Biting It

Wednesday, while Brent was off doing some stuff on his own, I took two hours of bike lessons. The first hour was on the simulator, where I was to maneuver my way through a virtual world of traffic, crosswalks, and stupid pedestrians. My favorite parts of the simulator were when random cars performed what I will now refer to as the "Okinawa merge." It's not actually a merge, rather an abrupt pulling-in-front that causes everyone I know to exclaim how poor Okinawan drivers are. The other was the pedestrian with no regard for traffic laws, or perhaps the fallen logs in the middle of the highway. And of course the elementary school student running down the middle of the street like a moronic child.

It went well, the instructor saying I did a good job (despite my missing the first "right turn" instruction offered by the program).

The second hour was back on the real bike. I didn't realize it first, but I had bike #9, a bike which I've only ridden once before and had severe problems with. The first time I rode it, the clutch was jerky, which made the fine maneuvers in the crank and slalom tricky. Today, it felt weird because I spent an hour on the simulator; I felt like my balance was a little off.

My second instructor (everyone is assigned a random instructor for each of their lessons, the idea that each instructor will have a chance to watch how we ride and offer feedback that others might have overlooked) told me that we'd be starting with turning practice, as in taking the large outer turns - while staying within the dotted turn lines - on the course in three scenarios: 20kph (also referred to as "safety turning"); 30kph with the bike in gear; and finally 30kph with the clutch pulled at the moment the turn begins.

The first two were easy. 20kph turns are no problem, hence being called "safety turns." The 30kph turn with the bike in 3rd gear also felt pretty good. I'd taken turns like that before, so it was just a matter of feeling the good balance and riding in through. The last scenario, the one where I'm supposed to pull the clutch, release the bike from gear, and coast through the turn, didn't work out so well.

As my instructor told me I would, after pulling the clutch and releasing the bike from its engine friction, I started to drift toward the other lane of traffic. He had told me what to do in this situation - apply the rear brake and slow the bike, hold as tight an arc as possible and not wander into the other lane. Sadly, I did more than what he told me to do and applied the front brake as well. This locked the front wheel in the turn, which caught the road, jerked the bike out from under me, and threw me onto the asphalt at 30kph, the bike skidding about 3 meters before coming to a rest on its left side, gasoline dripping onto the driving course.

I rolled onto my chest with my elbows underneath, assessing myself. My instructor came over immediately to check if I was okay. I was. My head hurt with the pain I get during any sudden jarring impact, the left side of my ribcage was stinging slightly, and my left ankle hurt a bit. It felt as if I had taken a really heavy tackle that I wasn't ready for. But perhaps that unpreparedness was what kept everything so minor. I don't remember the interval between the bike jerking and me realizing I had fallen, so I don't know what I did. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps I just kind of went limp, which I think might have been the best thing to do.

The elbow and knee pads I was wearing I'm sure saved me from having a very bad day. The long pants and shirt also kept my skin where it belongs. My helmet never touched the ground and luckily I wasn't pinned under the bike as it skidded to a stop.

After getting off and out of the road, my instructor lifted the bike, ran the gasoline out of the engine, gave it a few turns to make sure it was stable, made sure I was okay to ride for the rest of the hour, and we continued on our way. We did not return to the turning practice - I suspect that I'll have to cover it during my next lesson. And while I may be just a little bit hesitant to get the bike into a 30kph turn, I'll be certain of what I'm supposed to do, and even more so of what I'm NOT supposed to do - apply the front brake in a turn.

Front brake is only used when braking in a straight line. No other time. Period.

It's also just a little interesting that this comes the day after I was talking to Sam about the future of my bike ridership, and the experiences she's had with family members and friends who ride, or rode bikes at one point. And of course, Brent and I talked about it, him sharing a story of a former baseball coach who, driving behind a girl one day, witnessed said girl in a bikini coming back from the beach doing 70mph (miles per hour!) with no protection and losing control. When the coach stopped his car (the coach was an EMT at one point of his life) and checked on the girl, all he could do was call 911 (we presume she died). Though I already knew it, riding a bike, even only 1km, should not be taken lightly.

So I have a much better idea of what I'm getting myself into, or onto. I'm wiser now; I hope safer too. And to wrap it up, here's a couple shots of my first souvenir.

Return

Got back to Okinawa with Brent today. Heading to Tokashiki tomorrow and spending Saturday night there. Returning Sunday, will chill for a bit and just do whatever we kind of feel like. Updates and pictures later, when it's not 1:00 in the morning and I have to get up at 5:00.

Bye for now.

To hold you over...

