Day 247 {Car Skid / New Coat} - Friday, November 21, 2008

Day 247 {Car skid / New Winter Coat }

I was running late for work this morning in the excruciating cold, then to top it off guess what??? My car started to over heat...So I had to pull on to the side of the road, then wait for a while, then poured water into the radiator.... This evening when I go to change my tyres, I am going to tell the car company about this annoying radiator issue as well..

So while on my way to work...I was wondering what route to take to go this school, the long some what straight way, or the sorta shorter curvy way.... I chose the longer route which has 3 tunnels. I was told that ice tend to build up especially in tunnels and on bridges.... Wow, just my luck... On my way, to this school, the temperature was -1 degree. So after the 3 tunnels, then I have to make a turn off on a curvy road... I was afraid of this curvy road even before the snow started...So when I turned off, there was a whole lot of snow piled up on either side of the road...and a couple of ice on the road... So I was driving ok then I changed down from D to 2 and started to crawl around the curves in the car. At one point, I saw a down slope which would soon be followed by an up slope and a right turn... I thought the car was moving a little too fast so I quickly changed down from 2 to Low gear...Hmmmm ... My Lord and my saviour...what a mistake..... I lost control of the car and it started to slide for about 5 seconds...hmmm hmmmm ... I cannot describe in details how horrific that experience was....That was 5 seconds I would never want to experence again...I am still in shock just remembering the experience.... In my mind, I started to curse my company for giving a Jamaican these snowy schools and also cursing the stupid car company for telling me that all will be ok around this area...Hey, I know nothing about snow except seeing it on TV... Mommy please don't bother call me now, or start to worry, everything is ok...

Anyway, I got to work and asked the teachers which route was better. They said the route I took was actually better than the other one... Another teacher started to explain that there are 2 types of ICE...The white Ice that is clearly visible and the black ice that you only see if the sun shine on it or you look really really close... He said last year he drove the other route and his car slid on the black ice.... then another teacher said he also slid before....So it seem as if its a regular thing around here....... 

So Richard you see I did slide after all... ... not only me, but the other Japanese people tooo ... So they told me that the snow tyres are good for snow only... and if I should recognise the black ice, then all I need to do is drive really really slow and don't even think about breaking or else that will make matters worst. Several persons also told me that if I am already in a skid and the car is going left, I should either continue making it go left or turn left with it....They told me that if I should ever make the blunder of turning right while the vehicle is going left or vice versa.... then may the good Lord take care of me after that....Beause the car will start spinning uncontrollably.... GREAT PLACE TO LIVE don't you think?? Unnu Pray fi mi duh!!!! If I didn't have to drive, then I think things would be way way easier for me in some ways... so if I stay another year, I may ask for a transfer and no car... I may even start taking the train or the bus to work soon...Because this car in the snow thing may not wrk out in my favour at all... Plus thats what my other friends do...I would need at least a bicycle though... But that again will only give the people more opportunity to stare at me endlessly...

Any way, going back home wasn't a problem, everything went well... I then went to to car company and this lady that works there speaks ONLY JAPANESE...The only word in English I heard she mentioned was ok.... I can understand her sometimes, but answering her is the problem... At one point in our strained conversation, she said MAZDA.... So I thought that she was going to give me the nice MAZDA car again from Day 173 ...while they put on the new tyre... But clearly we weren't understanding each other too well, so she ended up calling my company who translated the stuff for us both... Only to find out that she wasn't telling me that I will get the MAZDA but that I should go to a car shop name "OKAYAMA MAZDA" ... I was so disappointed.. .. I also made mention of my bad radiator and they said that the car shop will LOOK at it...

So the lady drove infront of me to the car shop for them to put on the snow tyres and CHECK the radiator... I sat and waited for about 45 mins then they came back with the car. The snow tyres were on and I asked the guy about the radiator.....All he could tell me was that it was leaking (which I already knew) and "Tabun Daijiobu" (Maybe it is ok).... If I have to fill the radiator with water tomorrow, then I know they were telling me BULL....

I then drove to the 100 yen store and bought a Ice scraper thing and a few other items.... I saw the pastor's wife and one of his daughters from the church I go to... and the pastor's wife said some Japanese stuff to me about a coat... So I thought she was saying that the Bible study lady should buy a coat for me for winter or that I should buy a coat for winter ....So I was there laughing and then told them good bye.... I then went to the bible study lady's house for dinner and for the English conversation thing. She then told me that the pastor's wife bought 2 coats for me and some heated shake up business.... So I was like "ooooh so that's what she was trying to tell me at the 100 yen store and I was there laughing and nodding like I have no sense" So I now need to thank her a whole lot for these stuff.. And hey, the coats actually look really cool...