March 4, 2012 - I finally drove

I finally drove our car today.  It's only been a month since we bought it. :)  You shouldn't think that means Drew's driven much either.  He drove a month ago when we first bought the car and then again when we went to Nikko.  The car mostly sits in our garage, which is kind of what we expected.  We bought it for going OUT of Tokyo, not for getting around in Tokyo.

Drew and I went to Costco this morning, a Sunday morning.  We left the kids at home, so does it count as a date?  We bought lunch there, so I guess that makes it a lunch date.  Our usual trick of doing things on a Sunday morning when a lot of Houston people are in church doesn't work in Japan.  Not that we expected people to be in church, but we still thought it might not be too bad on a Sunday morning.  Well, I'm not sure I've ever seen a place more crowded than Costco was at 11:00 am on a Sunday.  Possibly Disney World on a holiday?  So I figured I'd better drive home so that I can get to the point that I can go to Costco on a weekday, when hopefully it will be a little less crowded.

Driving on the wrong side of the road, with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car, wasn't too bad.  However, nearly every time I wanted to signal I was turning or changing lanes, I turned my windshield wipers on instead (wipers and turn signal are switched from U.S. cars).  If I did manage to remember which side the turn signal was on, I signaled the opposite direction from where I wanted to go.  Also, I kept looking in the wrong place for my rearview mirror (think about where you look in a U.S. car).  However, we made it home without incident, so I think I'll consider it a success.

I'll let you know when I finally drive the car by myself, without a navigator to assist. :)


Japanese word of the day:  kuruma  (click to hear pronunciation) means "car"