two steps back

When I woke up yesterday at 4 a.m., I felt pretty eager to tackle the day.  I noted in my blog the day before that my phone wasn’t working right.  When my tech support specialist (Katie) couldn’t figure it out, I felt a little worried.  No problem, we’d get the phone checked after her work.  I really really made an effort to go with it; I even stopped to smell the……….cabbage flowers?

Then I got bitch-slapped by Umeda.

Katie’s 4th and final school is in…………….surprise! NOT a mall!  It’s in one of the largest train stations in Osaka.  omgggggggggggggggggg

Not having a phone meant not having a map.  Oh well, I thought–pioneer me can handle that!  First, I thought I’d better stop at a restroom because I had even less of an idea where I was going than usual.  No problem–Osaka is the land of lux toilets.

Except in the Umeda train station.

I followed the signs.  Twist turn, twist turn…..this bathroom had a line.  Just like home, I thought.  It was the first restroom without heated toilet seats.  It not only had no towels or dryers, it had no soap.

Oh no!  Already I was unsure  how to get back to Katie.  I reeeeeeeeeeeeeallly should have paid better attention.  Finally I found my way back.  I took a picture of the entrance to her elevator to the 24th floor (!!!!!).

Then I looked for a way out.  I stood in the middle of that train station and turned around and around.  I felt so incredibly lost.  I tried to figure out why–I was really starting to get Osaka, I had proven that the day before.  Then I counted the tunnels to different train lines–there were 8.  8 tunnels leading to over a dozen lines.  Everyone was moving quickly.  How could so many people know where to go???  Everyone but me.

Even just walking out the door was unnerving because there was no direct shot to any street.  I had 2 hours and 15 minutes until Katie’s lunch.  I made a concerted effort to ensure I knew how to get back.  I wended my way across the street, which looked a lot like NYC.  And there, to my relief, was a Starbucks sign, with a 7F next to it–7th floor?.  But when I pressed the elevator button, nothing.  Huh?  No escalator in view.  Then I noticed allllllllllllll the people outside and the number 1100.  Okkkkkkkkkk, the building didn’t open until 11 a.m.

I was so exhausted from the day before I didn’t even feel guilty about wanting Starbucks.  I had spent an hour before I left looking at AirBnb’s for my next “home.”  Admittedly, I had gotten used to the idea that I might just book this apartment for another month.  No luck–it was already taken.  When I looked further I realized there are actually not many options left, and very few in my price range.  I was mentally kicking myself.  I needed an apartment for April in Osaka–cherry blossom season.

So it was with a heavy feeling that I stood outside with my hundreds of Asian friends, every ne but me checking their phone.  I wandered very slowly and carefully, but not far away.  I knew that like Harry Potter fighting dementors I would feel better if I had some chocolate, or coffee, or both.  When I went back to the huge building I took 7 escalators to the 7th floor and no kidding, next to the escalators was a giiiiiiiiiiiiant humpback whale, literally the size of the entire building and painted red.  My brain felt scrambled.

But I made it to Starbucks and looked at the menu.  Sakura latte, sold out (I know).  Suddenly I didn’t want Starbucks, I wanted out of there, into the warm sunny day.  I took the elevator down but it took me to the basement.  I pressed 1, but it took me back to the 7th floor.  I honestly didn’t know what was happening but I walked back into that Bux and ordered a Chocolate Chip Mocha Frappucino.  I did feel a little better.

I already can’t remember what I did next, but when I saw Katie come around that corner I was so relieved!

She took me to the Mexican restaurant she eats at every Sunday.  I barely had an appetite, but the guacamole & chips and veggie burrito were very good.  We sat at a counter looking out a window and I told her how I felt.  She said everyone feels that way in Umeda, that’s why she waited to bring me here.  Don’t you remember, she said, the cartoon about the guy who was discovered after 79 days wandering around looking for his train station eating strawberries?  That was Umeda.  She said she was lost for 20 minutes the first time she was there and that was with a map.

I felt a little better again.  Using a screen shot I took of a map on Katie’s phone, tried to find an area in the city noted for having old homes, but no luck.  I was so tried from my hilly walk the day before (nearly 9 miles) I was moving pretty slowly.  At the big street crossing, I fell in behind an old lady and tried to keep up with her, haha.

The buildings were amazing, truly!  I love a downtown, cosmopolitan area.  There was a covered mall area of Asian restaurants that went on and on and on.  Everywhere was people and restaurants and stores and some stuff I had no idea what.  One area was so crushed with eateries you could barely squeeze through the narrow hallways–some of the places only had a few stools to sit on, yet there was a line of people waiting to get in.  Even thinking about it now is exhausting.  In fact, I’m just gonna slap the pictures at the bottom of this post.

Again I started looking for a Starbucks, this time for coffee.  It sounds stupid now, but yesterday I just wanted to go in somewhere and order my latte in……well French haha, but I just needed somethiing familiar.  I pretended I was in Manhattan, trying to ignore the squiggles and symbols in my peripheral vision.  I missed an opportunity when I realized a minute too late that I heard a man’s voice saying, “We just have to remember it’s the Midosuji Line.”  When I turned to see 2 white guys I thought about following them and asking them to look at a map, but they were gone.

I kept Katie’s 31 story building in sight, and finally finally saw a Bux on the street level this time.  It was packed but I squeezed into a table with a teenage girl who was working on English homework.  I watched out the window and committed to staying there a whole hour to rest.  With no phone distraction though, I am sorry to say that I just felt tired and wanted to go back to my apartment, “home.”  For the first time since I was here I started thinking about going back to the USA and where I might go.  No matter what, I could only stay in Japan a maximum of 82 more days–I felt relieved.  I thought about staying near the kids, family, friends and felt better thinking of this Retirement Experiment as just that–temporary as I want it to be.

Again when Katie came around the corner at 6:05 p.m., she looked just as beautiful as all the finely put-together Japanese women.  We took our easy train 5 stops and were home in no time  We had planned to deal with the phone but were both exhausted, so we decided to handle it tomorrow.  Katie asked to look at my phone and said, “Mom, you’re out of data.”

What?

I really don’t even know what she’s talking about but apparently the video chats home made it so my maps didn’t work……or whateverrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Sometimes it’s hard being a baby boomer in a 21st century world.  

The day before I had said to Katie forget Tokyo–Osaka is more than enough city for me.  Now I told Katie I was thinking if I was gonna be this much of a baby maybe I should make myself go to Tokyo.  She said she always finds the first week is the hardest, but I made it!  “You did it, Mom!”  She said, “Do I need to remind you of my London story?”  She was feeling poorly and was on a very crowded train.  She realized she was going to throw up, so she ran off the train, not at her stop.  When she got outside she was in a middle of a parade!  She ran looking for a bush, trash can, anything.  Nothing!  Finally she ran to a restaurant and told the host she was gonna throw up so could she please use their bathroom.  She threw up so hard and it was purple from the blueberry muffin she ate, haha (sorry TMI!).  She came out of the stall and girl her age figured Katie had been partying and said, “Yeah baby!”  

I should have know that a country that requires 7 syllables to say Thanks was gonna be a challenge.   Arigatou gozaimasu, Japan!  <3

Photo:  Tunnel to the ferris wheel or inside of my head?