Driving

It took a long time, but as you probably can tell...I DID get my driver's license.

A few things that made it painstaking:
Everything about the Japanese driver system is still rooted in the 1950s:

• the building (which is way out in B.F.E.)- over an hour just to get there.
• the SCAN TRON sheet driver test
• the classroom where you take the test (only seats about 10 people - tightly)
• the eye test machine
• the cardboard box with the bell in it that rings when you put your application in (just so they know that someone is actually out there)
• and the FOUR hours it usually takes to have the test given and graded. 

and the list could go on.  But regardless of all this, I finally got my license.  Well, by default actually.
After taking the test twice - I almost gave up.
The test consisted of 10 questions, True and False.  Easy right?...um, NO.
They are trick questions.  If ONE WORD in the sentence is wrong...you are wrong.
Then if you miss 4 questions - you fail.  If you fail, they DO NOT tell you what you got wrong.  They DO NOT let you see your Scan-Tron.  They DO NOT help you - IN ANY WAY.
They let you take the test as many times as you want...but you have to come back on a different day every time and it is about $30 each time you take the test.  And if they decide that they don't want you to pass...you never will.  NO MATTER WHAT.
Lovely.

At the end of my rope - I finally told my husband to ask his company about me having a "International License"...if that would cover me on the insurance. No test, just my U.S. license and a paper from the U.S. saying 'International Driver's License.'
Well, sure-as-hell...they said it was fine.  All that trouble and time - FOR NOTHING.  Dammit.
But it will make for a good story for the rest of my driving life.

So - jump to present day...
The hubby comes home last week and informs me that he needs to take the car to work for its 6 month check-up.  I reluctantly agree to ride my bike again for a day and give up the keys.

Now you might wonder, how come we have a car and my husband doesn't use it to drive to work everyday???
It takes him one hour and 30 minutes to get to work via a bus, then two or three train changes.  A pain is the a$$, I know.
But he kept telling me it takes longer to drive than to take the trains.  I thought - yeah whatever big guy...I would be driving!


So he takes the car for the check-up.  It takes him almost two hours to get to work - in traffic at 7:30 am.
He gets home that night and tells me that he made it home in only ONE hour!
'Wow," I said, "Maybe you should start driving to work" - and then thought better of it because I would have no car anymore.  Luckily he said "nah, takes too long."


The rest of our conversation went like this:

ME:  Why after a full year, when I tell someone you work in Zama (a little town)- every time they go "ooooh"?              So how far away is Zama actually???
HIM:  15 miles.
ME:   Wait. What? 15 miles?
HIM:  Yep.
ME:  and it takes almost TWO HOURS to get there and back EVERYDAY.
HIM:  Yep.
ME:  and even in the car it takes longer to get there?  15 miles?  nooooo.
HIM:  Yep.

I sat there dumbfounded and speechless. I finally understood.  I finally realized that I could probably throw a rock and hit my husband in the head while he was working but it would take him almost two hours to get back here to ask me why I threw the rock.

No wonder he is ready to go home too!
That 45 minute commute to work in the U.S. has never looked so good.

~as I grab the keys and head out to drive on the wrong side of the road and terrorize the locals  !!!  =-)

Enjoy your day,
Deeds