All turned around

I survived the trip to meet up with Uncle Andy, and I was only 10 minutes late! (although, I'm kicking myself for those 10 minutes because I pride myself on being punctual)! It wasn't all easy, though...let me explain (a little bit of history, too)...

The second day I was in town, Michael (the director's son) pointed out some stuff to me, but mostly told me I should ride around on the bike and figure things out. He pointed out a big building at the end of straight street and told me that was the JR train station. I commented that it looked like about a ten minute walk away, and he said, "No, you should just ride the bike and pay the 100 yen for a parking spot for your bike. It'll be worth it." He went on to explain about how people would ride up to the station, leave their bikes just outside, and how they were cracking down on that, thus the paying to park your bike. I admit that I haven't done a whole lot of exploring...I knew my way to the school and then had walked around the immediate area. But, I had not yet turned right outside of the complex and explored that side!

I got on my bike this morning thinking I'd check out the area on the way to the station, park my bike in the area I'm supposed to, and then be on my merry way. Well...I bike down there, see a couple of bikes parked by the entrance in a special roped off area, and thought, "Okay! I'm here. Where do I buy my ticket for 100 yen?" I stopped some poor unsuspecting lady and ask her in Japanese, "Excuse me, do you speak English?" She answered back she only spoke a little bit. After some awkward gestures and random Japanese words I remembered that I hoped related to what I was trying to ask, I found out that the place was for handicapped bike parking only. Okay. More gesturing (and mopping at my face with my handy bandanna because it was HOT out and I was wearing a black shirt!), confused looks as I try to ask where I can park my bike. She looked confused too because she couldn't answer, and then a bus driver watching us on his cigarette break helped us find a sign that showed a bike parking lot a few blocks away. I thanked her in Japanese with what I hoped was the appropriate way to express my appreciation with the hard work she had to put in to help me!

It was 10:50 AM, a little more than one hour before I'd meet up with with Uncle Andy. According to Uncle Peter, it would take me about 50 minutes to get to the station where I'd meet up with Uncle Andy. The train station really is about a 10 minute walk from the house. The bike parking area is closer to the house than it is to the station! So, I biked back to the house to park the bike there, and walked back to the station. I loaded up my Suica card (a pre-paid card that can be used on trains and subways), swiped it at the turnstile, then ran to the line I thought I was supposed to take. I quickly realized that I was going to go in the wrong direction, so I went to exit, swiped the card and got the big, red flashing mark at me. I tried to tell the guy in the booth that I wanted the different line, so he got the card from me, reset it or something, and then I went off to find the correct line.

After that, I did pretty well. I took the first line for a couple of stops, changed to an express train to Shibuya, got caught up in all of the excitement of the big stop like Shibuya, but quickly found the local subway train line that took me back out to the 'burbs where I was going to meet Uncle Andy. My directions told me not to take the express line and had to wait 5 more minutes for that train to come. I got a call from Uncle Andy right at 12 while I was waiting for the non-express train at 12:05. He said that was fine, and that they were waiting for me.

I made my first outgoing call from my rented cell phone when I arrived and didn't see Uncle Andy at the West Exit that I was told to take. (That in itself was a little tough...I had the number programmed in, but then didn't know how to actually call it. It took pushing more buttons...not just the 'call' button!) Then he was there, saying he was impressed I made it on my own and only 10 minutes late! He introduced me to his friends. We walked about 10 minutes to the restaurant (in the neighborhood where he lives). HOT, HOT, HOT!!! Once inside the restaurant, the water was cold and plentiful (YAY!), service was good, and the food was excellent. It was a bento box and I went for sashimi on the side instead of tempura. Uncle Andy's friend is a professional photographer, so they were talking shop and looking at pictures. I found that I understood quite a bit of the Japanese, but really just don't have the vocabulary readily available to contribute to the conversation. It was all pretty tiring.

From the restaurant, we all went back to the house to play Wii. It was only my second time playing (the first time I played I only tried Ping-Pong!). We tried quite a few...Bowling (I sucked!), skiing...not so good at that either! Uncle Andy took pity on me and gave me one he knew I'd be good at...the step dancing one! Yes, I did well on that one and on the hula-hoop one too! :) I was starting to get tired right as Hideko got home. Thankfully, she offered to drive us to the train station so we could make our way back. I got really turned around at Shibuya on the way back, but after making a couple of different circles, I got to the right train line and made my way back. I wasn't stressed since I didn't really have a time I had to get back. Walking back from the train station to the house, there was a slight breeze that made the walk tolerable! No need to mop the face! Could it be that maybe I'm just handling the humidity a little better?! Let's hope!!!