So, on Monday, we had planned to go to the Chiba drivers license place. I had actually planned to go the Tuesday before, however as luck would have it, there was an actual Typhoon that day. Horrible weather that day, so we postponed it for Monday. Monday morning came, and it was once again raining! We decided rain or shine, today would be the day no matter what. We sent Branden to school, and at 11am, we went and picked him up and took him with us. My written was to start at 1:30 pm, and we most likely would not be here in enough time to pick B up from school, so we took him with us. Also, for his records at school, we didn't want him to have a day marked as absent, that's why we sent him and then pulled him out at 11am. We arrived and actually got there around 1pm.
My family as they walked towards the building.
We had about a few minutes to walk the driving course, before they started in on the drivers tests. Quite a few people were also walking it. This #1 and stuff, is where the cars will be, when I do take my driver's test.
Also under those bigger numbers are these individual numbers. Looks all a bit complicated and like number overload, lol. But I'm glad I got a good visual and now know what I will be facing.
The dreaded "S" curve. 
The zigzag road. Or as my husband calls it, the "crank". Btw, I saw a few people take their tests and one lady got stuck on the crank. She had to back up a few times, and she failed. I felt really bad for her and it also really freaked me out! : (
The road is sorta 2 tone. Looks like a curb, but it's all the same height, I actually walked over it and looked at it. It's an optical illusion, Noboru says. And see the bars to the right? Again, Noboru says they put those bars there to psyche people out and to make them feel like they might hit them. I am really dreading this crank part of the test! Ha ha ha! : ) And yes there is an actual curb but ykwim, about the 2 tone road, I think.
See the bars now? Yup, talk about intimidating, ha ha ha! : )
The course stop light, intersection and stuff. Alright, so let me give you the skinny on what happened regarding my written! I had been studying on this one website. It's a site in English and they have practice test questions. I had been taking that test, they actually have 3 tests with 10 questions each. I had taken it for the past nearly 2 and a half weeks by now. And so I have actually memorized all the questions, knew the correct answers. I hoped my actual real test would, at least look somewhat similar. My husband had said the written was easy. So, anyway, I turned in my paperwork. It was really crowded. There were about 40 people in the switching the foreign license area (about half were waiting to take their written, the other half (about 20) waiting to take their driving test). Many people didn't have the proper paperwork or whatever and in the end 4 people total were actually allowed to take the afternoon written test. I recall, an Indian gentleman with his Japanese wife, he was actually in line in front of me, they wouldn't let him take it for whatever reasons.
: ( Maybe not enough paperwork or whatever. Another lady from Vietnam, had a "new" Vietnamese license, and the lady at the counter said, they had the format for the "old" one, but since the Japanese license center, didn't have the format to the newer version, she was out of luck. Which was horrible huh? Poor lady! So many people were frustrated, and rightfully so. I was the only American there taking my test that day. Actually no other westerners, in there at all (doesn't matter a bit obviously, just trying to give you a visual here). All were nice though. : ) Finally after an hour of waiting, they called 4 names. One Japanese guy, one Filipino lady, and me and 1 woman from China (I thought the lady from China was at first a Chinese American, but nope, bummer because I was hoping for some chit chat, he he he) but she was very awesome that lady was : ). The woman from China, was alone, she seemed a bit nervous. She was studying her butt off, big time though, with a drivers booklet. : ) So anyway, they called our 4 names and we left. Noboru looked at me and said, "good luck" , I went into the room. The room was so small. Good thing none of us had claustrophobia. It was like 3 or 4 tatami sized. Could have been 3. We each sat at individual tiny tables. And she passed out this test. It looked like a child's book sorta. Because it had a big metal ring, hoop that connected all the pages together. And only 1 question per page. And a big picture of explanation. The test was in English and Japanese, under the big picture. She gave each of us a pencil sharpened on both ends. And she said, in Japanese, that you got 10 minutes, a circle is for true and an x, means false. And then she said start!!!! I immediately looked at question 1, and it became funny to me, because I thought to myself, "hey this is the *same* exact question I had on my practice test! Okay, so I went to question 2 and funny again, I again thought to myself, "hey this is the same exact question from my practice test!!! (noticing a pattern here?) and then it happened again and yet again. So, now I am on my 7th question and I again, said to myself, "my