February 28: We NOW know how to spell 'Regular' in Japanese

We got up around 6, so we could jump in the car by 6:30. That’s how we usually do it; we give ourselves just enough time to throw clothes on, brush teeth, wash face and run out the door. We made it to a gas station before we were going to make our journey to Fukuoka City for an 8 o’clock doctor’s appointment. Brandon and I are used to the gas stations where the attendants pump your gas for you. Our Japanese is still rusty, so it’s the safest bet. However, we didn’t have that luxury at 6:30A.M. Brandon bravely pulled up to the self-service station and just eye-balled what kind of fuel the other motorists were using. They were all using the one with the green handle, so Brandon followed. I would’ve done the same thing! Let’s put it this way…after filling up, our car didn’t make it very far. I think we started idling after about 1/2 mile.. Luckily, we were able to pull into a parking lot and not have stop in the middle of the road. On the other hand, Brandon could’ve probably picked it up and moved it (if you’ve seen pictures of the little thing, you’ll know why). It didn’t take Brandon long to realize he had put diesel instead of regular gas! By this time it’s about 6:50A.M. How was I going to get to my doctor’s appointment (which is a 1 hour and 15 minute car ride away) in time? We decided to leave the car and walk for about 10 minutes before we could hail a cab. We took the cab to the train station/bus stop and waited about 15 minutes to catch the next bus to the city. I was able to get a hold of the doctor and tell him I would be an hour late. I was afraid he would cancel the appointment because I knew the appointment would take awhile and their office is only open half day. He said ok! We got into the city by 8:30 and had to get on a train for 10 minutes and then walk another 10 minutes. We made it and it was a huge relief. What a morning!!

After the appointment, we had Subway for lunch. It was delicious….similar to Subways at home, except fries instead of chips and NO REFILLS on drinks. We made our way back to Iizuka and got home by 5pm. Brandon was determined to try and fix the car mishap himself. He grabbed two extra large empty jugs from our balcony closet (we typically fill those with kerosene for our heater) and tied them to his bike. Off he pedaled…it was a 25 minute bike ride to our car. He planned to siphon as much diesel into the jugs, dispose of it and then fill the car with regular gas. He wasn’t too successful and decided to give it another try tomorrow.

-Sarah