Today I took the bus to Ohyama...

Which seems pretty straightforward. On Tuesday I took the bus to Ochidani. Got on the bus. Got off the bus. Full stop. Ohayama... not so much.

So for 2 of my 4 schools, I have to take the bus. The first time I went, I was picked up by teachers and took the bus home. It was lovely. However, now that I know where the schools are, I’m on my own. My supervisor gave me a bus schedule and highlighted the times and places for me to take the bus. Except for Ohyama she didn’t realize that I couldn’t take the bus from the regular bus terminal, so last time I went to Ohyama I had to call her and she had to drive me. Today, now informed of what bus stop to go to, I rushed out to the stop to make sure I wouldn’t miss the bus. I have an unstoppable paranoia about missing buses. Trains I feel run on time, buses seem less reliable and more likely to just not stop at some places. Anyway, I got there super early and was waiting, and thinking, "my, it's odd that the bus stop I was told to go to has traffic going the other direction.. hmm oh well, maybe it pulls into the parking lot."

No.

The bus approached, it did not put on its signal, it did not look like it was going to stop, so I frantically waved my arms and tried to catch the eye of the bus driver. He thankfully understood that the big gaijin girl waving her arms wanted his bus, so pulled over on his side of the road to the bus stop that I should have been waiting at. I get on, do my usual bit where I say my destination and the driver confirms it. But then, as we are going, it turns into the Awaga bus
terminal-- where my bus schedule says it doesn’t go... where it would have been much easier to catch the bus. but whatever, after a brief stop picking up some Senior High kids, it carries on back the way I know we are supposed to go.

The closer we get to school the fuller the bus gets... of small children. They don’t have regular school buses here like back home, everyone just takes the city bus and elementary school kids don’t pay. So now it’s me, about 5 senior high kids who are taking up 2 spaces each, and about 25-30 elementary school kids packed onto this bus. At one of the stops I see one of my teachers from Ohyama and she waves, I wave back, thinking, "hmm, why would she send her kid to her school by bus and not drive them?" The answer, as I learned once I got to school was that she had seen me, waiting on the wrong side of the road and decided to make sure that I caught the bus by just checking at one of the stops. Why she didn’t stop and point me to the right bus stop, or even give me a ride instead of me having my crazy wave down, I’m not sure.

Anyway, on the bus and we get to the Ohyama stop and all these kids start streaming out, in a rather orderly fashion. So I get up when it seems to be my turn, and proceed to walk off the bus, BUT the bus driver notices that I haven’t paid (I just totally forgot, getting caught up in leaving) and reaches out and grabs my arm-- but there is no way I can stop at the front to dig out my money because there are still a good 15-20 kids behind me waiting to file off. So I try to give him the, *I know, just a sec* look and wait just outside the bus door, getting the stare down from the bus driver whose look is full of *You better pay...*, get out my 200Yen and once the kids are all off pay him.

Now I’m at Ohyama, waiting to teach 1st and 2nd graders stand up, sit down. or as they will surely say it, stand up, shit down. Just another day.