god every question, I am having today, is word for freaking word, from my practice test", the gods must be smiling on me today! Ha ha ha! I got all the way to question 10 and sure enough, everything was from my practice test! Word for word, same exact picture, it was the oddest thing ever! The lady from China and I got up, about 5 minutes into the test and we handed our tests to the testing woman and we both left. The guy from Japan and the other lady were still in there. Btw, the other lady had her hands in her hair, and she was totally stressed out. Man, I felt badly, but I had to leave. I walked out and walked to Noboru, I had this enormous smile on my face, I tried not to make it obvious, but the smile over ruled my face. He said, how was it? I said, every question was from that website I studied from, word for word! So, anyway, we waited the 5 minutes for the other two to finish up. And then the lady went in the back and graded them. She called the lady from the Philippines up to the counter and she failed the written. : ( She was devastated, I can't say I blame her! I tried not to look. She felt badly enough then to have us all stare. Meanwhile she called the 3 of us up and told us we passed. The other lady was still standing there. Crushing! : ( Then she took us for our eye exam, I passed. We 3 all passed actually! The lady from China and I chit chatted in Japanese while waiting for our eye exams, he he. She was so nice! : ) And then we went and made appointments for our driving test. Mine is for next week. After that, we went and saw people taking their drivers test. I saw 3 foreigners take their test. All 3 failed by the way! Honestly, it freaked me out big time! A man went first and he failed sorta quickly. : ( Also, in the front seat, it's the person taking the test, and the drivers test guy/examiner. And in the backseat is another foreigner who will be testing after the current driver. Yup, as if testing isn't hard enough, you gotta do it in front of an absolute stranger to boot! Next was the lady from Thailand, I had actually saw her walking the road when we walked it, before I took my written. I gotta tell you, you guys! This lady kicked ass! She did so amazing! She drove slowly and safely, I saw her put her blinker on, stop at the stop signs, she totally aced that crank/zigzag area! She was flawlessly dead on! I knew she was going to pass. I said, she will pass. Heck, if I were the instructor, I'd pass her. However, she failed! She went to a part of the course where I could not see, and next thing you know...she was driving back to the finish area. She never even made it to the "S" curve. I was confused. She shoulda passed! I saw her, she was perfect! How come, how come, I thought!!! I was pissed off she didn't make it! Also, I was going to say, there is this feeling, of camaraderie at the driving center! At least, for me I feel it! : ) In my mind, it's no difference/doesn't matter where you come from, we are all trying to get our drivers test, we are all in the same boat here. So, let's cheer each other on and root for one another! So, yeah, I guess that's why I was upset that other lady failed her written. : ( Anyway back to the drivers test. Then the last one, I saw was a lady from Brazil and her Brazilian hubby. She had her husband with her. She was in the back seat when the lady from Thailand failed and she had to go next. I could see the fear on her face. I think I had fear on my face too! She actually glanced at me before she started checking the car over and I smiled! I swear to god, I almost wanted to shout...gambatte!!! At the top of my lungs to this fellow foreigner, but I didn't. I just watched. And silently/quietly cheered her on! She was doing really good, though she did look visually shaken. She got in the car, turned her turn signal on, like we are supposed to and drove off. I watched. Actually, all 4 of our family of 4 did. Plus about 20 other fellow foreigners testing also looked on too. She did really good. One part of the course you gotta drive at 40km, and then go back to normal speed. and she did really awesome there too! And then she got to the crank. It must have been those damn, visually deceiving white bars or the illusion that the road is narrower then it really is, with that blasted 2 tone road. I don't know what happened. : ( I only know she got stuck on the crank. Her car stopped for a minute or two, she actually backed up and retried it sorta to get herself out of that darn crank turn. She was still driving, and again she went into that part that is visually covered by bushes where we as observers can't see, but she failed in the same damn spot the lady before her failed! Seriously what the hell is back there, behind those tall bushes? Ha ha ha! I better go back there and walk that part, because something is making them fail around there. Anyway, again the drivers test guy, made her stop and go back" in front of all the rest of the people, having to just stop your drivers test mid way, must be horribly humiliating and I will no doubt be going through that on my test day! : ( : ( Her husband was so nervous, and when she got stuck in the crank, he paced back and forth and when she was told