海を見えるレストラン or 'Restaurant where you can see the ocean'

'Memoirs of the Battle of Okinawa' @ Okinawa Peace Memorial Park

Wall Shisa @ Okinawa Ocean Expo Park

Dolphin experience center @ Ocean Expo Park

I teach more than just English

A Day Early

My posting schedule doesn't have me writing until tomorrow. But tomorrow is a busy day and the start of my 10-day travel with getting up early, catching the bus to the airport, and flying to Nagoya. I doubt I'd find the time to write much in the morning; I also can't imagine wanting to sit down and type anything after arriving and getting straight on with whatever sort of activities are going to happen.

I'll give you a rundown of the itinerary though:

Depart: Okinawa, Arrive: Nagoya
2 days: Ise-cho, Mie-ken
2 days: Nagoya-shi
Depart: Nagoya, Arrive: Tokyo, Meet Brent at the airport
3 days: Tokyo
Depart: Tokyo, Arrive: Kyoto
3 days: Kyoto
Depart: Kyoto, Arrive: Okinawa
8 days: relaxing, hanging out, exploring

It should be an awesome trip, especially as it's my brother's first trip out of the States. I'm hoping to introduce him to some great culture, food, and friends. One of the things he excited for is the Orion Beer Festival - a weekend long "thank you" party from Orion Brewery to thank all the people who drink their beer. It involves two days of excellent eisa performances and highly discounted draft beer. I went last year and had a blast - this year should be as good if not better.

Brent departs on the 31st and then I start the second semester of school the next day, the first day of school work of my second year on JET.

Despite having had many experiences where I find myself thinking that time is just moving too quickly, I still haven't gotten used to it. Perhaps that's because the feeling is always relative. I know I've mentioned this before, but I think it also has to do with each new day being a smaller amount of time of our total lives than the previous day was.

Any way you count it, it's year 2 of JET for me. There are a number of things I'm really hoping go well this year, none of which are the kinds of things that will just fall into my lap (does anything really do that?). They'll all take a good bit of work and effort to accomplish. As always, there's the drive for fluency in Japanese. But there's a few more, the kinds of things that I can't quantify - like fluency. But I know that if I just go for them and do my best, stay relaxed, and keep smiling, they'll be some of the most rewarding parts and memories of my time here in Okinawa.

Because ultimately, "it's not where, but who you're with, that really matters."

PS - I will do my best with the now-regular Friday and Tuesday posts during Brent's stay in Japan. Worst case, I'll write some short things and post them all when I get back. Later!

A New Habit

I've been out of studying for a little while now, mostly due to putting sleep before flashcards. But some recent reading I've been doing has inspired me not to let myself slack off like I have for the past week or two.

The crux of the reading I've been doing is this: "You're not bad at what you're trying to do - you're just not used to it...yet. Keep going. You'll get it eventually."

Doesn't that just make total sense?

Think about it. A child is born into the world knowing nothing of language or speech patterns or vocabulary or grammar. He passively listens to the language of his parent's, and one day, words start coming out of his mouth. Then come phrases, followed by simple sentences, followed by long sentences, followed by fluency and speech so rapid one can't help but think, "He must have been doing this his whole life."

Well, the same things goes for everything I think.

Want to play the sanshin well? Start playing. Don't sit around and think about how you want to play - just play.

Want to speak Japanese or another foreign language? Don't sit around and discuss studying - just study. Words, grammar, kanji, whatever. Find it and use it.

Want to run a marathon? Then start running. Even if you can only do 2 minutes, if you keep doing it, 2 minutes will turn into 2 hours...you just have to keep doing it.

I'm getting back into my study habit, and starting a few new ones: twice weekly blog posts (or at least writing them to be posted later, in the event I don't have 'net access), even if I don't think I have anything to say; and taking my camera with me wherever I go, taking pictures of whatever I see, because I'm not going to get better at taking photographs if I don't start taking photographs. I might even throw in a little bit of meditation every day, because let me assure you, there is too much stuff running around in my head on any given day. I could use the personal respite.

So what is it that you want to do? Whatever it is, start today. And don't stop. Just keep going. You won't be perfect, but nobody's expecting you to be. You'll probably even make a lot of mistakes or doubt if the method you're using is right, or if what you're doing is even worth it. It is totally worth it! You'll get there. And imagine how rewarding that day will be when you can play everyone's favorite traditional songs on their traditional instrument, or talk to anyone you meet in their own language, or run around your town or city for hours at a time, taking in sights you'd never see in a car.

Every day is another chance to get a little bit better. Why wait?