Finishing Up and Beginning Anew

The Metrics:

9          =  The number of paintings which still need to be hung up in the apartment.

3          =  The number of hard-drives which have been in my computer 

                 in the last 24 hours.

14612  =  The kilometers Google Maps claims would need to be traversed 

                 for DW to drive to WR.

0          =  How many Amphicars I have access to.

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Hiyo All,

 

The dust is just beginning to settle from the chaos that was the past few weeks.  Whit safely reached Tokyo and navigated the gauntlet that was the orientation process, and as I type at you she is just about to start her day of travel which will take her to her final destination in Fukuoka Prefecture.  Thanks to the wonder of technology we've been able to talk face to face via skype several times since she landed, and rest assured you will be getting some choice stories in the weeks to come of her time in orientation and Tokyo.  

 

For now I thought I would give you all a look at our newly set up apartment, tell you a little about what I've been up to, and give any of you wanting to stay in touch with Whit a heads up on a few apps/programs which make the process easier and more affordable.  

 

Our new stateside apartment is back closer to where we lived when we first moved to the Twin Cities, in an area known as The Wedge.

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Hard to see why they call it The Wedge eh?

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Although we really liked our last apartment, distance from the U, increasing rent, and a lack of public transit options took it out of the running for a good long term fit.  And, while our new apartment is smaller, it makes up for size in a very ped/bike/public transit friendly area, swimming in restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores.  Did I mention I get free off street parking? Yeah, that hasn't happened in a few years.

 

The space is definitely compact, but with Whit's help in planning we've created a pretty functional living space.  Here is a quick tour:

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The entryway. Whit's bike gets a much needed post triathlon
break beside the rack of bike hooplah.

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The Kitchen.  This is always the sticking point for me in small apartments:
teensy kitchens.  But I've grown adept at creating counters and storage
where none were found previously :).

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The Living Room.  Nice and cozy . . . well except for the fact that
the coffee table has been annexed for an alternate purpose . . .

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Puck standing sentry over the Computer Repair Wing aka the coffee table.

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The Bedroom. Both mirror and lamp were items I got as a result of
giveaways at the website I used to work for, huzzah!

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The disaster area I call my office.  As you can see things still need
to be sorted out here, but the general shape is there.

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Rags felt left out, so he decided to perch in front of the mirror to keep himself company.

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No bathroom pics, sorry.  But I assure you it does exist, so if you wind up visiting you won't go wanting.

Before calling this post a wrap I promised I would point you to some ways of staying in contact with Whit and I over the coming year.  All of the apps below can be downloaded for both iPhone and Android OS and they're free (at least for most uses).  

Skype

This is a big one, and it's likely you've all heard about it, but if you aren't already on the bandwagon I'd suggest you join.  It allows you to make free video-calls to other Skype users, and for a charge (of less than what you'd pay to do it otherwise) you can use it to make phone calls to non-skype accounts.  While it can be used from a smartphone, Skype works best over a computer with a quick internet connection. 

WhatsApp

This is a program available on all major smartphone OS which allows you to do free texting including picture texts, be they local or international, via your 4g or wifi netweork.  And it's free.

Viber

Viber uses your phones internet connection to allow you make calls free to other people who have the app, even internationally.

Thanks as always for reading!  Look forward to our first blog update from Japan in the weeks to come.  

Cheers!

DW

Snapshots.

Hello again, RowStein readers!  Sorry for the delay, yet again.  It's been a very busy time for us (astoundingly, ridiculously, stupid-stupidly busy), so we're going to keep it short and sweet.

For this post, we present... our week.  In snapshots.

MOVING:
Ah, yes.  Those dreaded, dreaded boxes.  We'd thought we'd seen the last of them when we put them into storage.  But no.  Sadly... sadly, no.

"Wait, we have 40 of these?!"

EATING:
After two days of moving, sorting, shifting, straining, opening, and unpacking... we didn't want to add "cook" to our list of ing's.  Thankfully, there's Topper's Pizza and what we lovingly call the "Dan Special" (Buffalo chicken chunks, bacon, double cheese, and ranch on the side).  It's friggin' amazing.

Dan, stoked about his Dan special.

UNPACKING:
Yep.  More unpacking.  But look!  You can see windows!  And... there's a bed under there, I think.

Why do we have so much stuff?

