The day I got hit by a car...

Tuesday, April 8

Yes, I was literally run over by a car today. My life incredibly sucks. Read on for the full story...

This morning I emailed Mitch with my words about coffee hour. He later emailed me back and told me at school that they were wonderful and he really liked them! Here it is on Facebook! :)

After that, I went in to eat breakfast with everyone. Miyabi was all excited because today was her first day back at school. She's a ninensei (second year) now! She was wondering what class number she'd be in. She wanted 4 or 5, so she'd be close to the library and she wanted to be with her best friend, Tina.

Then I headed out on my bike to go to school. I noticed how pretty the shrine by our apartment looked last week with the sakura trees in front and it still looked gorgeous today, so I took a picture! All the Japanese people kept saying the sakura only last for a week, but it's been a week and three days now and they're still going strong! Everyone was freaking out, thinking the rain would wash them away, but we actually didn't get that much rain. :)

The entrance closer to our apartment

The entrance closer to the station

Then I continued on my way. I got to a crossing that I cross every day with no problem. I slowed down a bit, because I saw a red car approaching the crosswalk. There's no light telling me to walk or not here, so usually the cars slow to let bikers go. And this car did slow, so I charged ahead. But he must have been looking the opposite direction, because as I accelerated, so did he - a lot! And bam, he slammed right into my side!

Thankfully, I realized I was falling before I hit the ground, so I put my arm out to block my fall. But I landed on my wrist and sprained it badly. The force of the fall caused me to fly off my bike and slide across the road. Thank goodness I'd worn yoga pants instead of tights today! And man, Victoria's Secret makes excellent yoga pants, because they didn't rip at all!

But my knees got completely torn up underneath. I had really bad road rash.

The guy driving got out of the car and kept going "Daijoubu? Daijoubu?"

I just nodded and said "daijoubu" while trying not to cry. Then the crossing guard came over and was like, "daijoubu?" When I said yes, he left. 

There were also a bunch of people around who witnessed the crash, but they all continued on their way, not stopping to see how I was.

The driver had run over the front tire of my bike, so he backed up his car and then helped me pick up my bike. He watched to make sure I could walk and waited until I got on my bike and rode it a little to see if it still worked. It did, so then he left.

Damn, I was so freaked out that I wasn't thinking and couldn't speak Japanese or anything. I really wanted to yell at the guy or something, but I don't know enough Japanese. It was so hard. And the lack of people around doing anything really frustrated me. Like, if this had happened in America, I'm sure someone would have offered to call the police or something!

I kept going and a police officer type of guy who'd been standing at the next corner and saw everything was all like "ki o tsukute ne" when I passed.

The bike seemed a bit wonky, but I figured something was just stuck from the fall, and whatever it was would come out. And anyway, I was almost at the station and I was able to ride it just fine.

I was really freaked about the accident the entire way to school. I met up with Esteban at the subway and told him what happened. The subway was packed again, and the doors took several tries before they could finally close.

At school, Taylor and Minju were in the CJS office and I told them what had happened and they freaked out! Minju gave me a hug, which was just what I needed! Then I told the CJS office and Mitch told me to go to the clinic. I said I would, but I was going to take my quiz first because I didn't want to get a 0 on it. 

When I got to class, I told Kondo sensei I was going to the clinic after the quiz. Everyone freaked out when I told them what had happened. I took the quiz and it was super easy, and then I left to the clinic.

The lady at the clinic was so nice! She asked me all these questions about the accident, like where it had happened and stuff. I realized then that I hadn't gotten any information about the guy like his name or cell or license plate number or anything! I was so freaked out I didn't even think of it.

But the lady gave me one of those cold square sticky things the people in manga always have on their foreheads when they have fevers, to put over my wrist. And then she disinfected my knees and put bandages over them. Then she put these weird gauze sack things over my wrist and knees. I felt much better after that.

And then I was allowed to go back to class! The cold thing on my wrist was so nice. My wrist hurt a lot for a bit after, but by the end of the day it was feeling so much better!

All bandaged up!

For second period, we had class in K buidling. I freaked out because the room looked just like the classrooms in manga, haha. And I got there first, so I stole a seat by the windows! :)

See the protagonist's seat back there?

The erasers that look like sushi!

And the colored chalk!

Ah, it was beautiful! In class, after our kanji test (which was easy), we played a kanji game where we had cards with various kanji radicals and we had to put them together to make kanji from our chapter. It was fun!
I got second place!! First was the Taiwanese girl, of course!

Sakura out the window on the stairs

At lunchtime, I went to eat misokatsu at Dagane. I sat with Josephine and Jose and this other girl who I see a lot (she's in my calligraphy class), but who's name I don't know. There were so, so many people eating lunch!
There was a girl at the table next to us who's birthday was today, and a group of her friends came in and surprised her with a cake and a present of lip gloss! It was so cute! Then they all sang "Happy Birthday" in English. For some reason, "Happy Birthday" is always sung in English in Japan...?

