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.
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