i started teaching at home.  it's ok.  very rambunctious children, but i think we'll have fun.  we'll see.  the biggest problem will keeping hiro from being the teacher!  yesterday i had 17 people in my tatami room for the kindergarten class (only at the beginning.  all but one of the moms have babies, but luckily only two moms (and babies) stayed after the 'registration' and payment for the textbooks.  but yeah, 12 people during my first lesson!  of course, three of them were my own kids.  sheesh.  it got really hot, even though it was a cloudy day.  might be purchasing an air conditioner earlier than i anticipated.

today i did something really stupid.  i was looking for a shop and thought i knew where it was.  as i was driving around i went into a parking lot that i thought had a way out on the other side, but i was wrong.  i had to back up to get out and i backed right into another car!  this was a parking lot for several businesses, basically surrounded by the backs of buildings.  no one came running out yelling at me that i hit their car so i didn't know what to do.  i was going to get the kids some lunch, so i went to the bento place (it was across the street from the parking lot), then drove back and checked the parking spot.  the name of a business was written on the ground there, so i went there and it turns out i hit the car of the owner of that shop.  *sigh*  (if it isn't obvious, the stupid thing was hitting a car, not actually telling them about it.)  i went into the shop, an eyeglasses place, and asked if someone there had a blue prius.  the owner, who looked about 70, said it was his car, it was his parking spot (maybe he thought i wanted to park there).  i tried to say that i hit his car, but he was not getting it.  so i said, please come see it.  oh man, he was mad when he first saw it.  as i suspected, it was a brand new car (oh man, that sucks).  he wanted me to come back to the shop to call the insurance companies, but i had sasha and tommy in the car so i had to get them out.

and this is why it's nice to live in japan:  even though initially he was angry, this old man had us come into his shop and sit down in nice chairs.  he (nicely) scolded the children for leaning on the glass display cases, because they could get hurt if they broke.  then he got them a special treat (grandma's favorite, apparently) and some grape soda to wash it down.  even his wife was good about getting me a cup of tea (well, one for me and one for their insurance guy, who was there within five minutes.  our insurance person is in tokyo, and then we were contacted by another person in osaka.)  it was a bit surreal that this guy was giving my kids special treats (that were actually nice) when i was the one who hit his car.

by the way, the damage was minimal.  our car has a few blue streaks of paint.  his car has a bent bumper (man, really sorry about your car) and though it may be expensive to repair, at least i didn't bust up the lights or tear off the bumper or something.

i had to call yoshi because i couldn't find any insurance information in our car.  he was mad, too, but eventually got over it.  he also talked to the guy's coworker (whom i suspect is also his son) who told yoshi he appreciated my honesty.  i guess that means something.  i confess, even though it was a difficult thing to do, i had to do it.  i had to because the kids were in the car and they knew i hit the other car.  i had to do it because i wasn't sure that the other guy's insurance would pay for something that should have been covered by the other driver's (me) insurance.  and i had to do it because i would be super fucking pissed if someone hit my brand new car and didn't have the guts to tell me about it.  especially if my insurance wouldn't pay for the damage.

i just feel so stupid about it.  parking lot accidents seem to be my specialty.  i guess that's better than highway accidents.  ugh.

tomorrow i have to spend the whole morning at the yochien.  time to decide the parent duties i guess.  wish me luck!  and no parking lot accidents!