Driving, Episode IV: A New Hope

After failing the driving test in October, I spent a long time fuming. One of my first thoughts was to act as if nothing were wrong, and continue to drive. I wasn't concerned in the slightest about ever being pulled over--while I speed, I go no faster than other folks on the road. Moreover, I've never seen a police car on Tsushima engaged in any kind of radar gunning. The police cars have huge plastic hats on top, with bulky a bulky red light fixture on top of them; they're kind of hard to miss.

What worried me was being involved in an accident, and the subsequent demand to present my license for the report. I thought about taking my chances by feigning ignorance--"Why, Officer, I honestly didn't know"--but knew that wouldn't pan out, because my school would inevitably get a phone call, ruining everything. What really killed my scheming, though, was my supervisor mentioning that, if caught driving without a license, I could lose my job.

That did a nice job of quieting me down, and I meekly resumed taking the bus to Toyotama on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Unlike my first year, though, I've been putting much more effort into planning lessons this year, and that requires discussing things with the teachers. I started out at Toyotama by taking the 8am bus, arriving just before second period--my first class each day. I would then leave on the 2:40pm bus, immediately after fifth period. That left me with no free time for us to put our heads together and plan. Determined not to give up my progress in planning lessons, I resigned myself to taking the 7am bus, to get me there at around normal time. As for getting home, the next bus after 2:40 leaves Toyotama at 5:55. With no other choice, and wanting to be there to put the time and effort into lesson planning, I went with that.

My schedule became somewhat unpleasant. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were of course the same as my first year: up by 7, out the door by 7:45 to walk up the mountain to Tsushima High. Tuesdays and Thursdays, though, I had to be up by 6 in order to be waiting outside by 7. The hour time difference wasn't a big deal; it just made me cranky. What started bothering me was the gradually falling temperatures, coupled with my having to peel back the covers well before daylight. Of course, lots of people have to deal with that. What made me feel different was knowing that it didn't have to be that way for me, that I had the power to put a stop to it and give myself an extra hour of sleep on those days. All I had to do was pass the stupid driving test.

I was hell bent on not using one of my vacation days, since going home in August, Korea, and my planned trip home for Christmas had just about gobbled up all of them. Extra days off come periodically, in exchange for things like Tai Iku Tai Kai and graduation, so I knew it was just a matter of time. However, a peek at the calendar showed me I wouldn't get one of those until sometime around March. So I bit the bullet and took a Friday off. I vowed, however, to find something to use that day on in addition to the driving test...