Charity Bike Ride

Just when you thought, "I exercise enough, I can handle a bike ride"...
You realized YOU WERE WRONG!!!

WHY:
The Oita City JETS (as I'm sure you've discovered by now) are big into charity. The main charity we support is Room To Read (www.roomtoread.org). RTR is a NPO that promotes education through building schools, libraries in third-world countries. Over the years, Oita JETs have raised enough to build one school in Vietnam and one in Nepal, and we recently reached our goal to build our 3rd school in Sri Lanka! We will now begin fund raising for a new library-building project called the Reading Room.

WHAT IS IT?
This event is an annual event. Every year around 30-40 participants bike around the island of Kyushu (approx. 300k routes) within 3 days.

OUR STORY:
We started Friday night, riding our bikes to Tsurusaki where our friends, Nick and Rhea, live. We stayed the night with them and got up early the next morning to head to the next city, Sakanoichi. We met up with the rest of the cyclists and volunteers. We got our maps, talked about the route, got all our gear together, and nabbed a group picture.

Day 1 would be our shortest distance (65k), a few inclines, and 1 mountain. What we didn't expect was the wind! The weather was supposed to be rainy, but warm. It turned out to be the hottest day yet and no rain. The wind made the ride exhausting! Even while going down a hill, often you had to pedal because the wind was pushing you backwards!

We quickly learned which other riders had similar riding styles: speed, breaks, endurance, etc. After about the first 3 hours we all spread out. The faster, more experienced riders flew ahead; the slower riders took their time; the nature observers stopped for pictures; and the average (us) did a combination of all. We stuck with another Oita Jet named Chloe. Chloe is from Australia. She's fun to hang out with and is always finding something to make others laugh. The worst part of Day 1 was about 3/4 of the way into our route we reached a mountain. We decided, after about 15 min of pushing through the pain, to get off and walk. It was a nice break and we enjoyed the beautiful views. The BEST part was making it to the top of the mountain because then you get to FLY down! We were rewarded near the bottom with an unusual ice cream shop. They had CRAZY flavors: Corn, rose, sesame seed, green tea, red bean paste, and some more average flavors.

We got to camp about 5 pm that evening. Many had finished but a few more were behind. That evening we all cleaned up and had chicken fajita's that the volunteer's cooked. There were three large rooms which we all crammed into with sleeping bags or sheets and tried to get some rest. That night there was a HUGE storm that kept many of us awake through the night. (By this time, Thayne had completely lost his voice due to a cold he had just got. Erika had started to get sick also but managed to keep it controlled.)

The next morning we had bagels, oatmeal, and fruit prepared for us by our awesome volunteers. We ate, packed up and prepared ourselves for Day 2!

Day 2 was our hardest day, in terms of route. This was a 75k route but we had to go over many steep mountains! The first half of the day we kept in a group of about 8 riders. We enjoyed each others company and kept a steady pace. Once we hit the mountain, again - there was a separation. The first mountain, was probably one of the steepest and highest. Many of us quickly realized "It's not happening" and got off to walk but Erika, with a few others, pushed on... ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP. We were all so inspired and proud of her that she was able to make it. Once we all made it to the top, we grabbed some food from our packs and ate. Most of the others in our group pushed on but we enjoyed the view a bit longer and wanted to let our food settle. The trio (Erika, Thayne, and Chloe) was back together again as we pushed on through the next 3 mountains. We decided to try our hardest to ride the whole time, and mostly accomplished that! The down-hill part of the mountains was very dangerous with sharp turns, side debris and fatal edges. Luckily NO ONE got hurt or fell! Near the end we met up with the rest of our group and finished the day together.

We made it to the Marine Culture Center around 5:30 that afternoon and at this point we all were extremely sore. By this part of the trip (around 16 hours of biking in 2 days) you start to walk a little funny, your bottom is too sore to enjoy sitting down, and your legs feel as if they are bricks. We all tried to stretch our legs and pump ourselves up knowing we've done an awesome job.

