This Week in News

So, I'll just come out and say it. I hit a car while riding my bike on Wednesday morning. No, I wasn't wearing a helmet, like Everyone should (but no one does in Japan). I will find one posthaste. I'm not dead, as it would be very hard for a ghost to type, even though Ghostwriter seemed to pull it off rather well. And I wasn't my fault (in the eyes of the law!~ and mine).
So, I'm riding my bike to to the train station like I do almost everyday. I'm on my favorite straightaway, where I hardly have to pedal because I still have a lot of speed from going downhill. As I approach this blind-corner, I check the safety (lol) mirror for cars. I see none, I hear none, I proceed w/o braking. According to the driver, he looked in the mirror also and did not see me either.
He stopped right in front of me and here are my thoughts (after much reiteration so they make sense).
Mirror.
Clear.
Cool.
Car.--Crap.
*Boomf* (that's a sound, not thoughts)
Air. (hmm, this reminds me of judo)
Ground--Face meets ground--Bike meets head.
Lie on ground.
So the guy gets out of his car immediately to check if I'm ok. I reply, saying that I think so, as I get up and look around. I find my backpack behind me (it used to be in front of me). Guy goes and picks up my bike, stands it up. He's very hurried and went back to his car, ripped off a piece of paper from somewhere, wrote his phone number on it and put it into my hands.
Here is our first sign of trouble.
In Japan, there are these things called Meishi. They may be just business cards to you, but here they are very important. When you meet someone you give them a meishi! Almost everyone, but some students and housewives have them. You even give them to the person in a special way, two handed and facing the person.
And I got a piece of paper :'(.
Next, went back to his car, telling me "Sorry, but I have to go to work". I had gathered my things and gotten to the side of the road by then and was just staring at him. Then as he got into his car, he told me "Go to the hospital fast ok?"
Then he drove off.
Yes, he left.
So, then we had some realizations.
First, I just hit a car, flew through the air, and hit the ground.
Second, I'm not dead!!!!! YAYYYY! Went and prayed for a second, thanking God for protecting me from worse injuries.
Next, I'm bleeding from my left eyelid and my head is bruised and my wrist hurts.
Then, No ones stopping to help. They must be going to work too.
Finally, I should make a few calls.
Host mom, didn't get her. Program director. Friend, to say I think I might be late for school.
During some point in time, I considered riding my bike to the station and sitting on the train to get myself to the hospital. This was foiled by my broken bicycle.
Needless to say, when my host mom got there, she was furious at this driver. In America, we call that a hit-and-run. I'm pretty sure you can tell, I'm kinda pissed off now. At the moment, I thought, this guy's job must be pretty tough on him! He's really gotta go to work. No, I didn't have a concussion.
I missed school and spent the day in the hospital, taking tests. My eyes are fine, as well as my skull and other appendages. I did get 4 stitches!
Now, I have the complete injury care list:
Cast
Brace
Crutches
Stitches
I guess I should amend that to injury care that you can walk around with.

So, luckily, my host mom's got some internet skills and she found the dude online! He's a dentist! That got her really mad. That filling/cleaning, just couldn't wait.

Gotta give a bit shout out to the CJS ladies from School who came to the hospital!!! to them coming to the hospital and helping me all day.

I was able to make a whole room of ppl laugh, when I was getting my concussion test (in Japanese!~) I gotta say, at least 2+ points have been added to my joke meter.

At the end of the day, I just wanted to get everything related to it out of the way, so I went to make my police statement. I showed me on my lil toy bike (the coolest toy bike you've ever seen! With clear spinning wheels and pedals!) and a toy car.I also drew a picture of the incident, with the best arrows, I've ever drawn. But I digress.

I finished up my police statement. Fingerprinted my documents and all, (even the picture I drew. The policeman particularly enjoyed that one). Then I went on my merry way home. Luckily, I had none of the subcranial hematoma symptoms and went to bed and woke up!

The aite (aite = opponent/other person; My opponent was a car and the ground lol) So he's been calling my house and school trying to apologize. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time accepting forced apologies. My host mom has said no to his seeing me and after 2 more days at school I completely agree to never seeing him. The next day at school, I was told that he was sorry again and he panicked. I started feeling like I'm being stalked ~.^ warui kimoti [weird feeling] after he got hold of all these numbers. The Friday, I was told he didn't just say sorry, but asked that I don't file a complaint with the police...
3 strikes!
No MEISHI!
LEAVES THE SCENE OF A ACCIDENT!!!!???
THEN ASKES ME NOT TO REPORT IT FOR FEAR OF LOSING HIS LICENSE?!!?
The nice, oh-it-was-an-accident Ama has left the building.
I hope he loses his license. He didn't stop at his stop sign, he pulled out in the way of a biker, stopping abruptly as he saw her. And he apparently has enough points on his card that this pushes it over the top! Gotta say, I think he deserves to lose his license. Make the streets of Nagoya a lot safer. I just hope he doesn't ride the bus with me <(0.0;)>

But enough with the ranting, I'm getting my stitches out in 8 hours! and I needs my rest!

I also went on a trip this weekend that was good. So we'll talk about that instead next time. I don't think you want a picture of my face right now, but I'll give you some smiling ones later!

Goodnight!

~Ama