SHOPPING:
We did a lot of my Japan-prep shopping while in Florida, but there was still a lot to buy.  Last minute clothes, toiletries, and... of course... omiyage.  To explain omiyage, very briefly:  There's a prevalent gift-giving culture in Japan, where foreigners and locals alike are expected to bring back small tokens from their trips and travels (especially for neighbors and coworkers).  The gifts are not supposed to be expensive, but should be local and unique when possible... and often edible.  So, as a new JET ALT, it's expected that I arrive with something snazzy from the Twin Cities.  Like a case of mini Pearson's "Nut Rolls," straight from the factory.

"100 Years of Nut Goodieness!"

OTHER IMPORTANT STUFF:
That same day, we did all kinds of things.  We got haircuts (both of us), got new nose-jewelry installed (just me), ordered my Yen, bought some clothes at the outlet mall, and gathered local "prop" materials in the form of to-go menus from some of our favorite restaurants.  (These "props," by the way, are used as part of my introductory lessons in Japan.)  And... since gathering menus requires us to actually go to the restaurants... we thought we'd stop and partake of the delicious pizzas at Punch Pizza in St. Paul.  I mean, we're already there.  Right? 

The "Cortina."  Shockingly tasty.

COMPUTER PREP:
By mid-week, a lot of the apartment unpacking had been completed (see the books and DVDs in the background? ), but my Japan packing hadn't yet begun.  While I sorted and stacked and folded every single article of clothing I own (see the stacks of clothes in the foreground?), Dan worked on prepping my electronics.  There was a surprising amount to be done, but Dan was super helpful and got everything up to speed.

Look at him go!  Computering!

RELAXING:
Believe it or not, we even found a little time to relax!  We biked over to the park around the Lake of the Isles and had a coffee-picnic.  It was a great way to spend a morning.

Whitney and the bikes.

TRI-CHEERING:
Our friend competed in a Sprint Triathlon in Duluth on Sunday, so we drove up to cheer her on and take photos.  It was a lot of fun to be on the other side of the sport (check out last week's post, if you haven't) and, besides!  We'd never been to Duluth.  So, why not?

Drew, the Tri-Champion!

MORE EATING:
Since the race-location in Duluth was a three hour drive each way, we decided that we'd visit some area sites while we were there.  And, of course, that means eating.  We hit up a very well reviewed local fish sandwich shop and we were not at all disappointed.

"The Northern Waters Smokehouse."

PACKING AND RE-PACKING:
By this point in the week, I've unpacked all of my boxed belongings and either, a.) found a place for them in the apartment, b.) packed them away into storage of some kind, or c.) placed them in the pile of "Things Going to Japan."  Once I was done with all of that sorting, I actually had to cram everything into bags.  It wasn't an easy task, let me tell you.

So... much............. packing.....

SWEET, SWEET REWARD:
Finally!  We're done!  We've unpacked, I've repacked, the cats are settled, everything is (basically) done.  So, we reward ourselves with one last meal at our very favorite Twin City wing-joint.  Oh, the :D Spot... how we adore you.

Best wings ever.  EVER.

So, there you have it!  This week has been a total blur.  And, to be honest, next week will probably be worse.  But, the next time I (Whitney) write, it will be from Japan!  Crazy!

Thanks for the support, readers!  We appreciate it!
WR & DW

If at first you don't succeed . . . Tri Tri again

The Metrics:

498      =  The number of fellow competitors at the Graniteman.

60        =  Total ounces of Gatorade consumed during race.  

19        =  Weeks we've spent training for the event.

0          =  People who thought it was a good idea to move the day after the Tri.

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Hiyo all! For this weeks post I (Dan) am taking the helm.  Something you will be seeing more of over the next months, as Whitney and I will be trading off on writing the blog to keep you abreast of the goings on on both sides of the Pacific. So prepare yourselves for the anachronistic word choices and run on sentences which are the hallmark of my writing . . . in other words: flee while you still can.  Onward to all things Triathlon!

As most of you already know, Whitney and I competed this past week in our first ever Sprint Triathlon, the Graniteman in Clearwater Minnesota. For the prior 19 weeks we had worked our way from couch to tri, working out 5 days a week.  While we have worked hard for the past 4 years to lose weight and generally improve our health, I'm going to take a moment and attempt to put into perspective just how far we came during our training, and just how crazy an idea training this event seemed at the onset.   Back in March, the last time I had run more than a mile without walking was Freshman year in High School . . . 17 years ago.  Never in my life had I swam more than a handful of laps without stopping. And though I started bike commuting this past fall, I never had to go more than 8 miles in a jaunt and speed was not of the essence.  I know it was much the same for Whitney.

Whit helped me take a photo a week during the course of our training, here is a snapshot of the progress I made from week 1-18.

