, or the white plastic bag off to the left of the scene; my eyes would just filter out that stuff. Taking pictures takes time, and you've got to give 100% of your attention to what you are doing, to
be aware of (though not distracted by) everything around you. It's much like life - pay attention, don't rush, see with all your being.

This morning I headed out to complete my first assignment - take a picture of a building or architecture. Naturally, I took Flat Stanley along for the ride (we rode the Rig to the shrine that was my chosen subject). Stanley is keeping a journal of the places he goes and things he learns while he is here, and getting some photos of himself, too, which he is too shy to post on this blog!

But here is a photo of the shrine (kind of):

Flat Stanley Arrives

As I mentioned yesterday, we are having a visitor stay with us for a few weeks. His name is Flat Stanley, and he is visiting as part of Brian's niece's school project. He had a little accident and got flattened by a whiteboard; the upside is, he gets to travel around the world in the mail (or email)!

Here is his photo:






















He is going to get some rest today while we go to work, but he will be with us for a while and we will be busy showing him around Susono and other parts of Japan!

JALT 2005

It is now Monday evening, and all I can say is, "whew!". We had a great, whirl-wind of a weekend, starting on Friday afternoon with the pre-conference workshops at JALT. There, Brian learned about IT (Information Technology) and its applications for teachers and students; I learned about NLP - Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and how one can use its techniques to facilitate classroom interaction. And that was just the beginning.

On Saturday, Sunday and today, we and many of our colleagues participated in various other workshops, speeches, poster sessions, etc... all by teachers and other figures in the ESL industry. Overall, a very good conference, with excellent presentations by Jennifer Bassett, Tim Murphy, and David Nunan - among many many others. I am now inspired and excited to get back into the classroom and try some of these new and wonderful things!

Though I didn't bring my camera, Brian kindly brought his and snapped a few photos:

Steve Brown, JALT president, at the welcoming ceremony:














Our colleague, Dan:


Tracy and Tony, 10th Floor of Granship conference center:


That's about it for now - but be sure to tune in tomorrow as I write about a special visitor from the States who will be coming to spend a few weeks with us.

Away for a few days

It is Friday again, and yet another long weekend here as Monday is a national holiday. However, this will be a weekend, beginning from this afternoon, dedicated to professional development, as we are attending a large conference of language teachers. The annual JALT (Japan Association of Language Teaching) conference is the largest of its kind here in Japan and there will be presentations from prominent figures in the ESL (English as a Second Language) world, such as David Nunan and Michael McCarthy. I am very much looking forward to this conference, which I attend every year, and from which I always learn something new - be it technology in the classroom, or how to use scaffolding to aid in language acquisition. The social aspect is pretty awesome too!

We'll be back on Monday!

Ethereal Quiet of Early Morning

I'm not quite sure why, but for the past week or so, I've been waking up extraordinarily early - between 4 and 4:30 a.m. I wake up fully alert and restless - just have to get out of bed.

There is something special about that early morning time - with Brian still sleeping, the neighbors not yet out and about, as I sit here with only the light of my computer screen, there is something especially MINE about 4 a.m. Watching the sunrise is reassuring, too - it reminds me that today is, after all, another beginning, and I have just gotten a head start.

Still Running

Autumn is pretty much here with shorter days and cooler, drier temperatures. After last week's bout of sickness, I am back in full force this week, and so is Brian. We've been riding every morning, though this morning I ventured out for a run instead while Brian rode.

I started running only a few months ago, and while riding is still my activity of choice, I've decided that I quite like running - very strange, considering how much I used to hate it. A decade ago you couldn't have paid me to run; now, I value the solitute and variety that a run offers. Now if only I can convince Brian to give it a try!

Procrastination

Perhaps necessity isn't, after all, the mother of invention...

The nihongo shiken date is creeping ever nearer, and in my concerted effort to avoid studying for the test, I have accomplished a few other things:

• thoroughly cleaned the apartment, throwing away un-necessary items
• organized computer files
• re-designed the Japan Rider homepage, complete with new photo albums that are Firefox compatible!
• changed servers because our old server was annoying me
• was further annoyed by the new server
• just realized that the feedback form is not working (am blaming it on the server!)

This is, what we call in the business, the "house cleaning" phase of the creativity process, and I suppose that studying kanji does require some creativity!

