When It Rains, It Pours

This morning, I got on the wrong bus. Normally, I don't take the bus, but today I was wearing a pencil skirt and it was pouring, so the times called for a bus ride.  The bus I use passes at 7:35, so instead of checking the destination, I got on the bus that passed at that exact time. Bad call. I should have known better! I snagged a seat and was in the middle of one of Haruki Murakami's short stories, when I happened to glance up from the book. I noticed that the bus was turning left at a major intersection, when I needed it to turn right... I asked the bus driver if the bus would stop at my stop, and he confirmed my fear -- I was moving away from my destination. Luckily, I wasn't too far from a bus stop where I could get the correct bus, so I paid the bus fare, hopped off and ran to another bus stop. When I got there, my heart sank. According to the timetable, the bus had already passed. I couldn't afford to be late nor find an alternate route (the bus I needed only comes twice a day), because I was supposed to give a farewell speech to my colleagues during the morning meeting. As I was reaching for my phone to call a friend for advice, I noticed the bus coming! I love the sweet feeling of relief! My bus had been late and that's why I had made the careless mistake earlier.

I felt triumphant as I boarded the bus, and I looked for a seat, in order to continue reading Murakami's tale. But first, I wanted to get my bus fare out and have it ready. This is when I noticed that my wallet was missing. I had dropped the wallet somewhere while changing buses. And so, my heart took another plunge. I didn't want to get off the bus, because I didn't want to be late to the morning meeting, so I continued on. If there's any place you can be almost certain that a lost wallet will be returned, it's Japan. If I had been in L.A., you bet I would have gotten off the bus and raced back to search for my wallet. When it was time to get off the bus, I apologized to the driver and explained my situation. He let me off, but made me promise to pay double the fare the next time I used a bus. Scouts Honor!

When I arrived at school, it looked unusually empty. That's because it was practically empty; the students had been told to stay home, due to a weather warning. The teachers had to discuss the matter, so the morning meeting was postponed, and Lorrie's, the other ALT, and my speech had been postponed, too. Needless to say, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point.

I calmly told a teacher that I had dropped my wallet, and then I started to realize, aloud, what I'd have to do if I couldn't recover my wallet.  I'd have to replace important identification cards and bank cards before I leave in about 9 days. I could probably manage to replace some Japanese cards, but it'd be almost impossible to get my American cards replaced in that amount of time. And that would mean that I wouldn't be able to withdraw money during my travels, and so would have to probably cancel my two week trip to Thailand. Yeah, I would have been entitled to panicking, but instead I kept calm and carried on. The teachers, however, had a mini heart attack and proceeded to make phone calls. A half an hour later, my wallet had been reported to the police box (mini, mini police station) nearest the scene. It so happens that I dropped the wallet near my other visit school. Although we had made the report, a teacher was going to take me to the intersection to search for it.

An hour later, I received a wonderful phone call. My wallet had been turned in! The teacher took me to retrieve it, and I was so relieved to see all of my cards and my roughly 3万円 ($300) in cash were in the wallet. Japan, I love you!!! Now, before you call me stupid for carrying that much cash, it's perfectly normal AND necessary here, as it's a cash society and theft rates are low.

My kind Samaritan turned out to be one of my students. And I have no idea if she knew this when she turned it in. She would have only known this if she had opened the wallet and looked through the cards.

I learned today that in cases like mine, where a wallet is returned with all money intact, the person who lost the wallet is expected to offer a 5 to 10% reward. It is then up to the person who found it to accept this reward or not. They called my dear student, and she turned down the reward. I will still make sure that she receives a thank you letter and a gift certificate for Starbucks. And you bet I paid double the fare when I took the bus home.

Relief, relief, relief!

My wallet, however, has seen better days. It is now recovering and drying, but the stained leather doesn't look so good...

When we returned to school, I had to translate my farewell speech for the students into Japanese. Needless to say, this was a lengthy process, and I should have started earlier. Again, I should have known better!!! I made teachers wait while I finished, until I had my Japanese checked and edited. Since the students didn't go to school, they recorded the speech to show at a later date. I don't know how I would have managed if the students had been there... I would not have been finished writing and editing by 11AM, especially with the unforeseen rescue mission in the morning.

It was an emotional morning, and it continued to be emotional, as I said my goodbyes and received thoughtful presents all day. Some ESS students came to school to give us short speeches and spend time with us.

At the end of the day,  I could hardly contain my tears as teachers stood up to bow to us and bid Lorrie and I farewell.  They remained standing as we exited the staff room and I relished in their heartfelt "otsukaresame deshita." Thank you for all of your hard work!!

What a day! I had a bittersweet final day at my other visit school yesterday -- again, full of surprises and thoughtful gestures. And today was just as lovely, just as sad. I am glad I have another week until I have to say goodbye to my main school.

Japan, I don't know how I can ever repay you for your kindness, but I will humbly receive it and cherish it.

My wallet drying out.

Teary-eyed. These were presented to me after I gave my farewell speech.