GRRRRR!

So technology is still foiling me- I can't get the images to attach onto the posts. Man, I even perused my photos and had snappy posts all written up. Guess it'll have to be later on the picks. In the meantime, you can be entertained by our disastrous attempt to obtain our "multiple reentry visas." It's long, so that's good. But it was an exhausting and frustrating experience, so that's bad:

Thursday November 10th was the anniversary of the school’s founding and what better way to celebrate the opening of an educational institution than … a day off school. Yep, the kids have a free day. Ah, the irony is beautiful! So I took a day of nenkyu [paid leave] and Aaron and I headed to Himeji. We arrived at 1:30 to discover we had just missed our bus. So we did lunch at Subway [ah, lunchmeat. It’s been a long time], then went back and caught the 2:30 bus. Well, it became apparent that the bus was not headed the right way. By the time I finally asked the driver, it was too late and we just had to sit tight til we returned to the station. The bus driver [who was really nice and informative] told us that there are two bus companies- one with orange buses and one with white buses. We needed the white bus, but what a surprise- we took the wrong one. Granted I should have asked as soon as we got on the bus, but my Hyogo living guide didn’t say a thing about multiple bus companies. Now it was 3:30. True to Japanese form, the immigration office closes at 4:00, so we were panicking. We snagged a taxi driver and asked how long to the immigration office. He tells us 5 minutes, so we hop in. After driving a bit he amends that time to 20 minutes. Far from happy, I try to explain that the office closes at 4. “No problem, we’ll be there by 4.” My Japanese is not stellar enough to explain that arriving by 4 is not enough- we have business there that will take time. “No problem, we’ll be there by 4.” Frustrated, I tell him to return to the station. “What? Return to the station? You sure?” Yes, we’re sure. “What? Return to the station? You sure?” Yes, we’re sure. This went on for a few minutes, with both the driver and me becoming extremely annoyed. The driver, probably because he’s convinced we’re crazy gaijin. Me because we keep going forward and paying the man a ridiculous amount with no purpose.

We finally get back to the station where I discover my coin purse is gone. I didn’t leave it in the taxi, so we trudge to the lost and found for the bus company. No dice. Extremely frustrated, pissed off, and depressed over losing my cute little purse [with about $15], we go to Mr. Donuts. Some caffeine and sugar cheered us up a bit. We were meeting with a Japanese teacher I met in Yashiro at 6, so we did some shopping to kill the time. Then once more to the L&F.

Right here everything started to look up. Someone had turned in my coin purse! Hurrah! And I’d communicated w’ the attendant w’ no problems [always a major plus!]. They must’ve counted the change, ‘cos some of the coins had been rolled and sealed in plastic.
Buoyed, we meet up with Tamaki. Tamaki is super sweet! She speaks fantastic English, is easy to talk with, and is just very friendly. We eat at a cozy izukaya [a lot like a tapas bar], drink some good sake. Then we have some coffee [Starbucks- very well made, better than the stuff I’ve had in the states for the last year].

Then we catch the train and go home. Thanks to Tamaki and the recovered purse we left on a pretty good note, now I just have to convince my Kyoto-sensei to give me a free day of nenkyu so I don’t have to lose any more vacation time. Wish me luck!