We had dinner in the cafeteria then showers\onsen. The Marine Culture Center is very dormitory like. There are specific rules and times for everything. We were separated by gender into rooms with 4 bunk beds. Boy's rooms' smelled of sweat and manliness and girls rooms' smelled of flowers and cookies (hah). It was Chloe's birthday so we all sang happy birthday and had cake then went to bed.

That night neither of us slept very well. Thayne felt pretty sick and the medicine he took kept him up the whole night. Erika had some distractions that kept her up late, but like it or not... we MUST CONTINUE!

The next morning about 8 of us started the morning off with a short yoga routine down at the beach. Eyes swollen and legs sore we all tried to regain our enthusiasm for the day. After breakfast we gathered for our last briefing and were off on day 3.

Day 3 was our longest day consisting of 94k. Much of it was flat but a few hills\mountains slowed us down. Again, we gathered in a group of around 12-13 and rode about half the day in that group. This day was also, possibly, one of the most dangerous days due to the amount of tunnels we had to go through; The worst of which was the "Tunnel of Death" (TOD) as we affectionately called it. This was a tunnel about 2k in length and no sidewalk. Once we made it up the large hill, where TOD starts, we were greeted by our awesome volunteers. A car would follow us through the tunnel, with hazard lights to make sure we did not get hit by any cars. Once we made it thorough we stopped to get our picture of "WE SURVIVED TOD!" A smaller group of us, about 5, decided we didn't want to waste any more time, and headed off. The down hill was AMAZING! Thayne, having a speedometer on his bike, topped off at 60.5 k/h. (this is where he got his nick-name "the bullet" It was such a rush! (again no one was injured!)

The rest of the day was biking around the coast back to where we started. Our group (Erika, Thayne, Elaine, Kate, and Jeanelle) were the first group (besides the "professional riders) to make it in. We arrived around 4:30 that afternoon.

We still had to ride our bikes back home (about 45min ride). We felt very proud that we had completed the task put before us! We would not have been able to finish had it been for 1- God and his aid through it all (plus his BEAUTIFUL creations\landscapes we were able to witness), 2-The help of our fabulous volunteers who cheered us on, gave us snacks and water, watched our backs, gave us medicine or any thing we needed!!!!

Day 4 - RECOVERY. Erika's knee started bothering her quite badly by day 2 but she pushed through and thankfully did not injure herself! She took the next day off of work to recover. We both sat on the couch most the day watching TV\movies and enjoying each other and our success!

FYI - we rode, in total about 181 miles. If you start in Tampa, FL and travel 181 miles you will make it to Lake City, Fl. Just a few miles south of the GA border. Sure, going 70mph you can get there in about 3-4 hours but we did it ALL on BIKES! (plus, Florida is FLAT!)

Nothing too much (TOO MUCH)

I know everyone assumes that our lives here are filled with adventure and sheer awesomeness. That every weekend we are doing something new and fun-filled. WELL... let me be the first to tell you... thats not 100% true. . . Maybe 80% :)

The last few weeks have actually been quite calm for the young Washburn lovers. Thayne has started a new weekly job, having an English conversation lesson with a Dr. Nagatomi. He lives in Wasada Town (about 7km - 4.3miles away on bike). He also recently had an exam in one of his online classes (20th Century Lit). Normally there would have been no (EXTRA) concern but there was a big problem getting the book for this class, which started in January. After ordering the book in December, and 3 separate problems the book finally arrived on February 21st. The exam was March 5th. There were 16 chapters of in-depth music analysis and other boring things. After MUCH studying he passed both of his test with a 96 and 100. YAY!

Last weekend a JET (ALT) friend, Kelsey, was in our area and stayed the night with us. In the morning we rode our bikes to Wasada Town, a shopping mall\area. We had a nice time but were exhausted from the ride. The next weekend both Thayne and Erika took a trip back out to Wasada town, and further, to try to find a restaurant Kelsey suggested: "Stephen's Pizza". We rode around totaling about 7 miles... but were unable to find it. (We know where it is now!)

