Longest week yet

Schools are back in session, which means I'm doing a lot of traveling. It's a good thing that I was told that it would be a good idea to get my international driver's license. And that was from James, mind you it.

They said, "It might be a good idea for you get your I.D.L. You might have to drive a bit.

What would have been helpful is," You need to get your I.D.L. and practice driving on the left. Yeah, just set up a real curvy course in the church parking lot. And make the road parameters real narrow.
Oh, don't forget to add large refrigerator boxes to stand in as company trucks. Of course when you practice, keep in mind the speed limit is always around 25-30 miles an hour. Always. And no one accelerates going up hill, there are a lot of those, and you'll often find yourself on someones tail when you come around a bend, and there are a lot of those too.
Also, forget everything you know about driving on American roads, because Japanese roads are all small in size and residential in appearance, even if it is a major highway.
One more thing, build up your driving stamina. You'll be driving 3-4 days a week, for at least an hour and half every day."

Good thing I like driving. Good thing I can do stuff, like drive across the USA and back, and still feel great about cars. Good thing I even have an American license.

I have been told, however, that even though the license expires in a year, I really shouldn't be driving for more than a month without a Japanese license. But those are supposed to be really hard and expensive to aquire.

Honestly, it isn't too bad. I just have to really focus right now so I don't screw up and drive through someone's rice field. The drive is spectacularly gorgeous. The road snakes around the mountains; everything a stunning new picture. The trees and rice fields are lush and bright green, with the occasional old style Japanese house, or a stone Torii (sound :toree-ee) marking the beginning of a path up the mountain to a shrine. When I'm not stuck behind someone, or worrying about running off the left side of the road into some ravine, it 's a peaceful, enjoyable drive.

Today I am really feeling it because I've driven Monday, Tuesday, and this morning, and I still have to go back out on Friday. Today was the longest day out of the whole week though, and I got lost to top it off. I don't have to be at work until noon tomorrow (Yata! I get the morning off!), but I've been falling asleep since 7!