Clear skies, cold weather

Down to 11 degrees today, so winter is on it’s way. However, that also means that we see Mt Fuji more often through the clear, cold skies. Yay for Fuji-san!

I rode my bike to school today and cut my riding time in half. Maybe it’s because the weather is no longer humid that it’s easier to exercise… anyway, the first time I rode my bike it took 50 minutes but today it only took 25 minutes and I barely broke a sweat (yep, must be the lack of humidity).

We cooked with gluten pieces for the first time after we bought a packet at the Tokyo VegFood Festa. Not too bad, but we need Sunny Place’s secret recipe, I think. The other interesting food item is the young ginger bud (the pink/purple flower things). Crispy and strong tasting, just like ginger (maybe also called Torch ginger bud / Bunga Kantan in other parts of asia).

Brrr…. time for a big curry to warm us up.

Picnic by the port

We had lovely weather today so we decided to ride our bikes and have a picnic lunch. First of all, we had to do all the dishes that were clogging up the tiny kitchen. Then we had to eat pancakes for breakfast and have a shower. It was already midday by the time we had finished breakfast. Then we made our picnic lunch of marinated tofu salad mini sandwiches, ume onigiri and inari and cucumber sushi.

We rode down to the Port, which is mostly a heavy industrial area and not very pretty. But the water and the sky were blue so we rode over the red bridge to the green grass on a little island park. We had our picnic lunch in the shade of some trees then rode over to another park on a different island. Lots of people were playing tennis, going fishing, playing baseball and riding their bikes around the recreational park on the north side of the island.

We rode home again when it was getting cooler and dark. We had red bean gyoza as a snack with guacamole and chips, watched “Ponyo” (on a cliff by the sea) and ate tofu stirfry ramen for dinner.

Big boats at the port.

The red bridge leading to the island park.

The view of the port from the top of the red bridge.

The park at the end of the red bridge where we had our picnic, on the far side near the boats.

Cat resting under the red bridge.

Boats- once they are moored out there, how do the people get back to shore?

Benno enjoying a juicy nectarine.

I want to ride my bicycle

I rode my 3 speed mama chari bicycle to school today for the first time. It took 35-40 minutes to struggle up the hill into the rice-paddy mountains to school and only 20 minutes to cruise down the hill (trying to avoid the trucks and buses).

Although it was fairly cool in the morning, the weather was still about 100% humidity (according to the weather website) and so when I arrived at school I was drenched in sweat. Fortunately I had a towel and a change of clothes but I wandered around with a pink face for the next lesson.

Here’s the view of the dam behind the school.

The view of the dam and surrounding greenery behind the school.

I don’t know how many more times I really want to ride up that hill, but it is fantastic exercise.

I’ve handed in my summer holiday homework, am half-way through the newsletter and have written half of the tests for the end of term exams. Most of my classes are now doing revision as their exams start next Wednesday. I feel on-track, even if the students haven’t figured out that it’s time to start studying.