The Wrong Side

After dropping the girls off at daycare this morning, Ryan and I finally had a chance to show our mastery of driving on the "wrong side." Because neither of us paid attention in AOB, we showed up to the wrong office and had to commandere a mail truck in order to make it to the right place on time. We checked-in using our VA driver's license and military ID cards, and were then given the keys to what I thought was the USS George Washington Aircraft Carrier on four wheels. It was acutally a Japanese-style BMW wanna-be...and it was huge (Mom, it reminded me of you old white caprice). I volunteered my shoes to another student who had forgotten the "no open-toed shoes" requirement, and off we went.
I thought driving would be nerve racking, but I think I was more nervous while the others were driving. I kept praying that they would remember to stay left. When it came to my turn, I was actually pretty calm...I continued to say "stay left, stay left" in my head...maybe even out loud at times. It was not as hard as I thought it would be to stay left, maybe because there were other cars driving around or either I was very focus..."stay left, stay left!" Surprisingly, I don't think I hit the windshield wipers once...even though I know I will. After making a few right turns and a left, we had to back up into a parking space. Luckily, there were no other cars around so it wasn't too bad. Poor Ryan had to park the car in it's original parking space at the office with a concrete wall on one side and a large van on the other. I could barely watch while he was driving. I think I was nervous for him and scared he'd start driving on the wrong side too. He did a good job though, and walked away with hitting the windshield wipers only a few times. Fortunately, we all passed and no one was injured and we can officially drive in Japan now. Ryan spent the afternoon getting all the paperwork, tags, and insurance completed and we are looking forward to taking a drive tonight!