Dartboard

Morning after the typhoon and I didn’t have to wake up alone! The phone woke me up and it was Norway calling! Harald and I had a wonderful conversation, mostly me talking about my typhoon experience in horror! During the call, my alarm also went off (set for 6:30 a.m.) so I woke up and started slowly getting ready for school, but I was really confused about the time. When I hung up my watch said it was still 6 a.m. so I had another half an hour to sleep. I was so sleepy and confused that I laid back down and went to sleep, for some reason expecting my alarm to go off at 6:30. If I had been awake enough to think about it, I would have figured it out then and there, but I was so tired and had woken up so many times in the last 12 hours that I didn’t realize what was going on.

Let me explain: Yesterday afternoon I noticed the date on my watch changed after 12 p.m. instead of at 12 a.m. like it should. This is because back in Tokyo instead of changing my watch the full 16 hours, I only changed it 8 hours ahead. So the time was correct, but the date was correct after noon. Well, yesterday I fixed it so that the date changes at midnight like it’s suppose to. However, I accidentally also made it an hour early. Oh! The confusion!

In short, I missed my bus and eventually after looking at the other clocks in my apartment and a lot of head scratching, realized it what time it was. I called work to tell them I’d be on the next bus to school ... whenever that was. I ran down to the bus stop and looked at the schedule. I had just missed the bus by 15 minutes and the next one didn’t come until 12:10 p.m.! So I called them back and told them when I should be there.

Determined not to miss the next bus, I went down to the stop almost 20 minutes early. I was just waiting, hanging out, playing a shy smiling game with the really short, old woman waiting next to me. I noticed she had an umbrella and I wished I had mine with me too, but the bus was coming soon and I’d be inside all day so it really wouldn’t be a problem. About three minutes before the bus is scheduled, the sky opens up and starts to pour. The woman, who I’ve been smiling with for the last 20 minutes, pops up her umbrella and gives it to me!!! I couldn’t believe it! Here we are huddling together under this umbrella and I am so humbled by her kindness. Of course, I’m literally twice her height and when an umbrella that far above your head, it’s really doing you no good. I try to squat down a little, but she is determined not to make me squat and firmly holds the umbrella high above her so that I can stand tall. I am so incredibly grateful. I try to move so that my body blocking her from the vertical rain as much as possible. From about the thigh down, my pants are soaking wet, but I don’t care—I’m going to do as much as I humanly can to protect this wonderful old woman from the torrent of rain.

We get on the bus and finally I am on my way to school ...just five hours late as of right now. Now, yesterday was the first day I’ve taken the bus to school and the only thing about the bus system that has been explained to me is: 1. the location of my bus stop and 2. take the 7:45 a.m. bus to get to school. Yesterday, the 7:45 bus never showed up, but I took the next one at 8:10 a.m without problem. Today, the bus turns down off the highway to this road that passes Narao Junior High School (where Catherine works). At first I think, it’s just dropping off students and will get back on course shortly. The bus proceeds around this road and I’m beginning to think is a bigger detour than I was expecting, but all roads lead north, right?

There are two boys in school uniforms in the back of the bus and so I ask them, “Does this bus go to Nagakoto High School?” They both nod their heads fervently and confirm it with a, “Yes!” So, it’s settled, I’m on the right bus, just wait calmly. We reach this nursing home-like building and all the old people get off—including my wonderful savior with the umbrella and the bus turns around. How silly of me to worry! The bus turns around goes back to the high school, of course!

But it didn’t really turn around and go back so much as it turned around and kept taking me further and further away from my destination. Both boys get off somewhere along the route and I watch closely to see I’m not suppose to get off with them. Maybe the school is just down a street I don’t recognize or we are approaching it from behind, but no, we are far from Nakagoto High School, and getting farther from Narao. As I think about it, the boys probably thought I was asking them if they were Nakagoto HS students or any number of other questions about Nakagoto HS that would have solicited a “yes” answer.

And 1 hour and 15 minutes later, I get off the bus, back at my very own stop. The fare at this point is something over $10, but the counter has been reset a couple times so I don’t really know. The bus driver waves his arms and makes a giant “X” but I get off the bus anyway. Luckily, I don’t have to pay for this wild goose chase I’ve just been on. I’m cry in frustration as I walk back up the hill to my apartment. I call the school and explain what has happened and this is what I hear, first laughs and then, “Unlucky!” Unlucky? Unluckly? Luck has nothing to do with it, I’m thinking to myself. No one has explained the bus schedule to me so what am I suppose to do except ... guess! This is really frustrating and infuriating, but then Tomonaga gets on the phone and says someone will come and pick me up very soon.

I walk the walk of shame into the teacher’s room and hang my head low. Honestly, I think everyone is understanding; no one really seems to care that I’ve missed the first 6.5 hours of work and they all know why. Well, they know about the bus fiasco, I’m too tired and confused to explain the watch issue. I’m ashamed the real reason I’m late is my own fault. I stay at work for the last 2 hours and get a ride home with my neighbor, Komatsu-sensei. She tells me she’ll pick me up at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. (Enter: sigh of relief.) My last day of getting to work on my own before Hatake comes back Monday is taken care of.

In the evening, Catherine has invited me to a flower arranging class at the town hall at 7:30 p.m. We are to bring vases (or buckets because we couldn’t find vases), newspaper, and ourselves. I’m wondering about the logistics of this: flower arranging with buckets and newspaper, but we don’t have to bring flowers to a free class. We don’t even have newspaper so we just show up with our plastic buckets. But it was really fun actually. People bring their own “flowers,” picking them in the wild before class. There are actually fewer flowers than there are just “greens,” branches, leaves, and such. All the woman start creating these beautiful arrangements from, essentially weeds, and Catherine and I sit there with our buckets.

Our sensei (teacher) criticing some arrangements. She was tough!

One of my favorite arrangements from the night. I don't know if you can see, but there is a baby tomato in there!

The teacher comes over to us, bringing greens she borrowed from others’ piles, and starts explaining what we do. Language is obviously a barrier, but some hand motions, translations, and following along, we are able to communicate. Catherine and I create these pathetic arrangements. Mine is two palm branches (representing “father” and “child”), sticking out of a bucket. We’ve put hydrangea leaves in the buckets to help them stand straight, but they keep falling over anyway. Catherine’s is a little nicer, with hydrangea flowers that stand up a little better.

My "sticks" some people were kind enough to call an arrangement.

Catherine's arrangement.

This first class is basically a learning experience. Now I know what kind of vase, flowers, and supplies to bring. We actually use wide bowls rather than what we call a vase at home and use a metal plate of tiny nails to stick the stems into. (Teta always had a ton of them.) The class is every other Thursday and I’m really looking forward to our next session. I think we’ll make lots of progress.

I think each time I participate in something like this: flower arranging, volleyball, or karate, which starts next week, I feel a little bit better about my year here. Catherine and I both are trying to get involved in group activities, start exploring the restaurants in town, and the busier we are the happier we’ll be. Coming home for an entire evening of nothingness is obviously hard on us. This weekend are going to Aokata/Kamigoto/Arikawa—up north, to meet with the other ALTs on our island and see what kind of opportunities are available to us. I’m very much looking forward to it.

Love and umbrellas,
Sierra