So, I've been in Japan for a week now. Feels MUCH longer. I'm really enjoying my time here, but really hope these next 13 weeks don't drag like this last one.
For those of you who were concerned (aka almost everyone who read the previous blog), I did ride my bike again. This time I rode by myself through the town that I'm living in. Before you say to yourself, "what the *%&$ is this girl thinking?!?"..........I WAS FINE. Did a few practice runs....... aka rode a mile up and down the alley way to get my footing. And I was good to go.....well kind of.
Problem #1 of my bike riding skills were somewhat conquered. Problem #2 that I soon encountered on my excursion of bike riding: my lack of sense of direction. I'm the kind of girl that gets lost in her hometown; the type of girl who manages to get so lost that my GPS cannot direct me to my location. I get lost everywhere I go. EVERYWHERE. At this point, I'm convinced that my GPS system in my car is actually trying to kill me. You may laugh but when your navigation system leads you into the heart of both Compton, CA and Detroit, MI, come talk to me. And when your navigation system only tells you to get off the freeway 0.2 miles before you're supposed to, forcing you to cut across 4 lanes of traffic, then you'll know......
I've missed too many turns and gotten lost too many times, so I'm convinced that the GPS system sees me as a problem and is trying to eliminate that said problem. It's only a theory, but I'm 90% sure at this point.
So, anyways, here I was pedaling along down the streets - quite nicely and balanced I might add ;) - and I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going (among being directionally-challenged, I also tend to be a bit spacey). I was looking at all the shops and businesses along the road and trying not to make eye contact with the people walking past - everyone kept staring at me. Probably due to the fact that I'm a giant compared to them and probably look very strange riding this bike with my long legs and I'm a random American venturing off by myself. Anyways, there I was pedaling along this yellow colored pathway. I felt a bit like Dorothy along the yellow-brick road but as long as I had some sort of consistent path, I figured I'd be able to find my way back easily. Negative. The town that I'm staying in is a fairly big town in which Denso, the company I'm playing for, takes up much of the town. All of the building looks EXACTLY the same. And that colored pathway? Well, its everywhere too. It was only at the point that the yellow brick turned into green that I thought maybe it was time to figure out where I was. I found myself on about 20 minutes away from my house and not a clue as to where I was. I turned around and attempted to find my way back. Probably would've been the smart thing to just stay on a straight path, but I felt adventurous and made turns. Obviously, not a good idea. On my way back I did a few turn-down-a-street-and-turn-right-back-arounds. People walking on the street probably thought I was crazy seeing me turn down a road and saying "Nope not that one" and reappearing on the main road again.
So after about 10 wrong turns (I wish I was exaggerating) I finally found the right one. How? I recognized a restaurant I saw that I wanted to eat at later. Moral of the story? It was because I was hungry that I found my back. If I was a super skinny girl, I would've been lost forever, roaming the streets of Nagoya.
So, some things never change. Except, I'm thinking that getting lost in Japan is a little bit more of an inconvenience. Only a little bit....
til next time......xoxo Jordan
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