the tale of the car.....

I think this weekend may have been the most stressful I've had here in Japan. I came straight home after work Friday after a long day of deciphering Engrish. It's really cold here, and as far as I know my paper house doesn't have central heating. So, generally when I get home I put on my jammy jams (my pajamas), curl up on my futon, and I bury myself in blankets. I turn on my computer, and I don't get up unless it's absolutely necessary. I was really tired, but knowing what was ahead of me in the coming weekend had me in a panic. Saturday I knew I had to go get my car in Mei (which is about a 3 hour drive away) and I knew Sunday I had the Tamaguci marathon in Kunisaki. I can't say I was very excited about either prospect. 

Saturday morning rolled around. I made myself some eggs and toast for breakfast, and waited for one of my teachers to drive me to the train station. Watanabe-sensei picked me up around 10:20, and drove me to the train station in Kitsuki. Getting a train from Kitsuki to Oita City was really easy. Once I got into Oita City I bought another train ticket to Mei. Now, here's where my day got a little more spicy. Now, at this point my anxiety attack was in full swing. The thought of driving on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car, in A FOREIGN COUNTRY had me about ready to throw up on my shoes. I get lost in Chehalis, and my imagination was running amok thinking of all the ways I could get lost on the drive from Mei to Kunisaki. 

I was absentmindedly wandering through the train station looking for platform 6, so I could catch my train to Mei (and as far as I was concerned impending doom). I got a little lost, and I asked someone in my very broken Japanese if I was heading in the correct direction. I don't know what happened, but the next thing I knew a tiny Japanese woman had grabbed me by the hand, and was dragging me up an escalator towards platform 6. It was very clear that I didn't speak any Japanese, but she didn't seem to notice, she just kept smiling in rattling off in Japanese at a million miles a minute. I heard her say "Mei" several times, which led me to believe that she was going to take it upon herself to get me to Mei. She proceeded to take me into this tiny glass waiting room on platform 6. It was miserably hott and stuffy, and since I was the only white person, everyone was looking at me like I had a fetus growing out of my head. It was so stuffy, I started to sweat, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I wanted to distract myself, so I pulled out Mean Mr. Mustard (my I-pod). I put my headphones in, and put Mean Mr. Mustard on shuffle. The sound of the rain on the roof of the little waiting room died out, and The Doors "People are Strange" came on. I love my Mean Mr. Mustard. Whenever  I put him on shuffle, he has this habit of playing a song that is perfect for the situation I'm in. I looked at the old woman next to me, my self appointed Japanese care taker, and I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I just looked at my feet and listened to the lyrics:

When you're strange

faces come out of the rain, 

when you're strange

no one remembers your name

when you're strange

when you're strange

when you're strange.....

I was indeed, feeling pretty strange. About 5 minutes before the train was going to arrive, I fled my stuffy sanctuary and went to a vending machine to get a cold tea. I was hoping it would settle my stomach. I went to put my money in, when a tiny wrinkled hand stopped me. Of course, it was the little old lady. One hand was holding my arm (preventing me from buying my drink) and the other hand was grasping a thermos full of home-brewed tea. Now, I am not saying this little old lady wasn't really sweet, I know she was just trying to help. However, in the midst of an anxiety attack, I generally want my space, and I definately did not want to drink mystery tea from a purse thermos. I did my best to smile, and I bought the tea anyway. 

The train arrived, and she pulled me down in the seat next to her. I felt like I was going to throw up on my shoes. I was so nervous about driving back to Kunisaki. I was running all the possible scenarios of things that could go wrong through my twisted little imagination, when the tiny wrinkled hand re-appeared. Only this time, she had fruit. I don't know what it was, but she stared me down and kept saying "DOZO!DOZO!" which means please. So, I ate the mystery fruit, and smiled to be nice. I don't know what it was, but it had the texture of an apple and the flavor of a cantaloupe. It also had really giant seeds. My stomach was turing, and I started to worry I might get sick right on the little old lady's lap. I kept smiling awkwardly, but inside I wanted to die a little. I know these things are easier to read when there's pictures, so I used my computer's camera to roughly capture my feelings at this moment:

This was not a cheerful Erin. Eventually, the train got to Mei, and the little old lady tried to pull me towards her car. Lucky for me Ryan (the JET I bought the car from) was already waiting for me in the parking lot. He saved the day, and literally, saved me from a very sweet and maternal Japanese old lady who would have probably taken me home and kept me as her little American pet. 

