Missing information…

I’ve been reminded several times by my mom that I didn’t write about a few things.

During the second week I was here (I remember it was the morning of the first day of Saitama orientation), I was laying on my futon, somewhere between asleep and awake. I thought I was in my room at home and someone was shaking my bed to wake me up. Figuring it was a dream, I opened my eyes to check the clock. 4:15am. I was still shaking. I turned on my light. Everything was shaking and I could hear a rumbling sound. My first earthquake. I remember reading this safety book that detailed what you should do in event of an earthquake and it said hide under a table or something, and open an exit for yourself in case the earthquake jams the doors shut, etc. Instead, I walked to my front door and looked out the peep hole to see if anyone was getting out of their apartment. No one. So I went back to bed.

Next story happened on September 9th (I think). I wanted to find a dojo closer to my place and I found one about 3 train stops over. I had the address written down (but we know how helpful addresses are in Japan) and I knew I was supposed to head northwest once I got out of the station. As soon as I got out, I stopped this woman and asked which way was west. She was kind of confused so I said I needed to go northwest. She pointed down one street and said it was west. Then she pointed to her left and said that way was north. I’m no geography expert, but I remember north being clockwise to west. I thanked her and headed down the street she said was west (I came out the west exit, so I figured that she was right about that being west). I walked for about 10 minutes and stopped into a 7-11 to find out where I was. The attendant pulled out a map and showed me where I was and then I gave him the address and he showed me how to get there. I gave him a hesitant “arigato gozaimasu” because I really wasn’t sure if I’d remember where to go. He offered me his map so I asked how much he wanted for it. He said, “no, mine.” So I was confused because I thought he was saying it was his so it wasn’t for sale. But he pushed it into my hands so I thanked him and left. I found out I originally started walking southwest so I had a little further north to go. I walked for another 30 minutes or so and by that time I was in the area of the dojo and I still had about 10 minutes to find it before the class started. I wandered up and down the streets looking for something that looked like a community center. No luck. I walked over to some guys that looked like movers or something. I asked them, “ima doko desu ka (where am I now?)” and I showed them the map. I thought since they were doing work at this place they would know. They couldn’t seem to agree on a location. Then the boss must have been annoyed I was interrupting his workers because he came over and pointed me to where I thought I needed to go, which was actually where I came from. But I headed back that direction nonetheless. It was after 9am and the class had started already. I saw these two old women sitting in the doorway of their sliding glass door so I thought I’d ask them where I was. They should know their own address. I walked up the driveway and asked them if they could point to where I was on the map. One of the women pointed to an area that was like a kilometer away from where I was sure I was. I was sweating like crazy from all the walking in the sun but luckily I had my trusty Japanese sweat towel. The second woman disappeared into her kitchen and came back with a glass of ice water – for me! As I drank my water, they argued over where they thought I wanted to go. I described as best I could that it was a “public hall” but they didn’t know of one in the area. Then an older man arrived at the house (he could have been the husband of one of the women). He got into the discussion but he didn’t know where I wanted to go so he disappeared for a little bit and came back with – a black guy! The guy turned out to be a Nigerian and he could speak English but still, he didn’t know where I wanted to go. His Japanese wife also spoke English but like everyone else, couldn’t help me. The old guy came back and said he’d take me to the place he thought I was looking for. Just as we started walking, he turned back and told me to wait there. He went to grab his bike. He rode up beside me and he tapped on the rack on the back of his bike. I looked at him, puzzled. He tapped it again, quicker, insisting I hop on. This man must have been about 5’4” at the most, and maybe 130lbs, if that. And he must have been in his mid-60s. I wouldn’t argue with the guy. I jumped on. So here we were, a tiny old Japanese man towing me on the back of his bike, and the whole time I was praying I wouldn’t tip us over and get him severely injured. I think he was probably riding slower than I normally walk, and I had to put my foot down a few times to keep us balanced. Anyway, we eventually made it to the place and I thanked him and walked inside. The place looked and sounded pretty empty but I saw shoes in the shoe racks so I had hope. I wandered around but the place was empty. I walked back outside and there was a woman working outside. Again, I asked her where I was and I gave her the address. She checked something and said that I had the right place. I asked if there was supposed to be a karate class there that day and she said no. I asked if there is ever a karate class there, and she said no. I was frustrated but determined to find the place after all the time I spent. She had walked off but came back with – a glass of iced tea! While I drank my tea, she made a phone call to someone and somehow she found out where the class was. She went outside and recruited her friend and volunteered her to drive me there. So I jumped into this woman’s van and she drove me almost 10 minutes to this other location. 9:50am and I had made it. It only took me 2 hours from my house. Luckily the class was 2 hours, so I joined in for the last hour. And I’ve never gone back.

And the last story is about us being hit by a typhoon. Not much to tell because the worst of it hit overnight while I was indoors, but it sounded like it was raining really hard. By the time I was leaving for work the next morning it was still pretty windy and raining a bit so I decided to walk to work in my shorts, flip-flops, raincoat and umbrella because I was afraid I’d fall over on my bike.

The end.