By the time last Saturday rolled around, we were able to swim .46 miles, bike 15, and run 3.2 . . . Now we just needed to see if we could do them consecutively.

We made the last major leg of the Great Schlep on Friday driving 9 hours from Peoria up to St. Cloud, the nearest major town to Clearwater.  We stopped by Warner Park (the race venue) en route to pick up our race packs, which included some swag, various scientific experiments pretending to be food, more ads than you can shake a stick at, and most importantly our race bibs and timing chips. 

This last item probably deserves a bit of explanation.

Triathlons are pretty high-tech nowadays.  While there are still people with stopwatches writing down peoples numbers as they enter each phase of the race, all competitors also where a neoprene anklet with a timing chip in it.  This each chip has a signal unique to each racer which is tracked as they cross mats placed at the entrance and exit of the transition area.  Ultimately this allows for some pretty neat data parsing, as shown below.

So much data!

After checking in at the hotel, we gorged on carbs, went over our gear for the umpteenth time, and then turned in for a fitful 6 hours of sleep . . . Yeah did I mention that we had to get to the race site at 6 a.m. to set up our transitions?

This is a pic of our transitions.  The towels aren't strictly necessary, but many people use them to help define their area.  While hypothetically you could make a mad dash for the port-a-potty in between the swim and the run, it's not going to do much to help your time.  So you need to have everything you will need for all 3 events as easily accessible as possible.

My transition area!

For the first transition (swim to bike), in addition to my bike, I've got a water bottle to wash the grit from my feet following the sprint from the lakes edge to the transition area, a towel to remove a bit of excess water, socks and my bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses, my shirt with race bib already pinned on, and a bit of food (in this case, a cliff bar), and gatorade in the bottle on my bike.  The second transition is easier as I just have to drop off my helmet, rack my bike, swap shoes, and grab my palm holder.  We practiced our transitions a few times in the weeks leading up to the event, and it definitely made it a less stressful experience on race day.  Since, with 500 participants, things were definitely hectic.

This was still about 45 minutes pre-race, so you can imagine what it looked like once everyone was there.

In addition to setting up our areas, we also had to get our numbers painted on.

There was a brief meeting with the race officials outlining rules and the course and then we made the trek to the other side of the lake for the first event.

This is a shot of our swim course from the perspective of the finish.  There were buoys all the way across for guidance and safety, in addition to half a dozen race monitors on kayaks and row boats.

In spite of having swum the distance numerous times both in the pool and in the ocean, the differences on race day got the better of me during the race.  I was part of the first wave following the elite wave, which means my wave 2 compatriots were expected to be fast.  Between unintentionally pacing myself off faster swimmers and the adrenaline of the moment I found I couldn't get my breath under me.  By about two thirds of the way across the lake I had to swim to a row boat to catch my breath.  Fortunately you are allowed to use the buoys or boats for this purpose with no penalty, save the time you lose by not swimming, provided you don't attempt to move forward while holding on.  After a 30 second pause I was back on track and made to the other side just fine.

For most triathlons, the transition area is pretty much on the bank of whatever body of water is being used for the swimming.  In the case of the Graniteman, we had a solid 150 yard dash between the water and our bikes.

If you squint you can almost see the bikes off in the distance.

I did my best to shake off the bad juju from the swim as I made my way to my transition and I was able to make it out onto the roads on my bike in under 3 minutes, which seemed pretty good considering the jog involved.

The bike course was a 15+ mile ride on county highways, and once I managed to get beyond the fact that I was getting passed like I was standing still by a blur of Lycra on a vehicle that more closely resembles a spaceship than a bicycle, I would go so far as to say it was enjoyable! In the end I set a faster time than I had in my practices, so all was well.

Lastly we were on to my least favorite of the three events, the run.  After swapping out my shoes I headed back out of the transition area on an "out and back" course with a fair mix of trails and asphalt.

Do I really have to?

One of the many, incredibly nice people we met at the event held our camera for me during the race and he even tried to snap a photo of me as I came across the finish line . . .

See the foot blurring toward the finish line on the left? Yeah that's me.

. . . but I was just too damn fast.  That or our camera sucks, but I'm opting for the first explanation :).

Thanks to his generosity though, I was able to get a decent pic of Whit making her final approach.

In the end we both finished, and even hit our goals as far as overall time.  The whole experience was immensely rewarding and I think we are both interested in doing more sprints in the future.

Our t-shirts, medals, and numbers.

