Japan is a rule obsessed country with guides for how to do everything. You dont need a lot of initiative because things are spelled out for you. This helps to maintain a certain staus quo and explain to a degree the Japanese character. To an outsider these rules sometimes seem so infuriating and can make a bad day unbearable. But in order to live here you need to accept them as the way things are because surely at home there are things that equally irritate, annoy and make a bad day unbearable. This is not about rules though its just about to constant flip flop the happiness of being somewhere new and exciting and of being away from home and family and friends and really feeling it. This day started out pretty well, I went to see another international preschool which , as it turns out, is a bit too far. The taxi driver took my map and drove on...and on........until we got lost.....and then I was running late. So I called the school and eventually we found it. The orientation was good and then I thought it might be easier to catch the train home as it wasnt rush hour and it was sunny. I didnt rush home but one the way I all of a sudden started to feel that horrible ache of the flu coming on. It was getting worse, quickly and it seemed all of a sudden that it was very hard to get home. The train that I had waited for was not boarding so I had to wait again, it is just one stop but I needed to sit down. I got off and still have not found the easy access to the elevator so since the escalator was close I just took the pram up. But as I am fast learning, if you make a choice at the station it is a one way ticket, no turning back. So, at the top of the escalator I turned the corner and was confronted with a huge wall of stairs. You cant go back unless you walk down the stairs, scan your card and pay again. I thought, one set of stairs couldnt be bad. So I dragged the pram, baby and myself up the stairs and found the elevator. But realised that elevator takes you to the side of 6 lane highway that I didnt want to be on. It is at least a 500m walk to a crossing either left or right OR there is a crossover OVER the road which means a huge flight of stairs up and one down. (Did I mention I was carrying a sleeping 12kg kid and was also wearing my heels?....dumb, dumb, dumb)I was getting a bit beside myself by now so I made the choice to go over the stairs way. I dragged up the pram, baby and myself and then made it to the down part, which wasnt going to be so easy. I began, while my basket emptied and tumbled down the stairs and a stream of people walked past without helping me. I was getting so poff and said 'thanks so much for helping me' to anyone who would listen. I wondered what happened to all those lovely Japanese people? Less than 2 minutes later a young guy, talking on a mobile, came past, picked up the pram with one arm, kept talking on the phone, took the pram to the bottom of the steps and just keep walking and talking. I was speechless. Interrupting my mean thoughts and words was this incredibly lovely Japanese person, the one I was just hoping for......then, I did manange a thankyou. As I dragged my weary body homewards I looked into my bag and realised I had dropped my purse, which also had my train card in it, freshly charged with $200 of travel. I really was about to lose it. There is a cop station near the bottom of the stairs so I was going to ask if I could leave the pram and go and look for my purse BUT ANOTHER LOVELY JAPANESE PERSON had already handed it in. I started to bawl my eyes out. They thought it I was crying because someone had stolen my things but it was just that I felt sick and had been proven so wrong and I was so happy to see my purse....so, I dragged my flu ridden body home and took some asprin and just layed on the floor all afternoon while the mooch was a legend and played happily. My darling bought home dinner and took the next day off and the flu is under control. I am so lucky in so many was xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment