cars – Page 4 – hannah ananas

Where are you?

Today, I met with my mom, aunt, and cousins in Galveston. I was driving there from my aunt’s house, which is east of Houston (toward Louisiana), and so was scheduled to ride the Bolivar Ferry across to the island (not normally the case, because there’s a bridge to Galveston Island from Houston). My mom and I usually ride the ferry whenever we go to Galveston, so she scheduled herself to ride the ferry over to meet me as I was first arriving to it. That way, we could ride it together, if only the one direction.

And so, we kept in touch via phone, so that my mom knew about when to get over to the ferry. When I was not too close yet, we spoke. When I was getting somewhat close, we spoke, and my mom headed to the ferry. But, there was no parking, so we spoke again, so that she could tell me that she was not on foot but in a vehicle. Okay.

And then I sent her a message (via the handy dandy Siri) to let her know that I was two miles from the ferry landing. She then called me to tell me that she was about to disembark from the ferry. Okay.

She calls me a minute later, asking, “Are you about to pass me right now?”

I look up, and see no cars parked to the side of the road. I glance left, and see her driving in the opposite direction and I am driving, in the line of cars that has clearly just disembarked from the ferry. Just as I say, “Yes,” I see her face in her vehicle and she seems to look right at me, too. She gives something like an Okay, and hangs up.

I continue on the road toward the ferry. Within a minute, I’m stopped in line behind a car, waiting for the ferry. I see my mom’s vehicle driving up, and am somewhat surprised at how quickly she managed to turn around and get back to the ferry. She pulls up right behind me and stops in the line of vehicles.

At this point, it it clear that we will not make it onto this ferry, and so will have to wait about twenty minutes for the next. Since it is cold out, I grab my scarf and put it on. As I am reaching for my sweater in the passenger seat, I answer my phone with a not-actually-annoyed-but-playing-at-it, “What?” I look up at my mom in the rearview mirror as I answer the phone, and I see her calling me.

She responds, “Where are you?”

…

For a moment, I am stunned and cannot speak. Then, I begin to laugh and I tell her, “Right in Front. Of. You.”

I see her looking more carefully at the truck (I’m in the truck), and then we both are laughing, barely able to speak.

I don’t even know what we said after that, but the call ended somewhat quickly, and I went and joined her in her vehicle to listen to Canadian French country western music together.

We joked about it throughout the day as a family, because that was just too good to let alone.

Moms. Gotta love them.

Also, she bought me this stellar ring today. It has diamonds and everything, and looks totally old fashioned (but clean!) and also totally like an engagement ring (but that wasn’t why I got it). And it probably would have been an engagement ring if it hadn’t ended up in this particular shop (and I hadn’t gotten it). I got it, because I just loved the ring, and it made my heart go doki-doki when I put it on after it was cleaned. I was planning to buy it myself, but then my mom just bought it for me. So we marveled at it in the sunlight together afterward, and laughed at how people were going to think me engaged now, because I just had to show it off to the world, it was that pretty. Anyway… that’s all for now. 😛

Post-a-day 2018

The Lingering Effects of Culture?

I have noticed two behaviors of mine that linger still (and consistently), despite my having been in the USA and out of Japan for almost four months. They are 1) constantly looking right first before crossing the road, naturally walking to the left, and casually beginning on the left side of the road when riding my bike; and 2) silence.

The first has been improving significantly, and is almost never present when I am driving a car (though those two-lane, small town style, empty roads do make me think twice before I pull out onto them). It is mostly just my bicycle riding and walking that is still in the habit of Japan’s side. Seeing as how I am aware of the road-crossing issue every time I approach a road, I feel confident that things will be fine there – even if I must continue constantly checking both directions over and over again, because I don’t trust myself as to from which way the cars actually will be coming on which side. The second is a bit different.

I wonder if the silence is something about which I need to worry. I feel like it is no big deal, however, when I look at it from an outside, USA perspective, I seem almost oppressed in the action. The silence comes in the regular everyday passing of people at work. I often only smile and nod when we make eye contact, and I regularly say little-to-nothing in group conversations. Partly, I have no interest in discussing the present topic with the present company most of the time. However, I wonder if part of that is because I am not accustomed to discussing things with people like I once was.

My distress tied to living in Japan significantly affected my desire and will to learn Japanese. Therefore, I really didn’t put forth almost any effort in the language beyond the absolute necessary, until I was on the rise from all of the depression, only a few months before my departure. This means that I was not able to participate in most conversation around me. Yes, I could understand a good amount of it, and often all of it (though, occasionally almost nothing), but I usually was unable to respond. It was my first experience with what I previously had only heard other people say they did, and the development of which I couldn’t understand: understanding a language, but not speaking it.

So, I grew incredibly accustomed to speaking very little and to listening a lot. And this was not a conscious decision, necessarily, though I had intended to observe for the sake of learning all about the culture and language. My goal was to learn, not to separate and somewhat exclude myself. Transferring the same behavior over here to the USA, my native country, has the behavior occur quite differently. As mentioned, I seem somewhat oppressed, like something is preventing me from speaking. All I notice is a lack of desire to say anything most of the time. But I also don’t even consider whether I want to speak or not – I just don’t speak… So, I am wondering about this, whether there is something more there, something in the way for me, preventing me from full self-expression.

Post-a-day 2017

Late-night shared delights

I remember the time I showed someone I love how to shift the gears in a manual car. Actually, I remember all of the times I have done this. However, one in particular came to mind tonight, and I smiled at the memory.

We had gotten secret donuts together on the way to drive her home. She managed to do a good job shifting, as I drove and told her exactly what to do each time. Afterward, the gear shifter was sticky. I panicked at first, and then remembered the donuts. Who’d have thunk that a sticky gear shifter could make me smile, as opposed to recoil in tears? I cleaned it all off with little concern… something so rare for me. It meant that I really loved her, as well as the experience. I still treasure them both. 🙂

Post-a-day 2017

Driving Lesson

Today, I had a driving lesson. Though it wasn’t so much a driving lesson as it was my asking questions to a friend while he let me drive his car. Japan drives on the left, so I wanted to have a practice session before going off on my own on the roads. Not that I even have a car or anything, but I’m thinking about getting at least a scooter, to help with exploring better, as well as getting around to places with significantly increased ease.

Anyway, it was fun. It’s magical how our brains can so easily flip-flop the physics for us, allowing me to be on the opposite side of the car, yet still drive well and safely. Way cool. 🙂
Post-a-day 2017