Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008: Lost Passport and Wallet!

Waking up late on the weekends is so nice and we were able to get a few things done around the apartment and then we wanted to go to the store. First, we biked to the bakery so we could get some thin sliced bread (that sounds weird, but it's hard to come by). After the bakery, we did some shopping at the grocery store.

Mode of transportation (equipped with a basket, bell & a headlight for biking after dark)

About half way home from the grocery store, Brandon noticed that his wallet...with his passport, $200 in cash, insurance card, credit card, bankbook, etc... was missing from his pocket! We both frantically biked back along the path we took to see if we could find where it was dropped. Not seeing it the whole way back, Brandon used charades to communicate to the cashier what he had lost and she joined the frantic search. I went over the bike path toward home to check again while Brandon looked at the store. Eventually, the cashier's husband happened to show up with his car and she instructed him to take Brandon to the police station (this was all in Japanese by the way...they spoke no English). The man drove Brandon to a police substation (which looks like a little one room box) near the train station on the path home. The man went in, used a little phone on the counter, and then some police in a car showed up within a couple of minutes. I'll let Brandon tell this part:

Okay. So I am feeling like a complete idiot for losing my wallet AGAIN after already losing it once in Mexico less than 2 months ago! And this time...it contained my passport! Anyway, when the police arrived at the substation...they talked back and forth with the cashier's husband in Japanese and somewhere in the conversation I heard "Eric-san" and "Texas". That was music to my ears. They walked me into the station, had me sit down, and then unlocked a cabinet drawer and pulled out my wallet! I was ecstatic! That meant that someone found my wallet, turned it into the police, they had locked it up and left the station all within about 20 minutes of me losing it! I was so happy! They knew it was obviously me and they returned it in exchange for a fingerprint and a signature. The money, passport, credit card, bank book (equivalent to a check book/visa card...important bank account book)....everything was there! The men gestured that I could go so I stood up and said "Thanks!" and turned to leave. I heard a "uh-humm!" behind me, so I turned around, and one of the cops pointed to my cell phone that I had left sitting on the counter...."idiot" is all I could think about myself....I'm sure that is what they were thinking! Then I tried to walk out...but couldn't seem to get the door to open. I pushed, then pulled, then finally figured out that it was a sliding door! Needless to say, I didn't give the police much confidence in the minds of Americans! Although embarrassed, I was extremely happy! Okay, I'll let Sarah take it back from here.

Brandon was on "Cloud 9" when he got home. With relief, we decided to go ahead and go down to GooDay "the hardware store" to get a few more things. This time, Brandon carried his wallet in his "murse" (man + purse= murse) for security. Thank goodness the hardware store isn't far, because we loaded those bikes down like crazy! We looked really goofy riding back with bags strapped down and wallpaper rolls sticking out every which way. Quite a sight! But you do what you can when you're only transportation is a bike!
















Brandon was really antsy for a haircut, he says all of the extra hair was making his head hot! haha! So, we borrowed clippers from a friend and I gave it a shot. It seemed easy enough, even though I had never done it before. I figured that it will grow back eventually if I make it too short....sure enough, I buzzed it. I didn't plan on it, but oh well, he at least he feels cooler now!
~Sarah