Some new adventures!

So, it's been a couple of weeks since the last post.  I have begun to settle into the new place, getting some "new" furniture and developing routines.  I have my bicycle ride to CAJ down and even know another way or two.  I've gotten my first bills and can pay them at the local convenience store!  
During spring break, Laurie brought my bicycle from Maryland.  It is great having the bicycle here, especially for those longer rides.  I did need a bicycle that I could use when I go shopping, a bicycle that would have baskets.  So, I went out and bought one here.  It's pink, well pink and white!  

My Canadian bicycle is the red one and my new Japanese bicycle is the pink and white one.  I plan to put a basket on the back as well, for those serious shopping trips.  

Another new adventure (although not so new really) was going to Tokyo with visiting friends, on my own (that's the new part!).  The Ledeboers came to visit from Sioux Falls, South Dakota on their way to China to attend a conference with The Luke Society (website: The Luke Society).   A colleague, Rick, had taken me for Tokyo tours previously, but he was not available this particular Saturday.  Rick, very kindly, wrote up an itinerary and train connections for me to follow.  

This is a map of the JR lines but there are also other train lines not on this map. (website: Tokyo Metro website ) 

Tokyo is very accessible and taking the trains is probably the best way to travel (maybe bicycle is another good way).  With the Ledeboers I was able to navigate the trains/subway to various tourist sites without too many wrong turns.  We did visit shrines and temples and the Azalea Festival and admired some architecture.  It was a great day, but the weather would turn and it began to rain.  We ended up bicycling back home in the pouring rain.

Azalea Festival

Close up of the Azaleas

Sumitomo Building by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Complex

There were a couple of other new events.  The girls in Middle School are able to join CAJ's basketball team.  Their season is short, but they played a couple of games at CAJ.  I was able to attend the games. The girls did well in both games and won both games at home.  

CAJ MS girls C Team getting instructions from their coach Ms. Kim during half time.

The girls also had a bake sale after school on Friday.  They were raising money to support the work in the Tohoku region where they are still cleaning up and rebuilding after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  

The MS girls basketball C team's bake sale.  

Today after church, I went with Bruce and Roberta Carrick on a bicycle ride.  We went about 45 kilometers.  It was fantastic weather to ride bicycle.  Here's a map courtesy of the app the Carricks have. 

I didn't make it all the way back to Higashikurume but left the trail to go home.

A drink break, see the tea field in the background?

Park where we had lunch.

A lovely place to stop.

A lot of the roads we took were the narrow ones, not so much the main highways.

Look at that beetle! YIKES!

 I had a great time riding my bicycle, although there were a number of sounds my bicycle was making that I should probably get checked out.  The weather was really beautiful and I was able to see more of Japan with some fun people!

Moved!

After spring break, I focused on preparing for the move into a rental house.  The family attends Kurume Bible Fellowship.  The father was transferred by his company to Bangkok, Thailand.  The family purchased this house and were looking for renters.  I needed a place to live.  It is almost 4 km from school, so a good bicycle ride.  It's only a block from a bus stop that is on a bus route that goes to Kiyose Station.

It is a fairly new home, about 10 years old.  It is always interesting discovering the new patterns and noises when moving to a new place. The house is a Japanese style house, so there are a few things that are a little different than the American style homes.  First, I have to learn the Japanese on the panels for the heating systems.  I also did my first load of laundry and had to learn what to figure out what to press to get the washer going.  The appliances also all have Japanese written on it.  It took a little but I was able to figure most of it out.    It has taken a bit of time to figure out where to put things and where would be the most efficient place.  I think I will enjoy living here.  There is an extra bedroom, so visitors are welcome!  I do thank God for this new home.  

From the front entrance

At the back (it was raining when I took these).

A little garden

Entrance just inside the door

Kitchen

Living-room and dining-room

Shower/bathroom and laundry room

Looking downstairs

Bedroom where I'm sleeping at present

What I did during spring break essay...

