A little more vacation

Tomorrow I go in for my third, yes THIRD, attempt at the motorcycle test. I failed again last week. Terrible. Hit a cone in the first 30 seconds. I'm hoping tomorrow will be that "third time's the charm" thing, but if not, well, I'll wait two weeks before going again.

Two weeks? you ask. Yes. Because, you see, I've bought a bike, which I'll get my hands on this weekend or next Monday or so. Then I can actually PRACTICE riding, on the same bike they give the test on as it happens.




It's a 400cc four cylinder engine: the Honda CB400 Super Four. I'm really, really, REALLY looking forward to getting it, taking it out for practice rides (not very far, I don't want any police problems), then getting my license...then going for some long rides.

The reason I don't have it yet is that in Japan after you buy the bike, it has to go through an involved inspection which takes a while to get done, apparently, so I put money down last Thursday, and I think I'll get it this Saturday or early next week.

This past weekend I went to an aikido training camp. We practiced for about four hours Saturday afternoon, then another two or three Sunday morning, then took our "tests" for rank (assuming I passed, which I think I did, I'm now third rank, two below the first degree black belt...not a big accomplishment, but then I'm not studying aikido for ranking either). After the tests, we practiced for another hour or so. This all took place on a short weekend trip to Fukui, which was where I visited back in January. It was considerably cooler there than in Osaka, which made practicing much more enjoyable, though I was still sweating profusely.

Picture of a student taking her test.


Now I'm back in Osaka, with another two weeks to go. I'm still climbing a lot..in fact, I think I'll head up there now...

Adios. Aloha. さようなら。