Yesterday marked a first for me: driving a car in Japan. It was our second day here, and we needed to get across town to do some clothes and grocery shopping. Feeling a little apprehensive, I clenched the keys tightly in my fist, and walked over to the driver’s side door. “Hey, wrong side!” Naomi helpfully called out as I looked down to see that I was indeed on the wrong side of the car.
“Nope, just giving things a once over before we go. Haha!” I breezily remarked as I jogged over to the correct side.
As we all piled inside, I gave my best reassuring smile, taking extra care as I started up the car and pulled out of the driveway.
“You’ll need to make a left at the first light,” her mom said as we started down the street.
“Sure, no problem!” I remarked as I casually reached over to turn on the left turn signal, and instead found the front wipers unexplainably moving back and forth across the windshield. “Ah!” I managed to get out as I quickly attempted to correct my mistake.
“You OK up there?” Naomi inquired from the back.
“Sure sure, just didn’t realize everything was reversed in these crazy cars. Haha!”
A couple of moderately close calls, and a good deal of back seat coaching later, we arrived in one piece at our destination. I couldn’t remember the last time I had to concentrate so hard just to drive down to the local mall, and I felt both thrilled at my accomplishment, and utterly mentally exhausted.
And so I find myself back in Japan. Though I’ve spent the past six years comfortably driving on the right side, Naomi and I came to the mutual decision during our time in New York to make the transition back to this country of opposites. And newness. And familiarities. And chances. Driving on the left side is something that is going to take some getting used to. I don’t expect to get the hang of it immediately, but it’s something I hope to continue to improve at over the months and years to come.
I’m excited for what the future holds. This year is proving to be one of transitions, and there’s much to look forward to. I will be using this space to share all the ups and downs of the journey, and other random thoughts and observations along the way. Feel free to drop by on occasion to check up on us, leave a comment, and otherwise share in this experience with us. Should be fun!
After we finished shopping, and feeling pretty tired, we headed back to the car, and Naomi’s mom asked if I wanted her to drive us back home. “Nah, I got this,” I suavely replied with a wink and a smile as I confidently strutted over to the car and opened the door.
“Wrong side again!” Naomi observed as she pointed to the other side of the car.
“Ah yes, so it is. Haha!”
You are awesome!
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