It is easy to see how the house cleaning phase is beneficial, perhaps essential, to creativity - it is a literal cleaning of the slate. It is much easier to have an uncluttered mind when in uncluttered surroundings. Now that my files are sorted on my PC, Japan Rider has a clean, new look, and my tatami is free of clutter - like an empty page waiting to be written on - I am ready to study for the test, which is scheduled for Sunday, December 4th.

The Thermometer

If you've never been to a Japanese hospital, but think you might have to go someday, then this information is for you.

I walk into the hospital on Tuesday morning, having had a high fever (103.2 F) the night before, as well as having a stomachache. I do the initial paperwork (in Japanese):

What's your date of birth? January 22nd, in the 47th year of Showa.

Is this your first visit to this hospital? Yes.

What is the nature of your problem? Fever, stomachache.

Etc…

I am then directed to the waiting area in front of 内科 (naika = internal medicine). While waiting with a few other patients, the internal medicine nurse comes out with more paperwork, a pencil and a thermometer. She tells me to take my temperature, and that it should take five minutes for an accurate reading, and walks away.

Ok. I shake the thermometer, pop it in my mouth and begin deciphering the kanji on the paperwork.

Circle where it hurts – ok.

Circle any symptoms you have- ok. So far so good.

When I get to some sentences that I don’t understand at all and am relying on my trusty electronic dictionary (Canon Wordtank V80), a nice, student-looking guy walks over and offers to help. Thankfully, he reads some of the obscure kanji aloud for me, as I mumble appreciation around the thermometer. After helping me with the paperwork, he then says, “by the way, the thermometer doesn’t go in your mouth; it goes here, under your arm.”

Great! So I’ve just been sitting in the waiting room with an arm-pit thermometer in my mouth for the last five minutes! Well – it’s good to know that I’m not done learning yet!


PS – if you’re interested, it turns out that I had a kidney infection, which laid me low for a few days – but that’s gone now!

Too Much...

Whew.

After the disheartening beginning of the long weekend, Brian and I actually did manage to get away to Nagano for some DH biking after all. We left Susono early Sunday morning as, according to the weather forecast, we would be in for some sunny skies. We got to ride Sunday AND Monday, and we did get lucky with the weather.

Sunday, the sky was overcast and somewhat threatening, but the temperature was comfortable and the trail conditions dry. Also, Fujimi Panorama was so uncrowded, without the usual DH fanatics blasting down the advanced courses, that I could get in a few practice runs on the A-Course (advanced) as well as brush up on the B-Course.

We camped on Sunday night under a clear sky and enjoyed continued good weather on Monday. Susono, our home city, was not so lucky - turns out it rained here all day!


Yatsugatake in Nagano:


As the weather clears, the frogs come out around our apartment:




PS - stay tuned for the next post when I give some tips on where not to put your thermometer when in a Japanese hospital!

Not quite Katrina

or Rita, but we get our share of Tropical Storms here too. The power of the storms might be similar, but the Japanese have been toughing these out for thousands of years, so even direct hits are just an inconvenience and a few hours of live news reporting from a beach.

We had everything in place for a long weekend of DH riding in the Nagano: bikes repaired and tuned just right, the rack system on the truck repaired and reinforced, all camping/riding/cooking gear packed, etc. The forecast began looking worse as the holiday (the Autumnal equinox) grew nearer...

Finally we decided to abandon the plans and stay around home in Susono. It turns out that Typhoon #18 is heading this way, and should reach here by 6 tomorrow morning. Here is a multi-spectral image of that storm:

Blogs I Read

So actually, I've been a member of Blogger since about 1999 or so, under one guise or another. One of my first blogs was a team blog called "Letting the Thunder Pass". Way back then, I didn't maintain the blog, only a post once a month or so. Oh, how little was I aware of the fervent popularity blogging would gain. Ah, well. I guess that's why I never invested in Microsoft, either:-)

Of late, I have been reading many blogs regularly. Some are people I know, some are just very popular blogs that everybody reads, and others are "friends" whom I've met through blogging.

The blogging friends whose blogs I read:

• Life's Little Things, which is about, well, life's little things - a career woman, mother, wife, mom-of-kittens. And I think I'm busy.
• Neilans chronicles the activities, insights and activism of an active woman (who just happens to be Brian's mom!)
• Once Again With Feeling - one of my very very best friends, who talks about his challenges and successes, both in his marathons and his life; inspiring and intelligent.
• Alyssa in Japan speaks for itself, and her photos really are worth a thousand words.

