Agony of Defeat (Take 2)

Aug 27, 2019.

We left the apartment at 7 a.m. so we can go to Aira Driving test facility early enough to walk the course.  When we got there, we saw the signs saying we can walk the course between 7:30 - 9:30.  I walked the course.  It only took about 10-15 minutes.  So we had to wait till 8:30 to register for the driving test.  People can register from 8:30 to 9:10.  Since the course can be walked up to 9:30, no driving test will be conducted earlier than 9:30.  After registration, we learned that their is orientation at 9:45 a.m. and then the driving test starts.  Being early, I register first, but probably turned out bad choice since I would be first to drive.  Oh well, we are here to learn.

This time it was course 1.  The very first time, it was course 2.  I had spent the entire week memorizing both courses so I won't have to rely on the proctor telling me where to go.  So basically I was going to ignore whatever he says.  During the orientation, he asked who don't understand Japanese, so he knew I didn't along with several others.  This proctor was much nicer, as he totally let me focus on the route.  Unfortunately his perception of my driving didn't match my perception.  At the first stop sign, I thought I had come to a complete stop but in his mind, I didn't so he slammed the brakes on me and pointed out the stop sign.  From that point on, I counted 1, 2, 3 at each stop.  Since this is course 1, the S-curve and Crank were different from course 2.  I thought I was fine in the S-curve, but then the back passenger tire just nicked the curb on the first turn.  It is an automatic fail if you go over the curb.  So I guess I get a deduction from the nick.  I managed to get through the Crank without having to back up and retry (you are allowed 3 retries and touching curb is OK).  I knew I failed from the accumulation of deductions but at least I finished the course.  I thanked the proctor in Japanese and he was kind enough to give some tips to Sister Lee on what I have to improve on.  1. Come to a complete stop.  I guess I need to count to 4 instead of 3 to make it a longer stop.  The proctor claims I have a blind spot on turns because I don't look back.  I do look back but I need to accentuate looking back to convince the proctor that I am looking back.  He suggested going slower on the S-curve to avoid the curbs.  I thought I was slow enough but if he says so, I'll go even slower.  I am sure that there are things wrong but I won't find out what they are until I can fix the major stuff first.  I am hoping 3rd time will be the charm and get lucky to get the same nice proctor again.  Definitely, we are not going to get there so early to be the first driver.

Agony of defeat

And it begins...

Aug 19, 2019.  We went to Aira, a city NE of Kagoshima, about 35 minutes away if traffic is good, to apply for my Japanese driver's license.  It is surprising that this is the only place within Kagoshima Prefecture that one can get their first driver's license.  The reason we have to go to Aira is the driving test is given on a driving course specifically designed for conducting driving tests.  On this facility there are 2 test routes, called course 1 and course 2.  I had to show up for my appointment any time between 1 p.m. and I think 1:30 p.m.  We got there before 1 p.m.  We were ushered into a room by a gentleman whose job title I have no idea.  His job was to look over all the documents that I was required to bring, like my passport, USA driver license, translation of USA driver license by a company authorized to do such translation (3000 yen cost), International Driving Permit, Japanese residence card, resident certificate issued within 3 months (300 yen cost), and 2 photos 3 x 2.4 cm taken within last 6 months.  He asked me a bunch of questions about my driving record, like when did I get my driver license, where I took my driving test, etc.  He also asked me if I wanted to take the driving test that day if I passed the written test.  I had not planned on it because I had not seen the course, but he said "no one passes on their first try, so might as well take the test and get a feel for the course."  Real comforting words. 

After he was finished with all the paper work and satisfied with my answers, he left the room to get my written driving test packet.  I don't know why it took so long, but it was like 45 minutes before he came back into the room to give me the written test.  It was 1 p.m. when he started interviewing me.  He left the room at 1:45, came back about 2:30 p.m.  Sister Lee had to leave the room then.  The written test was only 10 questions, true or false.  Maybe it took him that long to find a test printed with English translation.  He said there is no time limit to finish the test, so I knew that there had to be some trick questions.  Sure enough, there was one question that the answer was going to be true or false depending how one interprets the statement.  Unfortunately with Sister Lee not around, I couldn't ask if the English translation is correct translation of the Japanese statement.  To pass the written test, one has to get at least 7 out 10 questions right.  So I doubled checked and triple checked, counted # of questions that I felt pretty confident that I have the right answers.  When I felt I had at least 7, I stopped worrying about that trick question and told the interviewer that I was done.  He took the test and we went back to the waiting area.