Do you remember those typical essays teachers used to give students the first day back from summer vacation..."What I did on my summer vacation."  Well, we just had spring break, actually that was a week ago already!  It's been a busy few weeks.  
So, here's what I did on my spring break.  The week before spring break I was busy trying to stay caught up on my planning, grading and any other responsibilities needed to be done before spring break began.  A friend, Laurie Overway was visiting from Silver Spring, Maryland and I didn't want any of the school's responsibilities to be on my brain while she was visiting.  I'm happy to say, I did meet my goal and was able to spend the week not worrying about school things.  
Laurie arrived safe and sound on Saturday, March 24th.  Brian was gracious to drive to the airport with his "car" in order to pick up Laurie, but also my bicycle that Laurie took with her from Maryland.  It was a fairly large package and would have been difficult to tote around on the trains.  

This is my bicycle today.  There was a cover on it, but the wind blew it around and it's hanging there.  It rides great! It's raining today though, so no bicycle ride except for transport.

While Laurie was here, we did a fair amount of things, some of them were a first for me also!  The first full day Brian, Bette, Laurie, Hana and I all went up to Nikko.  On the way, we stopped in the Oyaji Buddhist Temple.  We were there a little over a month ago. 

Here Laurie is taking pictures of the Buddha images with bibs and hats.

When we arrived in Nikko, we stayed at an inn which tends to cater to foreigners.  You still sleep on a futon on a tatami floor and there are no North American size chairs.  I did have a great sleep, so it was good.  

Entrance to the inn.

Taken from the entrance to the room.

Toilet, bath, shower and sink room.

My futon bed.

Beside our tatami beds.

The Inn is located beside a river where there is a nice walking path that we took for a bit after we arrived.  

Laurie is shocked that a dispenser will give hot drinks!  

The next day Laurie and I walked to the temples in Nikko.  There were a number of large temples that are quite ornate.  I believe we spent about 3+ hours walking around.  It was all very interesting.  

This was interesting.  We were wondering why a temple was painted on the front of this building.  They were renovating the building and it was protecting the temple by putting up a building around the actual original structure.

Hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil. 

This was on one of the entrances to a temple area.  See how ornate it is?

We also walked through the villa where the Emperor and Empress stayed during World War II and also used it as a vacation spot.  

Entrance to the Villa

One of the 106 rooms inside. Notice the carpet, which is on tatami mats.  Those are sliding doors.

We also walked to a couple of waterfalls.  

We even saw some snow monkeys.  See the one sitting on the fence?  

We spent a few days at the VanderHaak's cabin near Sendai, and Bette took us to Matsushima and then headed towards Ishinomaki, where there was a lot of devastation because of the 3/11 earthquake/tsunami.  It is quite flat there, so when the huge waves came, no high places were nearby.  

One of the new things I was able to experience was riding the Shinkansen from Sendai to Tokyo.  Normally it could take as little as 4 hours driving.  Taking the Shinkansen took about 3 hours.  It is quite a smooth ride.  I do have a 6 minute video if you wish to watch here.  

The following day, Laurie and I met up with Rick Seely and he took us on a tour of Tokyo.  We saw a number of things, Tokyo Station, Emperor's Palace area, Ueno, Shibuya and much more.  Here are a few pictures of what we saw.  

In front of the Imperial Palace property

10 tracks across!

Sky Tree, Beer mug and ???

In a HUGE cemetery.  The sakura were out.  

Here is a video of the intersection by the Shibuya train station.  It is during the day on a Thursday, so not nearly as many people as there would be in the evening/night of a weekend, but still interesting to watch.  

Friday, Laurie and I spent the day staying in Kiyose and Higashi Kurume area.  We visited CAJ and just watched some movies.  It was a good relaxing day after a busy week.  
Saturday, Laurie flew out of Narita Airport.  We took the train to the airport, another first for me.  
Sunday was Easter!  He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  I went to the  8:30 a.m. "sunrise" service at Kurume Bible Fellowship.  I also went to the place I was going to move into to check out what items I would need in order to live there.  It was a good week that ended with the celebration of Jesus' resurrection!  What a good way to end spring break!