Well it's getting late and I should probably stop typing at you and help Whitney unpack the new apartment.  With the move and Whit's departure looming close there will be plenty more to cover in the upcoming weeks. 

Thanks for reading!
DW

The Great Schlep - Part II, or "Home, New Home..."

The Metrics: 

 x - 11  =  The number of anole lizards in the backyard upon our leaving Florida.

11        =  The state-lines we've crossed thus far.

3,578   =  Miles traveled by car so far (and that's just the "to and from" distances). 

61        =  Hours spent in the car.  (With 19 more to go).

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Hello again, readers!  We've been away from the blog for far too long.  I blame it on our travels, triathlon training, family visits, sudden illness, and lack of regular Internet.  But, forget the excuses.  Let's get right down to business!

NEWS!  I found out the details of my JET Program placement!  I finally know where I'll be living and working while in Japan.  My predecessor has been wonderfully kind and helpful so far, and he assures me that it's a stellar placement.  And, from what I've seen in my research... it's going to be awesome.

Since I haven't been there yet (obviously), I don't have my own pictures.  But here's some maps and photos and such, gathered from the glorious Interwebs.  We'll start with the living situation....

 

Chikushino-shi, Fukuoka-ken, Japan!

A basic Google map view of my town.

I'll be living in a relatively recently renovated apartment on the third floor of a Kyoshokuin Jutaku (or "teacher's housing"), owned by the Fukuoka Board of Education.  While living in a board-owned Jutaku usually means that the buildings are decades old and look like a big cement blocks (this fact has been confirmed by my pred), it also means that the rent is incredibly affordable for us teacher-types.  Hooray!

 

Also, the apartment (which is a decent size, I hear) has some traditional Japanese flair.  It will have paper sliding doors, tatami mats... but a Western toilet!  The best of both worlds, right?

A sample photo of sliding doors & tatami (Not my apartment).

From what I've been told, Chikushino is a pretty modern suburb of about 100,000 people.  There are lots of restaurants, two big shopping centers, and reliable transport options, including several bus lines and a couple train stations.  To read some basic (though very limited) info, click here to see the Wikipedia entry for Chikushino. And enjoy a few more photos!

Chikushino-shi, a general view.  And look!  A McD's!

A local temple and garden.  Beautiful!

There aren't a ton of pictures of Chikushino available on the Internet (that's partly because I'm searching in English, versus in Japanese...), but I'll be there soon and promise to post ALL SORTS of pictures from around my new hometown.

And with that... on to my work situation (which I am SO EXCITED ABOUT)!  I'll be working at....

Hakata Seisho Senior High School,

Hakata-ku, Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka-ken, Japan!

That's right!  Fukuoka City, baby!

A lot of words, I know.  But it breaks down like this: I'll be working in a High School in the Hakata ward (neighborhood / area, called "ku") of Fukuoka City ("shi"), which is in Fukuoka Prefecture (like a state, called "ken"), which is in Japan (duh).  I don't know much about my school yet, but working in a city this size (and this nice!) is a truly awesome placement.  I'm incredibly fortunate to land it.

Though you've probably never heard of it, Fukuoka City is pretty big.  It's the 7th most populous city in all of Japan, with a population of 1.5 million people (not including suburbs or surrounding communities).  It has a major international airport, which is great when your husband will be flying over to visit regularly, and it's central location makes it a travel gateway to lots of Asian destinations, including Okinawa, Seoul, Busan, and Shanghai.  If you're interested, you can check out the city's website by clicking here.

Since I peppered you with Fukuoka pictures in a previous blog post, I won't inundate you with them this time.  Except for this one.  Because I'm SUPER excited to see these for myself.

Fukuoka's famous "yatai," food stalls.  YUM!

My commute between Chikushino and Fukuoka will involve an approximate 10-15 minute walk (or a shorter bike ride, if I purchase one), a 20-30 minute train ride into the City, and another 10-15 minute walk to my school.  Not too bad, really!  I'll get to live the car-free life of an modern commuter, AND I'll get to experience both the urban and suburban sides of Japan.

Below is a small area map, showing the relative positions of my work-location and home-location.  Fukuoka-shi is in gold, while Chikushino-shi is in a... I don't know... cornflower blue?  Anyway, it helps for perspective.

So, that's it!  I know where I'll be!  And I'm super, super stoked about it.  :-)

 

Tune in next week, loyal readers, for photos, stories, and all the dirty details regarding our participation in the GraniteMan Sprint Triathlon (which is THIS SATURDAY.... Oh God, oh God, oh God...).  Wish us luck!

And thanks for reading!

WR