Ryan took me to the parking lot where my car was sitting. He gave me directions on how to get back to the city, which were quite vague, but it was the best he could do. He wanted to drive around the block with me a few times, but I honestly just wanted to be left alone. He respected my wishes, and left the parking lot. I was on my own. 

So, meet "ratty."

I didn't name the car "Ratty," the previous owners did. I actually really like the car. It's a lot like the Millennium Falcon, she doesn't look like much, but she's got it where it counts. Now "Ratty" only has four forward gears, and if you go faster than 85 km an hour it starts to sound cranky. Now, considering that I still don't understand the metric system I HAVE NO CLUE HOW FAST THAT IS. I'm going to guess that this baby tops out at around 55 mph. The blinker and the windshield wipers are on opposite sides. Driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car has me all mixed up. Every time I try to make a turn my windshield wipers kick on and I have to struggle to remember which side of the road I belong on. 

After a few hours of stressful driving, I managed to get myself lost. This is no surprise, I have absolutely no sense of direction.  I knew I was lost, so with a lack any better options I pulled into a gas station. Now the gas station attendant didn't speak any English, but I managed to have him show me where I was on the map. I got back in my car, and I literally started to cry. I was so frustrated, I didn't really know what else to do. After a few minutes of a tantrum, I pulled myself together. Over our road trip this summer Winston not only taught me how to drive a stick shift, but he taught me how to tell my way on a map, and he taught as much as he could about direction. So, thanks to the lessons of a fabulous teacher, I set off for Kunisaki. 

About an hour later I was in Oita City, familiar territory, and I was able to find my way back home. By the time I got home it was dark and rainy, but I didn't care, I made it home safe. I came home, and curled up on my futon. After a long stressful day, I was still pretty jittery. I found myself up at 2am. Not knowing what else to do, I called Winston. He was able to calm me down, and I went to sleep. Bless his pea-pickin' little heart, my little freak outs never scare him, he always thinks it's cute. I don't know how anyone could think my panic attacks are cute, but lucky for me he handles them flawlessly. 

I was up the next morning at 9. I made myself breakfast, put on my sweatsuit, and started stretching. Greg came to pick me up around 10:30 and we set off for the Tamaguchi Marathon. It was a cold day, but it didn't rain. I'm happy to say that I ran the whole 10 marathon, in 1hour 12minutes, 2seconds. The jog was great. My kids were all volunteering, handing out water and bananas every 2 km. Every time they saw me, they screamed, jumped up and down, and screamed "FIGHT ERREEEN! FIGHT HARD!" The route led us all towards the mountains along the rice patties. As much as Kunisaki lacks a lot of modern convinces, I know I will look back on this whole experience positively. I am seeing a part of Japan few people know about. The agricultural part, the quiet part, the part without Wi-fi internet and bullet trains. It felt good to hear the kids cheering me on, that's something that really only happens is a small town. 

So needless to say, I had a stressful weekend. I think driving here is going to take some getting used to, but that's okay. Considering that I live in the boonies, driving shouldn't be too complicated. But, I did conquer my first road trip in Japan (all by myself!) and a 10k marathon. Not too bad!

Sorry this post tapered off a bit at the end, but I want to eat dinner. Like a true adult, I made myself soup and a peanut butter jelly sandwich. I enjoy eating my soup out of an amusingly large mug. 

So, it's time for me to turn off the blog, eat my dinner, and go to bed. Before I go, I did buy myself some new slippers, enjoy!

they're duckies!