We've been watching a lot of movies and spending a lot of time just enjoying each others company.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Thayne will be at work at the PreSchool but Erika will be attending a JET Pancake Brunch. Many of the ALT's will be getting together making breakfast foods! (Thayne is EXTREMELY sad about this since breakfast is his FAVORITE!).

Starting the 20th of March we will being the annual charity Bike-ride. We will be bicycling around our prefecture (county) as charity for Room To Read (supporting the building of schools\library's in struggling countries). We will be cycling for 3 days and just under 300 km (186 miles). We are very excited about this trip. (this is why we've been cycling to Wasada town so much - training!)

The weekend after that (27th) will start the Sakura (cherry blossom) viewing. In Japan it is tradition for friends\family to get together, bring a picnic and go sit with the cherry blossoms.

We are also getting pumped about our Golden Week (vacation) where we will be taking two weeks and traveling to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. (End of April- Beg of May).

Hope everyone is well!

PS; we have made our decision that we WILL be returning to Tampa in the summer. (aug-ish). Looking forward to see you all soon.

KIMONO Appreciation Day

This past weekend, I traveled to the old and character-rich city, Kitsuki, with friends, Tina and Alex. We were going to attend, “Kimono Appreciation Day”, a day for one and all to put on their kimono, stroll around the city, and check out displays for the upcoming Doll Festival. Putting on a kimono is neither a quick nor easy thing to do. It is extremely complicated with several layers, pieces, belts and sashes and it takes a professional Kimono Dresser to do it. We went to a kimono rental shop to get ready for the day. The Kimono Sensei (means ‘teacher’ but also used to address a professional) selected our kimono and obi (belt) and we selected our sock size. The socks are very important. They are a special stiff cotton material that buttons around the ankle. There is a split between the big toe and the rest of the toes so that you can wear the special “flip flop” style wooden shoes called zori. The colors and patterns of the various pieces of clothing chosen by the Sensei don’t match by Western conventional standards, but somehow look amazing when together. I was dressed in an orange under-kimono, a light-purple kimono patterned with little pink flowers, a pink belt used as a corset (and yes, it was very tight!), a dark blue obi with a red and gold flower pattern, a light-orange sash around the top of my obi, a bright orange rope tied into a traditional knot, and a big bow on my back. I should mention that this process took over an hour. I lost count of the many sashes and belts that were tied around my middle to set everything in place. Having now been fitted into both a wedding dress and a kimono, the kimono definitely wins the prize for complexity! As soon as we got out on the street, the cameras were flashing. It is not everyday that you see foreigners dressed as traditional Japanese, so this was a sight to be documented. The three of us were sporting quite different looks and ethnicities: Alex, British but raised in America and Hong Kong, fair skinned with reddish brown hair and hazel eyes, Tina, originally from Hong Kong, but raised in America, black hair with Asian skin tone and black eyes, and myself, American but raised in Norway, blond hair and green/blue eyes. Everyone wanted to know our full stories and backgrounds! If we had charged for every person, group, and family that asked to take a picture of us and/or with us, we certainly would have left for the evening a great deal richer! The funny thing about the Japanese is that they never just snap one photo. Their fingers press the buttons of their hi-tech digital cameras multiple times, often with the sound function turned on so that all we heard was the buzzing of what felt like a swarm of paparazzi. The funny thing is, this is no exaggeration! We were spotted by a NHK (A national TV station) cameraman and asked to walk down a particular hill with the old castle gates in the background while naturally talking amongst ourselves. I don’t know when this will air, but I’ll search for it. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we strolled down cobblestone streets, passed stone walls and ornate buildings.

