About the car

So I bought a car. No, wait. I'm going to buy a car. I was supposed to get it yesterday, but they said it won't be ready until today, and now I'm just going to wait until I actually see it and drive it to say that I bought it.

I made a promise to myself a few years ago that I would only ever buy an environmentally friendly car, be it hybrid or electric or whatever. I'm sorry to say that I've broken that promise, as my car requires gas to run. However, since it's teeny tiny and the options are fairly limited in rural Japan, I'm allowing my own personal exception.

About the car:

It's white. It's a Daihatsu Mira. There are many many kilometres already on it. For the price I paid, I had the choice between two white small cars. Seeing as I know nothing about cars, and both required some work before I could actually take it home, I chose the Mira for one arbitrary reason, but as far as arbitrary reasons go, I feel that it's a fairly good one.

The wheel is on the right side, and I am supposed to drive on the left side of the road. On my test drive, I instinctively turned right into the near lane, and almost hit another car. Key word being almost. I'm pretty sure the mechanic told my supervisor, because yesterday when he drove me home he stopped on a narrow side street and made me practive driving his massive van home. Let me tell you, it was not good. For one thing, his car is larger than the car I am used to driving back in Canada. Secondly, the roads are much much much more narrow here, with deep pits on either side that are commonly known as 'Gaijin Traps'. Third, Kagoshima is known to have the highest rate of trafic accidents in Japan (I may be making this up, but I swear I heard this from many people). Fourth, my supervisor is a skinny man that is a more skittish passenger than even my father and has the tendency to let out small shrieks whenever I came close to any objects.

It's not that I drove terribly, exactly. It's more that I drove very slowly and was very nervous. I tried to tell my supervisor that in fact I am a capable driver and have been driving alone for over five years (also a lie...I've been licensed for just under 5 years). He laughed when I said this, shocked that it could possibly be true. Then he made me promise to only drive to work, to school and to the grocery store for the next month. I got him to reluctantly include Kawanabe, the town not 15 minutes away (that took me 2 hours to get to this weekend on bus) since there's both a giant Zellers-type store there and my closest gaijin friend.

Until now I have been both amused and gracious for the overprotective nature of my board of education. There are many things that I could not have had done without the help of the fine people in my office. If I was left alone without any help, I would currently either be squatting underneath some cardboard box or seeking refuge at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo. Nevertheless, there are those things that I am capable of doing, and restricting me in doing so just make me want to pee in spite on the gifts that I am planning on giving these people.*


*Note: I do not actually plan on peeing on any gifts.