Drenched

Yesterday I finally felt cold in Kannari. Up to this point, it had been extremely hot on a daily basis, but yesterday morning, when I woke up, it was raining and the streets were pretty much soaked with water. I went to school as usual by bike. It only takes around 2 minutes by bike before I have to get off and push the bike up the steep hill along with all the other students. Today, the not many kids had bikes - I guess their parents drove them, or they took the school bus because it was raining. So there I was, pushing the bike up the hill alone.

I had a few more introduction lessons, and after lunch, I was scheduled to go to the yakuba (town hall) to pick up my 外国人カード（Alien Registration Card). The rain had stopped by lunch time, so I was hoping to to make it there and back with minimal damage. At around 1:30, I got on my bike and started biking to the yakuba. About halfway there, it started to rain again, but I was still relatively dry by the time I arrived. I picked up my card, but apparently there was a piece of paper in an envelope I was supposed to give to them upon receiving the card. So, I got back on my bike and biked home to look for the envelope. Just a few minutes after I got on my bike, it started to pour heavily. I was getting hit in the face with drops of water. I made it back home, and quickly grabbed the documents in question and headed back out again. My bike was dripping wet. I wiped the seat with a towel and got back on. The rain was so heavy that my glasses were dripping wet - I could barely see anything. Since I already don't feel 100% comfortable biking in this town because of the narrowness of the roads, I contemplated going back to the school, since it was only a few minutes away. However, since I was already dripping wet, I thought, I might as well just keep on going and get it over with. When I arrived at the yakuba, I was dripping from head to toe. My dress shirt had become nearly see through. Thank goodness I was wearing something under it. My dress pants were also quite thoroughly soaked. I walked up to the lady at the office, and handed her the form. Crap..........I grabbed the wrong one. It was all in vain. She told me it would be okay to bring it in the next day. So, I headed back out in the rain, arrived back at school, completely drenched with water.

At school, I headed into the office, a bit embarassed at just how wet I was. The vice principal saw me, and quickly took me to the nurse's room. I changed my shirt, and the nurse put my clothes in the washing machine. I wiped my face with a towel, and sat down at my desk. Damn...I really need to buy an umbrella....the ones at the hyaku-en shop look pretty cool.