Bloggers I've met through blogging:

• Mr. Hassle's Underpants, by Doc Shazam - the blog of a heroically hectic medical intern (female, I might add!) who also does some awesome mountain biking around Colorado.
• Street Philosopher - A university student (19 years old), who, I think, thinks more and more often than I ever did. And, yes, he enjoys mountain biking. More power to him.

Popular blogs:

• Boing Boing (hey, everybody reads that!)
• Random Acts of Reality - an ambulance attendant in London - intelligent and brief posts about the joys and miseries of saving the lives of drunks, heroin addicts and little old ladies. Sensitive and life affirming.
• Small Dead Animals -An opinionated Canadian. Finally! I knew there was another one!!

Well - that's it for now. Tune in tomorrow when I list the poets I read:-)

ANOTHER Long Weekend!

Today, Friday, is a national holiday in honor of the official beginning of autumn, and as we kick off yet another three-day weekend, I want to take a moment to appreciate the little things in life.

First - two long weekends in a row. What can be better than that?
Second - today, I am lazing around. I am not riding, not running, not working out. Not working. I instead lie abed until nearly 6 this morning, and now am sipping tea and eating some toast and peanut butter, enjoying the not having to do anything, and not having anything to do.

Brian, however, cannot bear to be indoors on a sunny holiday weekend; can't say I blame him, really. Today, as I do so little, Brian is working on projects like fixing the bike rack and adjusting his fork. Also, as even I can only enjoy one day of idelness, tomorrow we are going to Nagano to ride, packing even warmer sweaters this week!

So finally, as I chill like an icecube, I just have to say that Life Is Good.

Life is ...LIFE

Just a minor reflection on what IS...

Nothing is always perfect
Nobody is who you always want them to be
Everything can be worse than it is....

I am very content today, being as very ME as I can be; and yet I recognise that being ME is my destiny, and at the same time, I understand that you need some recognition...

Under the Clear Blue Sky

People often talk about "getting away from it all". While we embrace even the work aspects of life, we could only appreciate the beauty of a fine-weather three-day weekend which we spent, naturally, downhilling and camping in Nagano. The skies were cerulean blue, and we were able to get a couple of photos of other people who also like to rise above their day-to-day selves:

Not Another Weekend...

Yes, the weekend is here again, and it is a long weekend at that, as Monday is a national holiday. After last weekend's hectic time in Tokyo, we are packing up to go camping and riding in Nagano for this one. Sad to say, the evening temperatures have been dropping, and it promises to be chilly in the mountains, so we've had to pack sweaters.

Ah, well.

Ahhh, a day at the fights...

What a great weekend; busy busy busy! Saturday in Tokyo included shopping, eating, and walking especially around Shinjuku and Ebisu. Mexican for lunch at Rosita's and then dinner at My Thai (just like Bangkok!).

Everything that we bought we had shipped back to our apartment by deilivery service, so we could proceed hands-free for the rest of the time in the big city. Soooo convenient.

Sunday included a huge Mexican lunch (at Zest, also in Ebisu) and then on to the sumo tournament, with a quick stop in Akihabara, the 'electric city'on the way. Here's my ticket for the 'box' seats:



And here's an action shot:

All in all a great time, but exhausting enough to make me appreciate being home in the country!

Tokyo Weekend

Wow - though Tokyo is only about 150km away from where we live, Brian and I rarely venture into the big city. But this weekend we are going to enjoy exotic restaurants, shopping, sightseeing and sumo in the metropolis.

The Morning After

The best part about typhoons is the morning after, or simply the day after– when the rain has finished and the strong winds have cleared the sky of its habitual haziness.

I’m still trying to learn more about photography and how to take good pictures – to that end, I used the soft late-afternoon light and the clear sky to practice with my aperture values and shutter speed, just outside my apartment in Susono.

Here is yet another picture of the rice paddy – this time, with rice growing and ready for reaping:




Here is Mt. Fuji, seen over the neighborhood rooftops, swirling in post-typhoon trauma:

Recovery

Or not.

After Saturday's long-haul cross-country ride, Sunday brought a day of rest and intellectual pursuits and I actually did put in a lot of Japanese study time. Brian, meanwhile, worked on a few projects that had been piling up, such as taking the "step" off his truck and raising the front a little (the result: very cool).

I also went to the gym for the first time in months, discovering that there in fact are still muscles there somewhere!

This week has brought a run for me, a ride for Brian and another workout for both of us. The typhoon that is working its way up a long the coast has meant a bit more rain, but not enough to put a damper on things.

