The Rain is out to get me....
The Why rain is out to get me update:
I am not paranoid. Rain is a living, breathing, evil thing, and it is out to get me. I have proof of this.
Exhibit A: My Trip to Mito
On Friday, I left school early to get to Mito so I could pick up my new visa. I left Ami, it was hot and the sun was shinning. When I arrived in Mito there were a couple of clouds in the sky but it was still a beautiful day. Once I arrived at the Immigration Office in Mito I sat for about an hour and half.
During this time I saw the cutest thing. There was a young girl who was of Hispanic descent, another girl who spoke Japanese and English, and a third girl who was Japanese but super quiet. All three of the girls were the same age and totally did not know that there was any difference between each other. It was super cute to watch them play together babbling in their own language and trying explain the different things they were doing. The girls had a wonderful time and everyone was able to see it. They ran around the office chasing each other, played with blocks, and looked at books together. That is the great thing about children they are so opened minded.
While I was at the office I started to hear thunder and just as I left the office it started to rain lightly. But the Immigration Office is only a five to ten minute walk from the Mito station so the light rain was no big deal.
Once I got on the train the rain really started but it didn’t matter because I was on the train; heading back to Ami where I had a class to teach at Yomo. Once we got to Kandatsu (two stops away from Ami) it started to storm…lightning. I have discovered that the trains will not move during a lighting storm…the trains will not move during a Three hour lightning storm.
The trip from Mito to Ami normally takes about an hour but on Friday it took me four hours. I was stuck at Kandatsu for three hours while I was waiting for the train to start up again. During this time I was on the phone with Yomo trying to find a substitute teacher (thank you JANA!) and on the phone with Jana and Andrea trying to get them to leave for dinner without me. Well, after three hours the train started moving and I ended up getting kicked off the train at the next station where I found a bathroom.
After finding and using the bathroom I went back to the track and found the train I thought was heading for Ami and I got on the train, the train left, and I ended up back at Kandatsu. (I really hate that stop now) Turns out the train I was on was the train that I and all of the other passengers were kicked off of due to the fact that it was heading back to Mito.
Well, at Kandastu I finally got on the right train and made it back to Ami after four hours of trains. Andrea, Jana, and I then went out to eat at one of the KBBQ restaurants and had a wonderful time.
So that would be Exhibit One on why rain is out to get me
Exhibit Two: The Ueno Zoo
On Saturday when Jana and I left Ami for Tokyo it was beautiful day. We took the train to Ueno where we ate at the Hard Rock Café. The food there was once again awesome as was most of the music. We then left the Hard Rock for the Ueno Zoo.
As we walked to the Ueno Zoo we heard thunder but figured it might pass us by so we paid the six dollars enter the zoo and went to see the Giant Panda. I am only going to make this statement once but if you have a problem with small cages the Ueno Zoo is not the zoo for you.
As we looked at the Giant Panda, which expressed its opinion of all the people gawking at it by taking a rather large dump, it started to rain and it was a rather hard rain. Jana and I decided to make the best of it and went to look at the elephants and monkeys.
Now for a while I was wondering if I still loved the elephant…it was my favorite as a kid but lately I have been thinking that other animals were cooler than the elephant. I can once again openly state that the elephant is the coolest animal ever! Tigers are pretty, monkeys are funny, pandas take large dumps, but the elephant is just amazing. It is huge, friendly, and elephants take care of each other.
Well, Jana and I got pretty wet viewing the animals in the rain but we still had a fun time. There are so many songs that one can sing at the zoo about the weather. Tomorrow: from Annie, Heat Wave, Mr. Sun, It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…yes, we did get some funny looks. But after an hour the rain went away and we were able to see the rest of the zoo.
The reptile house was funny. We ended up at the fish section and looked at the fish from America….the bluegill. I took one look at it and said “Yummy!” I like bluegills; they taste good. We also saw the lions, tigers, and bears, which did end up having us do the Wizard of Oz line over and over.
Jana fell in love with the penguin (did you know there are penguins named the Jackass Pinguin?) who was harassing the person cleaning his cage and I no longer like Zebras. The zebra at the zoo kept showing me its butt whenever I tried to get a picture of it.
After the Zoo we called Andrea and decided to watch the first Pirates of the Caribbean because the second movie is coming to our nearby theater next week. This is where exhibit three picks up….
Exhibit Three: Erin’s Fall
Rain is evil…it makes things slippery. After the movie I had to take Jana because we had used my car to get to the train station. We were having a great conversation leaving the apartment and we started down the stairs. I hit a wet spot and went flying, my purse flew up in the air, my feet went above my head, my cell phone fell out of purse, and I let out a shriek. I managed to hit four or five steps before catching myself. Jana immediately asked me if I was ok. I figured I was still good. I was mortified that it had happened and Jana laughed a bit.
After I got back from dropping off Jana, I grabbed my two bags of frozen rice and put one on my hand and the other on my ankle. I then took stock of my injuries. I had two good size bruises on my arm, a cut on my left ankle, which was a little bruised, a good bruise on my right thigh, and a very sore right ankle.
Yes, rain is living, breathing, evil thing, and it is out to get me. The rain is taking great joy in stalking me. I am not paraiod; it gets me stuck on a train, follows me to the Ueno Zoo, and makes me fall down stairs. The rain is out to get me.