Walking in the tightly wrapped kimono as well as in the stiff wooden zori made getting from point A to point B take twice as long. Of course, it didn’t help that we were getting stopped by intrigued bystanders with picture requests or questions about who we were and where we came from. To some, this might seem annoying, but you have to understand that they are simply excited that we take interest in and appreciate their culture. We chatted with so many friendly people in this cute little town, something which does not happen too often in Oita city. We finally made it to the professional photo shoot area where a photographer was waiting in a lovely Japanese garden. He positioned us in the traditional Japanese female pose: feet slightly turned inward, the left foot slightly further back than the right, and the hands positioned one over the other in front, slightly tilted upward. He snuck in a group shot of the 3 of us, something not originally included in the package, but since we were such a rarity, he insisted. The importance placed on esthetically beautiful surroundings in Japan is fantastic, everything in balance, everything with purpose. After a few hours, we decided to get lunch. We had considered waiting until after the kimonos were off to eat in order to not risk getting them dirty, but we overheard another woman at the kimono shop saying: “don’t worry about eating in the kimono, it’s just a rental…” After finding a nice little café, we soon discovered something new about the kimonos- there is not much room in that tightly wrapped outfit for food. No wonder Japanese women are so skinny! We somehow managed, and enjoyed the famous Kitsuki Sando- a specialty sandwich of the area. The last stop was back to the kimono shop to be undressed. This process didn’t take as long as getting dressed, but still required the professional’s assistance. It turns out that our Kimono Sensei lives near me in Oita and if I’d like, she will teach me the Art of Kimono! It had been a great day! Loving the cultural experience, but feeling wonderful in our own clothes again, we headed back to Oita and to more modern city life.

Holiday (Part II)

After Christmas we decided to take a little vacation from all our business. We went on a small road trip. We didn't really have much planned. Just see what happens. We rented our car and left for the Kumomoto area. We had reservations at a Ryokan. A Ryokan is a tradition style Japanese inn. We stayed in an 8-tatami mat room. In the middle was a large table where they would be serving us dinner. We had about 2 hours til dinner time so we decided to get settled in. We had some tea and played Ludo (similar to Sorry). When dinner time came our girl came in and started to serve us. It was a 7 course dinner.

Course 1 was this. In the cup was some type of peppers and spices and then some kind of cartilage or something... Not very easy to eat. Onion, some type of veggie sushi or something, a shrimp, potato, and a little cake.

Course 2: Sashimi

Course 3: Raw Beef or Horse (quite tasty)

Course 4: Soup

Course 5: Salmon with Ume sauce (sour plum)

Course 6: Nabe - Meat and veggies you boil in a "hot pot".

Course 7: Something like Chawan Mushi - an egg custard (this one was oyster)... not the best of the night.

Dessert: A soy milk custard.

After our dinner we had reservations to use a private onsen. Natural Hot Spring. We put on our Yukata's and our Japanese socks and went down. It was nice.



We could sit, relax, and look outside at the beautiful stars and garden. It was very cold that night so the hot water and cold air was a great combo! (sorry - no pics!)

We returned to our room and actually watched a bit of TV. (We dont have a working TV in our apprt. So it was fun to watch Japanese TV.) We got up in the morning and went to our appropriate gender public onsen. After which we got dressed and went to breakfast. Another big meal! A lot of tofu dishes and different things.


We left and headed for the Kumomoto Castle. When we got there we found out it was closed due to the holiday. We then went to the Suizenji Park\Garden. But that was also closed. We decided to go to the coast to catch the Ferry to Nagasaki. When we got there we found out that they had canceled the Ferry for a while due to high winds. We still had til 1:00pm the next day with the car. But everything was closed for the holidays. We decided to check out a ski resort to see about skiing for a few hours. We drove for a while, up the mountain and got to the resort about 6:30. Turns our that during the week, they close at 5, weekends 9. So, we decided to cut our loses and head back home. We got home and made plans to go to a nearby city, the next day, to play in the snow. Our city Oita, is very near the sea so the humidity doesn't let it snow too often.
As planned, we woke up and went to Yufuin. We traveled up the mountain and instantly it was snowing. We found a little temple. We parked and made Rupert the Snowman.