After lunch, I walked outside and ran into Emma. I followed her to the green area where she'd eaten lunch and we sat there for a bit. Rana, Ben, and Devon found us there and sat with us and ate the bentos they'd gotten from Valor, a grocery store nearby. I told everyone the story of my accident and they were so surprised I was so upbeat and joking around about it! The scariness had worn off and it seemed kind of funny now. I'd been hit by a car! #shitthathappensinJapan

The beautiful sakura

In hanga class, I drew Totoro! I'm excited to carve him next week. :D

After class, I had a meeting with Fukutomi sensei, my project work sensei, to make up for the class I'd missed last Friday. I went to the CJS faculty office at 3, when we were supposed to meet, and finally got up the guts to use the microphone outside the office to ask for Fukutomi sensei. Another sensei came out to tell me she was still teaching class. So I went outside the office where I ran into Yukari! She asked what I was doing and when I told her, said she thought Fukutomi sensei's office was on the 7th floor. So we went up there, but it turned out those were all offices of English senseis. Yukari asked two people up there, but they didn't know who Fukutomi sensei was. So we went back downstairs, and as we entered the CJS office, Fukutomi sensei was coming out of the faculty room. Oh, good! I said goodbye to Yukari and then explained to Fukutomi sensei what had happened. She apoligized for being late.
Then she had me practice saying my interview questions and told me to interview at least two Japanese students by Friday. Ok, I can do that!

As I was leaving, I ran into Deanna who told me Minju had told her about my accident. She asked if I was okay and gave me a hug. People here are so nice! ^^ Also, Mitch let me know one of his colleagues had called my host family (whaaaat?? I hadn't wanted to worry them! I was waiting to tell them face to face so they could see I was fine!) and Yuko had said they could take me to the hospital if needed. Oh, gosh! I didn't want this to turn into such a big deal!
I went to the library to write my blog for a bit and then headed home. As I rode my bike home, I noticed something was definitely off. Every few seconds, the front wheel would catch on something and slow me down. It turned out the wheel was tilting one way and kept rubbing against the brake pad. It took me forever to get home.
I decided something was definitely wrong with it.

When I got home, Yuko made sure I was okay. I told her I definitely didn't need to go to the hospital because I could use my arm fine, so it wasn't broken. Then I told her that I didn't think the bike was okay, so she said she'd ask Ken to look at it tomorrow.

Argh, this is turning into such a hassle!

For dinner we had fried peppers with beef inside. They were good! We had salad, soup, and rice too! It was such a big, yummy dinner that filled me up! :) Miya told me she'd gotten into class #1. I was like, "aww, not by the library?" And she was unhappy about that. I asked her what class Tina had gotten and she said 4. That was the one she had wanted! Aw, man. I felt bad for her.

Tomorrow our class is during the CJS festa, so we'll just be talking to Japanese students during class! Yay!! I'm so excited! And that means we only have to be at school at 1:30! Whoooo!!
But I had the idea in hanga today to go for lunch at Sushiro, so Minju, Emma, and I are all going to meet at 11:30 tomorrow morning to eat there. Yay, I get to sleep in! 


Also, here are the links for the pep rally movies I uploaded to YouTube (because they weren't working on my blog). Please watch them!

Shirtless football players for the ladies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAa8McKyFNc

Cheerleaders for the guys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUveIgohIOw

And cheerleaders singing what I think is our school song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0T3MHFh4cA

Just another day in 日本

Lawlz there was this dude snoring super loudly on the train this morning. The trains are super awk at rush hour because they're like dead silent. Literally no one is talking. It's so weird. So yeah it was dead quiet and then you hear this reeeaaally loud snoring haha.

I have no idea how the first week I managed to catch the super rapid train each time even though I had no idea what I was doing and now that I do know what I'm doing, I always get to the station when the local trains are running. It's soo annoying bc it takes 30 min as opposed to 15-20.

Ha and since we're on the topic of trains, the other day I scanned my train pass and it beeped red and wouldn't let me through. I tried to slip through anyway because I've done that before and gotten away with it, but this time the guy at the window totally saw me and started shouting at me in Japanese to come over haha. Darn.

When we were going to the castle yesterday, my card didn't work because the station wasn't on my route. I did this awesome slide on my feet through the gate before it closed but the CJS faculty made me go back and pay anyway. :(

I reminded myself of the middle schoolers I always watched slip through the turnstile to ride the subway in New York for free.

And one more thing about trains. They play this really pretty music when the subway is about to come in. I love it! I really want it on a soundtrack so I can listen to it all the time haha.

Gosh this post is already super long and I haven't even said anything worthwhile about my day!

I almost missed the stop for Kanayama this morning. I tuned out the dude who announces the stops but just happened to look up at which station we were at and it said Kanayama! So I got out of my seat just as we pulled in, instead of a few minutes before like everyone does.

