Lost in Japan...

Alright, I know I promised to talk about my homestay, but I'm going to do things a bit backwards. Writing about the homestay will take up a lot of time, time which I don't have since I need to get to bed. I should have had time today. I mean, it's a Sunday, after all, and Alex and I planned to practice our commute to school. Our host mother took us by bike to the train station late this morning. The ride seemed easy enough, but when riding through the neighborhood, there weren't any really good landmarks to remember where to turn. And I know I haven't talked about bike riding in Japan yet, but one thing is that you rarely ever see the names of streets. Usually only at big important intersections. So, with our host mother pedaling quickly to the station and us just trying to keep up with her while noting where we were turning, we made our way to the station. Getting to and from Hikone was perfectly fine, no worries, and even coming back from the station we felt confident. We got through the busy town center just fine, turned at the right statues and temples and such, but when we got to the beginning of the narrow streets without any remarkable features, we started to second guess ourselves. We back traced, took alternate roads, rode in circles, looked in 7/11 for an address book, but nothing. "Why didn't you just ask someone, Mary?" you must be thinking, "you do speak Japanese after all". Well, the thing is, there wasn't much anyone could do to help us. Unless people on the streets carry around phone books, without a street name or phone number, no one could really offer us anything. In Japan, people avoid other people. If you are a foreigner and sitting there crying while holding a map upside down in a confused manner, people WILL NOT stop to help you. That is Japan. It's also hard to ask because people give you such a wide berth (or maybe that's just because I'm a foreigner). Alex and I were looking for some kind of venue that would have the white pages or the Japanese equivalent or such a book, and we were getting ready to cry. Or at least I was. We had been riding two hours around town, I was tired and hungry and we had a ton of homework due for tomorrow (which took hours to complete as well, which is why I am writing so late). Alex was just like F this, and walked into a random tiny store that had like 5 tvs for sale and she told them that she was lost, can they help. I came in, and we told them our host parents' names and that they lived nearby since it was only 10 minutes from the station, but we don't know their street name or their phone numbers. Instead of doing the sensible thing and saying "Let me get you a phone book", the two workers just sat there and asked us useless questions or questions we already answered, all in rapid kansai. It was so dumb. "I'm sorry we don't know their phone number or address, but they live near here". "Do you know their address?" "......no?" "what city do they live in?" "...this city? it takes 10 minutes to get here by bike." "So did you walk here?" "No, we rode bikes." "So how far away do you live?" "TEN MINUTES BY BIKE". I don't know how many times that we arrived yesterday afternoon and that we rode there by bike and that we are American exchange students. Such stupid useless questions, and so eventually, I exasperatedly asked "Do you have a book that has addresses in it!?" and they were like "oh." and they got one out and they found them. They were kind enough to call, and our host mother said she would meet us at the temple we turn at to get down town, except she told the man on the phone, not us personally. So they guy has us go outside and then he's like "Your host mother will meet you at that meeting place." "What meeting place?" "Over there, that way." "What, the hospital?" "No, not the hospital, right there." "The temple?" "I'll just take you." So he rode with us down the street. To the temple. So yeah, I knew how to get there. We thanked the guy of course, it was nice of him to help us, we just were kinda frustrated with that experience if you can imagine. So as it turns out, the first time we back tracked we had found the right way. In fact we got almost all the way home, just a block down the road, but there was this huge Mitsubishi factory at the end of the road that I'd never seen and so I didn't think we were right and we turned around. It's actually, that when we drove there yesterday I was in the back seat, so I couldn't see the Mitsubishi factory out the rain covered front windshield. So yeah. We had to eat after and do homework, so I don't have time to write. This took 40 minutes in fact. And also in fact, I have more homework to do, so I'll get on that. Long entry tomorrow, and pictures sometime in the near future. Until then!


Mary


Location: My bed
Mood: Getting the late night munchies (´･ω･`)
Listening to: Alex coloring the picture of a robot we had to draw for our presentation tomorrow
Japanese for the day: すみません、道に迷っていますので、手伝ってくれませんか？ sumimasen, michi ni mayotteimasu node, tetsudatte kuremasen ka? - Excuse me, but I'm lost. Could you please help me?