to drive back and not to complete the course, her husband just looked down. When she got out of the car, she had a 100 eyeballs on her. The devastation on her face, the stress. "Why does the test have to be so damn hard?" I asked Noboru. Now Noboru could see the stress on my face! I wanted to see at least 1 person pass, so I'd have some tiny glimmer or shred of hope! I didn't get that. I felt happy in one hand, that I passed my written. But on the other hand, I left with the feeling, that I will be taking an impossible drivers test, come next week. Sigh. Deep breaths. I will try my best and hopefully on my 2nd or 3rd try, I will get a license. I doubt, I will walk away with a license next week. And no I am not saying that for sympathy, I am saying that because it's more then likely gonna happen and I know that. By the way, as we were walking to our car, we saw the lady from Thailand (oh and btw, earlier in that day, as we all waited in the area, us waiting for our written and them about to drive, all of us had our passports out and everyone sorta saw everyone else's, that's how I know where these few people came from.) I asked Noboru to ask her, why she failed. Since we were all in the parking lot, he said, sumimasen!! (sp?) and we went to where she was and talked to her for about 2 minutes. #1, she had the wateriest eyes, you guys she was honestly on the verge of tears. And again, can't say I blame her! It's a freaking hard test! Noboru asked her...'why did the examiner say you failed?" She said, "because he said, that I stopped at the places where the stop signs are, but there are other places where I am supposed to stop that weren't marked but I didn't stop" And she also said, he told her, she wasn't looking enough. And she told us, she told him/examiner guy..."I was looking *everywhere*" She was very upset and I don't blame her! I told her...I saw you take your test, you did perfect, I was shocked you didn't make it" She was a very awesome nice lady! She got in her car, and drove off. She also told me, "good luck" for next week.
Anyway enough about the drivers test thing! We went to Costco afterwards. Probably the only plus side about taking my drivers test, well besides getting the license. Is the fact it's near Costco Makuhari, right near actually.
Hi Branden! : )
We ordered a pepperoni pizza to take home! We were all tired, hungry at this point. And the distance to get home? Yikes! Ha ha ha! : )
Nice to be here on a weekday, as you can see from this picture, not crowded in the least! I think next week, when I go back for my drivers test, we will stop at Costco, as well. Wow, 2 weeks in a row? Unbelievable for me, and you guys know that! Ha ha ha. : )
The boys, as we were leaving Costco, Monday around 4pm.
We went into Carrefour for a quick minute or two, just to get some whole roasted chickens. The flavor of these chickens is so flavorful. We had to get some.
They have so many different flavors of chicken. Although, I prefer the regular one. They really do make the best tasting chicken. : )
Bread stuff/bakery stuff. bagels, both plain bagels this time. And 2 big bags of the yeasty plain dinner rolls. I've got those rolls in the freezer and some in the fridge.
Tortillas, , colby cheese, and ravioli.
Cascade for the dishwasher, and the handy antibacterial cleaning wipes.
Vitamins for the boys. These are from Okinawa, they are yogurt flavor, and also made with green tea from Okinawa too. Both my boys love the flavor and although the boys eat healthy and eat veggies and whatnot anyway, I like giving them a vitamin or two a day. Noah gets 1 a day and B gets 2. The directions say to give 2 a day. Anyways this is what we use for the kids in our family. : )
Celery, for peanut butter celery sticks.
The pizza was cold by the time we got home. We knew it would be cold with the distance we live. All was okay, because we just threw it into the oven to get hot, and it turned yumm, all over again! : ) Oh and the missing pieces? We gave each of the boys a slice of pizza when it was still piping hot in the car, and they ate it. That way they weren't hungry or anything. And Noboru and I split a slice as we went home too. : )
We threw one of the chickens in the oven and the pizza in the oven at the same time. Meanwhile we all took quick 5 minutes showers, to wash off the day! : ) The other chicken is for dinner tomorrow.
After my shower, I came downstairs and had a beer! Well, a root beer. You guys know I don't drink! Ha ha ha. So after sucking back a nice cold frosty one! We got to relax and have dinner.
Thank god my pizza pan is the same size as the Costco pizzas, ha ha ha. It was hot, melty and gooey! We also had some chicken. And it was pretty awesome, to relax in front of the TV with the family and eat and unwind. After dinner,the kids went up and brushed their teeth, I tucked them in bed, read them 2 stories and they fell asleep. I meanwhile shut the computer down, didn't have time for things inside my computer that day. Just regular life is so crazy busy these days. Good busy though, nice busy, but still busy nonetheless : ) I've got a 101 things keeping me occupied these days. Ha ha ha. : ) 
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