Fukuoka Bike Tour

This evening I took my new bike for a ride downtown.  I'm worried that the bike is too small for me and I may have to negotiate an exchange at the shop, but I was thrilled with the beautiful ride through the city.  

Momochi Beach is about five minutes from my apartment.  It's been too hot to hang out here yet, but I think I'll be spending time here in September.  I'm not sure what purpose Fukuoka Tower serves other than standing tall as the highest building in town.  In the far left of the photo is the pier pictured below.
The Italian-esque pier separates Momochi beach in half.  Both sides are lovely!  
I rode all the way past Tenjin to the famous dinner stalls (yatai) on Nakasu Island downtown.  On the way home I had coffee in Tenjin and then picked up a watermelon at my local market to share with my neighbor Vicki from New Zealand.  Now I've just eaten another fruit salad and am marveling at how awesome the Olympic runners' bodies are!  

I learned today that my two social studies classes (9th grade Geography and 10th grade Ancient World History) only meet three times a week each.  Now the heads of the high school, elementary school, and ELL department are scrambling to figure out how I'll spend the rest of my time.  Meanwhile I have a lot of history textbooks to review.  I'm grateful for this time to acclimate before school starts, but I'm getting anxious to meet my new students and meet the challenge of this new job!  

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