{"id":1169,"date":"2009-03-25T23:47:35","date_gmt":"2009-03-25T14:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-03-25\/1169"},"modified":"2009-03-25T23:47:35","modified_gmt":"2009-03-25T14:47:35","slug":"ice-skating-shopping-and-an-important-bus-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-03-25\/1169","title":{"rendered":"Ice Skating, Shopping, and an Important Bus Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nSpeed Skater<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I brought Anthony skating today, to Kyoto's Aquarena<\/a>, a big<\/span> swimming\ncomplex that turns one of the pools into a skating<\/span> rink during the winter.\nSurprisingly enough, they had my size skates to rent (size 32; for\nreference, most stores sell shoes only up to size 28), so I could<\/span> join him.<\/p>\n\n

I think it was the first time I went<\/span> skating in 20+ years, but it was\nAnthony's third time, having gone two other times during school-type\nevents. Like many city services, skating is free for him until he starts\nfirst grade, so I was<\/span> happy to get one last freebie in before he starts\nschool in a couple<\/span> of weeks.<\/p>\n\n

\nAction Shot<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nI apparently can't hold a cell phone level while skating backwards\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nAftermath<\/span>\nof one of the occasional falls\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nWatching the Zamboni Go By<\/span>\nhe's standing up against the glass at the far right\n<\/div>\n\n

After a few hours, we headed out to finally pick up a present<\/span> for his cousin\nJosh<\/a> who turns three in a few<\/span> days. It's been on<\/span> my mind for ages, but\nI'd had a cold<\/span> for so long. Anthony helped me pick out the perfect present.\nJosh doesn't read Japanese, but I suspect<\/span> he'll figure it out....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nPerfect<\/span>\nthe note at bottom left says “ages 3 and up”\n<\/div>\n\n

We then headed home to put it into the mail. (Well, actually, we headed\nhome to box it up and then out to the post office to mail it. In Japan, you\nreceive mail at home, but the mailman does not pick it up, so you have to\nbring to a mailbox<\/span> or one of the many post offices around town.)<\/p>\n\n

Then we had a bit of an adventure. Once he starts first grade, Anthony's\ncommute to and from school will be the city bus. Luckily, there's one bus\nthat brings him from near our place to within a 10<\/span>-minute walk to the\nschool, so he doesn't have to worry about transferring. It's a 30<\/span>-minute\nride, with 20 stops in between.<\/p>\n\n

We all practiced once this weekend, showing him where to get off and\nwhere to get on, but today he went by himself.<\/p>\n\n

Sort of.<\/p>\n\n

He rode the bus by himself, but I followed<\/span> behind on my scooter, to be\nthere whenever he got off. He could<\/span> get off if he became worried, or if he\nthought it was his stop, or if he thought he'd passed his stop. In any case<\/span>, I'd be there<\/span>, so there was little worry.<\/p>\n\n

It turns out that he was able to recognize his stop, but in the\nexcitement(?) didn't know which button to press to alert the driver he\nwanted out. It just so<\/span> happened that no one else wanted that stop, and no\none was waiting to board, so the driver just drove past. Luckily, the next\nstop is extremely close (about a two<\/span>-minute walk), so he got off there with\na “man, I almost<\/span> had it” look on his face. If he was<\/span> 40 years older, he'd\nhave said “Missed it by that<\/i> much!”<\/p>\n\n

He wanted to try it again for the return trip. He knows<\/span> our area, so I\ndidn't<\/span> worry that he'd be able to recognize the stop, but even though the\nreturn bus is mostly empty when he boards nears school, it is generally\npacked like a Tokyo<\/span> subway when it gets near our place on its way to Kyoto\nStation. Really, really packed. So, I was a<\/span> bit worried that he'd not be\nable to physically move to the front to exit. We've emphasized that he\nneeds to take advantage of the relative emptiness when he boards to get a\nseat<\/span> near the front, near the driver, and that's what he did, and so he\npopped out at our stop as if he'd been riding that route every day of his\nlife.<\/p>\n\n

Fumie and I were very proud.<\/p>\n\n

He wants to try it again all by himself tomorrow, but I don't<\/span> think\nFumie and I are<\/span> quite ready for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I brought Anthony skating today, to Kyoto's Aquarena, a big swimming complex that turns one of the pools into a skating rink during the winter. Surprisingly enough, they had my size skates to rent (size 32; for reference, most stores sell shoes only up to size 28), so I could join him.<\/p>

I think it was the first time I went skating in 20+ years, but it was Anthony's third time, having gone two other times during school-type events. Like many city services, skating is free for him until he starts first grade, so I was happy to get one [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}