Nice Folk

(I wrote this piece back in August but never got around to posting it. Enjoy!)

I have the sweetest neighbors! I met them because the first night I slept by myself I couldn’t find the apartment in the dark, and I was going up and down the streets with another ALT completely disoriented. When I asked them for directions the woman took me to my house, which was about a block away. Since then, we have become some kind of friends and she takes good care of me. She even has a piano she lets me play! Last week I had dinner at her house, which was fantastic and such an experience!

Yesterday, I stopped at her house with a map in one hand and a “notice of non-delivery” from the post office in the other, asking her for directions. Instead of telling me what roads to take, she said, “Come on, I’ll take you!” in her broken English mixed with Japanese, and she took me to the post office! Tonight I had dinner at her house as well. We had a grand old time; she taught me how to write my address in kanji (quite an impressive feat) and I showed her pictures of my family and friends. I mentioned that I had to go to Shibukawa on Friday, and she says, “Oh, I know a bus that goes to there” and proceeds to put me in her car so she can take me to the nearest bus stop, just so I’ll be sure what time to leave.

I’ve had a lot of people be so nice to me here, even when they might want to strangle me for not knowing any better. The other day I was taking the train to Maebashi, and I asked a girl standing on the platform, “Does this train go to Maebashi?” (in Japanese, thank you very much!) She nodded and we ended up in the same car. When the train stopped and an announcement was made over the loud speaker, I sat there like a fool while everyone else got off the train, and she came back for me and said, “Maebashi, right?” and signaled for me to follow her. Apparently we had to switch cars but I didn’t know it. It’s so nice to have people, random strangers that I might never bump into again, make sure that I get to where I’m going okay.

I appreciate that kindness more than I can ever express to them with my doe eyes and “Doomo arigatou gozaimasu”es, because there aren’t words enough to express the feeling of relief that someone is helping you when you alone would be going the wrong way. Thank you, Japan, for providing me with kind people along this track. Thank you, thank you, thank you.