(Cute guy haha)

(The hill up to school everyone complains about)

When I got to school I talked to Rana a bit but she had to study for her Japanese class, so I decided to go buy my lunch at Lawson before the line got too long. Even though campus was strangely empty today. Idk where all the Japanese students were!

So I bought the giant melon pan again because it's the cheapest and biggest of the breads, and a CUP OF FRESH FRUIT omg!! It had apples, dragon fruit, and yellow kiwi! And then a huge carton of orange juice.

I heard kids shouting so I went to go explore why and I came across the lacrosse team practicing!

(Lacrosse team)

(I like how our trash bins say Nanzan University lol)

I'm pretty sure I'm dying because I'm still sick and it's been a week. So I decided to go to the clinic. They were really slow about helping me so I ended up being late to class. I ran into Matsui san, one of the CJS faculty and he helped translate for me. They gave me cough drops like I wanted and then photocopied the box for me so I could buy more if I wanted! They also gave me four sick masks, which I'll die before I wear haha.

Because I was late to class I missed the first half of the quiz, but it sounded like because I was at the clinic and not skipping class they won't count the quiz which is good because I spelled some things wrong anyway.

I found out that I was supposed to pick up my workbook from my mailbox yesterday (how was I supposed to know that?!) so I could do my homework. So I guess I got a late grade for homework. Ugh. At least I finally understand how everything works for the most part.

We got out of class 2 minutes early for lunch, yay! So I went with Taylor and Jess and one of their friends to lunch. We ate at the place I got the ramen at the other day. I had miso katsu, which Nagoya is famous for. It was delicious!

After lunch I did the workbook homework that was due this morning. I didn't have class till 3 so I went to the CJS office and found out that I got into the bonsai experience I'd been on the wait list for!

It's this Saturday and I'm really excited!

Because I had time, I went to the computer lab to use the computer. There were a bunch of Japanese students in there on the computers. I found out that they had these next few days off as study days, so most chose not to come to school.

Anyway, the computer was all in Japanese and so frustrating to use! But I was able to check my Tech email and email back Akiko, the lady I met on the train yesterday.

(Pretty hallway going out of the library building)

Also Google was really cool here today!

Then I had my Japanese Folklore class. We introduced ourselves and said 3 things we liked about Japan and 3 things we miss from our home country. Everyone kept saying how they missed peanut butter and I was like whooaaahhh I forgot about peanut butter! But apparently it doesn't exist here!

Then we had to choose a movie to present about. I wanted to do Spirited Away, but of course it filled up so fast. And so did the other one that looked interesting, Departures. 

So I signed up to do The Mourning Forest. I have no clue what it's about. And I'm gonna have to find time to go watch it in the library. Or maybe If I check it out my host family will watch it with me, because I hate watching movies alone.

We got out of class a half hour early (5 pm) which was nice because the sun was already setting! I went downstairs and picked up my workbook this time.

Then Rana, Pearl and I left together. Pearl went back to her dorm and Rana and I got on the subway. We met up with Esteban on the subway. His host family lives in Ichinomiya too, so he and I went all the way home together. He's one of the two people I've met who have a longer commute than I do, but only by a bit. He takes a bus from Ichinomiya Station to his house, so he actually loves farther out than I do!

We took the local train since the next rapid didn't come for another 15 min. Ugh I hate the local train so much!

It was 6:40 by the time I got home. Imagine if I'd gotten out of class when I was supposed to, at 5:30. Geez! I might be too late for dinner on some nights. I guess I really need to get minutes on my phone in case that ever happens...

I talked to Yuko and she said this really long paragraph in Japanese and then was like "wakarimasu ka?" Asking if I understood. And I translated back what I thought she said in English and I was right! Omg I must be getting better at listening :D

Dinner was sooooo delicious!!! Holy crap. My favorite meal yet! We had Oden.

(I liked that it was pink ^^ )

What it had in it:

- tamago (hard boiled eggs)

- sakana (the pink things. Fish. They were hot pink inside!!!)

- tofu (one of the brown things)

- vegetable stuff (in the other brown thing)

- pickled daikon (but when it's boiled like this it tastes like potato!)

- potato jelly (wtf... It was actually good but had such a weird texture lol)

Ahhhh so so good! Oishii desu yo! And we had mikan for dessert.

And I talked a lot at dinner tonight! These are the times when I'm happy I chose a host family. Maybe I'd get more sleep in a dorm, but I definitely wouldn't get all the practice I do now. I just wish my Japanese were better!

Miyabi helped me do my homework lol. It was child's play for her. The stupid thing is we have to memorize the dialogues in the Genki textbook and say them in class, so I had Miyabi be Takeshi and I was Mary and we practiced. :)

P.S. My host family has freaking scented toilet paper. I'm dying.

Also more pictures people put on Facebook from the castle:

At the entrance