Joining the Blogosphere

The Blogosphere is a great community, and I am happy to welcome another Blogger to the sphere - Brian's mom has set up her own personal blog and has already posted some great photos.

www.neilans.blogspot.com

Biking around Motosuko

First, I love my Rig. I love it so much that this weekend I told Brian that I wanted to bring the Rig up to our downhill place instead of bringing my downhill bike. Luckily, he talked me out of it, and our friend Chris talked us into doing some SSing (singlespeeding) around Motosuko instead. How was it? In a word, awesome.

The three of us got a semi-late start on Saturday morning, but that was not a problem, as Motosuko is not nearly as far as our usual Nagano destination. We got there, traffic free, in about an hour and a half.

Motosuko is one of the Fuji Goko (Fuji Five Lakes - ko means lake). The other lakes are Shojiko, Saiko, Yamanakako and Kawaguchiko, with Kawaguchiko being the most popular of the five lakes. They are "volcanic lakes", formed over the years by Mt. Fuji's volcanic activity.

Fuji Goko:




Motosuko, being less well-known, hosted many windsurfers but few hikers, although the area is criss-crossed with great hiking trails, complete with ruggedly beautiful volcanic geology, which made for great riding.

The pink and the blue line below our the trails we rode:


The riding was so good - we spent about an hour and a half riding to and around Shojiko. After a brief rest at the trucks, we then hit the trail again, this time heading toward a small lake called Tanukiko. However, by 4:00, after climbing stairs and pedaling up hills, I thought there was no way I could pedal anymore; we turned around and headed back for base, which is a shame, really, as the trail was starting to look even more dreamy. I certainly need to improve my cross-country fitness - living in a valley, I can climb 10km straight up, but 31km (which is what we rode yesterday) of rolling hills nearly depleted my energy stores.

This is Chris posing with his K2 Big Train 800 - a 29er which he also converted into a SingleSpeed.


Here's my Rig posing along one of the trails:


Here I am crossing a swampy spot, as caught by Chris on his cellphone/camera:

First Steps

Even little acorns grow into big oak trees. The danger is in looking at the oak tree looming above you, and thinking, "I can't be that".

At the risk of being trite (and cliched), I have to say, you gotta start somewhere.

Last weekend, a friend climbed Mt. Fuji. Not unusual - except he swore he would never do it; and, standing in the shadow of the volcano, it is easy to become discouraged. But he climbed it.

Another friend also climbed to the top last weekend, but that is no great feat for her. Her accomplishment is that she started her own blog and even registered a domain name - until that point, she had no clue how to navigate her way around html/ blogs/ websites. Her blog now has two posts, and I highly recommend a visit, as she is an experienced photographer. You can find her at www.alyssaconway.blogspot.com. I will post her professional photography website url as soon as it is up and running!

And, one more small achievment - I submitted my application (and paid the 5, 500 yen) for Level 2 of the Nihongo Noryoku Shiken (Japanese Level Proficiency Test) to be held on December 4th.

Like I said, we all gotta start somewhere.

Useful Links in Japan

I mentioned several months ago that the internet has greatly enhanced our lives as ex-pats here in Japan - we have greater access to things, such as imported foods and information.

I'm listing a few useful links here, which people in Japan or visitors to Japan might find useful:

Books

Amazon Japan (with a pretty good English version)

Infinity Books - an online used English book store in Japan (English)

Food

The Flying Pig - this company allows you to shop online at Costco (via The Flying Pig - English)

Ambika Japan - great Indian food, online, in Japan (English)

Allied Thai - great Thai food, online, in Japan (Japanese only)

Yamaya - order wine online (Japanese only)

Village Cellars - order wine via their catalog (Bilingual)

Travel

Japan National Tourist Organization - a lot of information for visitors to Japan (English)

Japan Inn Group - a wide variety of affordable Japanese inns throughout Japan (English)

News

Japan Today - has reader comments (English)

NHK - very up-to-date (English)

Monkeys in Nagano

Brian and I drove up to Nagano on the weekend to camp in the mountains and then ride downhill (DH) at Fujimi. We come to this area often, and so had already scoped out some prime camping places, one of which is tucked into a beautiful valley and completely unpeopled. We set up camp about mid-morning on Saturday, and then hiked up an old dirt road, which is closed to cars. The road winds up this valley:




The road was most likely built to service the construction of this dam back in 1979:



Once we got to the top of the dam, we had a full view of the valley and the river - which is why we got to see a troop of monkeys who came out of the woods to "play":



This was one of the few times we've seen wildlife while we had the camera handy!