2009 Charity Bike Ride

This weekend, I took part in an exciting three-day charity bike ride.











We rode through beautiful sunshine as well as pouring rain; we rode on busy streets and quiet country roads; we grinded our way up a bunch of long hills and came tearing down many others (at times reaching speeds of nearly 40 mph!); and we rode in pairs as well as in a peloton.










We spent two nights at campgrounds, saw farmers burning grass on hillsides, had our fair share of semi-close calls with vehicles, and consumed lots of fuel (food).












Overall, I had a great time and am looking forward to my next ride, which may be as soon as this coming weekend.

Tadpoles, Two-wheelers, and Transfers

Thousands of tadpoles have started to re-appear in some of the rice paddies. Soon, froggies will be serenading us at night again. When I first heard how loud the frogs could get, I wondered if I'd ever be able to sleep at night. But it turns out that the sound the frogs make is actually one of the nicer things of living here in the countryside.

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Beginning tomorrow, I'll be participating in a charity bike ride. We're riding approximately 100 kilometers a day for three days, in a big circle starting from Oita City in neighboring Oita Prefecture. Wish me luck! For more information, click here.

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Today was the day that teachers in my prefecture were notified about where they were being transferred to. The process started a couple hours ago and lasted for about 30 minutes. Just like last April, about a third of the staff will be moving on.

The personal ramifications for me are twofold: 1) Five of the ten teachers who are being transferred from my school are members of the Bombers, my baseball team here at school; and 2) My supervisor is being transferred.

As for the Bombers, there's a pretty good chance that we won't be able to field a team any more, since we've taken such a hit. Obviously, the future of the team depends on the baseball ability of the incoming teachers.

As for my supervisor being transferred, well, I've been resigned to that fact for the last year, so it doesn't come as a surprise. My new supervisor will be one of the other English teachers here at school, so I really don't anticipate there being any problems. Things won't be the same without my supervisor, but that's how life is in Japan. Nothing stays the same around here for too long.

Talk about rubbing it in

Here's basically how the first two teachers I saw today greeted me:

"Japan is leading Cuba 5-0 in the 7th. The USA didn't play so well..."

"Japan is beating Cuba. Too bad about the USA."

So here's hoping that Team USA rebounds from their loss against Puerto Rico and that Team Japan ends up losing their next game.

This could get embarrassing in a hurry.

Japanese Culture

I learned a little lesson about Japanese culture yesterday.

Two girls went to the store together to buy some ice cream. A-san wanted to buy ice-cream bar X for 125 yen but had to settle for ice-cream bar Y, because she only had 105 yen. B-san also wanted to buy ice-cream bar X and had enough money to do so, as well as to spot A-san the difference so she could have ice-cream bar X, too. But instead, in a show of solidarity, B-san bought ice-cream bar Y. Why? That's just how the Japanese roll.

I would have spotted A-san the difference. What about you?