Greetings all. This is it……my last week before coming home. By the end of this week, I’ll be back in Kentucky! 
I couldn’t be more excited! I have exactly three more work days to get through, and then I’ll be on my way home. But before that, I have much to blog about, so here goes…..
I had my adult eikaiwa class on Thursday night. I only have two ladies in the class right now, and I told them a few weeks ago that I am going home in July. One of the ladies brought me a gift bag that night full of snacks and candies. She said that she thought I would like some snacks while at the airport. How sweet! There was also a card in the bag, and when I opened it, a 5,000 yen bill fell out! 
That’s about $60-70!! She gave it to me as spending money for America. I was so shocked!! I really wanted to refuse it and say that it was too much, but you really can’t refuse a gift in Japan. It’s really, really distasteful if you do. I really don’t even know this lady all that well, but I thanked her time and time again!
I stayed the night at Melissa’s that night since she lives just outside of Hitoyoshi and I had to drive to the city the following morning to take my license test. I told her about the gift from my eikaiwa student, and she said that sometimes the Japanese will do that….give you a gift before you go on a trip so that they’ll receive a gift in return. I don’t see my sweet little old student doing that, but I don’t know…… Melissa also told me that 5,000 really isn’t a big deal to the Japanese. That’s considered to be cheap. It would be like dropping a $10-20 in a birthday card…fairly typical and standard. You learn something new every day! 
Friday I drove up to the city to take my test. I woke up earlier than planned, so I got ready quickly and decided to take the long way (back roads) there to avoid paying for the toll roads. I didn’t see Melissa that morning, but that didn’t stop her from being awesome. She left me a card, balloon, and gallon bag of Captain Crunch by the front door. Sweet! It rained off and on on my drive up, but I was completely surprised to see the sun shining at the Menkyo Center! I really thought that there was a perpetual cloud that surrounded that place……
I had to go to the same office to get my papers, and the lady in there is really sweet. She speaks English pretty well and told me good luck! I went back out to the lobby to wait until noon, when the course opens to pedestrians who want to walk it. I practiced over and over in my mind the steps that I needed to take for entering the car and how to “properly drive” according to Japanese test standards. I didn’t see anybody else show up to take the test, and it wasn’t until I was walking the course when I saw another guy. He wasn’t an ALT and told me that he worked in the city at a logo company. That was his second time taking the test.
At 1PM while we were waiting in the lobby, the proctor came out to get us. He chose me to go first. 
I was strangely calm/nervous. Knowing that it was my last opportunity to take this test and that if I didn’t pass, I couldn’t drive when I return in August really didn’t help my nerves. As I stretched my foot to the brake or switched to the gas, my foot shook. It didn’t affect my driving, but I was still a bit on edge. Luckily for me, the proctor was really nice….dare I even say funny…? He was making jokes and being very light-hearted the whole time. I didn’t see him make very many marks on my grade sheet, so I thought that maybe, just maybe I had passed. When I got out of the driver’s seat and into the back seat so the other guy could take his test, I glanced at my grade sheet and saw that it said 80. You have to have a 70 or above to pass. I HOPED and PRAYED that I was looking at it right, but I couldn’t find out until the other guy finished his test. I felt sorry for him, but I knew that he wasn’t going to pass. He definitely didn’t know the moves and certain silly things that they want you to do like not coming to a complete stop once you finish the crank and S-curve (which is STUPID….side roads always give way to the main road). It also started pouring rain halfway through the course. The proctor was nice about it, but he stopped grading halfway through the course. It was pretty evident that the guy had failed.
Whenever we got to the cubicle area where the proctor tells you what you did wrong, he actually gave us our grad sheets. That was my fifth time to take the test and first time to see the actual grade sheet. I saw the 80 on mine and asked him if that was okay. He said yes. I PASSED!! I was ridiculously happy after that, but I still had to sit there and let him tell me what I did wrong. I nodded at whatever he said, but to tell you the truth, I wasn’t even listening. I passed, and that was all I cared about! The nice office lady came back over and was sincerely happy for me. She told me what I needed to do next.
I had to go to another office, fill out more paperwork, have my picture taken, pay, and finally (FINALLY!) get my license. As I waited, I was calculating in my head exactly how much it had cost me to get my license. Each time I went, I had to pay 2,200 for the “rental car” fee (Yep, you have to PAY to use THEIR car that you’re in for about five minutes.) Not including tolls, gas, or food, I spent about $170 to get that silly thing. After that, I had to go back to the original office, and the office lady sat me down to explain a few things. Whenever I was finished, she congratulated me again. I told her that it was my birthday, so I was very excited to get it. She clapped for me and was genuinely happy for me.
After that, I took the long way home because a) I’m cheap and didn’t want to pay tolls, and b) I wanted to see the height of the Kumagawa. Mary told me earlier in the week that since it had rained so much last week, the river was darn near up to the road. That was on Monday, and I was there on Friday, so by then the river had shrank to a little above its normal level. I still stopped to get a few beautiful pictures (above). When I got back to Hitoyoshi, I had a few errands to run before going over to Melissa’s house. She had made me a cheesecake for my birthday. Even though she had thrown me a party, made me a cake, and left me a birthday breakfast, she made me a cheesecake as well! She truly is a wonderful person!
It was a really, really good birthday. Being away from home and celebrating it in a different country made it feel more like just another day instead of a birthday. Despite that, though, I got the best present I could’ve gotten: MY LICENSE!! From now on, I can drive in this country without any problems…..well, minus all of the dumb drivers… 
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