From here to there.

Driving. Definitely not my most favorite thing to do. In all honesty, I enjoy my visits to the Dentist more than I enjoy a long drive (no offense, Crystal!). For the entire three years I’ve been driving, I would often (not too often) have minor panic attacks when driving on a two lane road alone at night. “Am I on the correct driving side??!! Ack! I don’t know. Oh, whew, there’s a car coming towards me on the other side of the road. Whew.” The dread of having to learn to drive on the left side of the road ate away at me for months before the big move. Fortunately, getting adjusted to left-side driving has been a whole lot easier than I thought it would be. Seeing drivers on American TV and in movies is still a little mind bending though and sends me into minor panic. Good thing I don’t drive and watch TV at the same time.

After the whole “other side of the road” thing, the biggest difference is that Okinawa is metric and slow. It’s island life, right? The fastest you will ever go (legally) on the island is 80 km/h (about 50 mph) and that is only on the Expressway. Most roads are between 40 and 50 km/h (about 25 and 30 mph). Pulling off to the side of the road (whether there is ample space or not) is also a common Okinawan practice. That is great for us Americans because we can sit on the side and scour a map to figure out where we are. Due to the hilly nature of the island, there is no semblance of a road grid here. Happily for Japanese non-readers, the roads all have numbers for names.

Shortly after arrival on Okinawa, we had to take a driving class to learn the differences driving here. First off, the signs are all the International road signs. They are super-easy to understand and this knowledge should come in handy if ever we are somewhere else overseas. There is no cellular phone use allowed while driving here. The strangest rule, to me, is no left turns (think right turns) are allowed at a red light! I sometimes cheat on this one when I’m turning onto the Base… Don’t tell!

Overall, learning to drive here hasn’t been too scary. I’ve always been a cautious driver, so I’m sure that helps. I might actually enjoy driving here more than driving in the States. It will be interesting to see how it goes readjusting to driving in the USA in three years.