After a few minutes, I was told I passed the written test without any specific result as to how many questions I got right.  Then the driving test, which was a horrible experience.  It started OK.  I did what I heard I had to do, even before getting into the car, like look underneath the car to check if there is a cat or child.  Oh, I have to mention that I have to drive their car.  In America, we drive our own car.  So driving a strange car, not familiar with how close the car is to the curb or a line, is strike one against you.  Strike 2 is I can't understand the language.  Strike 3 is I don't know the course.  You get the picture.  I was at the mercy of the proctor telling me where to go.  I understand "migi" for "right" and "hidari" for "left" but that's about it.  Anyway he tells me to go to #3 (there are numbered signs throughout the course).  Well, #3 happened near opposite end from where we were so there was no way I could see it.  So he pointed in a direction and from my viewpoint, it looked like he pointed straight ahead, which I followed but it turned out that it pointed an opposite direction lane.  So he stopped me and directed me to the correct lane to start.  Then I was still looking for that elusive #3 (which is down by D in course map below).  Looking all around while driving along the lane, I missed the stop light.  The proctor stepped on his brake.  I think the proctor knew I was having trouble finding #3 so gave me the benefit of doubt to allow me to continue the driving test.  After that, I finally see #3 about 50 meters ahead.  The rest of the driving test went better but after going through the S-curve successfully, I had forgotten the proctor telling me to turn "migi", so I started turning "hidari", at which point the proctor had seen enough and told me to exit the course without driving the "crank - right angle turns".  He told Sister Lee that I failed miserably, that I needed to take a class on driving that course.  In addition, he didn't tell Sister Lee what I did wrong, no feedback to what I had to correct for the next attempt.  All I can hope is I don't get that same proctor again.  He knew I didn't understand Japanese, yet he spoke some full Japanese sentences to me.  It was very distracting as I tried to hear some recognizable words in his full sentences to understand what he wanted me to do.  I've heard that the average # of attempts to pass the driving test is about 6, but there have been people who went into double digits.  I hope I can pass in the single digit attempts.  My International Driving permit expires in mid Jan 2020.  If I don't get the Japanese driver license by then, we might be coming home early for at least 3 months, after which I can get a new International Driving permit. 

Philippine Night a Huge Success

Group photo of all of those who stayed to the very end.  It was a great turnout, about 65 people.  I am not in the photo because I am taking the picture.  Can you find Sister Lee?

Final food preparation of placing the food on top of banana leaves on several tables.

Had a Philippine game, a relay race putting a straw in 6 bottles, run around chair and pick up the straws from the bottles and hand off to next runner.

We used cut up leaves as plates.  We put plastic gloves on our hands and just dig in.

Here we are among the crowd enjoying watching the Philippine dances demonstrations.

Here I am running the PowerPoint presentation.  Old age seeped in.  I was supposed to bring our laptop so we can hook into the projector but I forgot.  I didn't want to drive all the way back to the apartment, 20 minutes away one way.  So I took the computer from the Family History room and used that instead.  Good thing there was no sounds on the presentation because we didn't have speakers (or at least didn't have enough time to figure out how to get the internal speakers to work).

Preparation for Philippine Night

I didn't lose any fingers cutting triangles for the streamers to hang as decorations for the upcoming Philippine Night.  Sister Gallarde, center in next photo, is from Philippines, as well as Donnabelle, standing in front of me.  The activities will include demonstration of dancing, games, culture of the Philippines, and of course Filipino food.

In the above photo, I am checking out the projector to make sure it works. You can also see the streamers from the triangles we made in the first photo above.

Now, all we need is your help to pray the next typhoon will quickly pass by before the Philippine night comes.