We started to head back. We took a small detour to a golf course\hotel. We still hadn't got to PLAY in snow. The golf course had enough. We slid down the hills on our shoes and Thayne went on his stomach. We had a few snowball\snow fights. Freezing, out of breath, and smiling from ear to ear, we went back to Oita and returned the car.

That night we just stayed in, playing games and enjoying the new year about to come in. There were no fireworks or anything at 12:00. We opened the balcony and shouted happy new year - but all was quiet. Many people were at family's houses or at the shrines. We hugged and kissed and talked to a few people on skype, then went to bed.

The holidays here were great!
Happy New Year!

Holiday (Part 1)

We had a wonderful holiday time! Christmas and New Years were lonely yet amazing!

December was filled with many events! The first of which was a party thrown by the Japanese Class we go to. Many came and we filled the place with food and laughter. We performed a few songs for the group: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Santa Baby, Silent Night, and Baby It's Cold Outside. We had a huge Bingo game where literally everyone won something! Twice! :)



Later in the month we had a large group of the JET's at our house having a decorating party. We made oragami, cards, and Erika taught everyone how to make Norwegian heart baskets.
There was lots of food and fun!



Thayne got to be Santa for some type of charity work for Filipino's. I don't really know much about it. I just got a call from a friend and asked if I wanted to be Santa and pass out gifts at this big party. I said sure!

At school, Erika started her holiday lessons at school. She taught about the traditions, celebrations, and songs that are experienced in America and Norway. During these lessons, her students had the opportunity to earn (fake) american money for participating, answering questions right, etc...
This money could then be used to buy items at her Christmas Shop at the end of December. While searching around through old boxes and debris in a side room, Erika and O'Hara (the other teacher) found a bunch of Christmas decorations and a few Mr. and Mrs. Clause suits.

No one had decorated or been festive for about 7 years so, it was time to change that. Erika, with the help of her English Club, decorated the classroom with trees, garland, presents, etc.. When it came time for the Christmas Shop, Erika and Thayne dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause and O'Hara dressed up as a Christmas Tree. For sale at the shop, there was candy, chips, decorations, and more. The HOT items were the pictures, O'Hara-Sensei had taken some pictures of Erika, from the wedding\engagement, and printed them. These were easily the first to go. After the shop, it was time for OUR Christmas planning.


We had all of Erika's fellow English teachers (not JET's but Japanese teachers at her school that teach English with her) over for a small Christmas party. We ate and played a few games. The favorite was a game we learned at Uncle David's house. You roll 2 dice(die). If you get doubles then you have to put on gloves, sunglasses, and a hat. Once all 3 items are on, you start opening a gift. Once you tear into it, you realize that there is MORE to open.



The gift is wrapped with many layers that are NOT EASY to get into! While you are busy ripping through layers, the other players are still rolling the dice. Once another player gets doubles then you have to give them all the items and it's their turn. The game continues until some finally gets the gift. The Japanese tend to be very shy and calm natured. It took a lot of coaxing from the hosts to get them to put on the items faster than you would if your were casually going outside, and to RIP into the presents.. not just unwrap them without tearing the paper. After a while, they got into it!

Christmas day this year was spent a bit different then normal. Erika still had school to go to and Thayne went to his Japanese class, just like any other Friday. That evening we cooked a HUGE dinner. For an appetizer, we had some fun chips along with some great bruscetta that Erika made.


We fried a whole chicken in a frying pan (it was our 3 try at cooking it - but no other option). It actually worked GREAT! We also had (top left): Butternut Squash, homemade creamed-corm, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing (bot left:) cranberry sauce, green beans, and red cabbage with soy sauce. We had also made a broccoli\rasin salad but we forgot about that and had it with the leftovers the next few days. We were very full and happy! We opened presents and played some games. We definitely missed being with family but it was still a wonderful quiet Christmas!