Saturday, October 23, 2004
Two Bikes + 30 km + Many Hills = Sore bottoms
What a weekend! It was quite the farewell weekend for Daniel, we just didn’t stop going to party after party after party. Friday night after karate Asagami called again and asked if we’d go out for drinks. I was really exhausted and even getting up to take a shower made me groan, but while I was up and showering I decided that I should go. (Asagami’s little voice in my head, “It’s your duty.”) We went to a small bar in downtown Narao where there were a few drunk men doing karaoke and having fun. Asagami ordered snacky foods for us and I realized just how hungry I was. I ate lots of edamame, crackers, chocolate, cold pasta, and squid jerky.
After a little while the karaoke-ing patrons asked to join us and we said ok. I scooted over on the bench to make room for them and as I turned my head back to face them there were two puckered lips coming right toward me. I quickly dodged the kiss and almost jumped in Daniel’s lap. The rest of the night I found myself leaning more and more into Dan as this guy kept inching my way on the bench. He was totally harmless, just drunk, but nonetheless I didn’t want him sitting on top of me. He kept ranting about “Japanese heart” and trying to hold Daniel’s hand. I eventually just got too tired to put up with it anymore we decided to call it a night.
I got to sleep in on Saturday and woke up craving a French toast breakfast. We cleaned up the apartment a bit, made a cake for dinner at Laura’s, and packed for our weekend bike ride to the north. We had to go down to Asagami’s office at noon to pick up the bikes. We were a little late so we had to sprint down to Narao and got there in about 10 minutes—luckily it’s all downhill or flat. Asagami adjusted our seats, we figured out the gears and got situated for the ride back to my apartment. With this bike (a real racing bike) I was able to get a fair way up the hill to my apartment before getting off and walking. I was really exhausted and couldn’t stop thinking, “And this is only a tiny part of the entire trip.” We dropped the cake off at Catherine’s who was taking it up north by car for us and left around 2:45 p.m.
The ride was really nice for the first hour, then the aching butt-bones became a reality and my arms were really sore from leaning so far over the handles. My legs were doing great, but I was just so uncomfortable sitting on the narrow men’s seat, but it was a trade-off between that or putting all my weight in my arms. My shoulders were cramping and a head-wind started picking up during the second half the trip. I felt like I was falling apart, but in all the unexpected places. We just took it really slow and coasted whenever possible.
We made it to Aokata and stopped into AquaBlue, the gym, for a break from the cold. Dan spotted soft serve ice cream and so we had to treat ourselves to some! After sitting down, of course, I was not looking forward to the steep climb over to Urakura. We ended up walking most of the way up anyway. In Urakura we met Laura and Kerry coming back from the beach and Kerry offered to pick us up at Yuka’s place before our dinner at Laura’s. Yeah! We didn’t have to bike or walk! God bless you, Kerry!
It was such a happy day when we arrived at Yuka’s place in Arikawa. I wanted to do nothing but sit drinking something warm and that’s exactly what we did. In an attempt to pack light I brought only shorts and a T-shirt, but Yuka lent me some warm clothes—actually, they were Kerry’s predecessor’s clothes, but they were great to climb into.
We all met at Laura’s apartment at 6:30 p.m. and had dinner before our nomihoudai (all-you-can-drink) at George’s bar. We got taxi’s to George’s just before 9 p.m. and then I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. (Actually I toned them down a bit. Peter if you still want that picture you’ll have to get it from me because I can’t post it on my website! My family looks at this!)
Here’s the bar.
After a little while the karaoke-ing patrons asked to join us and we said ok. I scooted over on the bench to make room for them and as I turned my head back to face them there were two puckered lips coming right toward me. I quickly dodged the kiss and almost jumped in Daniel’s lap. The rest of the night I found myself leaning more and more into Dan as this guy kept inching my way on the bench. He was totally harmless, just drunk, but nonetheless I didn’t want him sitting on top of me. He kept ranting about “Japanese heart” and trying to hold Daniel’s hand. I eventually just got too tired to put up with it anymore we decided to call it a night.
I got to sleep in on Saturday and woke up craving a French toast breakfast. We cleaned up the apartment a bit, made a cake for dinner at Laura’s, and packed for our weekend bike ride to the north. We had to go down to Asagami’s office at noon to pick up the bikes. We were a little late so we had to sprint down to Narao and got there in about 10 minutes—luckily it’s all downhill or flat. Asagami adjusted our seats, we figured out the gears and got situated for the ride back to my apartment. With this bike (a real racing bike) I was able to get a fair way up the hill to my apartment before getting off and walking. I was really exhausted and couldn’t stop thinking, “And this is only a tiny part of the entire trip.” We dropped the cake off at Catherine’s who was taking it up north by car for us and left around 2:45 p.m.
The ride was really nice for the first hour, then the aching butt-bones became a reality and my arms were really sore from leaning so far over the handles. My legs were doing great, but I was just so uncomfortable sitting on the narrow men’s seat, but it was a trade-off between that or putting all my weight in my arms. My shoulders were cramping and a head-wind started picking up during the second half the trip. I felt like I was falling apart, but in all the unexpected places. We just took it really slow and coasted whenever possible.
We made it to Aokata and stopped into AquaBlue, the gym, for a break from the cold. Dan spotted soft serve ice cream and so we had to treat ourselves to some! After sitting down, of course, I was not looking forward to the steep climb over to Urakura. We ended up walking most of the way up anyway. In Urakura we met Laura and Kerry coming back from the beach and Kerry offered to pick us up at Yuka’s place before our dinner at Laura’s. Yeah! We didn’t have to bike or walk! God bless you, Kerry!
It was such a happy day when we arrived at Yuka’s place in Arikawa. I wanted to do nothing but sit drinking something warm and that’s exactly what we did. In an attempt to pack light I brought only shorts and a T-shirt, but Yuka lent me some warm clothes—actually, they were Kerry’s predecessor’s clothes, but they were great to climb into.
We all met at Laura’s apartment at 6:30 p.m. and had dinner before our nomihoudai (all-you-can-drink) at George’s bar. We got taxi’s to George’s just before 9 p.m. and then I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. (Actually I toned them down a bit. Peter if you still want that picture you’ll have to get it from me because I can’t post it on my website! My family looks at this!)
Here’s the bar.
And the owner, George.
Peter and Catherine.
Yuka and Miles
Kerry, Catherine, Paul and I. It’s a scandalous pictures, but completely a setup!
Here is George doing a magic trick where we punches a pen though a ¥2000, but then there’s no hole! It’s pretty amazing, huh?
Here are Yuka and Laura at the bar, Yuka was being pimped out by George at this point.
Found this cute picture of DT and I on Laura's website! Thank you!
The crew went out to karaoke afterwards, but DT and I were pretty tired after that bike ride so we walked back to Yuka’s place and went to bed.
Love, Sierra