Revival of Sports night

When we first arrived in Kagoshima, there was Sports night on Saturday night.  Then attendance dropped and so Sports night got axed.  However, it was revived about 2 months ago.  Yep, that's me playing. To support the young missionary effort, I came out of retirement.  I am the oldest participant. Sister Lee played too but she reinjured her calf so she is going sit out for a long while until the calf heals completely. I on the other hand was doing fine until this past Saturday's basketball night. Somehow I tweaked my left knee, the same knee that was struck by that car back when I was at University of Chicago. I immediately ordered a knee brace from amazon Japan. I am using it now so hopefully it'll give it enough support to allow it to heal without further tweaks. Sunday, I was having a hard time walking up the steps at Church, but it has loosened up since then. I will sit out this coming volleyball night.  The photos shown here happened several weeks ago.  Rental of this gym is really reasonable, only 600 yen (just over $5) for 2 hours.

Apartment Checks August 2019

We had scheduled to do apartment checks on August 1 & 2, but it turned out our zone interview day with Pres. Mack, originally scheduled for Aug. 6th was changed to the 1st. So we were going to flip the events to do apartment checks on the 6th and keep 2nd the same. However, with typhoon bearing down on us, due to hit us on the 6th, we decided to do apartment checks on the 7th and just head up to Fukuoka from our last apartment at Nobeoka for the Fufu (Sr. Couples) conference. Everything worked out pretty well according to our latest schedule. Apartment checks went smoothly on Aug 2nd and after Kagoshima Sisters' apartment, we went up to the Church building to check what can be done to clean up some of the landscaping. Discovered the shed out back had some tools, like an electric mower, so I hooked it up and started chomping down the weeds / grass that had grown over a feet tall. In the process of mowing, I saw several mostly black butterflies.  They are the largest live butterflies I have ever seen personally.  I tried to take photos but they were fluttering so fast, I couldn't get a good shot of them. Everything went smoothly for the apartment checks on the 7th.  We made it to Fukuoka in pretty good time but then when got to the outskirts of Fukuoka, traffic went crazy.  Traffic jam galore.  Apparently there was a car accident so we got stuck in traffic on the highway.  It took a long time trying to get off the freeway to try the local streets, but then our GPS unit doesn't have feature to tell us to bypass traffic congestions, so it led us smack into the central business district during rush hour.  It took us nearly another 2 hours to get to the Fukuoka Mission Home.

Shiroyama Walk July 31, 2019

Above is looking up at Shiroyama Hotel built on top of the ridge next to Shiroyama Observation Point.  Yama is word for mountain in Japanese.  So Shiroyama is like saying Mt. Shiro.  I was told that it is nice walk up to the observation point.  So finally this morning I got up early to make the climb.  According to Google maps, it was going to take couple hours for a round trip walking from our apartment.  Happy to report that I did it in 1.5 hours.

Looking in the opposite direction from the first photo, we have this huge gate.  Since the gate was here, I thought the path walking up to Shiroyama was here but it turned out that it was 1 block further west.

I am glad that they had railing in the middle of stairway.  The steps are worn out and slanted from much use.

Looking down from where I just climbed up to.

It really is a pleasant walk.  The path basically zig zags up the side of the mountain.

Glad they had this fence here.  Would hate to fall off the edge.

Whew! Made it to the parking lot where people can park just below the observation point.  There were only 2 cars in the parking lot but when I walked to the observation point, surprisingly there were a good number of people exercising there.

Enjoyed the panoramic view of the city of Kagoshima.  Our apartment is somewhere on the right edge of the photo.  The left edge is the Sakurajima volcano.

Going back down, took a photo of the gate.  At this point I am about half way down.

Looking back at the beginning of the walk way to Shiroyama.

Construction progress July 29, 2019

Moving fast.  Roof covered with rolls of roofing material prior to the shingles.  Some of the exterior walls are getting panels.

Cicada Season

July 29, 2019.  On my walk this morning, found this cicada just lying on the sidewalk.  I purposely stuck the tip of my tennis shoe in the photo to show how big they can get.  This one is probably fairly small compared with others. They sure are noisy. I took a recording of the sound just at the bottom of our apartment.  Good thing I use ear plugs when I sleep.