Crow Whisperer (Familiar Encounters, Pt. 1)

(This week on My Inconsistent Drawing Style, featuring background lines...)

Much to my disappointment, there are no squirrels in Japan (T_T).  Crows are as plentiful here as squirrels are in America, though, and they're pretty cute (but not quite as cute as squirrels).  They're much bigger than American crows! 

The other day, a crow hopped right up to me while I was waiting to cross the street and cawed.  Thinking I was alone still, I cawed back.  It cawed louder, and I told it there was no need to be rude (in Japanese too, since it was a Japanese crow and just to get speaking practice).  The crow then hopped away and I realized there was a lady behind me, who was probably wondering why the crazy gaijin was talking to a crow.

I also saw a crow crossing the street with a piece of bread in its mouth.  It must have been running late to crow anime school!



(Edit on 3/5/17: I changed the title because I keep having encounters with crows and will likely have more in the future, based on my love for them.  So now it's a series.  Stay tuned to see how Lee amasses a murder of crow familiars and becomes a nature witch.)

Vote at all costs

 

Happy election day, America.  May the odds be ever in our favor. 

 

I voted via absentee ballot a while ago but forgot to post this until today, whoops.  I did need to mail it by a certain date, though, and the post office is only open on weekdays and closes shortly after I leave from work.  So, I rode my bike as fast as I could through the pouring rain and came in at just five minutes to closing time, dripping wet, with a rather complicated request (I had to have the envelope formatted a certain way with the signiture and official election mail logo on a certain side, and I tried to explain the pre-paid postage but wasn't able to get it across so I ended up paying 20 bucks anyway, but darn it I was going to vote).  And I did, in fact, forget to bring an envelope with me when I went there.  So even though I didn't actually burst in with a loud bang, I'm sure it seemed a bit like it. 

 

In related news, in a few hours I will know whether I'm going to stay the full five years here or if it will be safe to go home.  

School or BUSt

WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO:

WHAT MY DUMB BUTT DID:

Well, I had quite the adventure today.

I went to my furthest school today for the first time.  I left extra early, and boy was it good that I did, because somehow I ended up on the wrong train line when I transferred.  So then I went back to Aomori Station, then got on the correct line and everything went smoothly, and I thought the worst was over and done with.  But oh no, far from it.

The kids were absolute sweeties and such a pleasure to teach, but when I left, I managed to get lost on my way back to the station and sort of wandered around trying to find a place to cross the train tracks (I could SEE where I needed to get to but couldn't get to it because it was on the other side of the tracks, and there weren't many places to cross them).  By the time I got to the station and bought a ticket, I realized the next train wasn't for another two hours.  I checked the walking time on google maps and saw that it was only an hour to get back to Aomori station, so I figured I would just walk it and get back early rather than sit around waiting.  Apparently, however, the Lost-In-The-Woods rule applies to train stations in rural Japan: when in doubt, STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND WAIT.  I'll remember this next time.  

So, thus began my 5.5 km walk back to the station.  I passed a number of bus stops, but whenever I asked if the bus was going to Aomori-eki, the answer was always "no", so I kept walking.  Luckily, it was a pretty straight shot.  Once I finally made it back to the station, I checked my phone and saw that I had about 45 minutes until the next train, so I bought lunch from a convenience store and sat in the park in front of the station to eat.  I then got up and walked into the station with plenty of time before the train left, only to discover that google maps was wrong and there was not, in fact, a train for another hour (GOOGLE MAPS WHY MUST YOU DECEIVE ME).  

Well, no problem, I thought to myself.  Might as well use this opportunity to get familiar with the bus system.  Surely there has to be a bus running from Aomori-eki to the station near my house where I left my bike this morning.  So, I went to the bus information booth and asked which bus would take me to that station.  The lady gave me a time-table and said I needed the bus at spot 3 at 13:00.  Perfect, that was in 7 minutes.  I went over to spot 3, got on the bus that was waiting there, and it left at 13:00.  Everything seemed to be fine and dandy, until I noticed we had gone a little far and we probably should have turned a few blocks back... but maybe we're going in a big circle?  Ah yes, we're heading south now... and now we're going east and further away from the station I need... 

And then, the route got all weird and loopy and we were VERY far away from downtown.  I thought maybe we would loop back around again, but instead we stopped at the Showa Daibutsu temple, very VERY far from where I thought we were going.  I went up and asked the bus driver if we were going to the station I needed, and he said the bus that went there was the one AFTER him.  After a very confusing conversation, he directed me to said bus, and I got on that one.  That one did not, in fact, take me all the way where I needed to get to, so when I got off I had to walk a kilometer to get to the station I left my bike at.  From there, I hopped on my bike and rode my usual route to my base office.  I explained the situation to my supervisor and we both laughed, me inwardly-cringing a bit.  

A couple of hours later, I rode my bike home and collapsed face down on my bed for about five minutes straight.  Then I thought "Oh right I should probably do my evening run... oh who I am kidding, I got plenty of exercise today, I'll just make dinner now"

Tomorrow, I am ONLY taking trains, and I will make sure I'm on the right platform when I transfer.